Looks like June Panic’s follow-up to 2002’s Baby’s Breadth will be called Hope You Fail Better.

Tracklist: Dirge Without Music Let My Lungs Coin Words Both Sides Of Paper (can be used) Breach Birth Control On H’s “They” The World Is Not A Place Paint Legs On The Snake Expensive Attic Leaving Me My Eyes Getting Over Joy That’s The Moon, My Son

June will be touring all through September with the Impossible Shapes, whose new album, We Like It Wild, will be out on October 7th. You can check out the Shapes’ Perfect Timing and Naked Bull Rush in the meantime.

In other Secretly Canadian news, Scout Niblett’s new
record I Am drops on September 2nd (For now, you can download Fireflies and Drummer Boy). She’ll be touring stateside in September and October, and Europe in November, where she hooks up with John Guilt. John Guilt will be appearing on the upcoming
limited-edition benefit comp Preserve from Chapel Hill’s Fractured Discs. It’s out next month, and also features unreleased tracks from The Decemberists, M Ward, The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up, Spokane, and others.

Now, from the Jagjaguwar camp, City Life, the new one from Manishevitz, will be out on October 7th. Check out Beretta and Hate Ilene.

And Nad Navillus will be out on the road in October with Parker Paul, whose new record Food Service is coming out I-don’t-know-when.

Believe it or not, I am *not* on the Secretly Canadian payroll.

Cory, Rory, and the rest
of the boys in Communique have their brand-new
video for “Cross Your Heart” up at the Lookout videos page. You can download the mp3 here. Better yet, go buy the EP, it’s good shit.

Tour Dates

8/27/2003 Ranch Bowl – Omaha, Nebraska
8/28/2003 Vaudeville Mews – Des Moines, Iowa
8/29/2003 Lions Lair – Denver, Colorado
8/30/2003 Kilby Court – Salt Lake City, Utah
9/5/2003 Bottom Of The Hill – SF, California (w/Junior Senior)
10/12/2003 Phoenix Crossing – Pensacola, Florida

MTV has posted the new Hot Hot Heat video, for “No, Not Now”. It was done by MK12, and it’s definitely “okay” (much better than the generic-rock-video-blah of “Bandages” though). Sounds like a *completely* different mix of the song, too.

Joe Pernice and his myriad brothers blew through town
Saturday night and played a very nice lil’ show. It was
one of those cases of me not realizing how much I like
the new record until I heard the songs live. It really

is a good record. And you
can stream the whole bitch.
Joe’s like the American version of Elvis Costello. Why, you
may ask? Because he wears glasses.

Tour Dates
08/26/03 Lexington,KY The Dame
08/27/03 Memphis,TN Hi-Tone
08/28/03 Nashville,TN 12th and Porter
08/29/03 St. Louis,MO Off Broadway
08/30/03 Kansas City,MO The Brick
09/01/03 Des Moines,IA Vaudeville Mews
09/02/03 Milwaukee,WI Onopa Brewing Company
09/03/03 Madison,WI Annex
09/04/03 Champaign,IL Cowboy Monkey
09/05/03 Indianapolis,IN The Patio
09/06/03 Chicago,IL The Hideout Block Party
09/07/03 Newport,KY Southgate House
09/08/03 Knoxville,TN Pilot Light
09/09/03 Raleigh,NC Kings
09/11/03 Ybor City,FL Orpheum
09/12/03 Jacksonville,FL Jackrabbits
09/13/03 Orlando,FL Wills Pub
09/14/03 Tallahassee,FL Club Downunder
09/16/03 Asheville,NC Stella Blue
09/17/03 Charlottesville,VA Tokyo Rose
09/18/03 Baltimore,MD Ottobar
09/19/03 Brooklyn,NY Luxx
09/20/03 Bennington,VT Downstairs Cafe
09/21/03 Burlington,VT Club Metronome

Rock on, Wesley.

Gregory sent me this link to a guy who will take requests for cover songs to record, then post them up for you to download. Kinda like Exploding Dog, but with music instead of pictures. I like the Ben Lee cover.

Out October 14th. Go over to the UK side of their site to
stream tracks and watch the sweetass Shynola video for (Song Of The Year) “House Of Jealous Lovers” (though I do concede
that the way the site’s got that bitch looped as background music grates on my last damn nerve).

Out September 9th. I hope it’s as good as their last record. Also, Jerry points this
out for all you young whipperschnappers.

Out September 22nd. They keep adding more and more “final” shows.

Out September 23rd.

