Today's Hotness: Johnny Foreigner, Old Bricks, Cats And Cats And Cats

>> We had seen the chatter and innuendo, and we had crossed our little indie rock fingers, and our prayers have now been answered: Birmingham, England-based guitar-pop titans Johnny Foreigner have confirmed that as soon as April Alcopop! Records will issue a double-LP version of the band's shattering, best of 2011 album Vs. Everything. According to this blog post, the original release will fill three LP sides, and side four will contain "all the b-sides from the singles and it'll have fancy BIG art and be generally super impressive." Alcopop! will take pre-orders beginning in March and the first 100 to commit get some not-yet-revealed bonus the very prospect of which fills us with delight. Speaking of March, Johnny Foreigner embarks on that first of that month on a nine-date tour of England; full dates and buy links are posted right here and the trio promises the London and Birmingham dates will rival in scope the epic original Vs. Everything album release shows. This is all awesome news. But wait, there's also a new track to revel in, the outtake "(Small Fraud)," apparently hated by bassist Kelly Southern, but we suppose that's her prerogative. It's one of Johnny Foreigner's bleepy, spoken word constructions, reminiscent of You Thought You Saw A Shooting Star...'s "Elegy For Post-Teenage Living, Part 2" or the "Criminals" b-side "Palace Fires," and we think it's quite lovely. Stream the embed below, and surf around to Saam's place to grab the .wav download, yeh? We reviewed Johnny Foreigner vs. Everything right here in November.



>> From Raleigh, North Carolina comes word of City Lights, the second full-length from Old Bricks. The hypnotic duo, comprised of Stuart Edwards and Andy Holmes, released the set just before the new year on Grip Tapes. City Lights trades in the slow-burning torch songs that one would expect from gentlemen who seem to be able to play anything with detail and patience. The spectral record features that kind of warm, carefully constructed indie rock that can only come about after months of thought on long, humid nights. It's not unlike the beautiful introversion of Austin's She, Sir and their Yens EP of 2010, which we reviewed here. Like the Carolina heat, the music surrounds like a thick blanket, with capo-guitar strums, distant delay sirens, and the dense analog bass presenting a sort of backwoods, organic dream-pop that is best evident on the steady "Gleam." The song, streamable via the embed below, sounds like a more sunburnt Ride, still trying to stomp through one of their classics despite the sting. City Lights is available to purchase right here in a limited edition of 300 LPs and as a digital download; the download comes with a nine-song bonus EP Pretty Black & White. Old Bricks released its debut full-length Farmers in 2009. -- Edward Charlton



>> While we didn't follow the band closely or for long, we are sorry to hear that Cats And Cats And Cats are calling it a day; the charmingly monikered band played one of its final shows tonight in London. Cats And Cats And Cats had been together for seven years and had logged two full-lengths along with a number of EPs, singles and compilation appearances. Tomorrow the band embarks on a final 14-date tour of Europe. Function Records is issuing a tour-support CD titled Catsalogue in a limited edition of 150, which contains 11 Cats favorites selected by the band and carries a download code providing access to additional audio and video. If you can't catch Cats And Cats And Cats in Europe, you can order the collection from Function right here. The quartet first crossed our radar with their cover of "Cut Your Hair," which opened Filthy Little Angel's Pavement tribute comp Show Me A Word That Rhymes With Pavement released in early 2010 that we wrote about here. Cats And Cats And Cats's song "Celebration," from its final LP Motherwhale, was featured in our playlist during New Music Night 1 last June. Godspeed, Cats And Cats And Cats. Take a listen.

Today's Hotness: Lubec, Los Campesinos!, Winterpills

>> Should you be so foolhardy as to not be a friend to Clicky Clicky on The Facebook, then you are likely not aware of the most recent recording from Lubec. The guitar-pop band has posted a startlingly brilliant new song to its Bandcamp dojo, so dig the embed below, and then click over to download the thing for free. Oh, right, the song: "You're A Good Idea (Theme From Lubec)" is a melodic tour de force of kaleidoscopic guitar, simple cascades of piano and punchy bass playing. Not bad for an act that re-invented itself from scratch last year. Indeed, it is heartening to find that fronter Eddie Charlton was able to constitute a very potent band after making the move from Richmond to Portland. We checked in briefly with Mr. Charlton this evening and he says his new iteration of Lubec is firing on all cylinders and is considering a number of different options for releasing new material (although the planned single we posted about on Facebook Jan. 19 may be scotched in favor of something different). We last wrote about Lubec some 13 months ago here upon the release of the act's amazing "Cherry Adair" video; the band released its debut EP Nothing Is Enough in October 2010. Lubec is definitely one to watch, but for now, just listen.



>> Clicky Clicky faves Los Campesinos! will issue March 19 a second single from the Cardiff-based act's Best of 2011 collection Hello Sadness. The single is the riffy, warbling and anthemic album cut "Songs About Your Girlfriend," and a video will precede the single's release next week on St. Valentine's Day. On the heels of the single's release, Los Campesinos! will launch an 11-date UK tour. You can stream "Songs About Your Girlfriend" right now at the Soundcloud embed below; full tour dates are online right here. Los Camp! is currently rounding out a very extensive U.S. tour, the final dates of which we're posting below the song embed. We previewed Hello Sadness, the band's fifth full-length, right here.



