It’s retro power pop day here at Catbird HQ today, soundtracked in part by the splended s/t album from Gentleman Jesse & His Men, the best blatant 70’s power pop copping since the beloved and tragic Exploding Hearts.

Also in rotation today is the new Stiff Records release from Wreckless Eric (”Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby“). Big thanks to Ben for sending that one over.

Fulton Lights – “Sideways Glances and Coded Speech”
directed by Ninian Doff

Lazy writers writing about the Pica Beats will probably use the words “Neutral Milk Hotel,” or “Decemberists,” but I think that’s just musicwriterese for “there’s an acoustic guitar and the singer’s a little nasal.” And it’s not that I think that those are bad bands to be compared to… I’m just saying: the Pica Beats seem to have a certain charm all their own– it’s a tiny bit sloppy, just a hair ramshackle, and maybe a speck lo-fi: just how I like it.

Beating Back The Claws Of The Cold is out 9/23 on Hardly Art.

Fulton Lights is out there on the first leg of his 5-month long world tour, and is currently keeping a tour diary for the site Electronic Voice Phenomenon. Oh, btw, he’s also doing a “field recordings blog” while he travels– it’s pretty cool. That one’s called Sound Travels. Oh, and 2 new shows were just added for Poland.

Air Waves has a nice new video out for “Circle of Gnomes,” directed by Sophia Peer.

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin continue their Euro tour at the moment (big ups as always to Phil, who always remembers to rock the Catbird Records T-Shirt). Out of this tour comes news comes new that they’ve just done a split 7″ with the band Puzzle. I think their songs on it are “Same Speed,” (the one heard in this video) and “We Can Win Missouri” (heard in this video). It came out on the 8th, but I’m pretty certain it’s limited to Europe, and possibly, just possibly, may even be limited to tour-only.

I know all of my readers are 100% fluent in French, so you’ll enjoy reading this great write-up of Forest Fire by Chryde over at Le Blogotheque. Everyone else can futz their way through the Google translation.

Of course, I am sure lots of other Catbird family *also* have news worth mentioning, but these were just the things that fell into my lap this week.

All in all, it’s been a depressing summer for the delusional record industry. We’re seeing a total disconnect between labels’ unrealistic, old-school revenue expectations and what the market can bear… labels can’t help looking at what they used to earn from a big band’s latest release and wondering why they can’t score that.

In my experience, there are only 2 types of people in any given major label office: the executives who still believe they can charge $20 for a CD and spend 2 weeks of every month off skiing in Tahoe, and the peons who live in mortal fear of mentioning anything remotely related to the obvious problem with the “Emperor’s clothes.”

I don’t mean to be pessimistic, people, but trying to convince the majors that they need to change their thinking is like trying to convince your die-hard Republican uncle to ditch his beliefs and embrace Obama. That is to say: have fun banging your head against the wall.

Not sure that many people know, but I had another music blog that predates Catbirdseat.Org by a full 3 months: the Mommyheads fansite. The Mommyheads have been cult indie pop darlings since their inception at the tail end of the 80’s (catch yourself up to speed @ Wikipedia). Anyway, they started in NYC as a wonderful, quirky, art pop band, and over the course of the next 10 years, they continually matured and refined their sound until they ultimately became a tight, well-oiled pop machine. In 1997, they released a major label debut, The Mommyheads, but broke up soon after, and all’s been quiet since.

But there is now a new album out! On September 2nd, Bladen County Records released a new Mommyheads record called You’re Not A Dream. It features a mix of unreleased, updated, and brand new material, including this, the first single:

The newly reunited Mommyheads are playing TONIGHT at Arlene’s Grocery.

A new Catbird Records release is out today: the second full-length from Fulton Lights. It’s called The Way We Ride. On this one, Andrew Spencer and Co. sweep back the dense orchestral layering in favor of a stripped-down, lean and mean approach; and the results are great. This record melds the faded strums of music past with an austere technological bent.

The disc is 10 tracks, and comes in a gatefold Catbird Mini-7 sleeve designed by the inimitable Jez Burrows. $7. It’s also a free/pay-what-you-want download, if you prefer.

At the end of the week, Fulton Lights is kicking off a (solo) European tour. Current dates:

9/13 Stavanger (Norway) @ Kafe Akvariet
9/27 Hamburg (Germany)@ Hasenschaukel (Reeperbahn Festival)
10/1 Hamburg (Germany)@ Hasenschaukel
10/4 Frankfurt (Germany)@ Hinah House (email for details)
10/10 Berlin (Germany)@ Electronic Church
11/1 2008 Paris (France)@Abracadabar

Stay tuned to the Fulton Lights Myspace for updates, or give FL a shout if you’d like to have him play show in your little corner of the Continent.

Please enjoy the September Mix/Podcast, which I just posted about 3 seconds ago.

Oh, and lest I forget to post this yet again: our dear friends at Tiny Showcase are bringing the showcase down to Brooklyn THIS WEEK, for an mind-bogglingly unbelievable project: WE = TROUBLE, a collaboration show featuring Ferris Plock, Deth P. Sun, Jay Howell, Jen Corace, and about 9 zillion other amazing artists.

There’s a “soft” opening on Thursday, and a full hard-on opening on Saturday, featuring “bands, open studios, galleries and BBQs and everything.” ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY, PEOPLE.