This post over at Idolator reminded me, I meant to tell you NYC’ers: our friends from What’s Your Rupture have brought Scottish band the 1990s over here, and they’re playing Union Pool next Friday, April 6th. Their full-length is due out in May on Rough Trade. It’s bouncy good shit.

Factoid: the band is fronted by John McKeown, founder of seminal band The Yummy Fur.

I was just gonna hotlink to the Idolator mp3 (Pffht, I could take on Maura and Brian with one claw tied behind my back), but it just seemed like a dick move. So be a good kid and click on over there to download “You’re Supposed To Be My Friend.”

It takes a pair of giant, swinging, balls of iron to open your open your album up with a 16-minute long krauter-space jam. Je Suis France did it (whooping the ass off “Hallogallo” by a full 6 minutes). Track 1 from Afrikan Majik:

::: Je Suis France – Sufficiently Breakfast :::

At 2:27pm, I got a press release about Art Brut releasing 5 new downloadable songs as a teaser for their new album. The question is: how long will it take for this news to be posted to every music blog on the internet? Start your stopwatches….NOW!

FINALLY, some real progress in the field of robotics: a nerfbot that dances to Spoon.

Over the next three weeks, Get Him Eat Him are offering up each of their three demo/tour EPs (including this beauty) as high-quality mp3 downloads. Starting today, swing by Arms Down dot Com, and you can grab 2005′s Rude Reach EP– it’s three demo versions of tracks from the forthcoming Arms Down, plus one unreleased track, plus this gem:

::: Get Him Eat Him – The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side :::

Also, THANK GOD they’ve dusted off the Get Him Eat Him Sandwich Blog. Matt’s totally right-on about that Prune burger.

Also, here’s 8-bit Slayer:

I mentioned awhile back that Antenna Farm had picked up Je Suis France‘s Afrikan Majik; well, it’s got an official release date now (May 29th), as well as official MP3s. Here’s one; some of you may remember it from the April ’06 Mix:

Did people really think that The Arcade Fire could really come in at #1? And I knew they wouldn’t do as many units as the The Shins– never underestimate the power of having Sir Braffsalot backing you up.

Michael noted that Mary Timony‘s new record for KRS, titled The Shapes We Make, will be out May 8th. Also, Paperrad is putting together a video for her. She’s just wrapping up a brief March tour right now, with two remaining dates (both with The Twilight Sad):

3/21 – Raleigh, NC – King’s Lounge
3/23 – Washington, DC – Black Cat

Dudes, what up the fuck?? I haven’t had a Catbird Records order come through in like 4 days! Don’t you want me to suffer the pain of slogging down to the Chinatown Post Office every afternoon? I mean, I’d put our CBR releases “On Sale,” except the prices are all, as always, already set as low as they can go. Anyway, here’s a reminder of what we still have in print:

Fulton Lights – s/t Limited Edition
A. Goldman’s latest towering anti-paean to The City. 2-disc set; 10-track album + 4 song bonus disc. Letterpressed case, with individual song card inserts. Edition of 150. $10.

::: Fulton Lights – Fire In The Palm Of My Hand :::
::: Fulton Lights – Thank God For The Evening News :::

Forest Fire – Psychic Love Star EP
Homegrown hymns for those with no religion. 6 tracks. Hand-screened case. Edition of 200. $4. I’ve got about 20 copies left.

::: Forest Fire – Psychic Love Star :::

Mathew Sawyer & The Ghosts – Blue Birds Blood
Beautiful and fragile and lovely uneasy listening. 12 tracks. Jewel case. $8. Christ, I’ve even still got copies of the 3-song bonus disc in hand-screened sleeve left! Frankly, I’m *ASTOUNDED* that so few copies of this have been sold– this is, in point of fact, one of my favorite albums of the year.

::: Mathew Sawyer & The Ghosts – Penny Falls :::

Pet Politics – The Spring EP
Bedroom pop from the velvety underground of Gothenburg, Sweden. 4 tracks. Hand-screened case. Edition of 200. $3. About 20 copies are left.

::: Pet Politics – Sunday Morning :::

Maestro Echoplex – Last Night I Saw God On The Dancefloor
Source of one of my favorite songs of the last 10 years (“My Eyes Are Disconnected…”). 7 tracks. Letterpressed case. $6.

::: Maestro Echoplex – My Eyes Are Disconnected From My Head Is Disconnected From My Body :::

I’m just sayin’… if you bought every single one of our in-print releases, it’d net you 5 CDs, plus 2 bonus CDs. And most of them are in lovingly hand-screened packaging. And it would only cost you a grand total of $31 + s/h.

Listen, I don’t normally make play “salesman” like this, but, man, I gotta make room for future releases in the Catbird stockroom, you know?

