I’m imagining a scene: it’s years and years ago, and it’s Gothenburg Sweden. On one side of the street, the boys of Hemstad are growing up, blasting their punk rock records, air-skronking on tennis-racket guitars, and sneaking into the basement to sip Grandpa’s whisky. On the other side of the street is a nice, proper little house, and inside that house were some well-mannered, bookish, and quiet young boys faithfully practicing their music lessons. We know what happened to Hemstad, but what ever happened to those good boys from across the street? Apparently, they formed a band called Detektivbyrån, and they seem to be the perfect thing for if you’re making a mixtape and you need to segue from Hemstad to Beirut. It’s sort of like if you were imprisoned in a tiny snowglobe by a crotchety old Eastern European wizard, and discovered there was a street band trapped in that tiny city with you, and hell, they’re not half-bad!

::: Detektivbyrån – 01 :::

*Both* Hemstad and Detektivbyrån are playing the Emmaboda Festival tomorrow, in southern Sweden, along with Jose Gonzales, Band Of Horses, Camera Obscura, the Pipettes, and many, many other great bands.

And while we’re on the subject of festivals, since when are there exactly 9 billion “indie” music festivals going on at any given time in the US? I mean, don’t get me wrong, it sounds great: record heat, huge crowds of hipsters, $5 bottles of water… Okay, I confess: I really don’t understand the appeal, but apparently, that’s just me. Next year, I propose consolidation. ‘Cause I would *totally* lift my festival-ban for AustincitybonnalollapygdesdemidwestquatchMJsirenforktonationbysouthwestfest.

A few weeks ago, I saw a poster on my streetcorner advertising a dual-billed show featuring my friend Matt’s band, Teeth of the Hydra, and another band I’d never heard of, called Beaten Awake. Since Teeth (whose new disc, Greenland, is out on Teepee on 9/15) come from the ultraheavy Sabbath/Melvins school, I assumed that a band with a name like “Beaten Awake” would follow along a similar sound. Nope. Turns out that Beaten Awake would be more appropriately grouped with those modern Big Ol’ Beardy Rock bands like Catfish Haven and Ladyhawk. Their disc, Let’s Get Simplified, is out on Audio Eagle next month and I love this track:

And I don’t wanna turn the ‘Org here into the “CBR Announcement Board,” but I must announce that CBR 006: Maestro Echoplex – Last Night I Saw God On The Dancefloor is now shipping!

All of you who pre-ordered (both domestic *and* international) should be receiving your discs before the end of the week!

And on that note, the Maestro is doing a redux at Pete’s on October 13, w/ Katie Mullins and Sean McArdle, and they’re looking to do a Philly show the next night on the 14th. But they need some help hooking it up– even a house party would be cool. Drop a line to Maestro if you’re down.

Wow, you guys love the Tap Tap, don’t you? I knew that you would. And, whoa, so many of you saying it’s one of your favorite discs of the year? That’s awesome.

I confess, it’s one of my favorites too. But for some reason, it seems like it would be weird for me to add it to my Favorites sidebar over there. Which, in actuality, shouldn’t feel weird, because it’s not like I make money off these releases (though hopefully the artists do; which reminds me: the “Tip the Artist” concept I came up with? A definite success, I’d say. I was able to send a modest check over to Tap Tap after just 2 weeks of sales, and that is freaking AMAZING. Thank y’all so much.)

Also, I was “like whoa” when I saw that TT was as high as #3 or #4 on that Elbo.ws thingy. Crazy. That’s not bad for a disc with a $0 marketing and promotions budget.

Oh, and remember, last week, I suggested that it’s kind of interesting to listen to TT’s version of “Come On Feet,” and then to compare how different it is in style from the Pete & the Pirates version? Well, I just realized you can actually do that now: The TT version appears in this month’s mix, and the P & the P version is up on the Stolen Recordings Myspace. So, like, if you’re bored on a Friday afternoon, there you go: Go compare some songs.

I realize some of you might be getting sick of these Tap Tap posts, but all I can say is that it’s just terribly hard to contain my enthusiasm for Lanzafame. But do not despair: I’m sure I’ll be moving on to obsessive posting about Swan Lake before you know it.

Oh, and one more thing: if Johnny Marr is a member of Modest Mouse, then Rosie Thomas is pregnant with Sufjan’s baby.

