What the? Two of the better releases out today are only available as imports for those of us in the States. Both The Futureheads‘ s/t disc and The Hidden Cameras‘ Mississauga Goddam are certainly worth checking out, but unfortunately, you’ll be payin’ import prices. And don’t forget, if you’re so inclined, Mississauga Goddam also comes in a ltd.-ed. (1000) vinyl, featuring handmade original artwork.

And speaking of the Hidden Cameras, Five Seventeen dot Chromewaves has posted some HC rarities, including a demo of “Mississauga Goddam” and a sublime live cover of “Say My Name”. Good stuff. Massive thanks to tim for that one.

Also from tim, stream that Arthur magazine comp that Devendra Banhart put together.

And, um, Allmusic, excuse me, but, um, WHAT THE FUCK?

The Fiery Furnaces‘ Blueberry Boat is out tomorrow. You’ll probably want to pick this one up. Mp3:

dios did some radio sessions for XFM UK.

TMT reports that new dates have been added for the fall for the Destroyer/Frog Eyes jobby. They’re of no use to me, here in Columbus, OH, but oh well.

Destroyer/Frog Eyes Fall Tour
08.20.04 – Victoria, BC Logan’s
09.23.04 – Minneapolis, MN 7th St. Entry
09.25.04 – Chicago, IL Schuba’s
09.26.04 – Detroit, MI Detroit Art Space
09.28.04 – Hamilton, ONT Underground
09.29.04 – Montreal, QUE Mile End Cultural Centre
09.30.04 – Portland, ME Space
10.03.04 – Philadelphia, PA Khyber
10.09.04 – Omaha, NE O’Leavers
10.12.04 – Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court

NYC, the second Andrew Spencer show will take place this Sunday at Tonic. With also Kristen Mueller (of Gloria Deluxe) and Anti-Social music.

Columbus, you guys can mark your calendars with these: 7/20 – John Wesley Harding @ The Patio, 7/27 – Secret Machines @ Wex, 7/31 – Songs:Ohia/Swearing At Motorists/Court and Spark/etc. @ Lil’ Bros, 8/6 – The Walkmen @ Lil’ Bros, 8/17 – Black Dice/Animal Collective @ Wex

Related: How to tell if you are old, from Drew. I’m definitely old.

Whooptidoo, here’s one of those completely useless eCard things from Rough Trade for the new Hidden Cameras disc.

14.2222. from the blueprint via catchdubs.

Reuters on mp3 blogs.

In unsurprising news, Subpop has signed Wolf Parade. Gramophone said as much months ago.

Barsuk, in conjuction with Move On, Music For America, and McSweeney’s, is releasing a fundraiser comp with a fairly sweetass lineup:

1. OK Go : This Will Be Our Year

2. David Byrne : Ain’t Got So Far To Go

3. Jimmy Eat World : Game of Pricks (BBC evening session)

4. Death Cab For Cutie : This Temporary Life

5. Blink-182 : I Miss You (James Guthrie mix)

6. Mike Doughty : Move On

7. Ben Kweller : Jerry Falwell Destroyed the Earth

8. Sleater-Kinney : Off With Your Head

9. R.E.M. : Final Straw (MoveOn mix)

10. Bright Eyes : Going for the Gold (live)

11. The Long Winters : The Commander Thinks Aloud (future mix)

12. will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas : Money

13. They Might Be Giants : Tippecanoe And Tyler Too

14. Clem Snide : The Ballad of David Icke

15. Yeah Yeah Yeahs : Date With the Night (live)

16. Fountains of Wayne : Everything’s Ruined (acoustic)

17. Nada Surf : Your Legs Grow

18. The Flaming Lips : Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (live on the BBC)

19. Old 97′s : Northern Line

20. Laura Cantrell : Sam Stone

21. Tom Waits : Day After Tomorrow

22. Elliott Smith : A Distorted Reality Is Now A Necessity To Be Free

It’s out August 10th.

Sally Crewe‘s followup to the excellent Drive It Like You Stole It, titled Shortly After Take-Off, is in the can and ready for an early 2005 release. Sounds like about the same time as the new Spoon record’s release, and it seems to me that a joint tour would make a hell of a lot of sense. I know no one will believe this, but tim *swears* that during the Sally Crewe set at SXSW this year, he saw Friendo smile.

