Today's Hotness: Women, Superchunk, The Hush Now

[Women at Urban Outfitters Back Lot 3/19/09 during SXSW 2009. Photo by Michael Piantigini]
>> The impressive self-titled debut by Calgary's Women pulled off the difficult and rare trick of taking some easily recognizable influences and spinning them into a sound uniquely the band's own. The new track from their upcoming, second long player, Public Strain (due 9/28/10 on Jagjaguwar), continues in this vein. Hooky, with a Spector-esque wall of sound reverb, "Eyesore" continues Women's apparent quest to redirect the rock lineage of the Velvet Underground back on itself. Or something. -- Michael Piantigini

Women -- "Eyesore" -- Public Strain
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[buy Public Strain from Jagjaguwar right here]

>> For a few, brief shining moments/hours yesterday, indie icons Superchunk were previewing their almost-decade-in-the-making new album, Majesty Shredding, at the Merge Records site. First background-at-work listen sounded good to us, though being already familiar with a couple of tracks -- "Learned To Surf" and "Crossed Wires" graced last year's EP and 7", respectively -- made those stand out the most. If I'd known that Superchunk were just teasing, I'd have paid more attention! They've helped us out a bit, though, by Tweeting a link to a download of the new album's opener, "Digging For Something," which also exists as the A-side of a new 7-incher that is apparently available in limited numbers in record stores (I couldn't find one!) and on the band's upcoming tour, which hits Royale in Boston with openers Versus on September 21st. Jay recently pined for next month's reissues of On The Mouth and No Pocky For Kitty right here. - Michael Piantigini

Superchunk -- "Digging For Something" -- Majesty Shredding
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[pre-order Majesty Shredding from Merge Records right here]

>> Boston-based dream pop heroes The Hush Now have titled their forthcoming EP. The short set bears the moniker Shiver Me Starships and will (we assume) be self-released by the band on a date to be determined. The mastering of Shiver Me Starships is expected to be completed any moment, album art is in the works, and you can expect to hear some of the new material when The Hush Now plays an RSL Blog-curated date at Great Scott Boston Aug. 2. Longtime fans of the band will be amused/amazed to learn that for the second time in the band's career recording has been impacted by studio flooding. If you come to learn that you live on the same street as singer/guitarist Noel Kelly, you may want to consider moving... -- Jay Breitling

>> If you're like me and the 90's were your musical wonder years - that is, old - then have I got a music festival for you. It isn't a real, actual festival, but one does seem to be curating itself for a stretch at the end of September:

9/18/10 Pavement at the Agganis Arena
9/21/10 Superchunk with Versus at Royale
9/23/10 Bettie Serveert at TT's
9/25/10 Teenage Fanclub at Royale
9/26/10 Come (reunion of all original members) at TT's
9/30-10/1/10 Built To Spill at the Paradise
10/5/10 The Vaselines at the Paradise
10/8/10 Fountains of Wayne at the Paradise

These will help soothe the pain of getting shut out of the rather unbelievable lineup at Matador Records' 21st birthday party in Vegas. Sigh. -- Michael Piantigini

Today's Hotness: The Henry Clay People, Pernice Brothers, Mogwai

>>L.A.-based rock saviors The Henry Clay People are giving away for almost-free another track from the act's rousing new set Somewhere On The Golden Coast, namely the rocker "Slow Burn." The "almost-free" of which we speak refers to the fact that you have to give them your email address: only a minor drag when the payoff is this good. "Slow Burn" strides in on some razory slide guitar and settles into the sort of uptempo strummer upon which The Henry Clay People has built its reputation. What is handy is that in this day and age of gizmos and whatzitz the band has created (or more accurately, Topspin has created for the band) a tasty little embed/widget/black magic devil soul stealer so you can cough up your address right here in the box below rather than surf around to their site to look for the thingy. So yeah, there's a black box below, put your email in it, get some free rock and roll music. We reviewed Somewhere On The Golden Coast here in May. The Henry Clay People are in the middle of a tour with Silversun Pickups and Against Me! that continues through early August; inspect all the pending dates here.

