Moviola’s “official” album release party for Dead Knowledge will take place this Saturday, June 2nd, at Used Kid’s, in their homebase of Columbus, Ohio. Granted, it’s been available online for a few weeks already, but as far as the rest of the world knows, the disc’s release date is June 5th. So the release party is actually a few days early. Understand? Yeah, me neither.

Related: the Obscure Sound Blog did a very thoughtful writeup of Dead Knowledge, Jerry D. just posted his contribution to Largeheartedboy’s “Note Books” series, and the album also finally hit the not-so-legal file sharing services. And I mention that one because if that’s the only way you’re likely to acquire the album, then I urge you to go, go on out and download it. At least you’ll get to hear the album, which is all that really matters.

In other Catbird Records news, CBR 009: Forest Fire – Psychic Love Star is now officially sold out. You had your chance.

I had no idea that this post from 8 months ago would turn out to be so prescient. No, I’m not talking about my first rant about Too Many Indie Music Festivals, I’m talking about my compare-and-contrast between Hemstad and Detektivbyrån: Italian label Black*Kitten is releasing a Hemstad/Detektivbyrån split 7-inch on June 21st. Limited Edition of 500.

Envelopes, who I like very much, just recently started offering a free live version of their latest single, “Smoke In The Desert, Eating The Sand, Hide In The Grass.”

::: Envelopes – Smoke In The Desert… (Live XFM/Camden Crawl) :::

Their new one, Here Comes The Wind, should be out on Brille pretty soon. You can hear some of the new tracks over at their Myspace.

Frightened Rabbit, who I also like very much, will be back stateside again in June, for a one-off(?) show, at the Mercury on June 24th. I don’t know if they ever ended up deciding to sign with Fat Cat, or Domino or whomever, but I’m sure we’re almost certainly indebted to Chris Newmeyer again for making this upcoming show happen. Self-Starter also recently sponsored a digital-only Frightened Rabbit live EP, recorded at Urban Outfitters during SXSW.

States Rights just put out their latest comp, Grown Zone, and it’s a big one; a 38-track double-dong, featuring all new tracks from SR friends and family, such as White Rainbow, Okay, Jason Anderson, and Jib Kidder.

Btw, I’ve heard Jib Kidder’s newest album, All On Y’All, and it is completely insane. Cross your fingers that States Rights will be putting that one out, too.

My (now) (old) friend Jordan O’ Jordan recently took a holiday down to New Zealand, and while there, played some live stuff on the radio. For the time being, it’s as close as we’re gonna get to “new” JOJ material:

::: Jordan O’Jordan – You’re On The Phone (Live on 95b FM) :::

If you’re newish here, I mean, if you weren’t hanging around in 2005, then you may not know that Jordan’s 2005 disc, Not Style, Nor Season, Nor Hard Handed Lesson, was one of the best surprises I got that year. I can’t recommend the disc highly enough, and you can still grab it from Columbus Discount Records. Here are some more tracks for you:

::: Jordan O’Jordan – By Balloon Or Sinking Ship :::
::: Jordan O’Jordan – Letter To A Lightning Bug :::
::: Jordan O’Jordan – No Princely Frog :::
::: Jordan O’Jordan – Old Foundry Fable :::

Jordan is going to be heading across the country to record his new album, and is doing a West Coast tour along the way, with his friends the Polka Dot Dot Dot.

Meanwhile, here in NY, I would advise you to come by the Luna Lounge tonight, for a great show featuring Forest Fire, Air Waves, and The Weight. Fulton Lights was on there, but unfortunately had to cancel due to a gnarly injury.

I hope everyone’s been rocking Air Waves’ “Shine On” over there in the May Mix, it’s a great, great song. Oh yeah, also: there are 2, and only 2, copies of the Forest Fire disc remaining in the Catbird Records warehouse. Those of you who have put off buying it are really starting to push your luck, I’d say.

Pitchfork has the first mp3 from Okkervil River’s upcoming Stage Names:

::: Okkervil River – Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe :::

…William Schaff has photos of the album artwork he embroidered for the new record over at his Flickr.

“The natural unit of music is track.“ No, it’s not.

Save Net Radio. Blah blah blah royalties, blah blah blah government, etc. etc.– listen, just go here: SAVENETRADIO.ORG.

And finally, we bid a fond farewell to 2.3% of Catbirdseat’s monthly readership, as we have just received the dubious honor of (for the second time in 5 years) being deleted from Stereogum’s blogroll. I guess we should have done more pro-Phil Collins posts.

It’s damn near June 1st, plus that new National album is finally out, so one thing’s for sure, music bloggers all across the interwebs are very likely champing at the bit to get their OMGZ MID-YEAR TEH BEST OF Lists posted. As a public service, we’re offering a useful primer to help inexperienced bloggers get their posts together*:

(*because (A.) we’re all about helping the kids, and because (B.) what the online music world needs now, MORE THAN ANYTHING EVER, is a bunch more lists of things.)

