Go grab it. Gramophone has a track from the upcoming Hidden Cameras disc, Mississauga Goddamn.

Power poppers The Waxwings have a new record out, Let’s Make Our Descent, out on Rainbow Quartz. Brendan Benson apparently helped out in some capacity. There are 2 mp3 links on the site, but they both play the same song, so I don’t know what the title is; it’s either “Leave Less Waiting” or “All The Fuss”.

And I would be remiss if I didnt’ remind everyone that the new Communique record is out today. Highly recommended, ’specially if you’re not afraid to move your ass.

Check out some tracks from the final GBV record, Half-Smiles Of The Decomposed, out August 24th:

(via Catherine, of course.)

Also, don’t forget that the insanely hugeass 3LP Bee Thousand re-release is coming out August 31st.

The first official Arcade Fire release from Merge is now available at the Merge store. The 7″ features “Neighboorhood #1″ b/w “My Buddy” (by The Alvino Rey Orchestra a.k.a. “Gramps”). Merge also has the Arcade Fire’s first EP for sale now, too. If you missed that one the first time
around, get on it now. The new full-length, Funeral, will be available for pre-order September 3rd.

Finally, FWIW, Coolfer notes that at midnight tonight, you can go to the iTunes Music Store to buy an exclusive new Pixies track, “Bam Thwok”. Kim Deal sings it.

Buzz. Two new Spoon demos have been posted:

I know what you’re thinking…what’s with the incessant postings about Royal City? And, you’re thinking “What happened to the incessant postings about Destroyer?”

All I can say is, we aim to please.

Five Seventeen Dot Chomewaves pointed out that if you go here, you can download an RC track from an older comp called Ten; Ten:

And, no it’s not a cover of that song by Extreme.

Magpie says that at the time that track was recorded, RC was known as “Aaron Riches and the Royal City All-Stars”. Which reminds me that I have tried many many times, to no avail, to get my hands on Riches’ solo records, Over The Lightpost, and Rain. Perhaps some of my more Canucky compadres can either help me get my hands on these, or else, tell me they’re awful and that I shouldn’t bother.

Royal City’s touring Europe with Herman Dune (I’ll let the mp3s explain). The thing I find strange is that Herman Dune is not the only Swedish duo with an affinity for American cover songs.

As for Destroyer, here’s an assload of Destroyer articles that I nicked from Zoilus:

Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer,
Destroyer

By the time you read this, Little Heart’s Ease should be available down tha store,
though it bears noting, I guess, that Rough Trade has posted one of those ecard things with Real snippets of tracks 2 and 3, “Jerusalem” and “She Will Come”. Actually, you know what? RealAudio snippets are so fucking worthless. You know those guys that stand around at the supermarket and hand out samples of kielbasa on toothpicks? It’s not even like that. Offering an mp3 to download is like that. RealAudio samples are like holding the kielbasa-toothpick out and saying “here, you can sniff this for 2 seconds”.

Up until this point, every time I’ve read “Helio Sequence”, in my mind, I’ve been thinking “Helios Creed”. My bad.
Their new record, Love and Distance, is out tomorrow on Subpop, and if I were to judge its merit based solely on the mp3 they’ve posted, I’d say it’s pretty damn good.

Robbers On High Street will be the musical guests on Carson Durstly June 10th. Better though, is this link to their KEXP performance back in March, which includes Debonair, Opal Ann, and the newish (at least I think) “Major Minor”.

Destroyer interview over at Junkmedia.

John Guilt rarities continue to surface…you can now check out their cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Song For The Asking”, which originally appeared on the Exotic Fever comp Don’t Know When I’ll Be Back Again.

Nary a peep out of Omaha for a while, but there’s some peepin’ now. Apparently, Now It’s Overhead have covered the Magnetic Fields’ “Book Of Love” as a b-side to the Wait In A Line single (out later this summer).

And, 3 years after the fact, and The Faint have finally put together a new album to follow up Danse Macabre. I’m anxious to see how well they’ll be able to compete in the 2004 market, where almost *every* band is referencing the Big 80s. S’called Wet From Birth, and’ll be out September 14th.

Finally, Columbus, please note that the Bigger Lovers show this Friday has been moved (thank GOD) from Bernie’s to Oldfield’s. You’d have to be a real jackass to miss this one. (thx Chip for the heads-up).

Carl Wilson reviews Little Heart’s Ease over at the Globe and Mail. Fairly positive, overall.

And Peefork surprisingly (at least to me) gave a positive review to that Ponys record.

Not surprisingly, they take the piss out of Travis Morrison for his cover of Ludacris’ “What’s Your Fantasy” (known in my circles as “Lik-Lik-Lik!”). I really resent their potshots at the Garfield movie though. Everyone knows that the Garfield movie will be second only to Citizen Kane as the greatest film of all time. Man, that’s going to be so funny when Garfield like tries to get the lasagna or whatever. Or when he tries to be lazy and take a nap, ha ha. Now that’s going to be some real comedy, I tell you.

Vue (the “news magazine”, not the band) chimes in on “MP3Js”. Everyone can thank Benjamen for that terminology.

And, Columbus folks, don’t forget, tonight is Springfest over at OSU, sponsored by Ohio State’s pseudo-radio station, KBUX. Plenty of good local band action throughout the day, and tonight you can catch the Thermals at 10, Weird War at 11, and The Unicorns at midnight. Boo yah.

Communique’s newest album of sweetass pop, Poison Arrows, will be out nationwide on the 15th. If you’re in SF, though, you can head down to Popscene tonight, to check out the Communique release show, where you can actually pick up the disc 2 weeks early. Further, another track from the disc has been released:

Interesting sounds on Human Hand, Animal Band, the latest
record from
Austin’s Rhythm Of
Black Lines. Mp3:

Jay Farrar has a
new
live record out on the 8th, called Stone, Steel,
and Bright Lights. It’s taken from his tour from
Fall last year, with Canyon as his
backing band. You can stream tracks here.

Trouble At Jinx Hotel is the new record by Molasses,
just out on
Alien 8.
They’re another
one of those Canadian ensembles that are all the rage
these days. Check it:

Lots of people are getting here via searches for Polaris‘
“Hey Sandy”. If you
check out the Mezzotint site,
you
can grab a number of
mp3s. “Hey Sandy” is not among the freebies, but
sheesh, just buy the damn record, it’s worth it.
Meantime, tide yourself over with this one:

You can even watch a video,
starring Little Pete.

The fourth 7″ in Spirit Of Orr’s “Quiet Weather Series” will be a split ft/ Destroyer and Black Mountain (aka The Pink Mountaintops). Should be out sometime this fall.

Also, Scratch Records has a limited vinyl of Your Blues available now.