Be Prepared: Calories | Basic Nature | 13 September

Sophomore full-length from the other greatest trio out of Birmingham, England. The 15-track Basic Nature will be issued by Tough Love Records in the U.K. Sept. 13. Pre-order the set here. The exciting, surprisingly groovy (in the motorik sense, that) new song "The Brink," presumably taken from the forthcoming collection, has recently begun streaming at Calories' MySpace dojo right here. We've never learned exactly what happened, but the three-piece's sophomore set was initially to be called Habitations and was expected to be released on Smalltown America in March of this year; that never happened. Tough Love released a Calories/William split earlier this year containing the Calories track "The Mortal Boys."

Today's Hotness: Calories, William, Lali Puna, A Weather

>> Readers will recall that earlier this month we expressed excitement at the prospect of a forthcoming Tough Love Records split single featuring Calories and William. Well, DrownedInSound got the hook-up from the label and is hosting streams and downloads of two of the four tracks on the single, namely Calories' "The Mortal Boys" and William's "Lustreless." Unsurprisingly, these tracks are awesome. "The Mortal Boys" is a typically anthemic shout-along with Birmingham, England-based Calories, and while the band has yet to alter its formula too much we can't see ourselves tiring of it soon. William, as we stated in the earlier post, is new to us, and while we don't necessarily find the referential equation (D. Boon + straightedge + Stinsons) completely accurate, we still like very much what William is doing here (clattering drums, splayed out guitar squawl, desperate vocals). Due once again to the magic of SoundCloud, we are posting the streams below. And in case you are not familiar with the SoundCloud interface, you are able to download the tracks as MP3s if you click on the downward-pointing arrow icon at right. The split single will be released Feb. 15 (and ship two weeks prior) in a hand-numbered, limited edition of 500 in white vinyl packaged with a 'zine and download codes. You want this. It wants you. Buy Buy Buy.

Calories -- "The Mortal Boys"

William -- "Lustreless"

>> Another follow-up to an earlier item: after anticipating it for more than a year, perhaps more than two years, we were thrilled to see the news of Lali Puna's next record. Our Inventions is out April 6 on Morr Music, and we've been digesting the record for a couple weeks already. The set is something of a return to the band's minimal and electronic roots, as the foregrounded guitars of Faking The Books are largely whack-a-moled back into the mix for the new collection. The first promo track from Our Inventions evidences this, and now that we think about it most of the guitar therein is actually bass. The midtempo toe-tapper pairs fronter Valerie Trebeljahr's voice with partner Micha Acher's, but it is largely electronics in the fore that drive the track. Fans will find that Lali Puna's skill at crafting pretty and affecting electropop has not diminished during the band's five year absence. Dig the MP3.

Lali Puna -- "Remember" -- Our Inventions
[right click and save as]
[buy Lali Puna records from Morr Music right here]

>> Word from Portland, Ore.-based slow-core standouts A Weather is that Magnet Magazine will debut an MP3 from the band's forthcoming sophomore set tomorrow Tuesday. The quintet is slated to released Everyday Balloons March 2 on Team Love, as we reported here in December. A Weather's debut Cove has been lauded in this publication a number of times; most recently we named it one of the best albums of the last decade here.

Today's Hotness: Red Pens, Calories, The Labor Daze

>> Delightful Minneapolis-based noise pop duo Red Pens have it, and they are about to share it, and it is great. The act's full-length debut Reasons has a high anthem quotient and is packed with fizzing pop songs constructed out of drums, guitar and vocals. And then the whole shebang is swathed in dense, "Sister Ray"-ish fuzz. And while using The Velvet Underground as a reference point these days has sort of lost all meaning (ditto for Sonic Youth and The Beatles: virtually meaningless, people), it isn't entirely off-base either. Red Pens' limited personnel -- the band is guitarist and lead vocalist Howard W. Hamilton III and drummer Laura Bennett -- imbues its songs with the sort of primitive vibe of certain Velvets material. A fleshy embrace of grimy distortion, smart vocals and blissful melodies also recalls The Manhattan Love Suicides, for those of you hip to the now sadly defunct Leeds noiseniks. Album opener "Hung Out" is a clear winner, and we're sharing the track below. We also highly recommend the brooder "Weekends," which is slotted midway through the record and touts a big dynamic chorus. Reasons will be issued by Grain Belt Records Feb. 18; it appears the set was previously released in one form or another Sept. 15, 2009.

Red Pens -- "Hung Out" -- Reasons
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[buy Reasons from Grain Belt Records right here]

>> A helpful commenter points us to pre-order information for the forthcoming split single from Calories and William, which is slated for release Feb. 8. As big Calories fans, and as especially big fans of the Birmingham, England indie rock trio's tune "Drink The Potion," it is their side of the single we are primarily excited about. In addition to "Drink The Potion," Calories' plane also includes the track "Mortal Boys;" William's tunes are "Dilettante" and "Lustreless." The split is being issued by Tough Love in a limited edition of 500, and it is apparently the label's second in a series of double A-sided singles. According to the Piccadilly Records pre-order page for the single, William apparently sounds like 1/3 D. Boon, 1/3 straightedge and 1/3 Stinson brothers, which sounds incredibly enticing to us. Pre-order the single here.

>> Peppy, North Jersey-based indie foursome The Labor Daze is the latest act to send us a surprisingly good unsolicited submission. The band's five song Laika EP overcomes opaque production with solid songwriting somewhat reminiscent of the now sadly defunct, Michigan-based indie pop geniuses Rain Is Wet. Laika succeeds with its earlier, scritchier tunes "Introduction" and "Whitebread Standard," but slumps a bit when The Labor Daze delves into the heavier riffage elsewhere. It's probably too early in the band's career for it to have fixed on a signature sound, so it is anybody's guess whether the lighter pop will triumph over the cockier material in the long run; more optimistically, perhaps The Labor Daze will find an exciting way to meld the two. No matter, there are some nice moments on the EP, and the entire thing can be downloaded via a link at the band's MySpace dojo. We're posting "Whitebread Standard" below.

The Labor Daze -- "Whitebread Standard" -- Laika EP
[.M4A file; right click and save as]
[download the entire EP via the band's MySpace]