Coming To Your Local Bandstand: Measle Mumps Rubella

We don't remember where, but in recent days we read a critic, or at least an aspiring critic, take issue with the name of the band Measles Mumps Rubella. Way to engage the material, buddy. Material which, as it turns out, is well worth the attention. Straddling elements of contemporary dance-punk and classic darkwave, MMR's debut full length Fantastic Success is full of tunes that strain with the push of sonic exploration and the pull of propulsive rhythm. It makes for a pretty gripping listen. And you can hear the band do its thing live in the coming weeks as it treks toward and then away from the annual South By Southwest music industry conference that most every one won't shut up about. For those of you not situated near a highway connecting New York and Austin, the band has more dates in May. Check 'em all out below.

03/11 -- DC9 -- Washington, DC
03/12 -- Wetlands Dancehall -- Chapel Hill, NC
03/13 -- Drunken Unicorn -- Atlanta, GA
03/14 -- Whitewater Tavern -- Little Rock, AR
03/15 -- TBA -- Austin, TX
03/16 -- Velvet SpadePatio -- Austin, TX
03/17 -- Lennys Fucked Up Dance Party -- Atlanta, GA
03/18 -- TBA -- Greenville, SC
03/19 -- Haus Party -- Charlottesville, VA

04/02 -- Cake Shop -- New York, NY

05/02 -- Great Scott -- Boston, MA
05/04 -- Ground Zero -- Troy, NY
05/05 -- Over The Top Festival -- Toronto, CA
05/06 -- CAID -- Detroit, MI
05/07 -- DAAC -- Lansing, MI
05/09 -- Empty Bottle -- Chicago, IL
05/11 -- TBA -- Pittsburg, PA
05/12 -- TBA -- Philadelphia, PA

Rack And Opinion: Release Date 3.7.06

This is another one of those big weeks, music fans. It marks returns by some of the biggest acts in indiedom: Stereolab, Mogwai, Buzzcocks. And of course there's the debut from Witch, which is J. Mascis in an old-new package cracking the skins for a newish stoner rock act. The slam dunk this week may actually come from electroclashers Goldfrapp, whose excellent record has even made a convert out of Madge, if a current article at the RollingStone.com web site is to be believed. What the hell, we'll beleive it. We listened to the record yesterday along with the Mogwai and Stereolab joints and thought it was really solid. All of these titles and the rest of our picks for your weekly shopping trip are listed below. Links go to relevant commercial opportunities with our old camp counselors over at Insound. Spend spend spend!

Buzzcocks -- Flat-Pack Philosophy -- Cooking Vinyl
The Duke Spirit -- Cuts Across the Land -- StarTime International
Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid -- The Exchange Sessions Vol. 1 -- Domino
Glenn Kotche -- Mobile -- Nonesuch
Goldfrapp -- Supernature -- Mute
Mogwai -- Mr. Beast -- Matador
Stereolab -- Fab Four Suture -- Too Pure
Witch -- Witch -- Tee Pee

!Exclusive! The Get Quick | Unreleased MP3s

Last week's mail brought something exciting: two discs of unreleased recordings by Philadelphia's The Get Quick. When listening to the power pop act's debut How The Story Goes last fall we noted that the track "Happy" faded out just as it was getting crazy. It fades back in at the end of album closer "Here She Comes," but we couldn't help but wonder what sort of mayhem we were missing by having the track bifurcated like that. You know all the good stuff Nixon said was in those mysterious blank spots in the audio tapes of his Oval Office recordings, and we couldn't help feeling that some of the best parts of "Happy" might be similarly lost to history. Well, we've known The Get Quick's Erik Evol for a goodly while, so we hit him up to fish for an alternate mix or two. Imagine our excitement when we finally received the motherlode last week.

How The Story Goes stands out as a particularly glossy outing for Evol and band. With producer Mike Musmanno [Outkast, Lilys] onboard for the project, label Rainbow Quartz was looking to get something that sounded, you know, produced. As a result of that and some decisions by the band intended to make Story stand out among the Rainbow Quartz catalog, many of The Get Quick's rougher edges were left out of the final mixes. That's not the case with the dozens of demos Evol sent along. The act's pilled-up, dangerous side is front and center in the careening rocker "It's All Right Now," which we are able to offer you here exclusively. In addition we're also proffering "Out Of Time," a number recorded for How The Story Goes that was left off the final sequencing for the record. These will only be up for a week, so get 'em while they're hot. We're saving a few other choice cuts of a different conceptual stripe (think synths!) for a post over at Two And A 1/2 Pounds Of Bacon, so keep your eyes open over there in the next week or so, too.

