Today's Hotness: Johnny Foreigner, Presents For Sally

>> Today is a lot of things. Like this happened and this happened and this happened. But today was also the day that UK It labels Alcopop! Records and Dog Knights Productions released a terrific quad-split 12" featuring Clicky Clicky all-time-faves Johnny Foreigner and regular-time faves Playlounge, along with top peer acts Doe and Doctrines. Each band contributes two exclusive tracks, and Johnny Foreigner's "All Yr Favourite Bands Are Dead" and "Flooding" are the first new songs we've heard from the band since the release of its titanic 2014 LP You Can Do Better [review]. We've been able to listen to "All Yr Favourite Bands Are Dead" for months since the split LP was announced, and it delivers in a big way. The tune is a fetching and waltz-timed admonition that firmly pokes at the eyes of bands that re-form only to parade past glories. And while it can be hard to swallow given such criticism potentially condemns greatest-of-all-time rock combos The Replacements (who, of course, already kind of condemned themselves), Archers Of Loaf, and Pavement, it is still harder not to sing along with Johnny Foreigner's incisive and typically weapons-grade chorus "no new songs, we'll just play the old ones, once a strident voice turned to karaoke." It is well worth noting that the Doe, Doctrines and Playlounge tunes on the split that are streaming now all rock hard, and we are eager for our copy to arrive in the mail so we can hear all eight cuts. The record is available now on yellow 12" vinyl from Alcopop! and orange 12" vinyl from Dog Knights, and we expect it will eventually be available as a digital download, as half the songs are sitting right here at Dog Knights' Bandcamp dojo. £10 will get you either 12", but £18 will get you both, obsessives, so hit up the Alcopop! store before these are all gone. Stream four of the eight aforementioned songs via the Bandcamp embed below. While we've got you here, we would also like to report that there is a new tune from Yr Friends out there in the digital ether available for ear huffing. Avid readers will recall that Yr Friends is the (increasingly active) solo vehicle of JoFo fronter Alexei Berrow, and the project landed a terrific cover version of All Saints' "Pure Shores" (also embedded below) on a recently issued digital compilation called Sad Girls Clubbing, which can be downloaded for free right here. Readers will likely also recall Mr. Berrow collaboration with JoFo drummer Junior Elvis Washington Laidley's Fridge Poetry project, which is brilliantly called Yr Poetry. There is apparently a new Yr Poetry EP in the works, so life will continue to be pretty grand for some time.





>> To what can we attribute the rhythmic bounce that propels "Wishawaytoday," the deliriously great summer single that served as the harbinger for Presents For Sally's recently released sophomore set Colours & Changes? My Bloody Valentine's blindingly brilliant "Drive It All Over Me" is an obvious reference point, but we suppose the rhythm also echoed prominently within the Madchester sound that followed on its heels at the dawn of the nineties (think Northside's woozy banger "Take 5," The Wonderstuff's earth-shaking "Caught In My Shadow"). Ultimately, from whence it sprang is no matter: "Wishawaytoday" is fantastic, and we suppose the delicate, shifting vocal harmonies in the verses may actually be the most arresting thing about the tune. Also notable is the record's richly ethereal title track, which again applies a dance-able beat but also emphasizes the Bristol, England-based gaze trio's strengths composing beautiful ambient instrumentals. Colours & Changes elsewhere is filled with spectral vocals and crumbling guitars and strong vibes, with the pensive "Sing" approaching but not quite matching the giddy appeal of the aforementioned single. Saint Marie Records released Colours & Changes Sept. 11 as an LP, CD and digital download. All three formats are presently available via Darla Records' digital storefront; the 250-piece color vinyl edition is apparently nearly sold out, so act fast if you are so jazzed. Presents For Sally formed in 2009 and issued its debut long-player A Touch of Joy, A Touch of Sadness the following year; the threesome has also issued a few singles and a compilation track. Stream "Wishawaytoday" via the Bandcamp embed below, and watch a video for the cut right here.

