Today's Hotness: Scud Mountain Boys, Oh Look Out, The Field

>> You likely saw the news a couple weeks back that during Joe Pernice's recent tour stop in Cambridge 75% of his revered, '90s alt-country unit Scud Mountain Boys appeared on stage for the first time this century. And you probably read that the band intends to play a few shows before the end of the year. Now comes news that Pernice's label Ashmont Records will reissue two "effectively out of print" Scud Mountain Boys records, The Pine Box and Dance The Night Away "either separately, or together... as they were, with no new material." Both records were originally released on Chunk Records in 1995 prior to the absolutely phenomenal 1996 Sub Pop full length Massachusetts, and the two were collected into the single disc The Early Year by Sub Pop in 1997. Ashmont will also issue a newly compiled rarities compilation, and all of these records will be available by the time the reunion shows transpire in December. Three shows are contemplated, one each in Northampton, Boston and New York. There is, of course, also a new Pernice Brothers record in the offing, although details about that are sketchy, but include the names of some collaborators including former New Radiant Storm King guy Peyton Pinkerton, the fact that the collection is being mixed by T.W. Walsh and that the collection is, according to our intrepid Managing Editor, to be titled Spread The Feeling. While we all sit around and wait for December, why not have another look at our review of the Cambridge Pernice show from last month?

>> One of the most enjoyable surprises we've come across of late is Oh Look Out's Alright Alright Alright Alright Alright, a freely available nine-song set of sharp, spikey synth-pop (whose title we have to believe is some sort of response to Spoon's stellar 2007 set Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga). Oh Look Out principal and pop savant J.P. Pfertner also plays in Austin-based synth-pop foursome Built By Snow, which impressed us in January 2009 with the full-length MEGA. MEGA featured two particularly strong tracks, "All The Weird Kids Know" and the Tokyo Police Club-esque "A-Beta," and Alright Alright Alright Alright Alright for the most part echoes the same fizzing tension (although the ballad "Implode Alright" makes us think of Daniel Johnston). The latest songs continue to sound like chunky, lo-fi Cars or Ric Ocasek demos, and that is a very good thing. In fact, we'd venture that the recent Cars reunion effort would have been much better had they used some of Mr. Pfertner's songs. Alright Alright Alright Alright Alright is officially released Sept. 27, and it will cost you zero dollars, and it looks like you don't even have to wait that long, so, really, you have no excuse not to obtain this. Stream or download the whole cabbage via the Soundcloud embed below. Pfertner apparently already has two more records in the works, and we expect it won't be long before you start hearing more about Oh Look Out.

Alright Alright Alright Alright Alright by ohlookout

>> We've been remiss in reporting the forthcoming release of Stockholm-based The Field's sophomore full-length, Looping State Of Mind. The new collection will be released by un-eff-with-able German techno label Kompakt Oct. 10, and Drowned In Sound has tracked down a song from Looping State Of Mind called "Then It's White" on Soundcloud (how have we lived this long without following Kompakt on Soundcloud? Astonishing.) "Then It's White" is an achingly beautiful, slowly spinning amalgamation of piano chords, electro beats, convincingly-real-sounding upright bass and glacial synth. It is desperately wonderful, and we expect we will spend most of the next 24 hours listening to it. Check it out at the Soundcloud embed below. We saw a very rare Boston show by The Field in June 2008 and reviewed the performance right here.

The Field - Then It's White by Kompakt

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]

CC200: Human Television's "Look At Who You're Talking To"

[Update Forthcoming] The second installment of the Clicky Clicky 200 [first post here] jumps ahead 112 spots to 86, where we find Human Television's "Look At Who You're Talking To," the title-ballad to the Brooklyn-based (by way of Gainesville and Philly) quintet's 2006 set. It's about a relationship-ending confrontation. This is sad. And it does a neat job closing out the album by repurposing much of the lyrics from the delightfully upbeat preceding track "In Front Of The House" [video here].

"Look At Who You're Talking To" also has pretty amazing string arrangements, and such strong arrangements aren't something we'd typically assume an indie kid could pull off. The liner notes to the record state that they were the work of a fellow named John Fields. That's a fairly un-Googlable name, but a search turns up hits for a Fields who also worked on records from Clay Aiken, those ubiquitous teen commerce-tainment robots Jonas Brothers and Mandy Moore. So perhaps the guy is a big deal? He can certainly arrange some string. Such arrangement may also have been influenced by Look At Who You're Talking To producer Chris Zane. His is a name with which we're distinctly more familiar. You've heard Mr. Zane's work on records from Asobi Seksu, Les Savy Fav and Tokyo Police Club. One day perhaps we'll be able to track down info about how "Look At Who You're Talking To" was put together production-wise. In the meantime, just sit back and enjoy the poignant track. It is unclear from Human Television's MySpace casa whether the band has plans to release another record, and it lists no upcoming performances. Hopefully, the act will spring new music upon us soon.

Human Television -- "Look At Who You're Talking To" -- Look At Who You're Talking To
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[buy Human Television records from Newbury Comics right here]

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