CBR alums Get Him Eat Him are in the studio right now with Dismemberment Plan‘s Jason Caddell, working on their as-yet-untitled second full-length. But starting tomorrow, in Columbus, Ohio, they’ll be off on their Summer Tour.

Get Him Eat Him Summer 2006 Dates:

8/4 – Columbus, OH – Andyman’s
8/5 – Chicago, IL – Beat Kitchen
8/6 – Minneapolis, MN – Triple Rock
8/8 – Denver, CO – Hi Dive*
8/9 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court*
8/10 – Boise, ID – Visual Arts Collective*
8/11 – Seattle, WA – The Paradox*
8/12 – Portland, OR – Towne Lounge*
8/14 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom Of The Hill*
8/15 – Los Angeles, CA – Spaceland*
8/16 – Phoenix, AZ – Modified*
8/18 – Denton, TX – Halley’s*
8/19 – Austin, TX – Emo’s*
8/20 – Lafayette, LA – Caffe Cottage
8/21 – Athens, GA – Caledonia Lounge
8/22 – Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506
8/23 – Washington, DC – Warehouse Next Door#
8/24 – Philadelphia, PA – The Khyber#
8/25 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge#
8/26 – Cambridge, MA – Middle East Downstairs#

* w/ Evangelicals
# w/Beirut

And they have a sweet new CD-R EP, called “(Get Him Eat Him) Challenges You To A Game Of Basketball“. I can’t even explain it, just go look. The basketball game is apparently fully functional, crikey. Four all new tracks, including a cover of Sebadoh’s “The Freed Pig!” Here’s the lead-off track:

::: Get Him Eat Him – Get Down :::

I also noticed that they still have some of their CBR 004 stock left over; go grab that one too, if you missed out on it.

Matt from GHEH is a huge Destroyer fan (but wtf happened to his Streethawk review?), but I’ll have to ask him if he knows about the super-obscure Dan Bejar side-project from 1999 that just got re-released in a handmade edition of 100. 1777Rex put together the re-release, a collaboration between Bejar, Robert Dayton, and Julian Lawrence called “Points Gray” (but known, back in the day, as “A.I.D.S”). You can stream a track over at the Myspace page.

On a different Bejarian note, these are my guesses for which tracks are Bejar’s on the upcoming Swan Lake disc:

“The Freedom”
“City Calls”
“A Venue Called Rubella”
“Shooting Rockets”

We’ll see how I do come 11/21, when Beast Moans is released.

I must confess, I did come across a Swan Lake mp3, it’s one with Spencer singing, and it’s very good. But I’m not going to post it, b/c that would be a total dick move, since obviously, Jagjag doesn’t want it posted yet.
So note: if you post that track before Jagjaguwar puts it up, you’re a dick.

My bad, they sent out a huge mass email that okayed the track like 5 minutes after I wrote that. Figures.

::: Swan Lake – All Fires :::

New mix! Hip hop hooray! Ho. Hey. Ho. Etc.

Big thanks to Megan Whitmarsh of Tiny Industries for the banner!

Hey, did you guys all see this on the ‘Fork: Exploding Hearts Reissued, Compiled! Thank god. Dirt Nap is finally doing a re-release of Guitar Romantic on vinyl. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to talk myself out of dropping a hundy on one of those copies that pop up on eBay every so often. I’m glad I held out. Anyway, in addition to the vinyl, they’re also doing a compilation of singles, demos, and etc., called Shattered. Awesome.

Here’s an mp3 they’ve released, originally only available on 7-inch:

::: Exploding Hearts – Teenage Faces :::

Also from the ‘Fork: There’s apparently a big charity auction currently being held in support of Tyler Clark Burke, Canadian artist/personality extraodinaire (and co-founder of Three Gut, if you didn’t know). You can bid on stuff like, uh, Peaches’ thong. Peaches used thong.

Um. Yeah.

Hey, Justin of the Terribly Empty Pockets was kind enough to hook me up with their new EP, Get Wet, on both CD and vinyl. Why would I need both versions? Because the vinyl edition contains a total of 8 songs, over the CD’s 5. A bit Talking Headsy, and a bit New Zealandy Pop, def. worth checking out.

::: Terribly Empty Pockets – Boy’s Club :::

The album’s not *officially* out until next week, but you can order it right now through their label, Columbus Discount Records.

