Today's Hotness: Psapp, This Town Needs Guns, Mobius Band

>> London-based electro-twee duo Psapp, best known for having its song used as the theme to the popular American hospital soap "Grey's Anatomy," has released a video for the first single from its forthcoming third fourth record (what's this 2004 record Northdown listed at Wikipedia? Ah, Japan-only). The single "The Monster Song" will be featured on The Camel's Back, which is to be released by Domino in the U.K. Oct. 27. Frankly, our initial assessment of the track wasn't totally favorable, but the more we listen the more we hear the hooks, and we've definitely come around. "The Monster Song" is built on looped drums, guitars, flutes and kazoo (well, we're not sure about the kazoo). Its animated video is fantastic and wonderful and is sort of about where cat food comes from (fans will recall that Psapp is obsessed with cats), so we've posted it above. The U.S. release of The Camel's Back was supposed to have transpired a week after the U.K. release, but Wikipedia says it is now tentatively slated for early 2009.

>> Oxford, England-based This Town Needs Guns reports that it has inked an agreement with Sargent House to release the angular emo foursome's new UK release Animals in the states. Sargent House, based in Los Angeles, will issue Animals domestically in early 2009, according to the band's blog. This Town Needs Guns plans a tour of the U.S. to support the release. Sargent House has previously released records by mathy brothers-in-arms Maps & Atlases, Russian Circles and former At The Drive-In guy Omar Rodriquez-Lopez. Big Scary Monsters was the label responsible for the UK release of Animals, which occurred this week.

>> Mobius Band has booked two U.S. live dates for later this month. The cyborg-rock trio will play Philadelphia's First Unitarian Church Oct. 29, and an undisclosed Boston University venue the following night. Both shows are with the hotly tipped Canadian indie rock act Tokyo Police Club. Fans may have heard that Tokyo Police Club recently taped segments for a forthcoming episode of "Desperate Housewives." That is profoundly weird. Anyway, one has to wonder whether Mobius Band will perform any new material, as its most recent set Heaven was issued a year ago and has been toured to death. We're heavy into Mobius Band both old and new. Here's the trio performing "Starts Off With A Bang" live at the Monolith Festival last year.

The Mobius Band -- "Starts Off With A Bang (Live)" -- Monolith Festival 2007
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[buy Mobius Band records from Newbury Comics right here]

Today's Hotness: Manhattan Love Suicides, This Town Needs Guns

>> When we last checked in on British noise-pop dynamos The Manhattan Love Suicides here in April, the Leeds-based foursome had just issued its Clusterf*ck 7" EP. And at the time we advised folks to watch EMusic and wait for the four songs to show up in the handy MP3 format, because digitizing vinyl is wicked frustrating, yeh. After that we forgot all about the EP until today, when a MySpace alert notifified us that the band had just uploaded a new track from a recently issued compilation titled Burnt Out Landscapes. The compilation -- which was issued by Magic Marker June 2 or Aug. 12, depending on which release date you choose to believe -- is available at EMusic right here, and better still it appears to include all the cuts from Clusterf*ck. All told, Burnt Out Landscapes features 27 tracks including radio sessions and alternate versions including the divine cut collection-closer "Life In Vain." The Manhattan Love Suicides are giving away one of the tracks, "Heat And Panic," for free at its MySpace longhouse. We'll save you the trip and post it below, but definitely hit the link to EMusic to grab Burnt Out Landscapes, because the dozen tracks we've heard so far (damn EMusic account doesn't roll over for another five days) are entirely compelling.

The Manhattan Love Suicides -- "Heat And Panic" -- Burnt Out Landscapes
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[buy Manhattan Love Suicides music from EMusic right here]

>> Time was Pink Floyd's Animals was our favorite record. We were probably 12. We can't remember the year exactly, but we can recall a family vacation to Florida and having to share a double bed with an older brother who did not fully appreciate the awesome air guitar we were unleashing before falling asleep at night with the aforementioned record blasting into our skull via a third- or fourth-generation cassette Walkman. Anyway, this paragraph is not about that record. It's about the Oxford, England quartet This Town Needs Guns, which releases its own record titled Animals in the UK Oct. 13. The set, which we think is the first full-length release from the quartet, contains 13 tracks named after various mammals (and a crocodile, and possibly a marsupial). Faithful readers may recall we posted the track "Baboon" right here in July. The label Big Scary Monsters has made available a second preview MP3 titled "Chinchilla." The cut bolsters our appreciation of the band, which incorporates the exciting guitar work of erstwhile American indie acts American Football and Owls into its own sturdy modern emo framework. "Chinchilla" also touts a punchy drum beat in the verse that seems to constantly threaten to slip off the beat. It's a very enjoyable way to spend four minutes, and we highly recommend this track.

