Help me, I been klezmerized! Heh, I was just checking out the new Hawk and A Hacksaw record, The Way The Wind Blows, that just came out.

::: A Hawk And A Hacksaw – God Bless The Ottoman Empire :::

And that klezzy vibe is to be expected from something like A Hawk and A Hacksaw, but I was *not* expecting it from this just-out-in-the-US David & The Citizens disc, Until The Sadness Is Gone. Malmö Sweden is not exactly the klez capital of the world. Is it?

::: David & The Citizens – The End :::

Chryde of Le Blogotheque sent along these videos of Herman Dune walking through Paris, singing.

Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (Dylan) / Your Name – My Game

123 Apple Tree / I Wish That I Could See You Again

HD’s new one, Giant, came out last week in France, and will be out in the US in the first quarter of ‘07. I found this note on the HD website to be sorta interesting:

“Andre will not contribute to any further promotion for Giant. Nor will he tour with us for the album. We want him to do whatever he chose to. So be it.”

I can’t help but wonder if it has something to do with the approach that Source Etc (EMI) is taking toward HD’s new album (namely, the standard uptight major label approach).

Seeing “Miles+Kurosky+solo+album” in my server logs spurred me into a mess o’ googlin’, and I ended up eventually reading somewhere that Miles’ solo disc, which will apparently sound pretty much like a new Beulah disc, will be out early next year(?) Maybe(?)

Reminder: The Polyvinyl rerelease of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin’s Broom is officially out today. And I can declare for the record (no pun intended) that the 180g vinyl version is lurvely. I’m sure everyone’s heard this one a bazillion times already, but for the 2 people that haven’t:

::: SSLYBY – Oregon Girl :::

Courtesy of Wooden Wand’s JJT (via LineOut):

THE INDIE BAND LIFE-O-METER by JJT:Your garden variety, moderately successful indie band lasts an average of five years. Chances are, if you’re not already on Matador or Sub Pop, yours won’t even last that long.

What will break your band up, you ask? Well, if it isn’t the oft-cited ‘creative differences,’ or the excruciating tedium of touring the United States, it’ll most likely have something to do with sex or drugs. It’s anyone’s guess, but don’t wait for anyone to, because no one cares.

But let’s give you and your band the benefit of the doubt. We’ll start with a generous TEN YEARS and go from there, adding and subtracting as needed.

No cheating.

Start Now:

SUBTRACT ONE YEAR for any two people in the band who identify themselves as a couple, and TWO YEARS for each additional couple.

SUBTRACT THREE YEARS for any two people in the band who used to date, but now just glare at one another through bitter, stoned, accusing eyes from the rearview mirrors of rented minivans.

ADD ONE YEAR for anyone the band with access to their own studio who may actually know how to engineer. But…

SUBTRACT ONE YEAR if said member regularly writes sardonic, Comic Book Guy-caliber letters to Tape-Op and wishes Steve Albini produced Abbey Road.

SUBTRACT SIX MONTHS for anyone in the band who likes to listen to jazz when they drive.

SUBTRACT THREE MONTHS for every soundcheck that ends with someone using the ‘F’ word.

ADD ONE YEAR for each member who’s been in a moderately successful indie band that’s toured before, and knows to keep his expectations very, very low. But…

SUBTRACT SIX MONTHS if he is the shadenfreude type – a bitter, jealous, shit-talking troll who’s convinced he is a misunderstood genius because his previous band got dropped from Kindercore.

SUBTRACT ONE YEAR if someone in the band’s uncle has in any way ‘subsidized’ the band by lending any money for a van, recording time, etc.

ADD ONE YEAR for every attractive girl in the band. Add six more months if she doesn’t play bass.

ADD FIVE YEARS if someone in the band’s dad is in ZZ Top, Santana, or any of the half-remembered bands on the Nuggets box.

SUBTRACT TWO YEARS for anyone in the band addicted to heroin. But…

ADD FIVE YEARS if he dies tragically between your first and second albums.

SUBTRACT THREE MONTHS for each vegetarian in the band who worries that the Waffle House hash browns are ‘cooked with the meat spatulas.’

SUBTRACT TWO YEARS for anyone in the band has a job back home that he or she is unwilling to leave.

SUBTRACT TWO YEARS for anyone in the band has a spouse back home that he or she is unwilling to divorce.

SUBTRACT FIVE YEARS for each band member with any kids that he or she even gives the slightest shit about.

SUBTRACT TWO YEARS for every band member who cannot, will not, or should not drive.

ADD SIX MONTHS if you’re traveling with your own soundman. But…

SUBTRACT THREE MONTHS if he frequently drinks himself mute and is currently facing statutory rape charges.