What? Did you say you wanted that Dan Bejar/Carey Mercer/Spencer Krug “Swan Lake – Beast Moans” album art in full, mega-enormo resolution? Well, here it is. I’m guessing that’s a Carey Mercer original? Art is by Shary Boyle.

The Slight Record has been working up some new stuff, including a new disc, The Megafauna Undermined, by bedroom-pop genius Dean Wells, aka The Capstan Shafts. There’s a new track in this month’s mix over there.

If all of the kind praise from the blogs is to be believed, then Tap Tap sounds like a cross between Wolf Parade, Beirut, CYHSY, and the Arcade Fire. Jeez, thanks a lot, guys! What are you trying to do, start a huge wave of backlash before anyone even hears the disc? Hee hee, I’m just kidding– a sincere thanks to everyone for their track reviews, disc reviews, and general blurbs thus far.

And special thanks to Said The Gramophone, who, of the record, said “MEN COME OUT OF THE BUSHES, WEARING THE BUSHES!,” and Largehearted Boy, who has already dubbed Lanzafame one of his favorite releases of the year.

Boy, those limited editions went quick! All sold out now.

Hey, we’ve spoken to our friends over at Stolen Recordings in the UK, and they’ve kindly set it up so that U.S. Catbird readers can pick up the brand-spankin’-new Pete & The Pirates EP, Wait Stop Begin, for only $10, which includes shipping from the UK. That’s about 6 or 7 bucks cheaper than the regular price (because the dollar/pound conversion rate totally blows (go check it)).

I mentioned this new EP last month (and posted a few mp3s). And I know I’ve already explained that Pete & the Pirates is Thomas Tap Tap‘s other band, but the especially interesting thing about that is that there a few shared songs between Wait Stop Begin and the new Tap Tap Lanzafame disc. It’s kinda cool to compare the differences between the versions of “Come On Feet” and “She Doesn’t Belong.”

Yeah, yeah, it’s new release day. But there’s only one company gonna get my dime today, and that’s the amazing 4 Men With Beards, who are releasing new 180-gram vinyls of both Chris Bell’s I Am The Cosmos, AND Big Star’s Third/Sister Lovers (ft. original cover art, complete liner notes, and original mixes/track listing from master tapes directly from Argent Studios).

Wow. Like, whoa. Everybody just *loves* the Tap Tap; don’t you? We’ve been getting crazy response on this one. Limited-edition copies remain, but note that there are very few copies of the red, pale-red, and purple left.

And remember a few weeks ago, I mentioned the new EP by Thomas Tap Tap’s other band, Pete & The Pirates? That disc’ll be available this week in the UK from our dear friends at Stolen. There’s a release show at the Spitz, 109 Commercial St, E1 in London on Friday the 28th. Also, they’ll be doing an XFM Session on the 27th.

We’re hoping to arrange a specially discounted price on the Pete & The Pirates Wait Stop Begin disc especially for Catbird readers, so stay tuned.

I didn’t get to mention it before, but the Maestro wants to extend a special thanks to all who came out the Candy Store show on the 16th. It was a packed house, and that’s always nice. The Maestro and Katie have been asked back too, and will be doing another show together on 10/13. I also need to mention that the Maestro will be performing in his new incarnation as Fulton Lights at the Knitting Factory on July 30th.

::: Fulton Lights – Fire In The Palm Of My Hand :::

He’ll be playing with a full 9-piece band, which should be just amazing. And to top it all off, also appearing will be Dragon Turtle, Kristen:Austin (Kristen Mueller of Gloria Deluxe), and Lewis & Clarke! (Oh My Rockness, did you get that?)

Btw, the bonus disc version of the Maestro Echoplex EPs are sold out now.

I’ve been wondering why every new order for the Hemstad disc is coming from the UK, and the answer is simple: The English love Hemstad. They’ve been getting some radio airplay over there, plus, UK-based Wigwam Records will soon be releasing a 7-inch of “Kaserntorgets Charkdisco” b/w “Speedway Pa Arendal,” plus, Hemstad has also been tapped to play the End Of The Road Festival in Reading on September 15-17, alongside Badly Drawn Boy, The Pink Mountaintops, El Perro Del Mar, and a bazillion other fantastic bands. Anyone want to donate some frequent flyer miles so I can haul my ass over there?

Anyway, on to non CBR crap…

You guys catch that Merge has a new Buckner disc on the way? It’s called Meadow, and it’s out September 12th.