This Town Needs Guns -- "Chinchilla" -- Animals
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[pre-order Animals from Big Scary Monsters right here]

>> Matablog has posted here the tracklist and cover art for the recently announced Belle And Sebastian compilation The BBC Sessions, which will be released by Matador Nov. 18. The set features two discs, the first concatenating BBC radio sessions recorded during the bands "golden age" (in our opinion), 1996-2001. The second disc, dubbed Live In Belfast, contains selections from a December 2001 live date in the nominal city. Personal favorites are strongly represented, with "Seymour Stein," "Sleep The Clock Around" and "Like Dylan In The Movies" appearing on the first disc, and the devastating "The Model" and "The Boy With The Arab Strap" appearing on the second disc. Matablog promises more information and some preview MP3s, so we'll keep our eyes peeled. And maybe we'll watch that Belle And Sebastian DVD from five or six years ago again soon.

Today's Hotness: Fleeting Joys, Hush Now, This Town Needs Guns

>> Something we did not know until about 9:40 Tuesday night: shoegaze geniuses Fleeting Joys are about to release a new record. It may or may not be titled Occult Radiance, and it is set for release on Fleeting Joy's own Only Forever label Aug. 11. Best of all, the Northern California duo has posted a megamix of sorts of samples from all the tracks on the album as an MP3 at its blog. We'll save you the trip over there by reposting the thing below. For those unfamiliar with the band, Fleeting Joys are pretty much at the top of the heap as far as practicing Loveless-disciples are concerned. One can only imagine what band principals John and Rorika -- who are abetted by drummers Chris Woodouse and Matt McCord as needed -- must think of the recent resuscitation of My Bloody Valentine. Fleeting Joys' 2006 full-length Despondent Transponder recently sold out of an additional pressing, according to the Only Forever web site. We made a brief mention of Despondent Transponder here two years ago. Why not check out the new album preview below?

Fleeting Joys -- "Occult Radiance 4 (album preview)"
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[buy Fleeting Joys recordings from the band right here]

>> We were pleased to receive the thumping, guitar-drenched yearner "Traditions" from fledgling Boston act The Hush Now. The tune firmly situates the trio among this year's burgeoning crop of nu-gaze acts (we're thinking The Diggs, City Breathing, some others). "Traditions" has a huge chorus, is stretched across soaring melodies, and seems to find some common ground between House Of Love and our oft-cited faves Sunny Day Real Estate. The Hush Now has a mile-long biography about which it is hard to tell which way is up. What you need to know is singer Noel Kelly lived in L.A. until his old band -- named after the best Ocean Blue record -- broke up. Then he crashed his car into a church and not long after moved to Boston, where he wrangled up three very capable sidemen to fill out The Hush Now lineup. The band will issue a self-titled, 10-song debut in October. We're posting "Traditions" below.

The Hush Now -- "Traditions" -- The Hush Now
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[keep an eye on Newbury Comics for the record this fall]

>> Since we harbor a constant and unshakable belief that somewhere out there is a new, unknown band that will blow our minds even more than the last new, unknown band, it's little surprise that this actually happens now and again. We guess despite our generally surly disposition, we're sort of optimists when it comes to indie rock. We recently had an email from Oxford, England's Big Scary Monsters label offering up an MP3 from an Oxford quartet called This Town Needs Guns, and we like what we hear. The band professes a very strong Kinsella influence at its MySpace drive-thru (the list of its influences: Owls, Ghosts and Vodka, American Football, Make Believe, Maps And Atlases, Owen). That professed influence is strongly manifested in This Town Needs Guns' music, which is clotted with wonderfully intricate and lyrical guitar noodling and confessional vocals. This Town Needs Guns will issue what appears to be its UK debut full-length in October; the foursome already appears to have a full-length out in Japan and Australia (wait, what?) a few singles and an EP to boot. We spent a pleasant 20 or 30 minutes at the band's MySpace last night and it sounds like its small repertoire is packed with quality jams. Here's one now.

This Town Needs Guns -- "Baboon" -- Animals
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[buy This Town Needs Guns records right here]