The Horns of Happiness is a project by Aaron Deer of the Impossible Shapes and John Wilkes Booze. The new record, A Sea As A Shore, will be out on Secretly Canadian on July 20th.

When the new Unbunny disc, Snow Tires, came out in mid-June, I kept expecting it to show up in my mailbox. I mean, I had pre-ordered it all the way back in April. I think. See, sometimes, my memory, she’s a tricky one.

Anyway.

I sent in an email ‘splaining that I thought I’d
pre-ordered the disc, but it never showed up, and that
I didn’t have a problem placing another new order, I
just didn’t want to end up with two copies of the new
Unbunny disc. The guy told me that sorry, no, there
was no record of my pre-order, and I should just place
a new order, and it would be expedited and etcetera.

So just one day later, the disc showed up!

Two days after that, the second order showed up.

Dammit I tried, but I still ended up with two copies of
that new Unbunny disc, and Carl Corbitt, that extra
one’s all yours.

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway. Stay sweet.

Holy cripes, summer mixes abound over at the Yewknee Summer Mix page. Huge thanks to Mixmaster Ryan for the tip-off.

Kid Dakota‘s follow-up to So Pretty, titled The West Is The Future, will be out October 5th on Chairkicker’s.

The Trouble With Sweeney went and officially posted a couple of the new Fishtown Briefcase tracks:

Shit, man, if you pre-order the Fiery Furnaces‘ Blueberry Boat from Insound, you’ll also get their just-released single of “Single Again” b/w “Evergreen”. Those tracks are both non-album, I’ve just recently learned. Super-completists will also want to pick up the 7″ version, which features one other non-album track, “Sing For Me”.

The always-right-on SCTAS just posted their interview with Devendra Banhart. Go check it out. Just last night, I saw a promo on Adult Swim featuring Devendra playing with Currituck Co and Vetiver. Weird.

Popshot interview w/ Britt Daniel. (via ToT).

The next Crooked Fingers release is apparently shaping up to be an 18-track double album, tentatively titled Dignity and Shame. An early ’05 release seems likely. (via Paul, over at dw).

Scott says that your favorite P2P network should be just filthy with the new Interpol record by now. Check it out. I think the new Faint record is out there too, although Saddle Creek apparently has enlisted people to fight the uphill battle of individually asking sharers to remove the album from their share directories. Interpol’s Antics should be officially out September 28th, and the Faint’s Wet From Birth is slated for September 14th.

Coolfer points out that you can now stream “Evergreen“, from the Fiery Furnaces‘s Blueberry Boat, compliments of NME.

Cory has an excellent Summertime Mp3 Mix up. Also, don’t forget to grab his Mp3 of Wham’s Everything She Wants.

Please help fund the Wrens documentary. via ToT.

Uber-meme’d-out mp3 of the week: The Delgado’s covering “Mr. Blue Sky”

Lovely song from the upcoming Tara Jane O’Neil record, You Sound, Reflect:

More beautiful stuff: Summer At Shatter Creek singing over Mogwai. Mp3s here.

I missed Rogue Wave opening for the Shins recently, and after hearing this song, I’m sorry I did:

I didn’t even realize it, but I just got to live through a golden age of shows recently. In the past few weeks, I got to see My Morning Jacket, The Shins, Spoon, and The Magnetic Fields. Best moment of any of them? Britt Daniel, looking straight at a group of giddy young ladies and introducing the next song by saying, “You ladies will recognize this one from the O.C. Soundtrack!”

Have a good weekend, and remember, fingers lost to firecrackers can always be re-attached. Worst case scenario, they sew one of your toes up there.

The
July Mix is up. A million thanks to Lonny Unitus for picking up banner duties this month. His site’s still kinda in flux, but you can go to this page @ GigPosters.com to check out all his stuff.

While I’m at it, I need to give out official thanks to Andy for coming through with the June banner, and to Sven for the sweet May design.

Youse guys rock, one and all. I thank ye.