Today's Hotness: Princess Reason, Ghost Outfit



>> Sometimes, Soundcloud really delivers. After all, without it we wouldn't have known about Princess Reason, a young and somewhat shadowy band from College Park, Maryland. The act's self-titled album, out now digitally and eventually on tape via Tricot Records, is a welcome breath of meditative, DIY pop. Not much can be gleaned about Princess Reason from the Interzizzles, but what little there is at the Tricot Records Web presence indicates that this is a group of friends unpretentiously offering a glimpse into its own aural, DIY reality. All product is presently made by hand, and most visual characterizations of the collective depict bookshelves, mixing station desks, and simple, clean visuals suggesting a bright, but decaying innocence. "We Are Splitting," one of the highlights of the Princess Reason release, commences with a picked, drop-tuned guitar figure that guides the singer's wandering melody through a rumination on the "little house we all share." With an ambient delay looped in the background, the song briefly pauses before doubling in volume for a more rambunctious passage that calls to mind the scratchy guitar work of early Modest Mouse, or the paralyzing melancholy of Brian McGrath's too-short-lived post-Wendyfix project Mantissa. "We Are Splitting" smolders to a single ember and then winks out; listeners can almost feel the cool wisps of air from the AC unit and the diminishing light coming through the blinds as the players push back from a shared, melancholy reverie and slowly regain their senses after another intimate bedroom catharsis. Grab this dreamy release for any amount desired at the Princess Reason Bandcamp right here; we've embedded "We Are Splitting" for your listening pleasure below. -- Edward Charlton



>> Industrial Britain: bleak, unforgiving and yet -- as history has shown for decades -- surprisingly inspiring. A steady thrum of clanging and droning acts sourced from gray, stiffening urban environs has sound-tracked the nation's musical comings and goings since a young Ian Curtis or Mark E. Smith first clutched microphones and gave voice to the disenfranchised. The tradition lives on in the music of Mancunians Ghost Outfit, a pair whose visceral sound is among the latest to have caught our ear. Ghost Outfit announced recently the pending release of a debut full-length titled I Want You To Destroy Me, due June 24 on Salford-based SWAYS Records. Singer/guitarist Jack Hardman, and drummer Mike Benson proffer a churning, thick, no-wave-indebted take on UK indie rock and noise-pop, and lead single "Killuhs" opens with repetitive string bends and colossal, destructive tom hits. When Mr. Hardman's pleading vocals edge in to the mix, the increasingly moody tune begins to echo the desperation of frayed and emotional contemporaries such as Scotland's We Were Promised Jetpacks, shoegazing Danes Heaviness and the Czech Republic's The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa. It's here, too, that one first gets a sense of the precise attention to detail the band employs, despite its minimal set-up. Marvel in the cross-channel dimensions of Hardman's guitar tone, or the foreboding, over-dubbed whisper that accompanies his voice ever so briefly shortly past the minute mark. Thereafter, he manages a brief, faraway holler, before the song engulfs him with an instrumental groove that carries it through to its conclusion, uncontainable distortion sparking off in all directions. Ghost Outfit perform with such fresh conviction, and it's apparent the two live and breathe despondent rhythms and a thorny, de-tuned fever, an ideal soundtrack to all that is crumbling and soon to be missed. This reviewer can't recommend this album enough; I Want You To Destroy Me is available for pre-order now as an LP or CD (an LP purchase rates a CD, download and 10" x 10" art insert, as well) via Ghost Outfit's Big Cartel page right here. Stream the dynamite track "Killuhs" via the embed below. -- Edward Charlton

Today's Hotness: Lilys, Popstrangers, Burning Alms

>> Lilys is a Clicky Clicky All-Time Top Five Band, so we get very worked up when the nomadic act, led by chameleonic mastermind Kurt Heasley, gets around to releasing new music. And finally, after almost seven years, we've got some: here comes Lilys' meandering pop masterpiece "Well Traveled Is Protest," one side of a split single being released by Virginia's Speakertree Records Nov. 13. You may recall Speakertree as the outfit that released White Laces' excellent full-length debut Moves this past summer [review here]. "Well Traveled Is Protest" opens with a simple ascending acoustic guitar, not surprising as the most recent Lilys live appearances have just featured Mr. Heasley and an acoustic guitar. The song, however, quickly starts adding layers -- a chunky beat, solemn organ tones, backing vocals, backwards guitar lines, something that sounds like marimba, lyrical imagery that is both concrete and fractal at the same time. It's an arresting pop creation of the highest order, the sort of thing you'd expect Syd Barrett could have created if he had had his head a little more together. Sonically the tune rests comfortably within the canon of the band's mid- and late-period work, somewhere between, say, the completely insane sole major label record The Three-Way and the stoned slackness of Precollections. Here's hoping the single is a harbinger of much more new Lilys music to come, as Heasley's works are all treasures. Pre-orders for "Well Traveled Is Protest" b/w "Comb My Hair," a tune by Brooklyn's Big Troubles, are being taken at Speakertree's blog right here, so click over and buy right after you click play on the embed below of the Lilys tune.



