Sondre Lerche will be releasing 2 albums this year: the first one, the Duper Sessions (out March 21st), is being described as a “one-off jazz inflected pop” record, which means that it’ll be playing on the soundsystem the next time you’re in Starbucks. Your older, married sister will really like it, and will ask you if you’ve ever heard of this Sahn-DRAY Lurk-EE guy? Then, later in the fall, we are to expect Sondre’s “primitive rock record with punchy songs and a more aggressive sound.” I’ll hold out for that one, I think.

You never liked them, they suck, they’re all hype, blah blah blah, but still, this is me reminding you that the CYHSY vinyl came out this week.

As did that amazingly beautiful Vampyros Lesbos limited-edition 2LP. Forced Exposure has it for $16.50.

Did you really like that Richard Swift 2xCD that Secretly Canadian put out last year? Because did you know that the 2xLP of The Novelist/Walking Without Effort just came out on Velvet Blue Music? And, it also comes with a bonus CD of demos. Swift’s new full-length, Dressed Up for the Letdown, is out May 23rd.

On February 7th, 3 Beads of Sweat is releasing 2 discs related to seminal New Zealand band The Renderers. Mary Rose Crook w/ the Renderers: Ghosts Of Our Vegas Lives, is technically vocalist Mary Rose Crook’s solo album, and is dark and flowy, and Anti-Clockwise: Artificial Light, Brian Crook’s solo one, is a little more sparse and experimental. As I listened, I just kept thinking that both discs sounded, to me, very David Lynchian. It’s just that, for whatever reason, my mind just pulls up images of Agent Cooper walking along foggy roadsides when I listen to these. But you can judge for yourself: Mp3s are available here and here.

Did you know that Sunset Rubdown had a new one out? I’m not talking about Snake’s Got A Leg; there’s another one, an EP. Just came out 2 weeks ago on Global Symphonic. You can stream one of the tracks on the GS Myspace page.

And, mark yr calendars: just one day after the new Sunset Rubdown full-length on Absolutely Kosher is released, the May Sunset Rubdown/Frog Eyes tour begins:

5-3 - Portland, OR - Holocene
5-4 - Seattle, WA - Crocdile
5-6 - Victoria, BC - Logan’s
5-9 - Calgary, AB - Broken City
5-12 - Winnipeg, MB - Collective Cabaret
5-13 - Fargo, ND - VFW
5-14 - Mount Vernon, IA - The Orange Carpet in the Commons Building, Cornell College
5-17 - Northfield, MN - Cave, Carlton University
5-20 - Montreal, Quebec, El Salon
5-24 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
5-25 - Cambridge, MA - TT the Bear’s
5-26 - Hanover, NH - Fuel Rocket Club, Dartmouth University
(*Dates were swiped from More Cowbell)

And the inimitable John Ringhofer, aka Half-Handed Cloud (nee “Wookieback”), has a new one, Halos & Lassos, due March 7 on Asthmatic Kitty. He too will support with a tour (all dates w/ Liz Janes):

3-29 - Champaign, IL - Canopy Club
3-31 - Grand Rapids, MI - Calvin College
4-1 - Ann Arbor, MI - Halfway Inn
4-2 - Columbus, OH - High Five w/ Parker Paul and Create(!)
4-4 - Lexington, KY - Underlying Themes
4-5 - Bloomington, IN - TBA
4-7 - Indianapolis, IN - Big Car Gallery

Merge has finally got the order details up for Destroyer’s Rubies. Pre-orders will begin this Friday, and the first 100 pre-orders get a “gem-like Destroyer’s Rubies pin.” I can see that you’re very excited about that.

And Pinder has just posted a Destroyer Wiki; He’s got Destroyer’s Rubies in there, and I just added Streethawk. Being that it’s a wiki, you can help out too, if you’re so inclined. Swing on by.

I’ve been unable to get full details, but note that Dan Bejar is supposedly getting a nice appearance (and a cover, I heard) in that one magazine that gives out more free Red Stripe than any other magazine.

And now, a brief digression into Crazy-Land(TM):

About 5 years ago, I found myself plagued by this incessant fuzzy memory: An animated frog, dancing through the countryside, on his way to a picnic with other animals and giant insects that wore trousers, spats, and monocles. And the frog was singing: a real Beatlesque bah-bah-bah earworm.