SCORING:

-20 years – 0 years: Consider yourself lucky. Walk – don’t run – to the nearest technical institute and learn how to weld or something. Remember to thank me later when your deathbed is NOT a cot at the YMCA.

0 years – 5 years: Congratulations! You’ve managed to really make something of yourself: a blip on a radar that itself is less than a blip on the radar to most of the civilized western world. At least you can look forward to Casual Fridays.

5 years – 15 years: The odds seem to be in your favor, buckaroo. When your life eventually flashes before your eyes, you will be treated to a montage of drink tickets, Super 8 motel rooms, studio vending machines and an anonymous gaggle of surly soundmen all named Eric. Wowee zowee!

15 years or more – You are R.E.M. You probably took this test with a pen and paper. Kill yourself.

That old standby, the indie-rock split 7-inch, will have yet another new entry next month, courtesy of Fader mag. Part of an ongoing Fader ltd ed 7″ series, this one’s M Ward ft. Jim James – “Magic Trick (Kansas City Remix)” b/w Ladyhawk – “Soap”. Not sure exactly how you’re supposed to get a copy, but I assume it will have something to do with picking up next month’s issue of Fader.

And speaking of thick, meaty, PBR beardie rock: man, did you see that lineup for the CMJ Brahloween showcase at Tonic? Alex Delivery > Home > Dirty Faces > Ladyhawk > Califone > Oakley Hall > Parts and Labor. With Oneida’s Kid Millions manning the turntables between sets. Cripes. For some reason, I feel like you’d come out of that show looking (and smelling) like an auto mechanic after a long day at the garage.

*Ahiyihiahiyihiahiyihiahiyihiahiyihi* (sound cartoon characters make when they shaking their head back and forth rapidly in utter stupefication)

The 2xLP of Destroyer’s Rubies is out. And that’s been the case, apparently, for a week now, over at Scratch. The addition of Loscil’s 4th side to the album cranks it from 54 minutes up to 77, and I’m quite, quite anxious to check it out.

And for those Destroyer fans who have managed to somehow get through the past 5 years without Napster, Soulseek, Yousendit, or Bittorrent, listen up: Scratch is also reissuing the We’ll Build Them A Golden Bridge CD, with all new (full color now!) cover art, on October 24th. Here’s a track from the 10 year-old album (and most of you folks have already heard the embellished New Pornographers’ take this one):

::: Destroyer – Breakin’ The Law :::

If you listened to this month’s mix, did you check out track 2? It’s a great song called “I Woke Up Today,” from Oakland non-hippies Port O’Brien. I’ve been digging on it so much, I not only went out and tracked down another mp3, I also went and ordered their newest EP, Nowhere To Run, from Tecolote Records. And in a totally unheard-of move, I even found myself compelled to read the band’s entire biography. Like “Deadliest Catch,” but a little more romantic and charming.

::: Port O’Brien – I Woke Up Today :::
::: Port O’Brien – Tree Bones :::

A few months back, I noted the blandy-sameness and system-gaming I was observing in “indie” rock (it continues unabated, btw), but I’ve also noticed another trend of late, another one to make you cringe at yourself when you look back on this era, and consider the music you were raving about: many “indie” bands are now starting to sound like some of that most horrible 80’s cheese, like Styx, and Kansas, and Genesis, and Jethro fuckin’ Tull.

Even bands that have been on the scene for years now appear to be windmilling sustained power-chords and throwing up the devil horns. Yeesh.

Sure, you may jump out of your seat and pump your fist when “Mr. Roboto” comes on the jukebox at the bar, but come on, you’re no more serious about it than you are about that gnarly mustache you’ve got hanging off your lip.

Whatever, though, no skin off my nose. I’m just sayin’: caveat emptor.

I suppose it’s just that I prefer my cheese aged and Italian.

I haven’t really seen it mentioned anywhere, but the Beirut Gulag Orkestar vinyl is out, as in *right now*. My copy from Insound came last week.

Also: you know the Yeltsin Broom re-release? Both the CD and vinyl of that are in stores on 10/23, but you can order that shit straight from Polyvinyl and have it shipped this very Friday the 13th.

Oh, and the Exploding Hearts Guitar Romantic vinyl re-release is still just a bit off, BUT, that rarities CD, Shattered, is totally available right now, but only through Dirtnap Records.

Pitchfork has an exclusive new track from the Swan Lake record; and it seems to be a “Dan” one, as it’s very Destroyeresque. It’s called “The Freedom”, an’ I like it.

But I refuse to post one of those press pictures of Carey, Dan, and Spencer, because you’re probably as sick of seeing those as I am.

(PS, sorry about those tits in that ad over there. Or not sorry, whichever.)

The new mix/podcast is up. Boo-yah.