Today's Hotness: Dananananaykroyd, Video Nasties, Jesus Lizard

>> We had completely forgotten how much we were anticipating the release of the full-length debut from Dananananaykroyd until the band posted the video above for the exceptional new single "Black Wax." The track, whose b-side is the non-album track "No Wage," is taken from the sure-to-be-gigante long-player Hey Everyone!, which will be released by London-based Best Before Records April 6. Get ready to embrace your Glaswegian fight pop overlords by pre-ordering the set from BanquetRecords right here. The "Black Wax" single streets March 23 in the U.K., and it is also being vended by BanquetRecords; pre-order it here. If you are all amped up to hear "No Wage" now, the band soundchecked it in Hamburg last month and someone captured it to video. Check it out here.

>> It's been more than a month since we checked in on London indie fivesome Video Nasties. The latest is that the band's next single will be for the track "Jellybean," about which we offered some remarks here in January. The track is already receiving hype from prominent BBC DJ Steve Lamacq, and it will be issued March 23 in the U.K. and will also be available digitally via ITunes and perhaps other digital music storefronts. Video Nasties' full-length debut On All Fours will be issued April 13. It's unclear, to us anyway, what label will release the single and full-length. The band's 2007 EP Karl Blau was issued by Way Out West, and last fall's Albatross EP, well, we don't know who put that out.

>> To celebrate Record Store Day, that's April 18 in the U.S., Touch and Go is releasing a box set of Jesus Lizard vinyl singles that sounds very compelling. It is titled Inch and it will be available on that day and date only, apparently. All the tracks were remastered by Bob Weston of recording-stuff fame and the Shellac Of North America cohort. Highlights of the collection include "Puss," which was the Jesus Lizard side of the noted split single with a little rock trio called Nirvana, and "Gladiator," which was only offered at a 1992 Brixton Academy show in London. Every one of these singles has been out of print for more than six years. There's 17 tracks in all, which is weird, but perhaps the flip of the "Puss" single is blank or etched or something? For those of you not up on your Jesus Lizard in contemporary America, the original line-up has reformed and will play dates in 2009 including ATP: The Fans Strike Back and London's The Forum; both gigs are in May. The entire Jesus Lizard catalog is also being reissued this year by Touch and Go. We reviewed the DVD "The Jesus Lizard -- Live" here in June 2007; European correspondent Lars Ro filed a review of a Qui show here earlier in the same year. So how about some rock music? Here's the brutal rocker "Boilermaker," courtesy of the label.

The Jesus Lizard -- "Boilermaker" -- Inch
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[more info at Touch and Go here]

>> British electro-twee duo Psapp will release to ITunes April 6 a compilation of early and previously unavailable tracks called Early Cats And Tracks Vol. 2. As the title suggests, this is the second such collection. The band also reports that it will not come support its recent full-length The Camel's Back with a tour of America, although Psapp embarked on a short European tour Wednesday. There are still the singles, right? The second single from The Camel's Back is for the track "I Want That," a video for which the band has recently released to the Internerds.

Today's Hotness: Johnny Foreigner, Evangelicals, Video Nasties

>> Above is the bottom half of the cover art for the forthcoming Johnny Foreigner single for "Our Bipolar Friends" that we mentioned last week (see below). The release date is March 3, not March 5 as we wrote previously. The B-side will be the song "The Houseparty Scene Is Killing You," which you would have thought the band might have saved for the flip of a single for "This Band Is Killing Us." Through the miracle of technology and the kindness of cool people, we've already heard the single (as well as a radio session track that will blow up the hipper parts of the Internet when it gets out there; we'll hold our tongues for now) and it is huge. The single version of "Our Bipolar Friends" has fairly different vocals from bassist Kelly than the demo from last spring, and there are some cool new guitar parts and gang vocals to boot. The mix touts broader separation of the instruments, and none of the energy of the earlier version is lost. The real excitement, of course, is the b-side, which we hadn't heard before (unless they played it during the show in New York? Our memory is fuzzy). "The Houseparty Scene Is Killing You" is awesome, and not just because the band namechecks itself in the lyrics (we are a big fan of this; one day we need to do a post on things such as that which earn big points from us). It's got that characteristic drunk-but-still-standing-up feel, although the shuffling guitar and slightly tempered dynamics result in a mellower attack. Both "Houseparty" and the radio session highlight a gear that Johnny Foreigner hasn't displayed often beyond a handful of demos, and the fact that the trio has yet another trick up its sleeve will pleasantly surprise many. Now wait until March.

>> Have you heard the promo track for the new Evangelicals record The Evening Descends? Fans will recall that "Skeleton Man" was first made available last year as part of the Oklahoma psychers' Daytrotter session. The studio version is an unsurprisingly spiffed-up rendering of the kaleidoscopic anthem. You can hear it and the rest of the record at the band's MySpace teepee here, as Evangelicals just announced it is now streaming the new set there through its Jan. 22 release date. We reviewed the quartet's debut So Gone here, and reviewed their Nov. 2006 show at TT The Bear's Place here. Notably lacking right now is any information about Evangelicals touring plans. They totally killed when we saw them in 2006 and we are eager for another chance. We have to believe a third Evangelicals record can't be too far off, because we wrote here in late 2006 that the band had planned to finish The Evening Descends in Feb. 2007 and had expected to release it in Aug. of that year.

Evangelicals -- "Skeleton Man" -- The Evening Descends
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[pre-order The Evening Descends from Dead Oceans here]

>> Those of you awaiting news concerning London-based indie rock wunderkinds Video Nasties will be pleased to note that the quintet recorded four new tracks in late December. The desperate rocker "Gobi" has "big single" written all over it. "Stereo" and "Hearts And Bones" are a touch denser and the attitude a bit heavier than the older, fizzy material we harvested from various UK music blogs last year. The new songs have a lot of punch musically. We miss some of the innocence in the vocals of the earlier tunes (those on the new tracks are almost exclusively barked, but not in a bad way), although some of that remains in the Walkmen-esque "Conversation Dies." Video Nasties -- which released The Karl Blau EP in October, right after we first wrote about the band here -- tour the UK throughout February with the hotly tipped (but to our ears kind of flat) Nottingham electropop act Late Of The Pier. You can stream all four new Video Nasties tracks at the band's MySpace yert here. We're particularly fond of the older Video Nasties track "Little Flickers," so here it is.

Video Nasties -- "Little Flickers" -- Southern Demos
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[buy Video Nasties recordings from Rough Trade here]