Since I didn’t recall doing a whole lot of acid when I was 6, I did a little research and I found out exactly what the whole deal was: In England, in 1973, Jonathan Cape Ltd. published a children’s book called “The Butterfly Ball and Grasshopper’s Feast,” which was adapted into an animated feature, with an accompanying album put together by Musician/Producer Roger Glover (ex- of Deep Purple). This, in turn, evolved into a full-fledged stage show, which was then performed at the Royal Albert Hall on October 16th, 1975.
So, why do I bring this up now? The answer is twofold: First, Music Video Distributors has just announced that they are releasing that Butterfly Ball performance on DVD on March 14th. And second, that song that was stuck in my head? Did I mention it was sung by none other than Mister Ronnie James Dio? Enjoy:

::: Love Is All :::

70s, 80s, 90s

Head Like A Kite is the new project by Sushirobo guitarist Dave Einmo. It does sound vaguely Sushirobo-esque, but also distinctly different. Members of Smoosh, Kinski, The Posies, Crooked Fingers, PSOI, and Sushirobo all contribute the record, as do sounds from the Einmo family’s 1970’s Super 8 movies, so there you go. Picture that sound, if you will. Or, just listen to the mp3s:

::: Noisy at the Circus :::
::: Words of a Friend :::
::: Injecting 10ccs of Temptation :::
::: A Dime and a Cigarette :::
::: Tell Mommy You Want a Sip of Beer :::

Smooth, pretty, electronic (almost 80s sounding) pop sounds from Montreal’s Under Electric Light on their new EP, See The Light. You can check out some songs on their Myspace page.

I just checked out this Wavering Saints‘ Collusion EP, which is 6 tracks of charming, home-tapey, old-school early-90s sounding stuff. Kaleb did up a nice, full review here, you can listen to some (older) mp3s here, and you can pick it up at Insound for $1.98 here.

How about some lovely quietish stuff for a Friday afternoon? Fridays don’t always have to be a balls out drunken spectacle (well, Friday afternoons at least).

French duo Hey Hey My My have some nice tracks up on their Myspace site, including this number:

::: Too Much Space :::

And here’s a really pretty one from Toronto’s Harmony Trowbridge:

::: No Photographs :::

Jed and Lucia make some beautiful music that sounds sort of like a boy/girl Kings Of Convenience. You can stream their whole album, Candles In Daylight, at Jed and Lucia dot com.

And I have to mention Japan’s Shugo Tokumaru. Lovely, lovely stuff, track down his new disc, L.S.T., if you can. Here’s a sample mix from the disc:

::: L.S.T. Sample Mix :::

And okay, this last one’s not quiet, but dammit, I can’t stop listening to it. It’s a track called FreeJazz, by Sweden’s Envelopes. It’s a new single that’s due out February 13th on Brille Records Ltd, but for now, you’ll just have to make do with streaming it on the Envelopes Myspace page.

Pinder has the first good-quality scan of the cover for Destroyer’s Rubies that I’ve seen on the interweb, go check it out. UPDATE: It’s from Amazon.

I am absolutely *certain* now that this record is going to be huge. Though I *do not* believe Pfork will give it a 10.0 as many are saying, I do think they’ll go above a 9.0; a 9.2, maybe? (which is still off; even Matt’s reviews of Destroyer classics top out at 8.6!) But, yes, I do believe 2006 will definitely be Dan’s year. About damn time.

Oh, and Pinder also points out that Scratch are doing the vinyl up as a Double LP with a 4th side of Destroyer/Loscil remixes.

2006 Destroyer Tour Dates:

I guess the tour technically starts off with Destroyer’s SXSW 2006 show(s), 3/15 - 3/19 (btw, if anyone has an extra $525 badge lying around, be sure to throw it my way). The tour-proper w/Magnolia Elec begins right after: Update: Contrary to what the SXSW website says, Destroyer will not, in fact, be appearing at SXSW.

