Catbird alums Clear Tigers have finally released their debut full-length, Brutal (on their new label, Deathmaze Records). The album’s available on iTunes, eMusic, Amazon MP3, and on good ol’ physical CD format from Clear Tigers dot Com. Here’s a brand new mp3 from the brand new record:

::: Clear Tigers – Boredom :::

And NYC’ers: they’re at The Annex next Tuesday, 11/6, @ 8pm.

… Or, “ZOMG, SUFJAN GOT A GIRL PREGNANT, ZOMG!”
Darnielle has a nice post up at LPTJ re: Jess Harvell’s “Overhype” post.

Between discussions on this, Oink, S/FJ (and Carl), the Wasik piece, PGWP, and even countless others, I can’t remember there *ever* being a time when there was a mass discussion of “The Scene” on this scale, and that’s great. Hopefully, we’ll all be able to get something out of all this before the discussion becomes way too meta (if it’s not already).

R.I.P. Stylus Magazine.

I was afraid that Chicago’s Blue Ribbon Glee Club might be a bit too precious for me to appreciate, but I gotta say, this stuff made me crack a big ol’ smile.

Blue Ribbon Glee Club – Where Is My Mind? (The Pixies)

Plus Also: Blue Ribbon Glee Club – Waiting Room (Fugazi).

The heck? Everyone’s all-of-a-sudden covering stuff from Your Blues? Fig. 1: Final Fantasy – An Actor’s Revenge, Fig. 2: Spoon – It’s Gonna Take An Airplane. I realize of course that showing Destroyer love isn’t anything new or particularly notable, it’s just that coming across those two in the same week seemed a little weird to me.

Dan B. himself is here in NYC for the next few days, for the New Pornos shows at Webster Hall. Tickets are a bit rich for my blood at $30, but when you break that down, hell, it’s only $3.75 per band member.

Remember those other projects Dan was involved in with Sydney Vermont? Attention spans being what they are today, the answer to that question is probably “no,” but I’ll remind you: There’s Hello Blue Roses, which is a Bejar/Vermont duo:

And then there’s Bonaparte, which, in addition to Bejar and Vermont, is Josh Lindstrom, Krista Marshall, and Steve Wood (of Giantess nee The Battles, whose new album, I will remind you one more time, is great).

No official word* yet on whether or not this stuff will ever see actual release. One thing’s for sure though, you certainly won’t be downloading it from Oink anytime soon.

(* Although the unofficial word is that Hello Blue Roses should be out on The Locust Label early next year, and that Bonaparte will come out on Soft Abuse at some point after that. Hopefully.)

Here is DJ Rupture’s thoughtful take on the Oink Shutdown.

The undisputed king of the music torrent trading sites, OINK, is now dead, following a 2-year investigation by the IFPI/BPI.

ALSO POPULAR ARE OLD FOGEYS LIKE MIA, JUSTICE, YO MAJESTY, DEERHUNTER, DAN DEACON, AND NO AGE.
I’ll say this: attending CMJ Panels for a week was a lot more grueling (on the ol’ psyche, at least) than what I was expecting. Whew.

In other CMJ news, I should report that I saw *2* more bands than I did last year! Which is to say: I saw 2 bands. And if I may offer my first sincere ZOMG– I got to see the Capstan Shafts. Second show ever, first show with a band (though granted, it was really just “a band” backing Dean Wells). And while I totally loved the show, I got the feeling from some of my cronies that they were less than impressed with the ad hoc backing band’s overall contribution. Yes, I agree that it sounded totally lo-fi, feedback-laden, taped-up, tied-together, and constantly on the verge of collapse, but I also thought that suited Dean’s tunes perfectly. As I remarked immediately after, I felt like it could have been London in 1977, or Athens, Georgia 1983, or Dayton, Ohio in 1994. There was something raw and nascent and special going on, and I was just happy to be there.

Matt has a recap of the other Capstan Shafts show (the one in a small church in Vermont, weeks ago) over at Pitchfork today, including some videos, courtesy of False 45th Blog, and a track from the new CS release for Rainbow Quartz, Environ Maiden.

The Capstan Shafts – “61 Sideburns” / “Personals Surfer”

And here’s my final CMJ postscript for you; a list of the Top 5 “New Hot Shit” bands of this years fest, according to my understanding (i.e. these are the bands you are SUPPOSED TO KNOW):

• Yeasayer (Already blog-buzzed for, like, the past 6 months)
• Black Kids (Never heard of them before this month)
• Vampire Weekend (Have already been buzzed and backlashed, and I still have no problem with them, ahahaha! Go grab the Daytrotter songs that were just posted today.)
• Health (Never heard of them before last week.)
• Alright, so there are only 4, not 5.

Carl, in a piece for Slate, responds to S/FJ’s recent deliberate, calculated firestarter in the New Yorker.

On a related note, I know that S/FJ was pointing out just how “white” the indie-rock scene is, but how does that relate to all the rap/hip-hop/dance artists that seem to be confined/accepted (only(?)) by the indie rock scene? What’s the deal there? I mean, does someone like a Lupe Fiasco get anywhere near as much press from SOURCE and VIBE as he gets from Pitchfork and blogs? (I’m asking; I sincerely have no idea.)

BTW, I’m at Idolator all week (reporting from (the) CMJ (Panels)). Just look for the articles that no one’s reading, that’ll be me.