New Releases This Week

Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha
I always liked this guy, although I haven’t heard this one. The bloggers seem to LOVE it (but they LOVE everything, so take that for what it’s worth).

::: Andrew Bird – Heretics :::

Bill Callahan – Diamond Dancer
Apparently a 2-song CD single, featuring one non-album track from the forthcoming Woke On A Whaleheart. I don’t know what year Drag City thinks it is, but I wish them luck selling a 2-song CD for $7 in the music market of 2007.

I’m From Barcelona – Let Me Introduce My Friends
Pitchfork loved them so long ago that it’s doubtful the record’ll still have steam here. I’ve always dug the video.

Ted Leo – Living With The Living
People seem to be liking this new one.

Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
Could be retitled The Bloggers Hated On It Before It Even Came Out. Personally, I think it’s pretty good…and frankly, I’m in awe of Isaac & Co. for coming as far as they have. 10 years ago, I don’t think anyone could have possibly predicted that career; I mean, it’s actually *amazing*, when you think about where they came from, and what they’ve been able to do– Jesus H., man, they got Johnny Motherfucking Marr to join the band. My advice is to stop being pissed off that “Float On” was used in an American Idol/Ford commercial, and instead, just sit back and laugh. Because that’s exactly what Isaac’s doing. He’s still the same snotty kid from this video, he’s just got a bit more mileage (and a few more pounds) on him.

::: Stream We Were Dead… at Myspace :::

Panda Bear – Person Pitch
Bloggers (and some critics) love this one.

The Ponys – Turn The Lights Out
They say this one is a return to the sound of that first record. It is… kinda. MP3s here.

The Red Krayola – Soldier Talk
Drag City continue to dole out the Mayo Thompson/Red Krayola reissues; this one’s from 1979, and seen as Thompson’s “reaction to Punk Rock” by many. Most of you won’t like this.

::: The Red Krayola – Discipline :::

The Zincs – Black Pompadour
I didn’t hear The Zincs’ 2001 album Moth and Marriage until 2004, but I was an instant fan when I did. The sound has changed somewhat over the last few years, but there’s still something there, methinks. And Edith Frost sang on three of the tracks. Most sites have been pushing the mp3 for Head East Kaspar, which is pretty decent, but I think I like Hamstrung and Juvenile a little more.

Most everyone is down at South By BloggerWest this week. I’m sure that by right…. about…. NOW, you’re probably already reading about how hungover they are, and how they’re on their way out right now for breakfast tacos. Gerard is providing insightful updates.

Hey, new Get Him Eat Him record coming out on June 5th (on AbsKosh, of course). Matt LeMay hasn’t given up his vocoder (not that anyone asked him to), but Arms Down does have a somewhat creamier sound than its predecessor, Geography Cones. We can cite band maturation for that, but let’s also cite all the guests who pitched in to make this new one: Charles Bissell of the Wrens, Zach Condon (and Kristin) of Beirut, venerable DC player Amy Domingues, BSS keyboarder Chris Brown, producer Jason Caddell of Dismemberment Plan, and more folks I’m probably forgetting right now. Here’s the opening track:

::: Get Him Eat Him – 2×2 :::

What’s really cool about the record is that you may already be familiar with many of the songs (in some form), as a number of them were previously released in “demo” form on limited edition Tour EPs (including this long sold-out beauty). More news about these Tour EPs to come shortly.

Some online radio thing.

There’s a quadrillion bands coming of England every other second, and honestly, I get lost somewhere south of Futureheads Street, right near The View/Arctic Monkeys housing projects, just shy of Rumble Strips turnabout. But there’s this one band, who I’ve been listening to for, cripes (has it been?), about a year now, who’ve managed to tickle my spot-what’s-ticklish. Good Shoes‘ debut full-length for Brille, Think Before You Speak is out on March 26th, but right now, they’ve just released a new 7″ for “Never Meant To Hurt You,” which has always been one of my favorite tracks of theirs. And, oddly enough (for a single), the track is (and has been for some time) actually freely available for download via Artrocker:

::: Good Shoes – Never Meant To Hurt You :::

The new Modest Mouse is out next week. Assuming you have an hour of your life you want to lose, you can go here to read about how the bloggers hate it. And about how you’re not allowed to say you like Funeral better than Neon Bible. And something about Justin Timberlake. And etc.

And as a reminder to everyone in NYC: The Fulton Lights release show is TONIGHT at Tonic. Opening the show are Frances and DJ Still (who will also be joining FL for their set). Haul your lazy ass out to the F or the JMZ and come to the show. It’ll be a good one.

Hey, there was a Manishevitz Daytrotter Session last week; I missed that! Includes “Beretta,” plus three new/unreleased tracks.

And our boys Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin dropped by the No Love For Ned Show yesterday, and did a nice lil’ set, including two MC Migraine Head covers. They kick in at about the 1:01 mark. And yes, of course they’re still touring.