Check out the nice long feature on Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin over at Daytrotter (complete with awesome portrait). And Mp3s too! The super awesome “Modern Mystery” should be available for download by the time you read this.

Tim pointed out that there’s actually a new Loud Family record coming out in July. All of the young music bloggers out there are scratching their heads right now, going “What the hell is the Loud Family? I didn’t get the press release for that!” But it doesn’t matter, ’cause it’s easy enough for ‘em to get up to speed: the Alias website is still functioning/taking orders, as far as I can tell. I just ordered some Archers vinyl and the Alias 101 video comp like, just a year or so ago. You know you want that Chug pillowcase.

Holy “Doucheapalooza”, it’s a Buddyhead update.

Dan K. sent over the new disc from David & the Citizens. Wouldn’t you know it? Bouncy Swedish Pop, whoo-hoo! There are about 964 Swedish musicians I need to see live now, can someone just book, like, a giant purple jumbojet and fly ‘em over here all at once? We can call it the Söul Plane, and Jens Lekman can be the pilot. He already has the hat.

For those of you actually *in* Sweden, mark your calendars for April 5th. That’s the date of the Hemstad release party at Locatelli. In honor of the occasion, they’ve posted the album version of Fyllekärring for your downloading pleasure:

::: Fyllekärring :::

So there’s your excuse to dance around like a coked-up clean freak for today.

(And yeah, those limited-edition Bonus Discs are gone, but that shouldn’t stop you from ordering if you’ve been slacking.)

Pitchfork points out that the new Mountain Goats record should be out in the fall.

Pitchfork also points out that Bejar, Mercer, and Krug (Attys-at-Law) will name their upcoming project “Swan Lake” now, rather than “Thunder Cloud.” Supposedly, the record’ll be out on Jagjag late in the year, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Because, where’s that “Bonaparte” record, Dan? Or that “Brown Discharge” 7-inch? Huh?

Kaleb has come through once again, this time by turning us onto the new disc from Keith John Adams, titled Pip (out on the perpetually-great HHBTM).

::: Never Look Down :::

Yes, Destroyer’s on tour right now. Yes, I would urge you to go. Yes, you’re sick of me talking about Destroyer. Sorry, I mean, Destroyer– yes, there’s an “official” website now.

So, anyway, some of you may know that members of The Battles play with Destroyer, and I wanted to tell you that not only does that new Battles album, Tomorrow’s Eager Hands, grow on me more and more with each passing day, but also, I just noticed, you can hear 6(!) of the tracks from Tomorrow’s Eager Hands over at their New Music Canada page.

Can I just tell you? What I’ve been listening to? A lot? I Am Robot And Proud’s new disc, The Electricity In Your House Wants To Sing, showed up this week, and I’ve had it on repeat. So so good. I don’t usually listen to electrimological music, but in Shaw-han’s case, I make an exception. He hooked me years ago, when I watched him sit cross-legged on the floor of the Khyber in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and create the most wonderful sounds, with just a few tiny bleepy bloopy boxes. Head over to his Myspace page and listen to the title track. You’ll see.

And that Constantines/Unintended split I mentioned a few weeks ago showed up too. Also v. v. good. They even do Transformer Man!

Apparently, at SXSW, Morrissey said, “I think there are maybe too many people making music.” My post office box can vouch for that one.

Also, I think he forgot to say his follow-up comment, “I think there are maybe too many people making MP3 blogs.”

I didn’t go to SXSW this year, but I tried to live vicariously through Derek, whom I urged to go to the Envelopes show. His verdict? “They were freakin’ fantastic.” The Envelopes’ disc, Demon is finally getting a stateside release on April 4th. “Free Jazz” remains my favorite song of ‘06 thus far (but that’s not on Demon; I advise you to order the import single for that).

::: The Envelopes- Sister In Love :::
::: The Envelopes- Isabel and Leonard :::
::: The Envelopes- It Is The Law (Acoustic Version) :::
::: The Envelopes- Audrey In The Country :::

There was a great Destroyer bit on NPR this weekend, featuring commentary from both Carl and Carl. The best part is, hands down, when Dan is asked about the name ‘Destroyer’, and answers, “…It’s got three syllables, which is good, but it’s still one word, which is also cool.”

Pretty decent release week this week. Finally, that Band Of Horses record is out, there’s the new Essex Green record (I’m still loving that Mp3), and the Mclusky singles collection is pretty awesome. On top of that, there’s the new Quasi, the new Liars, a brand new Sparks album, and probably more crap that I’m forgetting about. My point is, get out to your record store this week.

Popsheep has a few tracks from Amber and Josh of Black Mountain.