THE 2007 MID-YEAR “BEST OF” LIST – A Primer:

Mandatory Blogger List Inclusion:
The National – Boxer
Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha
Feist – Whatever That New One’s Called
Joanna Newsom – Ys Street Band

Include And Be Sure To Name Drop The Beach Boys (Or Just Use The Term “Sunny”) In Your Description:
Besnard Lakes – Are The Dark Horse
Panda Bear – Person Pitch

Write Elaborate, Long Qualifier About Inclusion Of:
Arcade Fire – Neon Funeral
Wilco – Sky Blue Sky

Hate On:
Modest Mouse – We’re Dead, No, Seriously, You Fucking Killed Us, We’re Dead
The Shins – Wincing The Night Away

Totally Forget About Because They Came Out Over Three Months Ago:
Deerhoof – Friend Opportunity
Menomena – Not The Blame Monster One; The Other One

Dick Dick Penis Penis Kevin Barnes’ Penis:
Of Montreal – Kevin Barnes’ Penis

Include, But Talk About How Studio’s Yearbook One Is Better:
LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver

You Might, Maybe:
Blonde Redhead – 23
Patrick Wolf – The Magic Position, Or, How I Learned To Hate Touring But Not Really, Sike

Bonus Pitchfork Points:
Battles – Whatever
Deerhunter – Cryptograms Plus Anything Else They Ever Release, Ever
Dan Deacon – Spiderman of the Rings
Twilight Sad – The One With The Cartoon Drawing Or Whatever On The Cover

Ben sent me this track yesterday, and I found myself flipping it over to immediate repeat, which hasn’t happened in quite awhile:

::: Camberwell Now – Know How :::

Camberwell Now was formed in 1982 by Charles Hayward after the breakup of This Heat. The complete remastered works of CN were just issued on a single-disc collection by UK label Recommended Records. It’s krauty, experimental, at times kinda new-wavey… and just at the moment, for me, ‘87 is trumping ‘07 for sure.

Yep Roc is having an insane sale right now, with vinyl LPs (which also include free digital downloads) priced at freakin’ $4.99. This includes releases by Robyn Hitchcock, Bob Mould, The Go-Betweens, and Dolorean (including his newest (2007) record, the criminally overlooked/underrated You Can’t Win. Trivia: that cover photo? It’s by Gus Van Sant.)

In other vinyl news, the long-delayed Blackout Beach (Carey Mercer) – Claxxon’s Lament lathe-cut single is finally in-stock over at Soft Abuse. It’s an edition of 60 (not a typo).

If you’re in the Boston/Cambridge/Somerville area, you’ll want to swing by P.A.’s Lounge tomorrow. It’s the release show for our old friend Brian Michael Roff’s new project, The Underpainting. Said the Gramophone wrote a nice piece about the project, and about the gently unfolding titular track awhile back. The Underpainting album, which will be the second Catbird Special Projects (CSP) release (jointly released with TW Walsh’s Tower Of Song label), won’t be available from CBR for a bit yet, but the band will have some copies available for sale at the show tomorrow.

And, hey Germany (and ultimately, England (oh, and Moscow)): go out and see Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin!

SSLYBY European Summer Tour:
21.05.2007 Köln (DE), Gebäude 9 (w/ Irving)
22.05.2007 Schorndorf (DE), Manufaktur
23.05.2007 München (DE), Sunny Red
24.05.2007 Karlsruhe (DE), Jubez
25.05.2007 Wiesbaden (DE), Schlachthof (w/ Plus/Minus)
26.05.2007 Kleinreifling (AT), Seewiesenfest
27.05.2007 Wien (AT), Chelsea
29.05.2007 Nürnberg (DE), K4
30.05.2007 Hamburg (DE), Molotow
31.05.2007 Bremen (DE), Römer
01.06.2007 Berlin (DE), Magnet Club
02.06.2007 Neustrelitz (DE), Immergut Festival
03.06.2007 Münster (DE), Gleis 22
04.06.2007 Amsterdam (NL), Paradiso
06.06.2007 Newcastle (UK), Head Of Steam
07.06.2007 Liverpool (UK), Korova
08.06.2007 London (UK), Bardens Boudoir
09.06.2007 Exeter (UK), Cavern
10.06.2007 London (UK), Water Rats (w/ The Thermals)
11.06.2007 Brighton (UK), The Hope
28.07.2007 Moscow (RU), Afisha Picnic Festival

Release Day! CBR 010: Moviola – Dead Knowledge

I’m v. happy to announce immediate availability of CBR 010: Moviola – Dead Knowledge. 16 tracks of that rare cosmic American music, in lovely letterpressed case. $8. The limited edition (200) (which costs one extra dollar) comes with a bonus DVD featuring videos and such, plus has a double-stamped cover, done by the band. Here’s one of the videos; for “Humility:”

And I couldn’t possibly get away without posting up an mp3:

::: Moviola – Rudy :::

You want more? Stream the whole album over at the Moviola Imeem page.

You anti-CD? You are not forgotten– go buy the album at iTunes. Or eMusic. Or Rhapsody. Or Napster, or Sony Connect, or just about any of those other more esoteric services too.

Bad news for you torrenters out there, though: you’ll have to wait. Since no promos went out, there was no leaking. Don’t worry, though, I’m sure a paying customer will rip and post it soon enough. But if you, like, get impatient, you could always, you know, buy it or something.

Idolator posted a note about the “first track to emerge” from Spoon’s upcoming Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, though didn’t go so far as to mention WHERE or HOW it emerged. I’m gonna go ahead and post it, but I have no idea if it’s been officially sanctioned. The song sounds like someone went to Britt Daniel and said, “Okay, Britt: pretend you’re Michael Nyman, and you’re writing the theme music for Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, The Thief…, but make it, like, Spoonier.”

Here’s a new track (well, an alternate take) from the Mendoza Line, who have a new disc (well, a new double-disc) out on Glurp in August. 30 Year Low is the new (mini-) album, and the other (bonus) disc, called The Final Remarks Of The Legendary Malcontent, features live tracks, covers, demos, and the like. Anyway, here’s the track, like I said, it’s an alternate take (the album version features vocals from Okkervil River’s Will Sheff):

I think the song is brilliant, especially the conversational delivery between Tim Bracy and Shannon McArdle (I mean, when you consider the context: this album marks not only the end of their collaboration as The Mendoza Line, but the end of their marriage as well).