>> We'll say it again: there’s just something about New Zealand and Australian-bred guitar pop that is so well-conceived and realized we suspect some secret magic must be at work. Or, perhaps, it's a unique regional psyche that accounts for the antipodeans' rich heritage of deft, twee hooks and scraggly guitar anthems? Regardless, the highly regarded label label Flying Nun has been doing their illustrious thing for more than three decades now, and one of its previous signees, Popstrangers, are poised to extend the legacy with the Feb. 26, 2013 release of the appropriately titled Antipodes, via Carpark. Based on the preview track "Heaven," Carpark's Todd Hyman (who Clicky Clicky will forever insist on referring to as "former Wendyfix drummer") is about to release a brilliant record. "Heaven" launches with a treble-kicking blast of unidentifiable electric noise, and then dives into chunky power pop palm-muting. Fronter Joel Flyger’s soft, emotion-laden vocals slink in and out of the verses' swing. Then comes a grand slam of a chorus, in which Mr. Flyger compellingly loops the first part of each line. It’s a dreamy, pleasingly disorienting moment, one that recalls American space cadets All Natural Lemon And Lime Flavors and its nasally melodic approach. "Heaven" is a certified psych-pop hit that plays up Popstrangers' Kiwi roots. The trio enjoyed a successful run of appearances at this month's CMJ New Music Seminar in New York, and we look forward to a chance to see them should they make it up to Boston the next time they hit The States. Keep an eye here for pre-order info. "Heaven" is embedded below, clear your schedule because it is all you'll want to listen to for days. -- Edward Charlton



>> Birmingham, England-based indie punk giants Calories are not exactly publicity hounds, despite making a couple of our favorite records of the last five years or so [this one, this one]. Our recollection is the band's last full-length, 2010's excellent Basic Nature, was promoted almost entirely with cryptic tumblr posts. So it should be little surprise that a new side project, apparently comprised of Calories guitarist and vocalist John Biggs and drummer Tom Whitfield, surfaced about two weeks ago with no announcement whatsoever. The project is called Burning Alms, and a Google search tells us little beyond the fact that the name is probably a reference to the 2004 Papa M singles and b-sides compilation Hole Of Burning Alms. Confusing the matter further is the fact that a message posted to a Facebook event page for Burning Alms' only second-ever gig states that "Burning Alms are now now 3/3 of Calories EXCITING!!!" Burning Alms made its live debut a week ago; its second show was Tuesday. The timing of all of this is curious, as Calories just last month came out of hibernation to issue into the inter-ether the barn-burning new track "Summer's Not." So what the hell is going on? Why do we have two bands with the same dudes in them each making awesome music, when we could just have one band containing the same dudes making awesome music. We don't know! But there are two excellent Burning Alms songs available now at Soundcloud, and we are especially taken with the most recent, a ballad titled "Run Straight On The Asphalt." Dig it below.

Muxtape No. 6: The Plans That Had To Fall Through

The weekend winds down at :: clicky clicky :: headquarters, but not before a new Muxtape has been posted for your listenification. Our thoughts, impressions, false memories and alleged recollections are below, and you can listen to the whole shebang right here.

1. Flaming Lips -- "Hit Me Like You Did The First Time" -- Hit To Death In The Future Head
(If you listen, this song has everything: piano, strings, slide guitar. And a provocative title to be sure, but at this stage in the band's career this was relatively tame, and the lyric makes it all innocent enough. Thrash is largely dialed back on this tune and what you have isn't an ode to masochism, just a whimsical, almost romantic request regarding those early days of a relationship. Or something. Flaming Lips gained acclaim at the end of the '90s, but more and more we believe people paid attention at the wrong end of the decade.)

2. Love As Laughter -- "I Am A Ghost" -- Laughter's Fifth
(We appreciate blunt declarative writing. This is one of the reasons we like legal writing. And of course the Wall Street Journal. Hell, it is the main reason we like Minor Threat's "Filler." This song is a far cry from "The Youth Are Plastic" and "Singing Sores," tracks from the band's debut in the mid-'90s. Here we have a scruffy, no-frills indie rocker with a great introduction -- a great set up for the ensuing bash n' pop. "I float throughout your house at parties." More people should be paying attention to Love As Laughter, whose sixth set is slated for release later this year.)