3/22/06 - Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
3/24/06 - Chicago , IL - Abbey Pub
3/24/06 - Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig
3/25/06 - Toronto, ON - Lee’s Palace
3/26/06 - Montreal, PQ - La Sala Rosa
3/27/06 - Cambridge, MA - Middle East-downstairs
3/28/06 - New York, NY - Avalon
3/29/06 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
3/30/06 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
3/31/06 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
4/12/06 - Vancouver, BC - Richard’s on Richards

West Coast dates are to follow in May (including this date, if Pollstar is to be believed):

5/11/06 - Visalia, CA - Howie & Sons Pizza

And then on 5/21, it’s off to Camber Sands for All Tomorrow’s Parties.

One last thing, note that the Streethawk LJ Community has puzzled together the complete lyrics for Destroyer’s Rubies. Sheesh!

::: Bom Bom - Pop I Kras :::

Bom Bom, like so many other good bands, are from Gothenburg, Sweden. More here, here, here, and here.

Hey, if there are any London readers out there, be sure to get over to The Social on Monday evening for the Tack! Tack! Tack! Party featuring Pet Politics. And please note, we’re almost totally out of the red and green copies of CBR 002. Only 2 copies of each remain, plus a handful of blue ones.

Here’s a noisy explosion of an anthem from the forthcoming Parts & Labor record, Stay Afraid, out April 11th on Jagjaguwar:

::: A Great Divide :::

And Subpop posted another track from the upcoming Kelley Stoltz record, Below The Branches (2/07).

::: Memory Collector :::

Have a good weekend. If you’re like me, when this particular day of the year rolls around, there’s only one thing to do: stay in and watch movies.

I heard that new Lilys record that’s coming out next month, Everything Wrong Is Imaginary, and it’s very, very good. You can stream a track, “With Candy,” over at their Myspace page. It sounds like the strings are melting off the guitar while falling through a black hole. It’s perfect.

I’ve been listening to the new record by The Battles, Tomorrow’s Eager Hands, which is out very soon on Soft Abuse. And no, I’m not talking about the band “BATTLES”, I’m talking about The Battles. The Battles on Soft Abuse do not feature former members of Don Caballero nor the son of an avant jazz legend. The Battles on Soft Abuse are headed up by Stephen Wood, the man who played guitar on Destroyer’s Streethawk, City of Daughters, and Thief. Yeah, I know. Here’s a track:

::: Suzanne :::

The disc is officially out Feb. 14th, but I bet if you ordered it from Soft Abuse right now, they’d probably go ahead and send your copy out, regardless.

Suicide Squeeze will be putting out the debut record by The Metal Hearts (called Socialize) on February 21st. The press release compares them to “Long Drive-era Modest Mouse, Arab Strap, and Cat Power,” and I’ll add that I think it’s a little bit Pinback-y. Anyway, here’s the title track; it’s quite good:

::: Socialize :::

There’s some charmingly lo-fi one-minute pop songs for you via the Capstan Shafts’ Halaluah Moancoxers digital EP from the Beat The Indie Drum Netlabel. You gotta minute? Like, literally, a minute? Check this track out:

::: Petals On An Austin Rose :::

I was delighted to hear that the record that Levi Fuller has been working on, This Murder Is A Peaceful Gathering, is set to be released in the very near future. As such, Levi has posted the final, mastered versions of two great tracks from the album:

::: Bread :::
::: Crow Lady :::

I can’t tell: is this Pfork track review of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin’s “House Fire” supposed to be positive or negative?

I’ve recently realized that the sheer abundance of Mp3 Blogs these days, and the tendency of many of them to post every single press release that comes into their mailbox, has resulted in me missing some good stuff. I always thought it was all about separating the wheat from the chaff, but anymore, it’s like people just throw the whole damn bushel at you and tell you to sort that shit out for yourself (i.e. “Back To Square One”). Anyway, I can sense a long digression (or a bad case of gas) bubbling up, so I’ma stop right here, and get to my real point, which is: this band, Oh No! Oh My! (neé The Jolly Rogers) made the rounds on most of the Mp3 Blogs about a month ago, but I somehow missed them completely. Luckily, I came across ‘em last night, and damn, they’ve got some fine lil’ pop songs; check it out:

::: Walk In The Park :::

They’ve got a bunch more mp3s on their site. Or, hell, just buy their CD, it’s only a buck-fifty.