>> Other thing to watch for No. 1: we'll be giving away on Twitter (follow us @clickyclicky) Wednesday night a Pernice Brothers prize pack that includes a t-shirt, tote bag and, of course, the band's very solid new release Goodbye, Killer. Michael Piantigini reviewed the record here in June.

>> Other thing to watch for No. 2: we've been back and forth with a publicist about Clicky Clicky being one of a bunch of sites hosting viewings of the forthcoming Mogwai movie "Burning." It appears the movie will be released to selected theaters and for sale in late August with a companion album Special Moves: Live In Brooklyn, NY 2009. If things work out you'll be able to screen the movie at Clicky Clicky sometime before this month is out. If you prefer to see "Burning" in a proper movie house and you live in Boston, you can see it at the Brattle Theater Aug. 28. The film will screen in a number of additional North American cities in August and September, and all the dates are posted here.

We Will Tell You These Things About Sky Larkin And Its New Album And Hey How About Some Songs

[PHOTO CREDIT: Liam Henry] We're certainly not breaking news here, especially since the record leaked earlier this month, but it is important to note that Leeds-based indie trio Sky Larkin will release next month its brilliant sophomore set Kaleide. The full-length is not to be confused with the free Kaleide EP the band released in May and is still offering for free download right here; the EP includes the title track, a demo version of the new tune "Spooktacular," and an acoustic version of "Matador," a standout track from Sky Larkin's 2009 full-length debut The Golden Spike.

Kaleide the album is packed front to back with wonderfully realized and deftly arranged guitar pop. The new set was produced by John Goodmanson, who also worked on Los Campesinos!' exceptional 2010 collection Romance Is Boring, and there is a heightened sophistication to Kaleide as far as the compositions and production are concerned that we expect is due at least in part to Mr. Goodmanson. The one-two punch of the opening cuts "Still Windmills" (to be released as a single in the UK August 2) and the title track is undeniable; we are embedding streams of both below. Wichita Recordings will release Kaleide Aug. 9 and you can pre-order it in any of six packings at Sky Larkin's web site right here.

Sky Larkin - Still Windmills

Sky Larkin - Kaleide

Be Prepared: Superchunk | On The Mouth [Remastered Reissue] | 17 August

Oh, On The Mouth, how we love you so, ever since we borrowed you from the cool quiet girl on the next cinder block-walled freshman hall over with the coal black-dyed hair and taped you, which girl we secretly credited for the huge gift of turning us on to Superchunk in the spring of 1993. Many, many years later we learned that all along it was our friend Ken's record, and so Ken deserves the credit of pointing us toward Superchunk, which in turn pointed us in the direction of myriad North Carolina bands as well known as Archers Of Loaf or as obscure as Finger. Because of their support slot on the final Replacements tour we were familiar with The Connells first, but their records sounded increasingly tame as we delved deeper and deeper into the heavier and weirder sounds emanating from the somewhat ominously monikered area known as The Triangle. We consider On The Mouth a perfect record; our only quibble is that the amazing, top-10-songs-of-all-time-list, would-be title track was left off the record and included only as a B-side to the "Mower" single.

Merge will reissue On The Mouth, Superchunk's third album, Aug. 17; the same day the venerable label also reissues a remastered version of its stunning, Albini-recorded sophomore set No Pocky For Kitty. That album's opening three cuts may be the best three opening cuts on any record ever. The two records will be available on vinyl with download coupon, on CD and digitally. Both records are already streaming in full for a limited time at the Merge store here and here respectively. If you don't yet own these records, well, we feel sorry for you. Really, we do. You can't live your life that way. Merge wants to help, and is offering a teaser MP3 of the lead track of No Pocky For Kitty, which we're linking to below. Superchunk issues its first new record in nine years, Majesty Shredding, Sept. 14.

Superchunk -- "Skip Steps 1 & 3" -- No Pocky For Kitty (Remastered Reissue)
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[pre-order No Pocky For Kitty here and On The Mouth here]

Superchunk: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Footage: The Books' "A Cold Freezin' Night"

Via CrashArts' Twitter feed this AM. Record review to come. Local readers can see The Books at the Solid Sound Festival in August or at The Somerville Theater in October.