3. Karl Hendricks Trio -- "The Overweight Lovers" -- The Jerks Win Again
(We really wanted to post "The Summer Of Warm Beer," but the track -- from the same 2003 set -- is 13 minutes long and way over Muxtape's 10MB per track limit. But this song has its own substantial charms and presents a serviceable representation of the meandering electricity and riffage that characterizes this fine record.)

4. Lefty's Deceiver -- "Ex-Patriots" -- Cheats
(The final incarnation of Lefty's produced its most straightforward collection of songs. The lyrics on Cheats are compelling and particularly evocative, although the gut-level attack of early genius tracks like "H to Hg" is not left out either. It is hard to pick a favorite from Cheats, what with the hypnotic nostalgia of "Years And Years Ago," the affecting yearning of "East Coast Traffic." The chorus of this number provides us with the title of this Muxtape. The band reunited around last Thanksgiving for a single show and we missed it because we were out of town, which was disappointing. That said, there have only been a handful of shows that were as exciting as the record release party for the band's debut 45, which we did see, so we've got that going for us.)

5. Wendyfix -- "Over + Upward (Ridge)" -- King Size Demos
(A quick waltzer and a highlight of the esteemed and mostly unreleased discography of this erstwhile Evanston, Ill.-based trio. Particularly as the second verse rolls around the bass and guitar complement each other wonderfully in carrying the melody. Little idea what singer Ted Pauly is on about here, but we always thought it was something along the lines of construction equipment coming and leveling a nice place and replacing it with a newer, less nice place. "Powerless to stop progress..." and all that. Look for the video on YouTube.)

6. Luna -- "Sideshow By The Seashore" -- Live
(Originally on the self-titled EP whose cover took cues from the now largely forgotten soundtrack to the film "Kids." An EP we'd like to acquire in the popular compact disc format. Although the live set from which this track is taken is no slouch and has a whole lot of super tracks. We really like the lyric in here "all the comforting words provide no comfort." A sentiment that has been abstracted in countless other indie songs, here Wareham just comes out and says it.)

7. Lilys -- "Your Guest And Host" -- Eccsame The Photon Band
(A friend familiar with the early Lilys catalogue recently expressed some reservations about Eccsame The Photon Band, and we think this is too bad. The record is really a fully realized work of genius, not the least of which because of some uncompromising, spacey production. Although superlative songs certainly don't hurt, right? Few if any have presented a confidence-inspiring track list for this set, which includes a handful of interstitials. As such, every time we re-rip this CD (we're upgrading tracks to 192Kbps a bit at a time) the suggested track listing comes up slightly different. We ask this on the blog almost weekly, but when will someone figure out how to rescue the rights to the Lilys Spin Art catalogue from whatever bankruptcy-inspired purgatory contains it and offer up expanded reissues?)

8. Yo La Tengo -- "Tiny Birds" -- Summer Sun
(This record is relatively maligned within the Yo La Tengo canon, but there are actually quite a few tracks we come back to, particularly this one. Is McNew singing this one? We can't say his name any longer without thinking of the Danish band Mew and laughing, but that is another story altogether.)

9. Human Television -- "Look At Who You're Talking To" -- Look At Who You're Talking To
(Nice string arrangements here. Members of Human Television were part of one of the more recent iterations of Lilys. This track and the band's "In Front Of The House" share some lyrics, and we've always wondered which song came first. The latter tune is an upbeat indie popper, markedly different in tone from what is going on here. To quote John Bender in "The Breakfast Club," feeling bad feels pretty good.)

10. REM -- The Wrong Child -- Green
(Album track from the popular American alternative rock act Rapid Eye Movement, or something like that. The piano, twelve-string and strings do a good job of keeping the mandolin in check. Stipe's layered vocal is pretty affecting, particularly when he hits the chorus. We're not crazy about the soaring "okayyyyyyyyyy," but we expect that the lyric "I'm not supposed to be like this" resonated strongly with the late teen crowd when this set was released. It certainly did with us.)