Hand-Stitched Heart has put together a very nice looking new compilation, and it’s free with any purchase from their shop (or also, I think if you just pay the postage, they’ll send you a copy, as well).

Belltower has a new 5-track disc out on Ashtmatic Kitty that includes a lovely cover of the Pet Shop Boys’ “Two Divided By Zero:”

::: Belltower - Two Divided By Zero :::

Remember last month, when I mentioned that label/blog, A Bunch of Beatniks Riding A Rocket? Well, Darren, the guy what runs it, recently dug through his box of old cassettes, and has turned up a copy of the complete demo tape for Of Montreal’s Coquelicot Asleep In The Poppies. He’s got the whole thing zipp’d and rapidshar’d, so head over and grab it, if you’re into that sorta thing.

Why is today a good day?

Because there’s a new Jordan O’ Jordan song, hot damn!

::: No Princely Frog :::

The Brian Michael Roff / Joseba Irazoki split, Folk Me, Laztana (A Split Album), on Spain’s Moonpalace Records is out next week. Limited edition of 100 handmade copies. Here are a few mp3s:

::: BMR - Nowhere :::
::: Joseba Irazoki - Sasitza Naiz :::

You’ll be singing to yourself, in Basque, later this afternoon.

Jeremy Warmsley’s new EP, Other People’s Secrets, is out April 10th on Transgressive. The first single is “Dirty Blue Jeans,” and Ben Rollason of Fink has directed the new video for it.

I just noticed that Islands‘ Return To The Sea, out April 4th on Equator, is also coming out on a limited 2xLP. Nice.

I’ve never met a Home fan I didn’t like, but then again, I haven’t met all that many. I’m not sure that many people know about Home, which is pretty funny considering the number of (great) records they’ve put out over the past 10 years or so. I think every single one of their past 4 or 5 releases have been on different labels (including one on Relativity– no shit), and this newest one, Sexteen, continues that tradition. It’s out on Oneida’s Brah Records imprint on May 9th. We can probably expect an mp3 to pop up over on the Jagjag fairly soon.

Above: Danimation. R. Catbirdseat, 2006.

Can it be? Over 2 weeks without mentioning Destroyer? How can I make up for that? How about a giveaway?

*The Catbirdseat Destroyer’s Rubies Giveaway*

Winner gets a copy of Destroyer’s Rubies and an autographed Destroyer poster. Submit yr email below; winner will be drawn next Friday.

(contest closed; thanks for entering.)

And, for your Friday afternoon, here’s a Destroyer mix, culled from across the interweb (special thanks to the Destroyer Wiki for the majority of these links).

::: Click here to stream all the tracks :::

No Cease Fires
(from Thief)

It’s Gonna Take An Airplane
(from Your Blues)

The Sublimation Hour
(from Streethawk)

Virgin With A Memory
(from Streethawk)

European Oils
(from Destroyer’s Rubies)

Painter In Your Pocket
(from Destroyer’s Rubies)

Students Carve Hearts Out Of Coal
(from This Night)

The Music Lovers
(from Your Blues)

Here Comes The Night
(from This Night)

The Temple
(from Thief)

Streethawk II
(from Merge: Old Enough To Know Better)

Looter’s Follies
(from Destroyer’s Rubies)

My buddy Jerry is neither black nor a swan, but he is, nonetheless, The Black Swans. On his prior album, Who Will Walk In The Darkness With You?, everything was quiet, distant, and whispery. On his new disc, the Sex Brain EP, the quiet’s gone, the distant’s gone, and the whispery, well not so much. But that’s Jerry’s style. Anyway, what I’m saying is that the guitars have been plugged in, and the poppiness has been turned up, and we can all be thankful for that, because the results are damn fine.

::: The Black Swans - I.D.W.2.F :::

Columbusites: The Sex Brain release show is tomorrow, 3/10, at Andyman’s.

Palo Santo, the upcoming record from Shearwater, is the first totally Sheff-less Shearwater album, and will be out on Misra in May. Here’s the first mp3; it’s a pretty good one:

::: Shearwater - Seventy Four, Seventy Five :::

Breaking News: Every band you’ve ever heard of just got their van/gear stolen.

Subpop signed The Oxford Collapse.

Jagjaguwar signed Vancouver beardoes Ladyhawk.

Note that, just prior to their tour with Sunset Rubdown, Frog Eyes will have a few new items in the stores. Absolutely Kosher is re-releasing both The Golden River and The Bloody Hand with bonus tracks, and Acuarela is releasing the new The Future Is Inter-Disciplinary Or Not At All EP.