Today's Hotness: Museum Mouth, Pixies

>> Museum Mouth's "Outside" is 117 seconds of indie-punk perfection. Tucked into the middle of the Southport, NC-based trio's solid, self-released full-length Tears In My Beer, the tune leads with the increasingly trendy surf guitar and throbbing drums. "Outside" distinguishes itself, however, with a sing-alongy, bouncing chorus of apologies that recalls the great sounds of the Pacific Northwest underground, circa 1995. Museum Mouth intends to spend most of this month touring, although the itinerary it has posted still looks in need of some filling out. But you can catch then Saturday in Brooklyn (or can you? the date disappeared from the band's MySpazz) and later in the month back in North Carolina; inspect the full slate of dates at Museum Mouth's MySpace dojo right here. Tears In My Beer was released in March.

Museum Mouth -- "Outside" -- Tears In My Beer
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[buy Tears In My Beer from the band right here for only five bucks]

>> We highly recommend the book "Fool The World: The Oral History of a Band Called Pixies." We were wary of reading another oral history of an indie rock act after finding the Replacements oral history "The Replacements: All Over But The Shouting" very, uh, unsatisfying. But "Fool The World" succeeds remarkably, we think because the quality of the sources is so much better. Where in the 'Mats book most of the band was unwilling to give interviews (founding guitarist Bob Stinson, of course, died 15 years ago), "Fool The World," published in 2006, has all of the Pixies present and accounted for. But better still, there are label folks, tour managers and promoters -- the extremely affable Marc Geiger, in particular, with whom we used to occasionally chat during our reporting days -- who all offer valuable and interesting insights into the rise and fall and rise again of the now legendary and reformed Pixies. However, what we liked most about the book was the very thorough history it provides of Fort Apache, the studio -- actually a series of studios -- where many early Pixies recordings (not to mention recordings by Dinosaur Jr., Radiohead, Uncle Tupelo and Buffalo Tom) were made. Buy "Fool The World" from Amazon right here. And speaking of Pixies, we'd be remiss if we didn't point out that for a limited time Bradley's Almanac is giving away a recording of the quartet's Nov. 28, 2009 Boston performance of Doolittle right here.

The Youth Are Getting Restless: Young Adults Plot Debut LP

It's only half over, but 2010 has been a busy year for Allston, Mass.-based indie upstarts Young Adults. After forming late in 2009, the trio quickly captured and released an echoey, careening fuzzfest of a demo, and this month the act plans to head back into the studio to record a full-length already carrying the working title Black Hole. The planned full-length will be issued on a date to be determined digitally and in a limited edition of 500 vinyl LPs by Prague-based promotion and label concern AMDISCS. The sessions for Black Hole are being helmed by Justin Pizzoferrato, who has worked previously in some capacity recording records by alt-rock gods Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth. The recording will take place at Esthudio, the same studio where the Young Adults demo was tracked by Dan Gonzalez early this year. The band's arc is definitely on the rise and we wanted to check in with guitarist Chris, bassist Demitri and drummer Kurt for their perspectives on where they're heading and what their hopes are for the new record.

Clicky Clicky: It seemed like the demo was well received. Were you pleased with how it went over with fans? To the extent you had any expectations at all, were they met?

Chris (guitar, vocals): Yeah, we made a racket and people liked it. I'm glad.

Demitri (bass/vox): The main purpose of the demo was to declare our existence as a band, to make some sort of audible shout against the clamor of all the new bands trying to communicate something relevant, or perhaps in a way that is relevant. It was our opportunity to sublimate our somewhat perverted obsession with guitar music by exposing our own collective interpretation of it. So, when the demo received some reviews that basically spit back all of the stuff we spit into it, I can honestly say that I felt somewhat self-affirmed. Some people "get it" I suppose.

Kurt (drums): I think we can all say that we are very pleased with how the demo went over with the small but growing group of fans that we have. It is always pretty rad to have someone tell you that they put one of your songs on their running mix or walking mix. It means people are really digging our music which is just great. I think we have a lot of pride with what we have accomplished and what we are doing. Pair that with all the good blogging and reaction we get from crowds, I would say that almost all of our expectations have been met. We obviously have raised our own expectations and hope to fulfill those.