11. Karate -- "What Is Sleep?" -- Karate
(Question number one on this Muxtape. We don't have any larger reason for including it here -- we're not suffering from insomnia or anything. We just think people have forgotten that the first few Karate records were filled with great songs. We saw Karate in 1997 before going to Europe back during the time when it was a four-piece act and they really tore it up. This number has arresting dynamics: the jarring breaks and the songwritery verses present a hard contrast; a love song you can rock out to; an indie power ballad. Not the mixtape-for-your-girlfriend slam dunk that "Today Or Tomorrow" is, but still a dynamite track.)

12. Eddyfink -- "Will I Get Through Today Without Being Kicked In The Knickers?"
(Question number two on this Muxtape. A hook-laden, jittery number from a now defunct act written for a compilation that celebrates a British telephonic information service. From what we recall you could either ring or text the service and it would provide an answer, for free or for a nominal fee. No matter. We love the paranoia of the title question -- not too mention the chorus's "I can't take this anymore" -- and we love thinking about what the person working the phones that day would think upon receiving such a question. The world view of the comically victimized makes for a very fertile set of parameters from a narrative standpoint. Surprisingly deft vocal harmonies for a rock band that isn't, you know, The Eagles, too.)

Today's Hotness: Wendyfix, Destroyer, Woods [UPDATED]

>> As you can see from the video above, Wendyfix-amania has taken firm hold at I Am Not Afraid Of You, resulting in the YouTubalization of the extant music videos for the defunct mid-'90s indie rock trio. The clip supra is for the track "Swinging Softly" and features nice performance footage -- well, staged performance footage, but still, it's all we've got -- of the act within a concept piece (the concept of which we've never quite fully grasped). The payoff shot of the cardboard figures rotating on the turntable and their shadows stretching across the ceiling steals the show. In fact, we would have liked to have seen more of that in the clip. Once you've watched "Swinging Softly," you can hit this link to view the video for "Pillowhead." Formerly this one was only available via Yahoo's Launch.com. Given the cuts that are going on in the Yahoo Music franchise of late it was probably high time to get "Pillowhead" available on a different channel. One mystery remains: what is the alleged third Wendyfix video? We'll just have to wait and see. UPDATE: Well, we didn't have to wait long, as the RSS reader just bubbled up the final video for the tune "Ridge." Check it out here.

>> As Mr. 'Nac also noted here in his Friday Music Miscellany, a Boston (well, Boston-ish) tour stop for Destroyer has finally been set. Dan Bejar and his cohorts will play The Middle East in Cambridge April 21. And speaking of Merge acts and the Middle East, new signees Wye Oak, who we wrote about here last month, will perform at the club Friday, Feb. 22. With big shows from Ringo Deathstarr, Say Hi and Evangelicals the following week, we're not sure if we've the stamina to add a fourth to our slate, but we're strongly considering. Wye Oak's Merge debut streets April 8; Destroyer's Trouble In Dreams will be in stores next month.

>> Meneguar's creepier, folksier side-project Woods launch a rare strand of tour dates next month to support the forthcoming release of Woods Family Creeps. Woods counts among its numbers Jeremy and Christian from Meneguar, and its touring unit also includes Meneguar's Jarvis Taverniere. Woods Family Creeps will be issued by Portland, ME-based Time Lag Records, although we could not find a release date anywhere. Confirmed tour dates are listed at Woods' MySpace lean-to here. Speaking of Meneguar, a review of the FuckItTapes and Woodsist web pages reveals a listing for a forthcoming LP titled The In Hour to be released as Woodsist 013. No release date was immediately discernible for that, either.

Today's Hotness: Johnny Foreigner, Wendyfix, The Replacements

>> Indie rock superheroes Johnny Foreigner have revealed the title to their forthcoming full-length debut. Waited Up 'Til It Was Light will be released this spring on Best Before Records. The release will be preceded March 10 by the single "Our Bipolar Friends" b/w "The Houseparty Scene Is Killing You," as we reported here previously. If our almost wall-to-wall Johnny Foreigner coverage over the last year isn't enough to convince you, then let us speak plainly: this record will be a phenomenon. The other exciting piece of news is that the Birmingham, England-based trio has posted a track from the new set at its MySpace drive-thru here. It is called "Salt, Pepa and Spindarella," and it is a monster. Largely driven by synth pulses and boxy drumming across taut, daisy-chained verses, the rhythm hypnotizes. And then, at two minutes and six seconds... big, giant walls of face-melting guitar, a mile high and a mile wide. It is utter brilliance. Stop reading this and go listen now.