02.08 -- DOUG FIR LOUNGE -- PORTLAND, OR
02.10 -- GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC HALL -- SAN FRANCISCO, CA
02.11 -- ECHOPLEX -- LOS ANGELES, CA
02.12 -- CASBAH -- SAN DIEGO, CA
02.15 -- CLUB DADA -- DALLAS, TX
02.16 -- FITZGERALD’S -- HOUSTON, TX
02.17 -- THE PARISH -- AUSTIN, TX
02.18 -- THE PARISH -- AUSTIN, TX

>> Props to our pals at the Ash Gray Proclamation for this post making us aware of the new full-length release coming from Northampton, Mass.'s Winterpills. The folk-rock act will release next week All My Lovely Goners on CD and as a digital download. At the same time the band is running a Kickstarter campaign for a vinyl release of the album, with a goal of raising $7,000 in order to get a deluxe vinyl package ready for Record Store Day, April 21. Pledging 20 bucks here gets you the LP when it's available, and additional tiers of giving offer access to premiums topping out with Executive Producer credit or house shows. We first turned on to Winterpills with the release of their eponymous 2005 debut, which we wrote about for Junkmedia right here. Winterpills play two shows to mark the release of All My Lovely Goners, Saturday the 18th in New York and Saturday the 25th at the Iron Horse in Northampton. We jotted some brief remarks about a July 2009 Winterpills set supporting Clicky Clicky faves Varsity Drag in Cambridge right here. Here's an oldie-but-goodie from the 2005 set:

YouTube Rodeo: Arctic Splash's "Denim Tuxedo" Live, Loud

Are you seriously gonna go so low? This clip was filmed live at PYT Friday in Philadelphia. We mean, obviously, this is Philly, you should be able to tell just by watching it. If you pour two-thirds of a watery draft beer over yourself while you sit there in the pajamas that you've been wearing for two days running including while you worked, you can probably recreate the real vibe of our wonder years in the city. Arctic Splash, fronted by longtime Philly scenemaker Joey Sweeney as we mentioned last month, is currently working on its first LP. Album teaser you ask? Sure.

YouTube Rodeo: Good Dangers' Live Take on "Abigail"

Sure, in at least our part of Los Estados Unidos it feels like winter never came. But all the same it is nice to have a reminder that spring is inevitable, and with it good times in the sun. And today we're getting that vibe from the live clip embedded above of London-based Good Dangers' new song, "Abigail." The song is the lead track from the quintet's cryptically titled forthcoming single "DFYF," which will be available March 19 via Good Dangers' own Brasilia Records (the label takes its name from another early Good Dangers tune, the Vimeo video for which has now gone private). No word on a traditional b-side, but Gav Dangers tells Clicky Clicky that the release will be complemented with some remixes.

The band would seem to be the most patient ever. Years beyond its prior incarnation as Assembly Now (subject of Show Us Yours #6 in March 2007), indeed, years beyond announcing that it had transmogrified into Good Dangers, we finally have a glimpse at what the band's first UK single will be. Although this isn't the first noise we've heard from the band; late last spring the track "So Unkind" was released by Cosine as the label's inaugural release (which we wrote about here), and we were jazzed to such an extent that we featured the tune in our playlist for New Music Night 1. You remember that tune, right? It goes like this:

Today's Hotness: Big Deal, Whirr, Projekt A-ko

>> Please do not construe our silence on the release of Big Deal's full-length debut Lights Out as anything other than a lack of time on our part. We followed the band closely through the release of their early singles in 2010 and 2011, and wrote about Big Deal most recently here in October. We are pleased that the charming and hazy full-length Lights Out lives up to all that early promise. As Mr. Yang pointed out in his spot-on assessment here, yes, the London-based duo is working with a limited palette (two voices, two guitars), but through some beautiful alchemy the melodies, production and performances meld into the proverbial sum-greater-than-its-parts. Perhaps it is the performances -- earnest, hurt, lovelorn -- that make songs like "Chair" and "Cool Like Kurt" so powerful. The latter song so magically crystallizes the feelings of fragile, youthful romance: uncertainty, longing, the fleeting nature of the enterprise. Out of context this lyric is a little creepy, but we can't think of any more perfect way to sum up feelings that at this point in our lives are barely accessible via memory: "take me to your bed, don't take me home, before this is oh, before this is over." Lights Out was finally released in America on Mute Jan. 24 in the wake of an eponymous EP; the set was issued in the UK Sept. 5. Big Deal plays what we believe are its first U.S. shows next month (full dates below), despite male half of the duo Kacey Underwood being an American. The band has completed a new video for the song "Talk," which you can expect to see online soon. In the meantime, in case you've forgotten what it sounds like, you can stream below. Dig in.



