Today's Hotness: The Henry Clay People

>> Remember The Henry Clay People, supercool resuscitators of rock & roll, restorers of credibility to Los Angeles as a breeding ground for compelling music in this crazy post-pre-post-pre-post-Van Halen/Jane's Addiction world that we all live in? Well, the quintet is currently touring the U.S. in support of its addictive sophomore full-length Somewhere On The Golden Coast, which was issued June 8 by TBD Records [review]. Said tour will bring the ten-legged rock machine into the Boston market for what promises to be a thrilling headline set at T.T. The Bear's Place Oct. 17. To whet your proverbial whistles The Henry Clay People are offering a free download of the tune "Switch Kids" to all takers, come what may. We don't think the song has ever been properly released before, although it was part of a May 15, 2010 Daytrotter session that you should really download right here. This is a studio recording however, and the verse features the act at perhaps its most aggressive, pounding guitars at octaves like the late great Pilot To Gunner. And then there is a cool, burbling, backwards guitar effect breathing in a caesure at the end of the second minute. Hit the download below, you'll be glad you did. And, look, some promo house has put all of Somewhere On The Golden Coast up on Soundcloud to stream. You should hit that, too.

The Henry Clay People -- "Switch Kids"
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[buy Henry Clay People music right here]

Somewhere on the Golden Coast by C3 Artist mgmt

Today's Hotness: Collection Agency, Montag, Dananananaykroyd

>> Timothy Bracy's Collection Agency, the vehicle of the eponymous former Mendoza Line co-fronter, now apparently goes by the more succinct moniker Collection Agency. The outfit tends a MySpace dojo right here, where you can stream one folksy, rough demo titled "Doug Yule" along with a cross-section of various standout Mendoza Line cuts. Collection Agency purports to count among its number various of the Mendoza Line cohort including Clint Newman, John Troutman, Elizabeth Nelson and mustachioed fan-favorite Paul Deppler, as well as the heretofore unknown-to-us Beth Wawerna -- who fronts the very good Bird Of Youth, which features Mssrs. Bracy and Newman in supporting roles -- and Federico Bortoletto (sadly, no Clark Wallace). The aforementioned MySpace outpost promises a Collection Agency record will surface in 2009, which is welcome news. A Bird Of Youth record produced by Okkervil River's Will Sheff is also apparently in the offing, and about which we are now very excited. Speaking of Mendoza Line, only last summer did we finally get our hands on the excellent and out-of-print collection I Like You When You're Not Around. Pay just about any price necessary to obtain this. Here's one of several standout tracks.

Mendoza Line -- "(We'll Never Make) The Final Reel" -- I Like You When You're Not Around
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[buy in-print Mendoza Line titles from Newbury Comics here]

>> Another holdover from the late, great 2008: electronic music purveyor Montag -- also known as the newly Montreal-based Antoine Bedard -- has just released the EP Hibernation, which features six instrumental, somnolent head-nodders and one track ("La Symetrie Du Coeur") sung in French. The icy and pulsing "Labrador (Encore)" sounds like the soundtrack to a solitary walk in the snow. The physical manifestation of Hibernation is available in a limited edition of 150 handmade discs (presumably it is the packaging and label that are handmade). Carpark previously released Montag's full-length Going Places in 2007, which included the very catchy bleepers "Best Boy Electric" and the title track. Bedard hopes to release a new long-player before the year is out. Recently he has kept busy remixing tunes for indie acts Au Revoir Simone, M83, I'm From Barcelona and others.

Montag -- "Labrador (Encore)" -- Hibernation EP
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[purchase Hibernation at The Blue House right here]

>> Although its hotly tipped full-length debut Hey Everybody! won't be in U.K. stores for months (the band says the new record "makes Sissy Hits sound like really boring crap or Keane"), Glaswegian fight-pop septet Dananananaykroyd is already pondering a follow-up. According to the band's 2008 recap at its blog here, the groop claims (half-claims?) to have begun writing new material for a set tentatively titled Creep. It reads like a joke, so perhaps it is. But either way, it is bracing to see that Los Campesinos!' two-fer in 2008 might be a harbinger of more bands breaking away from a no-more-than-one-album-a-year pace. Yeah. Dananananaykroyd embark on a month-long tour of the U.K. and Europe with Kaiser Chiefs Jan. 19.

Today's Hotness: Timothy Bracy's Collection Agency, Yah Mos Def

>> News of former Mendoza Line fronter Tim Bracy's new project almost slipped by us earlier this week. Mr. Bracy has re-christened his combo -- which features many of his former Mendoza Line cohorts with one obvious exception -- Timothy Bracy's Collection Agency. You can check in on the Agency's goings-on at this recently commissioned MySpace vessel. Bracy apparently played an acoustic show this weekend as part of the popular College Music Journal music seminar, or whatever they call it now, and we hear talk from informed-sounding talkers that there may be some tour dates to speak of soon. In the meantime, jump back in the wayback machine with us and have a listen to the first Mendoza Line "hit," the original version of "Dollars To Donuts" from the band's debut long-player Poems To A Pawnshop, released on KinderCore 10 years ago. We reviewed a Mendoza Line show in May here; we reviewed the final Mendoza Line release 30 Year Low/Final Reflections Of The Legendary Malcontent here.

The Mendoza Line -- "Dollars To Donuts" -- Poems To A Pawnshop
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[buy Mendoza Line records from Newbury Comics here]

>> Cops shut down their shows. Rupert Murdoch deletes their web pages. Still, it occurred to us after we referenced Yah Mos Def's excellent "The Beat That Make The Natives Nod" last week that it may have moved under the radar for some when it crossed our Internets-enabled transom a couple years ago. We post it for your edification below. My Pal God Records will issue YMD's debut full-length recording Excuse Me, This Is Yah Mos Def sometime before the end of the year, if all goes according to plan. One of the best things about "The Beat That Makes The Natives Nod" is when one of the emcees exhorts you to "Be awesome!" between the rhymes of the chorus. What makes that even bester is that we just learned from the band's bio at My Pal God that Be Awesome is in fact the name of one of the emcees.

Yah Mos Def -- "The Beat That Makes The Natives Nod" -- Demo '05
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