Johnny Foreigner -- "Salt, Pepa and Spindarella" [Stream] -- Waited Up 'Til It Was Light

>> The Internets sometimes make it so easy for indie rockers. Hot on the heels of our posting the band's only proper release here last week, former Haywood fronter Ted Pauly has posted the entire, roundly excellent discography of his old band Wendyfix at his blog. Those of us who were fans when Wendyfix was actually an operating band had to beg to dub the recordings from cassette to cassette, then listen to them on cassette for the years to the point of cassette degradation, at which time we had to beg for digital versions of the recordings. But now, today, all that is Wendyfix is just there for the taking, nicely collected and tied up with a bow, right here. Mr. Pauly has bestowed the title Building Microphones & Megaphones: Everything Ever, 1992-1995 upon the collection. The running order differs from the straight discographical order of the King Size Demos (which we first wrote about here three years ago, having first written about Wendyfix here four years ago), for the four or five of you out there in possession of them. On the upside, the absolutely indispensable "Pillowhead" is included in the collection. So, Wendyfix newbies, you are about to learn the simple pleasure of the buzzsaw distortion that drives the Brian McGrath-sung, now-title track "Microphones & Megaphones," the boundless bummer of "Pillowhead." These are magic times we live in. We're posting below the aforementioned title cut to maximize the possibility you'll hear that delicious distortion.

Wendyfix -- "Microphones & Megaphones" -- Building Microphones & Megaphones: Everything Ever, 1992-1995
[right click and save as]

>> We had intended to write about the long-awaited and much anticipated Replacements reissues last night, but we suppose there was just one distraction too many. The long and the short of it is that one-time manager Peter Jesperson has helmed the reissues of the Twin-Tone material, which has been respectably expanded with rarities and which will be released by Rhino April 22. You can bet we will make the lunchtime run across the street to Newbury Comics that day. The Sire Records releases are also being expanded and are to be reissued in October. This is all very exciting, although as we quipped to the 'Noizers over email today, we had finally broken down and completed our collection of used CD versions of all the albums just last month only to discover now that the reissues are coming. Oh well. Full details are located in this Man Without Ties blog post, this Billboard piece and this Pfork item.

>> This sort of x's and o's journalism stuff still catches our eye. Pun Canoes publishes an item about a new The Clash documentary (we already own four -- how many more does the world need?) here yesterday at 9PM. This afternoon Billboard publishes an article here reporting the same thing online and claims the item is an exclusive. Weird. Billboard must not have Pun Canoes in its RSS reader.

Today's Hotness: Say Hi, Wendyfix, Gang Of Four, Meneguar

>> Songwriter and hopeless romantic Eric Elbogen returns this month with his fifth record under the Say Hi To Your Mom moniker. Well, sort of... as we reported here last August, the band has truncated its name to the breezier Say Hi to correspond with the issue of the new set The Wishes And The Glitch Tuesday on the Euphobia label. Ever since the release of the sophomore set Numbers & Mumbles Say Hi could be counted on for one undeniable indie anthem. In 2004 that track was the minorly ubiquitous yearner "Let's Talk About Spaceships." In 2008, it's "Zero To Love." We admit some small concern that Elbogen might not keep his streak of undeniable tracks alive with The Wishes And The Glitch, because the first preview track floated, "Northwestern Girls," was certainly good but seemed to fall slightly shy of great. Well fear not, for the punchy, unsteady and hand-clap-arific "Zero To Love" leaves no doubt. Every time Elbogen sings "this new heart of mine" the whole room seems to bend, and we are surprised to detect for the first time a hint of Morrissey's peanut butter in Mr. Elbogen's chocolate. The Wishes And The Glitch is the first record Say Hi has released since moving from long-time home Brooklyn to Seattle, and the move seems to have facilitated the notable vocal contributions of David Bazan and The Long Winters' John Roderick on the record. Say Hi begins an extensive, six-week North American tour Feb. 16. The band plays Great Scott in Boston March 1, and we'll review the show, schedule-permitting.

