One of these three bands is calling it quits after their current tour.

What? Yes, of course it’s three different bands.

Hey, it’s time for a new issue of Yeti already. Issue 4 is out next month, and features a Will Sheff/Okkervil River tour diary, interviews with Dan Bejar, Sam Lipsyte and others, plus lots and lots more good stuff. Here’s the tracklist for the new issue’s CD:

1. KATHARINA TUNICATA, “Topiary”
2. RADIO FOUR, “How Much I Owe”
3. DESTROYER, “No One Needs to Know”
4. BOBBY BIRDMAN, “Victory at Sea” (E*Rock remix)
5. BRIGHT, “One, So Remain”
6. CALIFONE, “The Orchids (Krassner mix)”
7. ALELA DIANE, “My Brambles”
8. DOLPHIN BAND (FEVEN & SIRAK), “Welanureiney”
9. MICHAEL HURLEY with TARA JANE O’NEIL, “Music for El Dorado”
10. GHOSTING, “Azalea”
11. FAUNA POLLY, “Corvallis”
12. SOMOS MARQUIS HOMOS, “Down and Out in Madrid and Barcelona” (live)

13. GERHARD TREDE AND HIS ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTS, “Motion Study #1″
14. ROB WALMART, “Tom’s Lounge”
15. THE BLOW, “Get Around”
16. DESTROYER, “Forget America”
17. WE MARCH, “She Who Makes Dogs Shiver”
18. THE GOLDEN BEARS, “Our Progress”
19. WE/OR/ME, “Hummingbirds”
20. OKKERVIL RIVER, “Lines”
21. THE PLANTS, “Tumbleweed” (edit)
22. PAGE FRANCE, “I Thought the Sun Was Yellow”
23. FLY ASHTRAY, “Rapscallion”
24. SOULED AMERICAN, “Ringside Suite”
25. REVEREND E. W. CLAYBORN, “God’s Riding through the Land”
26. VALET, “Blood Is Clean”
27. THEO ANGELL, “In About a Half an Hour”
28. UNKNOWN, “Chemirocha”

All songs, as usual, are “previously unreleased,” though the Destroyer fans out there will immediately recognize “No One Needs To Know” and “Forget America” from Ideas For Songs.

And if you happen to find yourself in Portland this weekend, you’ll probably want to check out Yeti’s Halleluwah festival, featuring Deerhoof, Michael Hurley, White Rainbow, Vashti Bunyan, JOMF, and many more, plus also: art, films, and a limited-edition Halleluwah vinyl LP.

There’s a new Pernice Brothers blog, er, site. And they’ve also announced a special deal for the upcoming disc, Live A Little: all pre-orders will receive a bonus disc of 17 demos and alternate mixes, in a sleeve handmade by Joe.

Joe, I feel for you.

Well, looks like the Envelopes are gonna make it back over to the States for a nice long tour, and dammit, also looks like my schedule’s gonna prevent me from seein’ em yet again. Such is life…

Envelopes Fall ‘06 Tour Dates:
(pretty much all dates with Ratatat)

Sep 5 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
Sep 6- The Middle East Downstairs - Cambridge, MA
Sep 7- Les Saints - Montreal, QC
Sep 8 - Lees Palace - Toronto, ON
Sep 9 - Blind Pig - Ann Arbor, MI
Sep 10 - Five Star Bar - Chicago, IL
Sep 11 - Empty Bottle - Chicago, IL
Sep 12 - 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis, MN
Sep 15 - El Corazon - Seattle, WA
Sep 16 - Berbatis Pan - Portland, OR
Sep 18 - Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA
Sep 19 - Outside(?) - Berkeley, CA
Sep 20 - Troubadour - Los Angeles, CA
Sep 23 - Glass House - Pomona, CA
Sep 24 - Casbah - San Diego, CA
Sep 27 - Gypsy Tea Room - Dallas, TX
Sep 28 - Emo’s - Austin, TX
Sep 29 - Walters - Houston, TX
Sep 30 - House of Blues: The Parish - New Orleans, LA
Oct 2 - The Loft - Atlanta, GA
Oct 3 - Local 506 - Chapel Hil,l NC
Oct 4 - Black Cat - Washington DC
Oct 5 - The Khyber - Philadelphia, PA
Oct 6 - Guggenheim Museum - New York, NY
Oct 7 - Powell Knight Club - Alfred, NY

Earlier this month, they posted a brand-new song from their as-yet-unfinished next disc on their Myspace. It sounds like they’ve maybe been listening to old Television and B-52s records, plus some old Athens jangle. But filtered through their style, of course. Or something.

This is the biggest release week we’ve seen in awhile. For instance, there’s the new Eric Bachmann disc (mp3), the new Mountain Goats (mp3), and Chad VanGaalen’s Skelliconnection (mp3), to name just a few. There’s a ton more beyond that, just get down to your local record store today and take a look. But remember, that M Ward disc got pushed back a week, and the new Hidden Cameras is apparently only out in Canada.

I got this link for this band Katamine, who I think is a.) an Israeli band and b.) features the former guitar player for Elliott Smith. Really nice acousticky stuff. Check out this one:

::: Katamine - Winchester Gun :::

You can get more tracks here. They’re apprarently in the states right now with Wharton Tiers.

