Today's Hotness: Psapp, Sixty Five Roses, Four Tet...

>> Brooklyn Vegan is the first I've seen to point out that electro-twee duo Psapp will release a new set called The Only Thing I Ever Wanted May 22 on Domino. There are two new cuts posted at the U.K.-based act's MySpace casa here. One, titled "Tricycle," will be issued as a vinyl single in mid-April. Another Psapp cut posted at theirSpace is "Cosy In The Rocket," the theme song to the TV surgery 'n' sex drama "Grey's Anatomy."

>> Red Eye Distro and something called The Splinter Group will issue March 21 a comp to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The record, called Songs For Sixty Five Roses, includes Two Dollar Pistols covering Superchunk's "Driveway to Driveway," a guy from 7 Mary Three covering the 'chunk's "Mower" and Portastatic covering Ryan Adams' "Oh My Sweet Carolina." Chief Crooked Finger/former arch Archer Eric Bachmann appears on the record as do Carolina notables Tift Merritt, Caitlin Cary and others. More info right here.

>> Domino wants you to know that Four Tet's Kieran Hebden has recorded two improvisations with drumming legend Steve Reid, who in the course of his career has pounded skins for legends like Martha and The Vandellas, Miles Davis, Fela Kuti and James Brown. The pieces are being released as The Exchange Sessions Vol. 1 & Vol. 2. Vol. 1 streets Feb. 27 and Vol. 2 is tentatively slated to drop later this year. More info at this link.

>> Astralwerks has posted a video for The Concretes new track "Chosen One," which is the first U.K. single for the forthcoming record In Colour that streets in U.S. April 4. The video concept reminds me of that old Tears For Fears video for "Sowing The Seeds Of Love." Anyway, here is a hi-fi Real link for the video, and here is a hi-fi WM link. Incidentally, Astralwerks also has videos up for chanteuse Beth Orton's new song "Conceived" [Hi-fi Real link. Hi-fi WM link] and for The Juan Maclean's "Less Than Human" [Hi-fi Real link. Hi-fi WM link].

>> You can't turn around without seeing the leaked Guns 'N' Roses stuff on the Internets. I've heard it, and it is not good. It sounds like Axl heard that lame '90s band Stabbing Westward and thought they were the future of music. Damn...

Review: Aloha | Some Echoes

Aloha's fourth full-length Some Echoes thrives on understated tension emphasized by persistent marimbas, thoughtful guitar and deft drumming. The geographically challenged, nine-year-old quartet converged on Arlington, VA to track the 10-song set, which continues down the somewhat more pop-oriented course the band has charted for itself since 2004's fantastically titled Here Comes Everyone. Traces of the act's prog-leaning, Genesis-reminiscent flavors found on 2002's Sugar still persist, but Aloha is starting to cop from the other dial and bleed into the sort of '70s AM sounds the Flaming Lips currently embrace. In fact, Aloha singer Tony Cavallario's voice sounds very similar to Wayne Coyne's on Some Echoes' stirring ballad "Ice Storming." Some Echoes streets April 11 on Polyvinyl, and the band will tour to support it throughout much of March and April. You can find two tracks from the forthcoming record at Aloha's MySpace pup tent. The first is the stutter-stepping "Your Eyes," which you can download, and the second is the absolute best jam on the album, "Weekend." Incidentally, this latter track reminds us of The Cab of Death's high-quality indie rocker "For What Reason," which was on 2000's We Have The Facts And We're Voting Yes.

03/08 -- Buffalo, NY -- Kitchen Distribution
03/09 -- Cleveland, OH -- Grog Shop
03/10 -- Lansing, MI -- Mac's Bar
03/11 -- Chicago, IL -- Hideout
03/12 -- Columbia, MO -- MOJO
03/13 -- Oklahoma City, OK -- The One Fourteen
03/14 -- Dallas, TX -- Gypsy Tea Room
03/15 -- Austin, TX -- Emo's Jr.
03/16 -- Austin, TX -- The Parrish
03/17 -- San Antonio, TX -- Blacklion
03/18 -- Houston, TX -- Walters
03/19 -- Little Rock, AR -- Vino's
03/22 -- Columbus, OH -- The High Five
03/23 -- Pittsburgh, PA -- Garfield Artworks
04/08 -- Harrisonburg, VA -- Macrock
04/09 -- Washington, DC -- Warehouse Next Door
04/10 -- New York, NY -- Mercury Lounge w/ Voxtrot
04/11 -- Buffalo, NY -- Mohawk Place
04/12 -- Cambridge, MA -- The Middle East
04/13 -- Cromwell, CT -- Cromwell Knights Of Columbus
04/17 -- Wilmington, NC -- The Soapbox
04/21 -- Gainesville, FL -- Common Grounds
04/24 -- Athens, GA -- Caledonia Lounge