03.11 -- The Glasslands -- Brooklyn, NY
03.12 -- Mercury Lounge -- New York, NY
03.13-03.18 -- SXSW TBA -- Austin, TX
03.20 -- The Echo -- Los Angeles, CA

>> Pun Canoes was the first outlet we saw to report that Whirr's hotly anticipated full length Pipe Dream will be released by Tee Pee Records March 13. The venerable publication characterizes the set as Whirr's second full length, but we think that is incorrect: the act -- when it was going by its previous nomme de rock Whirl -- released its Distressor EP in 2010. So, right, this will be its first full-length. Pipe Dream contains the title track from the excellent June EP, "Junebouvier" (but not the b-side "Sundae") that we first wrote about here in September, as well as eight other numbers we are very eager to hear. Peruse the full track listing at Pun Canoes right here. Whirr will tour out to Austin in March for the obligatory strand of SXSW performances, and full dates are posted right here. "Junebouvier," in case you missed it, is a stunningly beautiful dream-pop track that we highly recommend (having included it during our October New Music Night set). Listen to it:



>> Projekt A-ko fans have reason for optimism, as an email this week from fronter Fergus Lawrie states that progress has resumed on a new album. Lawrie, as we wrote here in October, has been keeping busy with noisier, improvisational pasttimes including Angel Of Everyone Murder. A video featuring that project is included in a new DVD from Kovorox Sound titled Video Vomit Volume 1. As for Projekt A-ko, Mr. Lawrie says a new track may be posted online "in the next couple of months." The new song would be the first since the release of the fan-only cover of Drop Nineteens' "Winona." Projekt A-ko's towering, monumental, incredible, terrific, etc. full-length debut Yoyodyne! was our second favorite record of 2009. It is mammoth.

Midriff Records Night with Eldridge Rodriguez, Lucky Dragon, M.G. Lederman and Greg Lyon | Radio | 2 Feb.

If there is an LVMH of Boston indie rock, then surely it is Midriff Records. The venerable label, home to indie rock luminaries including The Beatings, Age Rings and Greg Lyon, celebrates this year its 10th anniversary with a number of events, including a monthly residency at Somerville's Radio that begins tomorrow. The inaugural evening features Eldridge Rodriguez, the aforementioned Mr. Lyon and new signees Lucky Dragon and M.G. Lederman onstage upstairs, while magician and escape artist Eric Robitaille will do his thing downstairs at Moe's Lounge, presumably between sets, assuming he can get himself escaped from whatever predicament he has put himself into in the span of 10 or 15 minutes or so. Otherwise it could be a long night for Mr. Robitaille. Feel the Facebook Event page vibrations right here.

The next event is already on the books and transpires March 23, when The Beatings will perform its acclaimed 2002 full-length debut Italiano! in its entirety, front to back. Midriff, of course, will continue to release hot rock and roll musics this year, and already on deck is an EP from Age Rings and full-length albums from Eldridge Rodriguez, Greg Lyon, M.G. Lederman and Lucky Dragon. As far as the back catalogue goes, well get ready: March will also see a sale on older titles, discounted to move. We told you and told you to buy The Beatings' Holding On To Hand Grenades in 2006; apparently the planned sale prices will leave you with no credible excuse.

Excited? You should be. Get out tomorrow night and get in on the ground floor with the thing that will be that thing that is the thing. With magic. Now listen to Greg.

Rock Over Boston: Thurston Moore & Kurt Vile | 1.31.2012

[Thurston Moore at the Somerville Theatre, 1/31/2012. Photo by Michael Piantigini.]

"Sonic Youth lives!" shouted one patron last night, during one of the quiet breaks between a pair of quiet songs (why can't people handle quiet anymore? why does it make them nervous?). And it may yet. Or not. Mum is still the word, and this isn't TMZ or something, so I'll lay off the speculating. But this "solo" Thurston Moore, as distinct from the member of any number of one-off projects who produce cassettes full of droning feedback and other interesting things, is a chill take on the fractured art-pop of latter day Sonic Youth.

And if we are indeed entering a post-Sonic Youth era and this is how it is to be from now on - largely acoustic, with an emphasis on subtle coloring and melodies from harps and violins, with only occasional descents (or ascents) into noisy chaos - I'm good with that.

I'd only seen opener Kurt Vile with his backing band the Violators (and this show was billed as such in some places), which certainly gives a tougher, heavier edge to his stuff. Here he was on his own but for some harp accompaniment on a couple of tunes and it's a whole different deal. It just seems easier to get lost in his meandering alternate-tunings and surreal lyrics nearly as effectively as you can on a pair of headphones if you let yourself go. He closed with an unexpected but revelatory cover of Gram Parsons' "A Song For You." I just re-listened to the original, and damn if it isn't now an obvious influence on Vile's style.

- Michael Piantigini

Thurston Moore: Facebook | Twitter | Sonic Youth
Kurt Vile: Intertubes | Facebook | Twitter

[Kurt Vile at the Somerville Theatre, 1/31/2012. Photo by Michael Piantigini.]