Did I mention that that Get Him Eat Him 7-inch I told you about last week was now available and currently shipping? Because it is.

Here’s the lowdown: Three new songs, all exclusive. I mean, I know their new full-length, “Arms Down,” just out from our friends at Absolutely Kosher, is awesome, but you’ve already got those songs, don’t you? That’s why CB7 001 is 3 all-new GHEH songs, unavailable anywhere else: “There’s A Guy” is a new, bouncy little number, “More Lovely Than Likely” is a cover of the Capstan Shafts (the GBV of the 00’s, if you’re not familiar), and the B-side is a remix of “Present Tenses,” which (and I’ve never said this before) is actually superior, in my opinion, to the original version. Okay, so I’ve said it ONE other time before, but c’mon, EVERYONE in the world agrees that R Kelly’s “Ignition (Remix)” is a thousand times better than the original. Purple vinyl, edition of 500, $4.

And oh, yeah… know what else? That’s not the only new Catbird release. We’ve got a new CD release just out too. It’s the second entry in our “Catbird Special Projects” (CSP) series, and is the new project of our ol’ pal BMR, called “The Underpainting.” That’s the name of the band AND the album. Plus there’s also a song on there called “The Underpainting,” too. Yeah, I know, it can get confusing, but believe me, it can get even confusing-er when Said The Gramophone writes about it:

http://www.saidthegramophone.com/archives/quiet_in_the_background.php

This is a co-release with Boston’s Tower Of Song label (run by musician TW Walsh). Catbird did up a limited edition of the album, and Tower of Song is handling the rest. Oh, here’s the mp3, by the way:

::: The Underpainting - The Underpainting :::

Nice music for sitting on your front porch on a Saturday afternoon with a nice glass of iced tea. Well, maybe it’s a Long Island iced tea. 10-song CD in hand-screened digipak, edition of 150, $6.

If you, by chance, want to order both releases at the same time, well, have at it.

There’s a new Enon album due out October 9th on Touch and Go. It’s called Grass Geysers…Carbon Clouds. This is the art and this is the tracklist:

Mirror On You
Colette
Dr. Freeze
Sabina
Piece of Mind
Law of Johnny Dolittle
Those Who Don’t Blink
Pigeneration
Mr. Ratatatatat
Paperweights
Labyrinth
Ashish

And that’s all the info I’ve got.

Pitchfork posted a track from what I’m sure will be the “blog-friendliest” album of the year (in many senses) John Vanderslice’s upcoming Emerald City:

::: John Vanderslice - White Dove :::

Tour dates for JV’s upcoming tour can be found here.

Oh, and I’ve been meaning to mention this for awhile: Popsheep has an all-new track from The Donkeys (whose s/t record from last year was one of my favorites (PLEASE NOTE: unlike most bloggers, I don’t say that about *every* record I mention (so don’t take it lightly))). The track comes from their tour split 7-inch with CFTPA.

ZOMG, we’re in the New York Times!

It’s an article about the modern music economy, and the new dichotomy between the — ahem. Well. Okay, so. Sorry, it’s not really about us. But c’mon! Seeing your name jump out at you in 18pt. bold type on the Times site kinda makes you do a double-take.

But seriously though, a note: saw Frightened Rabbit play their second Mercury Lounge show the other night, and they were again great. Seems weird that they would have a one-off US show, but it’s actually because they’re holed up at Tarquin Studios, recording album #2 with Peter Katis right now. That album won’t see the light of day until 2008, but in the meantime, Fat Cat will be re-releasing Sing The Greys in the Fall (and that means there will almost certainly be a vinyl version, too, now, woo-hoo).

The re-release will be preceded by a single for Be Less Rude, and I think the b-side(s) for that will be some combination of the original Sing The Greys demos, from January ‘05. Oh, wanna hear some of those? Because Fat Cat has streams and downloads for those posted right here.

Ha ha ha ha ha

(via Carl)

Nine billion blogs have gushed about them. Everyone’s saying they’re gonna be huge. They’re cute, young, white boys — from NYC, no less — playing inoffensive little pop songs. And their influences apparently include WORLD MUSIC.

“Vampire Weekend.”

To a grump like me, these guys sure had a lot of strikes against them. But damned if they didn’t hook me. And I’ve tried to put my finger on exactly why, and I can only come to one conclusion: it’s because they really are good. Really.

::: Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma :::

They don’t even have a record out, but there’s an 3-song Other Music (exclusive) Digital EP. And there’s one more song, streaming on their Myspace, plus a few others scattered about on the file-swapping netherworld. I’m guessing, though, that the best way to get their music is probably to go see them play live; their tour kicks off in DC on July 6th, and you should really probably go see them now, because by the next time they hit your town, they’ll probably be playing much larger venues.

Also: here’s Kelefa Sanneh’s NYT piece on them.

Get Him Eat Him’s tour kicks off tonight at the Mercury with Vic Thrill & The Saturn Missile. Pitchfork has an exclusive stream of their Capstan Shafts cover (”More Lovely Than Likely”) from the new Get Him Eat Him 7-inch Catbird’s putting out.

GHEH Shows of Note:
6/22 - Burlington, VT - Club Metronome w/ King Tuff, The Capstan Shafts, Nosebleed Island, James Kochalka Superstar
6/25 - Ottawa, ONT - Babylon Club w/ Xiu Xiu, Chris Garneau
7/06 - Vancouver, BC - Pat’s Pub w/ The Battles, Young & Sexy
7/21 - Austin, TX - Emo’s w/ The Wrens

Full show listings available on the GHEH Myspace.

PREMIERE: The Battles - “Saturday Night”

From The Battles’ (not Battles) forthcoming Giantess, out in September on Soft Abuse.

::: The Battles - Saturday Night :::

Full Promo Copy Regurgitation:

“The Battles are a rock n’ roll band from Vancouver, British Columbia. Stephen Wood formed the group in 1997 to record and perform his songs, and in the ten years since has experienced a shift in personnel that has seen members of Destroyer, New Pornographers, Black Mountain and Precious Fathers pass through the ranks. Giantess, the third album from The Battles, is an exercise in profundity. Veering wildly from accelerated, almost Sabbath-like rave-ups, to introspective ballads that tug at the heart (often with tongue planted firmly in cheek), the blistering Giantess is delivered with the poetic grandeur of Bryan Ferry or Graeme Downs at their absolute peak. The band has never sounded better.”

I can’t say I’m the hugest fan of the sample mp3, but I’m quite taken with the concept: the upcoming Dirty Projectors record is called Rise Above. And it’s a re-imagining of the seminal Black Flag album Damaged. But *NOT* a cover album. From the press release:

“Following the 2006 EP New Attitude, [Projectors’ frontman Chris] Longstreth went to help his parents move out of the house he grew up in. Among his youthful artifacts was the cassette case from the Black Flag album Damaged. This brought back all sorts of memories - Black Flag was one of Longstreth’s first loves– but the tape itself was missing. So, like the character in the Jorge Luis Borges story “Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote” who sets out to recreate Don Quixote line by line from memory, Longstreth went to the nearest Guitar Center, purchased the cheapest cassette four-track he could find, and embarked on recasting Damaged from memory, without re-listening to a single note or reading any lyrics. The ten songs that make up Rise Above (titled after one of the tracks on Damaged) stem from these four-track demos, recorded at his parents house on an acoustic guitar.”

Tracklist:

1. What I See
2. No More (mp3)
3. Depression
4. Six Pack
5. Thirsty and Miserable
6. Police Story
7. Gimme Gimme Gimme
8. Spray Paint (The Walls)
9. Room 13
10. Rise Above

(And certainly a good album cover on this one, comparatively.)

Sometimes I get band friend requests on Myspace. And sometimes (very rarely, that is), I’ll actually have a spare minute to check them out. Even more rarely, I’ll actually dig them. Rarer still: I’ll like the band enough to tell someone else about them. Rarest of rare: I’ll post a song.

But it does happen.

Bottle Up & Go is 2 dudes, Keenan and Fareed, from Brooklyn, and they ain’t fucking around with tryin’ to reinvent the wheel. They bill themselves as “2-Piece Slide Blues Whiskey Fantasy,” and dammit if that ain’t exactly what they deliver.

::: Bottle Up & Go - All My Trials :::

It’s like when you’re at the bar? And then suddenly, a really good old friend appears out of nowhere? And he thrusts a totally-unexpected double-bourbon into your hand? It’s like that, man. It’s like that.