Those who know me know that I get very excited by The Battles — not the Pitchfork-approved neo-prog, math-rock Battles — but the Vancouver band that turned in one of my three favorite records of last year. Soft Abuse is releasing their new album, Giantess, in September.

Tracklist:
01. Saturday Night
02. Seven Years
03. Flex of Green
04. Einstein of Love
05. Stella, Please
06. Giantess
07. Wheels on Fire
08. Hope Springs Eternal
09. Forbidden Intruder

10. Snake Bite

The Battles will be playing a few shows with Get Him Eat Him (full tour kicking off soon!) in July.

Completely unrelated: as Pitchfork mentioned weeks ago, and Matador just got around to mentioning, Seattle’s Cave Singers have signed on with Matador, with the full-length “Invitation Songs” due in the Fall. The mp3’s good.

::: The Cave Singers - Seeds Of Night :::

I’ve been a champion of Olympia’s Kickball for, like, 3 or 4 years now (whenever it was that I first heard “Stop ?” (still my favorite Kickball track (as yet)), and I’m so delighted that they’re still rollin’ along. They’ve just finished up their 4th release, Everything Is A Miracle Nothing Is A Miracle Everything Is, and have it up for sale now on their Myspace. I bought it without pause, because I am sure I will love it. I think The Stranger nailed it in their recent review when they said,

“There is something elementally ‘Washington’ about Kickball’s sound. They vaguely hark back to Long Drive–era Modest Mouse, something organic the band emits that is instinctively easy to understand and embrace.”

I think that’s pretty right-on, because Kickball really do keep the spirit of the “old” days going. They are one of the few bands out there today who still manage to conjure up that spark.

::: Kickball - Underground Husbands :::
::: Kickball - Polar Bears :::

Kickball’s currently in the midst of a huge backporch / backyard / basement / BART Station tour, along with their French pals, Clara Clara, who sound like Hemstad covering Oneida inside a Nintendo.

::: Clara Clara - Dans Mon Smoking :::

Granted, I realize that it’s pretty much a Pitchfork mandate for their writers to utilize blogger uber-hyperbole when writing Forkcast posts, but Amy, with regard to your recent Spoon post, about “The Underdog?” Where you say, “2007, meet your ‘Float On?’” Sorry, but I’ve just got to say… um, no.

It’s a good song, it’s nicely Jon Brion’d out, and I’m sure this will become the band’s most popular album yet, and win them many, many new fans. But I’m just sayin: this song is no “Float On.” I have loved Spoon for a long time, and I like this song quite a lot, but frankly, it’s just too easy for me to imagine Molly Ringwald dancing her dance to this song, and any song that would inspire dance in Molly Ringwald would not inspire dance in a thousand drunken fratboys, shouting in unison while spilling their Meister-Braus down your back.

::: Spoon - The Underdog :::

Hey, when I mentioned Okkervil River’s upcoming The Stage Names before, did I mention that it comes in both regular and deluxe editions? What makes it deluxe, you may ask? It’s a 2-disc version featuring a bonus disc of solo demos of each of the songs from the album. The deluxe version is a “limited” edition of 5000. I use quotes on the ‘limited’ because I can assure you, in today’s market, 5000 is not, by any means, limited. I’m not being a hater, I’m just saying. 500 “Limited?” Yes. 1000 “Limited?” Maybe. 5000 “Limited?” Uh-uh.

Oh, and Pitchfork has an interview with Will Sheff about the new album up right now, by the way.

I think I’m gonna have to stop using the term “thoughtful” to describe the Moviola reviews, because it looks like they’re all gonna be thoughtful. I think it’s probably because the only people who are writing about the disc are people that actually *give a shit,* and that’s definitely fine by me!

Kevin Elliott just posted his review, and quite eloquently points out that Dead Knowledge “…connect[s] the dots between Big Pink, the Grand Ole Opry, Haight Ashbury, Laurel Canyon, [and] Muscle Shoals…”

And the Columbus Alive says Dead Knowledge is “…a showcase for Moviola’s graceful maturation, a rich, beautiful collection of understated tunes that demand — and reward — attentive ears.”

Those bonus DVD versions aren’t going to last forever.

(PS, running quite a bit behind this week– a new mix should be up in the next few days.)

What? Does that banner seem like a little much? Sorry, just following the precedent set by all the other music sites out there lately.

By now, you’ve probably already read all the deets about Get Him Eat Him’s new one, Arms Down: The guest appearances by members of the Wrens, Beirut, and Broken Social Scene… the production magic of Dismemberment Plan’s Jason Cadell… heck, Stereogum even posted about it! But this one, this OMGZ IT TEH CATBIRDSETA EXCULSIVE track, is the one I’ve been diggin’ on lately.

::: Get Him Eat Him - Get Down! :::

The offbeat beat, the spidery/spindly guitar lines… it recalls a time when “getting down” to indie rock didn’t mean squeezing yourself into a sweating biomass of Terry Richardson models huddled around a guy with a laptop.

Anyway, Arms Down is out next Tuesday! Go pick it up.

Oh, and also, go read Nick Sylvester’s piece about GHEH/Arms Down over at Riffmarket: “I STRONGLY ENDORSE COCOROSIE FOR THE POSITION OF META-REACTIONARY BLOG POST TREASURER.” It’s really good.