Boston’s Emergency Music have
an all-new site, a new write-up in the Weekly Dig,
and a show Saturday night at the Plan
with TTWS. They also
have 4 great tracks for you to download, woo-hoo!

Unbunny, who released one
of my favorite records of last year, also have a new website.
There will apparently be a new record in early ‘04 on Hidden Agenda. In
the meantime, you can still buy Black Strawberries here at the Two-Ton Santa store.
Here’s my 75 or Less review. I really can’t recommend it highly enough.

A reminder for you if happen to find yourself in Europe in the next month: John Guilt’s

tour w/ Scout Niblett kicks off tomorrow in Belguim.

John Guilt Euro Dates-
01/11/03 : Botanique – Brussel (B)
02/11/03 : Patronaat – Haarlem (NL)
03/11/03 : Krawietelke – Gent (B)
04/11/03 : Studio Desmet radiosession – Amsterdam (NL)
05/11/03 : JJ Records – Hasselt (B) (instore)
06/11/03 : Den Hemel – Zichem (B)

07/11/03 : Mistery gig – Dordrecht (NL)
08/11/03 : Astrastube – Hamburg (D) (Andy’s 25th Birthday)
09/11/03 : A-Hoy – Frankfurt (D)
10/11/03 : Nato – Leipzig (D)

11/11/03 : K4 – Nurnberg (D) (+90 Day Men)
12/11/03 : Harry Klein – Munich (D) (+Mano Nelson)
13/11/03 : Star Club – Dresden (D) (+Him)
14/11/03 : Magnet Club – Berlin (D) (+Enon, Sodastream)
15/11/03 : VEB – L?obeck (D)
16/11/03 : Kulturbunker Molheim – Koln (D)
17/11/03: Off
18/11/03: Off
19/11/03: Off
20/11/03 : Bad Bonn – Dodingen (CH)
21/11/03 : La Guinguette Pirate – Paris (F)
22/11/03 : Le PV – Toulouse(F)

Finally, thanks to murmur, I
found out about the new
Six Parts Seven record that features vocal performances and remixes from David Bazan (Pedro the Lion),
Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse), Sam Beam (Iron and Wine), and more. And whattya know, here’s
the Iron and Wine track right here:

You can buy the album
right here at the Suicide Squeeze store.

Happy Halloweenie, kids. Be good, and don’t do crack. It’s a ghetto drug.

Robbers On High Street have wrapped up the recording of their (proper)
debut EP, which should be out on Scratchie Records in January.
It’ll be six songs, only one of which had a version previously available on their demo. I’m stoked.

And not to belittle any artists who still have records coming out this year, but for
me, 2003 is pretty much DUN, music-wise. I’m ready for 2004 already. Aside from the Robbers new disc, there’s
also gonna be, just in the first quarter alone:

Magnetic Fields TBD (1st Qtr.)
Modest Mouse Good News For People Who Love Bad News (1st Qtr.)
Mountain Goats We Shall All Be Healed (1st Qtr.)
Spoon The Beast And Dragon Are Adored (1st Qtr.)
Vanderslice Cellar Door (Jan. 5)
Walkmen Bows And Arrows (Feb.)

I think I gotta save the rest of my ‘03 budget for some insanely great DVD releases
coming out over the next few months anyway:

Aqua Teen Hunger Force v1
The Ben Stiller Show
Schizopolis – Criterion Edition
Spike Jonze Videos
Strangers With Candy v2
Tenacious D
Upright Citizens Brigade v1

The “You’re An Asshole If You Miss This One” Award will
go to you if you pass up the chance to catch the Vanderslice/Beulah show.
Those concerned about the absence of wildman Christopher McGuire on the JV set
can be assured that Mr. Pete Anderson does a fine job in his place.
They actually played suprisingly few tracks from the
upcoming album, though I do have to say that “When It
Hits My Blood” is one hot, ahem, “jawn”^TM.
Cellar Door will be out January 20th on Barsuk.

[ buy it ] mp3 mp3 mp3

[ buy it ] mp3 mp3

[ buy it ] download the whole fucking album

[ buy it ] download the whole fucking album

Beulah managed to pull off a 2 hour set, playing tons of shit from all
their albums. And they were great. I mean, God Damn. I think When Your Heartstrings Break is
one of my favorite records ever.

[ buy it ]

[ buy it ] mp3

[ buy it ] mp3s

[ buy it ] mp3s

Dates:

10-24 Newport, KY Phil’s Music in-store (JV only)
10-24 Cincinnati, OH Southgate House
10-25 Chicago, IL The Abbey
10-26 Ames, IA M-Shop (JV only)
10-27 Minneapolis, MN 400 Bar
10-30 Portland, OR Dante’s
10-31 Vancouver, BC The Green Room
11-01 Seattle, WA Graceland
11-02 Bellingham, WA Fairhaven Auditorium (JV only)
11-03 Spokane, WA Detour (JV + Summer Hymns only)
11-04 Portland, OR Lewis & Clark/Rusty Nail (JV only)
11-06 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
11-07 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall (Beulah + Velvet Teen only)

Also:

According to several new release listings, The Mute Records’
Can 2x DVD
was due to be released this week, but further digging seems to
indicate that this won’t be out til next month. It’s going to
feature tons of stuff, including documentaries, concert footage, remixes,
13 solo tracks and more. Timely trivia factoid: Kill Bill features
the track “Super 16″ by Can offshoot Neu.