::: Richard Buckner – Town :::

He’ll be touring throughout September alongside Eric Bachmann, whose new disc, To The Races, will be out on Saddle Creek on 8/22.

::: Eric Bachmann – Carrboro Woman :::
::: Eric Bachmann – Lonesome Warrior :::

(Isn’t “Lonesome Warrior” a yoga position?)

Holy smiley happy pop-song, Batman; have you heard that track from the upcoming Jim Noir full-length on Barsuk?

::: Jim Noir – Key of C :::

Sheesh, SCTAS has been turning me on to so much good stuff of late, I can’t keep up. Here’s just one thing: the new double-album from The Channel, Tales From the Two Hill Heart / Sibylline Machine, out 8/08 on C-Side Records.

::: The Channel – The Deserter :::
::: The Channel – Sibylline Machine :::

Speaking of double-disc’ers, our pals 75 Or Less Records have just released a double-CD, Rock Out With Your Tail Out, as a benefit for the Providence Animal Rescue League. 31 different RI bands contributed tracks for this release, which comes in a hand-silkscreened edition of 500. Only $8.50, shipping included! Go pick up a copy– the little waggytails of Providence need your help. Don’t make me send you over to Cute Overload to get you into “Awww-Lil-Animals-Are-So-Adorable-And-Need-Our-Help” mode.

Oh hey, you know how that Maestro Echoplex disc is called Last Night I Saw God On The Dancefloor?” There’s a song called that on the disc, but it’s actually a sort of cover. The song’s actually written by Maestro collaborator John Lindenbaum (formerly of Rust Belt Music, currently of The Lonelyhearts), is called “Trip McNeely Syndrome,” and originally appeared on Rust Belt’s 2003 EP The Dodge EP.

::: Rust Belt Music – Trip McNeely Syndrome :::

You can download that EP in its entirety, as well as the just-posted final Rust Belt album, The Company Town, right here on the Rust Belt Music download page. Can’t beat that with a stick.

After swinging by Said The Gramophone the other day, and hearing the song “Greased Hairclip,” I immediately had to jump over and order the new disc by BOAT. I can’t wait to hear it.

::: BOAT – Last Cans Of Paint :::

Wow, mega-tweesters Sprites are still kickin’ and have a new disc, Modern Gameplay, out this month (avail. at Darla). Here’s their apocalyptic end-of-the-world song (keeping in mind, of course, that I refer to Sprites as “mega-twee”):

::: Sprites – George Romero :::

Wha-wha-what?! The Spectacular Fantastic have followed up last summer’s totally-free I Love You EP with, yep, another totally free EP! I can’t even single out a favorite track out of the bunch– they’re all good stuff. And free, did I mention that?

Mark your calendars for 11/21:

Swan Lake
Beast Moans
11/21/06

1. Widow’s Walk
2. Nubile Days
3. City Calls
4. A Venue Called Rubella
5. All Fires
6. The Partisan But He’s Got To Know
7. The Freedom
8. Petersburg, Liberty Theater, 1914
9. The Pollenated Girls
10. Bluebird
11. Pleasure Vessels
12. Are You Swimming In Her Pools?
13. Shooting Rockets

No word yet on which tracks are Dan Bejar’s, which are Carey Mercer’s, and which are Spencer Krug’s, but then again, does it really matter? S’all gonna be fantastic.

Hells yes. CBR 005: Tap Tap – Lanzafame is done, it’s in, and now shipping. It’s been a long wait, but I assure you, it was well worth it; this disc is amazing.

::: Tap Tap – 100,000 Thoughts :::

Regular jewel-case edition, and limited edition of 200 in book-style cases with 3-song bonus disc.

Boy, this new Catfish Haven track, from their upcoming full-length, Tell Me, is a bit odd. It’s like, Catfish Haven, but also, like, uh, 70′s white funk.

::: Crazy For Leaving :::

Tell Me is out 9/12 on Secretly Canadian. I think they’ll probably be touring ’round that time too, and probably with Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin along again.

Also, hey, there’s a brand-spanking-new Pernice track up for download over at the Pernice Brothers site. It’s called “Somerville,” is from the upcoming disc, Live A Little, and sounds fairly Pernice-y. And I’m only going to link to this entry page because it’s obvious that they want you to sign up for the mailing list before downloading, so hotlinking the track would be a real dick thing to do.*

(*so, if you’re reading this and you’ve hotlinked or otherwise reposted that track– yes, you’re a dick.)