CC: Tell us a little but about the planned recording sessions in July. How many songs do you hope to get down? Is the goal to get an album's worth of material? Did you learn anything from recording the demo that will help you through the process next month?

Chris: It's a loose concept album and we're shooting for 11 songs with ambient instrumentals somewhere in there to make the album flow. We want a real LP, not a collection of singles. I'm looking forward to overdubs and more room for sonic candy.

Demitri: We are actually recording at Esthudio, which is where we recorded our demo. It’s a really nice home studio in Brighton, MA run by Dan Gonzales and Jeremy Mendacino (guitarist and vocalist of Pretty & Nice). We felt really comfortable in that space because we're friends with the engineers there and the space is cozy and warm, as opposed to an austere, expensive studio that might make us feel stressed or pressed for time. Our friend Mike Caulo, local management and booking dude, recommended that we get in contact with Justin Pizzoferrato about recording our record. After discovering that he had worked on recent Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. records it became instantly clear that we wanted him to help us craft this thing. It’s exciting.

Kurt: I think we learned a lot about recording from our demo, really that art should never be rushed. We recorded 5 songs in one day! I think given the circumstances we put out a great demo and I cannot wait to see what we can do with more time...

CC: It looks like there will be a different engineer for the sessions next month? Any particular reason?

Demitri: We like what Dan G did with the demo. That man is really a savior for us. Whenever we’re in a crunch when it comes to recording, equipment or live sound, he is usually there to extend some degree of help. We are just enticed by the idea of fresh perspective on the 12 inch, especially one that helped to craft Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. records. I apologize for my unabashed love for those bands.

Chris: We contacted Justin P and he immediately was enthusiastic. Based on his experience working with some of our core influences, it seemed like a very fortunate opportunity that we couldn't really pass up.

Kurt: I think this is just an opportunity someone should never pass up. It's very humbling and exciting. It will be interesting to see how Justin P. interprets ours music and the direction he will take it. I think we just wanted a new perspective on our music and see how it goes from there.

CC: Do you plan to self-release whatever comes out of the planned sessions, or has a label expressed interest in getting involved?

Demitri: AMDISCS reached out to us a few months ago about putting out our next release. The same people involved with the label have a blog called All Everyone United, based out of Prague, that promotes somewhat esoteric music projects. After they posted our demo they e-mailed me about the possibility of putting out our first record. Initially I was somewhat sketched. I sat there thinking, “what could a bunch of dudes from Prague possibly want with us?” After chatting with one of the founders of the label on the internet for a while I began to loosen up and really dig those guys. He was telling me about this fest he’s running in July called Creepy Teepee featured bands like Vivian Girls, Male Bonding and Toro y Moi. We shoot the shit about bands fairly consistently. Anyway, they’re solid dudes. We're stoked to be working with them.

CC: I see you'll be playing the Deep Heaven Now festival in August. How did that come about? Any other local shows on the horizon?

Demitri: Jinsen Liu who sings and plays guitar in 28 Degrees Taurus invited us. I’ve seen him around at shows in the Boston area for years so we’ve come to know each other that way. About a month ago he explained that he liked the new band I was playing in and invited us.

Chris: Jinsen is really dedicated to celebrating Boston music, and he is a huge fan of our sound. He thought that we would be a good change-up in the prominently shoegaze/psych fest. I think we might be the most aggressive band on the bill, which is never really a bad thing. As for other shows, we are also playing our friend's birthday gig on August 12th at O'Briens in Allston. His name is Omar and he is one big, beautiful man.

Demitri: We’re trying to stay focused on making this record everything we want it to be. It’d be nice to get invited to play NYC or some neighboring states in August though...

CC: I recall in the interview on WERS you were sort of weighing your options about touring outside of the Boston area. Any plans firming up to take the show on the road?

Demitri: AMDISCS was talking about having us come out to Europe for a little over a month and doing a US tour as well. We’ll see how things roll.

Chris: It's all a matter of resources and organization at this point. Once we're ready, we will let everyone know.

Young Adults' "Let Us Out" from the band's 2010 demo

Young Adults: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

08.07 -- Precinct -- Somerville, Mass. (early set)
08.12 -- O'Brien's -- Allston, Mass.