Seriously Sweden, Stop Being Awesome, or In Re: Aerospace

I was minding my own business late last month shopping for the recent Hisoft EP over at Darla when I was confronted with the fact that ordering only the EP didn't meet the $10 minimum the online storefront requires. So I browsed a bit and ended up deciding to try out, unheard and unseen, the 2001 debut of Swedish quintet Aerospace. As it turns out Aerospace is bitchin,' in its own cardigan-and-glasses sort of way. The act renders glistening, sugary and guitar-focused indie pop with a twee bent. You're not going to hear anything on their debut The Bright Idea Called Soul that you've never heard before, unless you are only 12 or didn't listen to any music between 1993 and 1995, but everything you'll hear is riveting and unabashedly melodic. If you dig stuff like Crayon or All About Chad or early Small Factory or really, any denser, more rockin' twee stuff, you need to check this out, if you are as far behind the Aerospace curve as I have been. Labrador has an MP3 of the track "The Only Things We Share" from Bright Idea right here. It's not my favorite cut from the record, but hey, are you going to turn down free Swedish indie pop? I didn't think so.

That is all.

"Now repeat after me: is it for this I have hunted?" -- Destroyer

So there's been a change of plans, droogies. After a bit of soul searching I've decided to return to clicky clicky and make it my primary vehicle for writing about music. I will continue my nascent tenure MP3 blogging with the Two and a 1/2 Pounds of Bacon crew, but I've decided that after more than three-and-a-half years, 104 reviews and features and more than 360 blog posts, it's time to try going about this in different ways. For a look back at my writing tenure at Junkmedia, this link will give you a list of all the reviews I've penned for them since July 2002.

For those of you familiar with my work at Junkmedia's World of Sound blog, you already know what you can expect in this space going forward: music news, reviews and opinion, just like it says up there at the top of the page.

That is all.

"I keep busy baby, I keep bizz-ayyyyy." - Tim Fite

Just a quick note to say I'm doing the MP3 blog thing over at Two and a 1/2 Pounds of Bacon. I think my first post is going to have a little KF in it.

This space will be reserved for bulletins of a personal nature such as this. As always, my primary online homes right now are Junkmedia's World of Sound blog (where I will soon have a lot of company once the JM06 redesign is executed) and at my MySpace dojo.

That is all.

"Everyone knows everything..." - Lilys

So just an update on the Junkmedia situation, in case you read the last post about it being down. We're back up and running, and I've been blogging since the 16th. The larger Junkmedia publication is likely going to be overhauled with the blog as its main focus which is cool. No telling when that will happen, but hopefully the laundry list of technical improvements (searchability, RSS feed, etc.) will be enacted during that process. Oh yeah, one more thing: Junkmedia's email is still offline as a result of the underlying technical issues (malicious infiltration of the back end of the site via the old JM message boards, which I guess were still lurking on in the background of the site). So if you have found your way here and want to speak to me regarding World of Sound business, please email me at worldofsound at gmail dot com.

"Don't stop, that's enough..." - Latimer

UPDATED 1/9 11PM [See below]: We've got no idea why Junkmedia is down this weekend, and can't get any answers out of our bosses. We'll update this space once we get some answers. We hope that we have just been inadvertently left out of the loop, and that nothing more serious is going down. We've written a few reviews that have yet to be published on the wider Junkmedia publication, and obviously we still have all the usual pots on burners for the World of Sound blog waiting for our access to the JM publishing tools to be re-established. One issue: our access to the jay (at) junkmedia (dot) org and tips (at) junkmedia (dot) org email account has also been compromised this weekend. If you need to get a hold of us and have found your way here, go over to our MySpace page and send us a message from there.

[UPDATE] Brief word from Junkmedia HQ that the issue has something to do with the hosting company, or at least that is how far the problem had been traced by the bossman, who is reportedly away on business this week. No telling when Junkmedia or World of Sound will be back online. More bulletins as events warrant.