And something to ponder over the weekend:
Who would win in a fistfight between Stephin Merritt and David Sedaris?
They’re both small, chain-smoking, erudite artistes. Merritt may secretly
be meaner, but Sedaris is craftier. And they’d both have to keep calling time-outs to take smoke breaks.

GloNo is reporting the founding
of the Jack Logan and the Monday Night Recorders Singles Club.
Jack recently described himself as “locked in the cloakroom of the music industry”. If you’re not
familiar with his music, go read the GloNo article for
a good summary. I have both Bulk and Mood Elevator, and I’ve really played the shit out of ‘em.

And Allmusic thinks very highly of him:

This month’s song is “Scared Man Hiding In The Woods“.

If you’re keeping score at home, that means that each and every month, you can get a brand new
track from Jack Logan, Enon (current song: “Adalaina (Not So Fair)“), and Moviola (current song: Kew Garden Hills“).

Last night I plunked down 6 bucks at the neighborhood theater down the street,
but I didn’t have to sit through American Pie 3-D. Instead, I got to see
a great little set by Bishop Allen.
Now, it’s not-at-all typical to have music acts booked at the neighborhood
theater, but supposedly, what happened was that the theater owner was listening
to NPR one day, heard the band, contacted ‘em and booked the show. Anytime I
try to tune in for music on NPR, all I can ever get is
the fucking Thistle and Shamrock Hour, or fucking Music From The Hearts Of
Space or whatever. Anyway. Big ups to the theater owner for booking this show,
I doubt Bishop Allen would have come to Columbus otherwise, and even if they
did, they would have probably been stuck at the Campus Shithole, and no one
would have showed up. As it was, they pulled in a crowd of at least 100 very
excited fans (young and old!). It was a great show, fun, dancy, and happy. It was really
a Golly-Gee-Whiz kinda good time. I recommend gettin’ out there to see ‘em yourself.

Upcoming Dates:
Aug 19 Akron, OH @ the Lime Spider
Aug 20 Chicago, IL @ Cal’s Liquor
Aug 21 Ypsilanti, MI @ the Elbow Room
Aug 22 Toronto, CAN @ the 360
Aug 23 Buffalo, NY @ Nietzsche’s
Aug 24 Easthampton, MA @ the Flywheel Collective
Aug 26 Cambridge, MA @ the Middle East (Upstairs)
Aug 27 Providence, RI @ the Met Cafe

If you haven’t heard the record yet, check out some mp3s:

And for those who haven’t dug very deep into the Bishop Allen website, you’re missing such
helpful how-to articles as “Proven Ways To Prevent Sex” and
“How To Get Beaten Up – So The Other Guy Goes To Jail“.

Buy It, G-money.

——————–

Hey, Insound‘ll give you a free bonus disc of outtakes
and alternate-version tracks from Beulah’s new album, Yoko,
when you pre-order the disc. You can also knock 15% off that bitch with coupon code “yokopre”.

And 12xu is reporting that Joel RL Phelps & The Downer Trio have wrapped
their newest album, Customs, which should see a release in January of next year.

This week, the first release in the new STIFLE series came out (STIFLE is a joint-Joint
between Startime and
The Fader). This first release,
STIFLE001, features the French Kicks‘ “Close To Modern”
remixed. From the French Kicks’ website:

The song originally boasted dirty guitars, a Rolling Stones like back beat, and Prince like vocal harmonies.
In the hands of DJ Smash and Eucho it?s totally different.

EUCHO – Underground house producer Eucho provides “Close to Modern” with a thumping electro-bassline a la New
Order with a solid house beat and enough funky keyboard flourishes to put most producers to shame. The white label
was shortly the talk of the town at Winter Music Conference this year. The dub is super funky disco a la Metro Area.

DJ SMASH – Most famous for his uber-successful Blue Note mix CD, DJ Smash has been a fixture on the deep
house circuit for close to ten years?garnering a world wide fan base. Stripping down the song to its most minimal parts
this song would fit perfectly for a “Bang the Party” kind of vibe. Relaxed and funky.

Tracklist:

Side 1
1a Manic Panic Remix
1b Manic Panic Dub
1c When You Heard You (b-side)
Side 2
2a MobileGlobal Vocal Mix
2b MobileGlobal Dub Mix

The Streets is next in the series, but Ted Leo has definitely been name-dropped as a future installment.