The Get Quick -- "It's All Right Now" -- Unreleased
The Get Quick -- "Out Of Time" -- Unreleased How The Story Goes outtake

[buy How The Story Goes from Insound]

Free Range Music: Stereolab, Mogwai, Goldfrapp

AOL Music has the hook-up for full-album streams for records including the new Stereolab, Mogwai, Goldfrapp, Nightmares On Wax, Coldcut and Thievery Corporation joints. The first three are fairly crucial listens for the week, and we've got links to all the goody goods below.

>> Stereolab: Fab Four Sutures. Six old and six new tunes. Sufficiently and typically blissful, busy and groovy. That the band has been so consistently good for so long, and sometimes exceptional (Dots And Loops, in our humble opinion), is quite an accomplishment.

>> Mogwai : Mr. Beast. Definitely check out the track "Travel Is Dangerous," its our favorite track the band has done since it released the epic "My Father, My King," although it's an altogether different, uh, beast.

>> Goldfrapp: Supernature. Gets particularly good in the middle third, where the songs aren't as clunkily rhythmic as the opening stretch, before heading into area that can only be described as downright dreamy and Yaz-tastic during "Time Out From The World" and "Number One." The set concludes with the slamming marcher "Beautiful."

>> Also: Nightmares On Wax; Coldcut; Thievery Corporation.

Today's Hotness: Sonic Youth, Eazy E

>> Pfork had an exlusive on news today that Sonic Youth's next record will street on June 6, which also happens to be the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year (think number of The Beast, people). The band is expected to support the set via a tour with the Flaming Lips. In other Sonics or at least Sonics-related news, Thurston Moore has inked a deal to distro his eclectic label Ecstatic Peace's music through corporate megalith Universal's Fontana distribution arm. Moore also will be working with Universal proper to develop artists and release their records. Here's the link.

>> We hope everyone recognizes the Eazy E homage in the Natalie Portman gangsta rapper clip that has been blowing up on the Internets since it aired on Saturday night. Here's some discussion and a link to the clip at BoingBoing. If memory serves, there is some direct and paraphrased lifting from the N.W.A. classic "Gangsta, Gangsta." [UPDATE: BoingBoing asserts the Portman jam refers to Eazy E's "No More Questions," some cat at Stereogum's comments hears Sir Mix-A-Lot].

Free Range Music: Acid House Kings, The Crystal Method

>> Stockholm's Labrador label and electropoppers Acid House Kings want everyone to give props to Don Lennon, whose fey indie pop is laced with undercurrents of irony and humor. Download "Party Coordinator" from Lennon's 1997 set Maniac [link -- right click and save as]. And, as luck would have it, Labrador is also promoting Acid House Kings' new "karaoke cover EP" Everyone Sings Along With Acid House Kings. You can download the twee rump shaker "Tonight Is Forever" featuring Mr. Lennon on vocals here [right click and save as].

>> "7th Heaven" and electronica fans perhaps for the first time have something in common over which to rejoice. Techno act The Crystal Method has soundtracked the Jessica Biels-starrer "London," and you can stream the entire set at this link. So why don't you? The soundtrack streeted last month. If you develop a particular affinity for the track "The Glass Breaker," or even if you don't, you can download it here [right click and save as].

Today's Hotness: Portastatic, Nightmares On Wax, Colleen

>> Merge confirms that Portastatic will issue a new record, Who Loves The Sun, June 6. The CD is the instrumental soundtrack to a Canadian film of the same name. Portastatic, the secondary vehicle of Superchunk's Mac Macaughan and friends, has previously contributed music to films including "Looking For Leonard."

>> Warp Records is promoting the forthcoming Nightmares On Wax record In A Space Outta Sound with a dressed-up version of the Tetris game. Hit this link and play along -- each level of the game apparently features a different new NOW track. The trip-hop act's record streets April 20. If you buy it from Warpmart the record comes with free custom "cigarette" rolling papers -- quote are theirs, not ours.

>> Speaking of Warpmart, it's got details of a new release from everyone electronic music fan's favorite French schoolteacher Cecile Schott, a/k/a Colleen. Her latest record is part of Staaplaat's Mort Aux Vaches limited edition series. No, we don't really no what those words mean either. The set is purportedly different from her earlier records on Leaf because it is based on her live performances. It was recorded in the VPRO studios in Holland in 2004 and documents Colleen material played live between 2002 and 2004. More details here. While you're there, hit this link for info about a new LP from London-based electronic luminary Vessel, whose earlier work on Expanding Records we like a lot.

>> Some more news coming out of The Mobius Band camp. The trio has two cuts on a forthcoming Ghostly International compilation, Idol Tryouts Two, which streets March 21. The first track is "Electric Piano," which was recorded at the same time as the material for the band's 2005 long-player The Loving Sounds Of Static. The second track is a remix of that record's title track by Junior Boys. You can stream both cuts here. The band is also making a video for "The Loving Sounds Of Static," and a preview of the clip is at the Mobius Band MySpace cabin here.