Well now, considering that Said the Gramophone posted it and then AmpCamp made it track of the day last week, I figured we should go ahead and “officially” release Tap Tap’s “Way To Go, Boy” as the second mp3 from Lanzafame:

::: Tap Tap - Way To Go, Boy :::

People are calling it “the ska one,” even though that makes me cringe.

Alright. So listen, I’m only doing this next thing because I feel so bad that so many people missed out on the limited Catbird Records T-shirts last week (I just never expected them to completely sell out in 12 hours is the thing). So, anyway, we’ve also been planning to do a small run of Tap Tap shirts, but rather than just springing these ones on you at zero hour, we’re going to go ahead and open them up for pre-order, through this week only. So, if you really want to be assured of getting one when they ship next month, be sure to pre-order your Tap Tap T-shirt in the next few days. Pre-orders end on Thursday.

For our 2 Swedish readers out there, a last minute announcement:

Hemstad is playing a show with San Francisco’s Still Flyin’ and The Bright Lights on Monday, 8/21 at Kulturhuset Underjorden in Gothenburg.

Oh, and while I’m thinking about it, I should probably also remind you that Beirut is out on tour right now too. Remaining dates for this month:

8/19 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
8/23 - Washington DC - Warehouse Next Door
8/24 - Philadelphia, PA - Khyber
8/25 - NYC - Mercury Lounge (w/ GHEH, The Harlem Shakes, + The Curtains)
8/26 - Boston, MA - The Middle East (w/ GHEH, Shepherdess, + The Curtains)

I tell ya, Frank must be giving out lots of backrubs and foot massages over at the Hidden Cameras PR company, because he, and only he, has 2 new mp3s from the new Hidden Cameras record, Awoo, which is out next week in Canada. Go check ‘em out.

About six months ago, Will Stratton sent me a few songs, and I’ve been listening to those (”Sunol,” “I’d Hate To Leave You”) off and on since then. But then, just last week, Will’s such a swell guy, he sent me his fully-complete brand new album, What The Night Said, out soon on Stunning Models On Display. Will seems to have the skills when it comes to writin’ them soft and pretty kinda songs. And Sufjan guests on the record playing oboe, but I won’t give away which tracks he plays on (hint: it’s the ones that have oboe in them). Here’s my favorite track:

::: Will Stratton - I’d Hate To Leave You :::

Will’s a little bit similar to Jeff Hanson, if Jeff Hanson had a man’s voice. And you know me, I do love the Jeff Hanson, so I was happy to just find out that he’ll have a new record on KRS in the first part of ‘07. But he’s going out on tour just next month, and I do highly advise catching his show, he’s amazing.

Jeff Hanson 09/06 Tour Dates:
09/01 Madison, WI - The Journey
09/03 Chicago, IL - Schubas
09/04 Gambier, OH - Kenyon College
09/05 Kalamazoo, MI - Kraftbrau Brewery
09/06 Pittsburgh, PA - Garfield Artworks
09/07 Rochester, NY - Bug Jar
09/10 Brooklyn, NY - North Six
09/11 New York, NY - Knitting Factory Tap Bar
09/13 Washington, DC - DC Nine
09/16 Chapel Hill, NC - Wetlands
09/18 Orlando, FL - The Social
09/19 Miami, FL - Studio A
09/20 Tallahassee, FL - Beta Bar
09/21 New Orleans, LA - The Republic
09/25 Bloomington, IN - Art Hospital
09/27 Kansas City, MO - Record Bar
09/29 Ames, IA - Record Shop

I know I just posted about Sprites‘ new album, Modern Gameplay, just last month, but I’ve learned a few new things about the disc since then: a.) It’s not due out until September now (Darla has a pre-order, though), b.) Mark Robinson did the artwork, and c.) K pointed out this silly lil’ track that’ll give a smirk to all y’all internet-tube afficionados.

::: Sprites - I Started A Blog Nobody Read :::

How weird is it that Friday I posted about a band called I’m From Barcelona, who are actually from Sweden, and then today I post about Sprites, who are geographically from D.C., but are really from Barcelona?

What’s a guy to do when the music blogs of the world have been reduced to a monolithic, incessantly buzzing steamroller of indiscriminately-posted mp3s being crammed down your throat every second of the day? Why, rely on good ol’ Pitchfork, of course!

I was intrigued by the review for I’m From Barcelona’s Let Me Introduce My Friends the other day (Polyphonic Spree comparison notwithstanding). So of course, I immediately clicked on the video link they’d provided for “We’re From Barcelona”, and of course, I was immediately hooked. Strange now, though, that several days later, as I listen to the full disc, I don’t quite get the same feeling. And yet, when I go back and watch the video *along* with the song, I *do* get that feeling. My point: watch the video. There’s really something about attractive, young Swedes smiling and swaying in unison. I think I be hip-no-tized.

Further, until the ‘Fork gave a decent review to this new Tokyo Police Club record, I was under the assumption that they were probably just another one of those gormless “blogger faves.” Well, turns out they’re actually good for a listen. Not that they’re necessarily deep or complex or anything, but they’ve some damn fun toe-tappers, not unlike some of those old Libertines tracks you’ve probably got sequestered away on your hard drive somewhere. I think the review summed it up almost perfectly: “Pretty Girls Make Graves’ agility, Les Savy Fav’s curveball, [and] the Strokes’ sweet swing.”

::: Tokyo Police Club - Nature Of The Experiment :::

And good for a Friday afternoon.