There are two biggies dropping tomorrow:

I’m recommending Chutes Too Narrow Goddamn Highly, and Echoes Pretty Goddamn Highly.
But I’m still trying figure out who
it’s going to be cooler to hate on: The Rapture or The Strokes. I’m
guessing most of the cool kids will probably be hating more on the
Rapture, as I imagine that Strokes hatin’ has become so tired
that it’s actually probably cooler now to say that you like them.

In the new Wired, David Cross outlines some of his
favorite new XCubeStation games. My favorite? Hipster Bash,
where hipsters battle their way from Silverlake L.A. to Williamsburg,
and can call up the special “Hipper-Than-Thou ray, which blasts opponents
with osbsucre musical references and condescension until they’re
reduced to a quivering mass of egoless flesh.”

His new DVD, Let America Laugh, is out November 4th on Subpop.

Those most-excellent Bigger Lovers have
offered up a “new” mp3. It’s called “Needy”, comes from the How I Learned To Stop Worrying sessions,
and is described as sounding like something off Locust Abortion Technician. Judge for yerself:

They’re shooting for early March for their new record’s release.

The AMC channel has a promo that’s set to The Pernice Brothers’ “Weakest Shade Of Blue”. At first I thought
I was just dreaming it, but then I saw it again.

Thanks to Frank Chromewaves, I now know
that my absolute favourite Nova Scotian Rock Star, Joel Plaskett,
has a new record out on the 21st. It’s called Truthfully, Truthfully, and there’ll be
a special-edition double-cd version w/ 2 extra songs available at shows and via the website.

And my other favourite Canucks, Royal City, continue to prove
to me that they can Do. No. Wrong. Their reworking of the Str*kes’ “Is This It”, from
the Rough Trade 25th-Anniv comp, is incredible.

Subpop has set up a lil’ mini-site for
the release of Chutes Too Narrow. If you pre-order
now, you’ll get some bonus shite.
Don’t forget, you can also download the
mp3 for So Says I,
which is the one with the nice Smiths-y bounce to it.

If I ever have to form a Smiths cover band, it’s
going to be done in the style of 90’s rap masters Das EFX.
My boy Bailey already
called dibs on “The Smithsfits”.

Every Monday in October, “The Three Amigos” are the featured act at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn. So who the fuck are “The Three Amigos”? It’s Matt Pond (PA), Joey (The Trouble With) Sweeney, and Kurt Heasley (Lilys).

“Non-Three-Amigos” Tour Dates:

Matt Pond PA
Oct 24 | Louisville, KY | Chapel Of St. Philip
Oct 25 | Chicago, IL | Open End Gallery
Oct 27 | Minneapolis, MN | Theatre De La Jeune
Oct 30 | Philadelphia, PA | North Star
Oct 31 | Brooklyn, NY | North Six
Nov 15 | Seattle, WA | On The Boards
Nov 17 | Portland, OR| Berbatis Pan
Nov 19 | SF, CA | Cafe Du Nord
Nov 20 | LA, CA | TBA
Nov 21 | LA, CA | TBA
(* all show with Rachel’s)

TTWS
Oct 22 | New York, NY | CMJ/Burntoastvinyl/Fanatic Promotion Showcase at CB’s Gallery w/ Denison Witmer, Saxon Shore
Oct 24 | Philadelphia, PA | TLA w/ My Morning Jacket
Nov 01 | Boston, MA | The Allston Plan
Nov 12 | Lynchburg, VA | The Drowsy Poet
Nov 13 | Pittsburgh, PA | Quiet Storm
Nov 14 | Detroit, MI | Detroit Arts Space
Nov 15 | Chicago, IL | Schubas w/ Magnolia Electric Company
Nov 16 | Des Moines, IA | Vaudeville Mews
Nov 17 | Dubuque, IA | The Busted Lift
Nov 18 | TBA
Nov 19 | St. Louis, MO | Creepy Crawl
Nov 20 | Lexington, KY | High on Rose
Nov 21 | Athens, GA | Caledonia Lounge
Nov 22 | Greensboro, NC | Venue TBA w/ Forget Cassettes
Nov 23 | Richmond, VA | Nanci Raygun (early show)

Lilys

Oct 09 | Detroit, MI | Lagerhouse
Oct 10 | Chicago, IL | Empty Bottle
Oct 11 | Cleveland, OH | Beachland Ballroom
Oct 24 | NYC, NY | CMJ @ Arlene Grocery

The new Spoon record is tentatively
scheduled for a spring ‘04 release, but what the hell will it be called? Of the following,
one possible title comes from the Time Magazine article, one comes directly from the
Spoon website, and one comes from a dream I had about the new album (yes, I am a sad fucking nerdcase):

1. Captured To Be Cooked
2. The Beast And Dragon Are Adored
3. Cut Baby Twenties

Anyway, ILYBICD have
offered up another mp3 from their forthcoming (Britt-produced) EP:

And, Austinites be aware: the Spoon-List has pointed out that Spoon is set to open for
Belle & Sebastian at The Backyard on November 2.