Amigo Row, the new album from Matt Suggs(Ex-Butterglory), drops next week (or
you can order now from the Merge site).
I’m really anxious to check it out, but unfortunately, no sample mp3s seem to be available anywhere. Of the
9 or so posts on the Matt Suggs section of the Merge Message Board, 1 describes the record as killer, one says “I was a big Butterglory fan, but his solo stuff blows it away”,
and 1 says:

Tour Dates:
Sep 18 Tampa (w/ Songs:Ohia)
Sep 19 Tallahassee (w/ Songs: Ohia)
Sep 20 Baton Rouge
Sep 21 New Orleans (w/ Songs:Ohia)
Sep 25 Nashville (w/ Songs:Ohia)
Oct 12 Chapel Hill (w/ Beulah)
Oct 13 DC (w/ Beulah)
Oct 15 Philly (w/ Beulah)
Oct 16 NY (w/ Beulah)
Oct 18 Boston (w/ Beulah)
(yeah, venue names woulda been good, but hell, just pick your damned local free-paper and look that shit up)

Also touring in September is singer, songwriter, and all-round-hell-of-a-nice-guy, June Panic.
I’m not sure what the status is of his “new” album; the website says to expect a fall/winter release, but I can’t find any other info. Y’know, you should go out to see June play, and
then ask him about the status of the new album, and then you can e-mail me and let me know. In the meantime, mark your calendars, and listen to Baby’s Breadth, or one of June’s many other splendid
records (you can get ‘em at the Secretly Canadian store).

Sep 10 Bloomington, IN – Bear’s Place
Sep 11 Upland, IN – Taylor University
Sep 12 Knoxville, TN – Pilot Light
Sep 13 Athens, GA – Ultramod Compound (House show)
Sep 14 Asheville, NC – Vincent’s Ear
Sep 15 Mt. Pleasant, SC – Village Tavern
Sep 17 Baltimore, MD – Talking Head
Sep 21 Arlington, VA – Galaxy Hut
Sep 22 Pittsburgh, PA – Rex Theatre
Sep 27 N. Manchester, IN – Firehouse

And if you happen to be *anywhere* near southern Tennessee this weekend, I strongly urge you to head on over to Lamar’s, in Chattanooga,
on the 17th. Charles Allison will be playing a free “back-to-school” show,
and Charles will not disappoint. His latest, Braced In The Beams, has become as a dear old friend to me now. I fucking love that
record. Here, check out the alt-country-twinged pop of “Next Summer“. Plus
two of my other favorites, from his “old band” Kil Howlie Day: The lurrvely “Much Like Van Gogh“, and
the quirkpop gem, “Emo Camo“.

and I’m out.

SF’s Actionslacks have
just wrapped up a new album, and have posted some mp3s.

And Subpop’s “featuring”, on their homepage, this Shins recording-session-video that I saw
last week, but I didn’t know if it was new or old or what. S’probably not-totally-new, but still, probably a bit newer than the old
Shins-scored, Roman Coppola-directed, Ashton Kucher-starring
Gap commercial from last summer.

Peek-A-Boo Records is currently having a biggie-size moving
sale, with lots of shit priced at $1 or $2. This includes albums by Silver Scooter and Super XX Man. Also, how about Spoon’s 30 Gallon Tank 7″
for $2? Or how about the Six Pence For The Sauces 7″ by Drake Tungsten (aka Britty
Daniel) for a mere $1?

Also on the sale-tip, if your tastes lean more to the sugary power-pop side of things, Not Lame
has 20% off through the 20th. Might be a good time to finally pick up that Posies Box Set.
Mention code semgn0803 when your order, to get the discount.

I’ve always dug Ben Lee’s stuff
(Grandpaw Would being my favorite). His new album, Hey You, Yes You, is
out this week. I haven’t heard it yet, but I’m pretty anxious to check it out. Jon
gave it the sorta-kinda thumbs-up. I did hear the first single, “Running With Scissors”, and it’s
nice, dancy, poppy and slick. You can stream that track over at the Modular site.
In the past year, I’ve seen two separate TV appearances in which Ben has been wearing
what appears to be a tuxedo jacket with the sleeves cut off. Carson Kressly would blow an
O-Ring. Angela Chase probably made it for him or something.

I know you’ve been thinking about starting your own record label, so here are some articles to help convince you:
the Archer Records success story (via lhb),
and also Zines And Their Labels. If you’re
really serious about it, though, you certainly won’t jump in without your Mechanic’s Guide.

According to 3Gut, Them
Royal City boys should have a new EP out (on Rough Trade) in the fall. They’ve also recorded
a cover of the Str*kes’ “Is This It”, for an upcoming Rough Trade Comp.

And add to the “bands that are DUN” file:

• Elliott
• Atom (And His Package)

Also: Cripes.