Say Hi -- "Zero To Love" -- The Wishes And The Glitch
Say Hi To Your Mom -- "Let's Talk About Spaceships" -- Numbers & Mumbles
[right click and save as]
[buy Say Hi records directly from the band here]

>> We've been getting an unusually great number of search hits recently for underfamed, Evanston, Ill.-based '90s indie rock trio Wendyfix, and we thought such interest presented a good opportunity to post the songs from the band's sole single. "Slow" b/w "Silence" was the maiden release of the Spade Kitty label, and it streeted in 1995. The band was fronted by Haywood's Ted Pauly, who we write about here often (and who, incidentally, is also a proponent of Say Hi), and Brian McGrath, who we'd certainly like to write about more; McGrath's (presumably most recent) project Mantissa released a very nice full-length in 2003 [review here] and we've heard nothing from him since. Anyway, Mr. Pauly sings the single's A-side, an urgently sad confessional ("OK, this one's for your birthday, I was wrong...") that bristles with hooks. McGrath's monolithic "Silence" on the flip gradually builds to a cathartic climax during which mostly inaudible vocals finally break through the guitar fuzz. Both songs are posted below. A quick search of the Internets reveals that Spade Kitty continues to conduct business and even launched a new web site a couple years ago. Mr. Pauly, as regular readers know, continues to churn out high-quality music as a solo artist. We failed to mentioned Wendyfix drummer Todd Hyman, who continues to operate labels including the wonderfully eclectic Carpark (Beach House, Ecstatic Sunshine, Montag). There is a very good profile of Carpark and Mr. Hyman here at Terrorbird.

Wendyfix -- "Slow" -- "Slow" b/w "Silence" [SK-001]
Wendyfix -- "Silence" -- "Slow" b/w "Silence" [SK-001]
[right click and save as]
[the newest iteration of the Spade Kitty site doesn't sell this. Try Ebay?]

>> There's an interesting fact buried in this Billboard story about reborn post-punk legends Gang Of Four's efforts at creating its first new music in 15 years. Four paragraphs down the piece imparts that original Gang Of Four drummer Hugo Burnham -- who we believe has taught in Boston for many years -- is not involved in tracking for the recording sessions due to an undisclosed health issue. Bassist Dave Allen tells Billboard "Hugo's still involved in some ways, but it's a very personal issue that will be discussed at a later date." Allen has been regularly releasing demo songs via his blog Pampelmoose, and we must admit not noticing any change in drumming. Despite releasing the re-envisioned hits collection of sorts Return The Gift on V2 in 2005 [buy it here for $9], Gang Of Four is currently without a label deal. The band plans to experiment with different distribution ideas, telling Billboard "[w]e might be releasing the first single or four songs for free on the Internet, or on vinyl, or both, and just see what the marketplace is like."

>> We're grateful to blog Raven Sings The Blues for sussing out here what exactly is up with the new Meneguar song "Some Other Life," and the FuckItTapes releases. We're still not clear on is whether the Tone Banks releases were the recordings the band said last year would be released as one-sided 12" on Woodsist. But either way, there's new music, it sounds great, and that excites us. We'd seen the song and visited the FuckIt site a week or two ago, but we couldn't dig up anything definitive about what is going on. We're also not sure whether the new Meneguar tune "Fields Of Gaffney," also available at the band's MySpace drive-thru, is an actual cover of a song by the eccentric two-time bassist of Sebadoh whose solo project had the same name, or if it is an homage of sorts. Either way, it is one of the most interesting Meneguar recordings ever. The biggest question is, will there be a proper vinyl or CD issue of these new tracks? Meneguar's Strangers In Our House topped our list of favorite records of 2007, which you can review here. Finally, the Brooklyn-based quartet has two live dates on the books for March, one in its hometown and the other at the fabled Terrace Club at Princeton University. Hit the MySpace link supra for more info.

Lost In The '90s: An Imeem Playlist

A friend and digital music veteran recently left one of the most successful digital music enterprises to take a position with social music play Imeem, so we thought we'd best give it more than the cursory once-over we'd made earlier this year. While we don't think the user interface has achieved perfection yet, it is hard to beat the functionality it provides, at least for music bloggers. The embeddable player is not terrible to look at, seems to buffer streams exceptionally well and has very nice sound quality for audio playback. So earlier today we uploaded a bunch of odds and sods from the '90s, many taken from Purderous Magina Records first cassette compilation La Affection / Affection. Many of the bands featured include the same players, which is one thread that ties things together. And then there are a couple random tracks. And since we went to the trouble of creating the playlist for the purposes of feeling out the Imeem service a little more, here it is.