Premiere: The Rutabega's Ruminative, Majestic "Lip"

South Bend, Indiana-based pair The Rutabega makes music that answers the musical question "why don't people make music like that anymore?" Not that the band's very appealing sound is dated. Indeed, despite undercurrents of earnestness and optimism -- of the sort that marked a certain stripe of DIY two decades past -- it can't be accurately termed a throw-back, either, especially given the fact that the long-running project founded by guitarist/singer Josh Hensley has been doing its thing for 15 years. Most of that time Mr. Hensley operated The Rutabega as a sole proprietor, and he drew acclaim in the early aughts via a split EP with Owen that made its way to Polyvinyl in 2004 (only two 12"s left at press time!). Five years ago The Rutabega doubled its population with the addition of spitfire drummer Garth Mason, and the band's purview expanded more than commensurately. It is downright witchery that a two-piece band can create music with such epic grandeur. Part of that can be attributed to big arresting melodies that echo hitmakers including The Wedding Present and Guided By Voices, and part to the intoxicating degree of vim present in the tunes.

What excited us most about The Rutabega's forthcoming fourth long-player, titled Unreliable Narrator and due later this month on Comedy Minus One, is the band's fearless willingness to go long. Rounding a tad, half the record's eight numbers meet or exceed the six-minute mark, and its massive emotional centerpiece "Lip" swells and sighs across nine terrific minutes; we are pleased to premiere that particular song for you today. The panoramic composition gently sparkles through its ruminative first quarter, then spreads figurative wings in ensuing sections haunted by dense shimmer here and motorik minimalism there, all driven by firm tempo and rhythm changes. While the biggest big guitars and Mr. Mason's hardware provoke the song's most spine-tingling moments, these are set off by Hensley's perfectly understated recitation of certain parameters of isolation ("...it's an empty world without you here, I'm not getting to it, right out to the lip...") in a tenor reminiscent of that of Elliott Smith. The sum total feints in the direction of Built To Spill's acclaimed Perfect From Now On or some deliciously hypothetical iteration of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, but the reality is "Lip" resides in a universe of The Rutabega's own creation.

Comedy Minus One releases Unreliable Narrator June 24 pressed to a limited edition of vinyl LPs; the first 250 of these are pressed to clear media bearing black streaks (observe), and additional LPs are available in classic black. Unreliable Narrator will also be released on CD and as a digital download. Pre-orders are on offer right now and those availing themselves of that opportunity will be rewarded with a download of certain acoustic demos titled Unreliable Sketches. The band intends to fête the release of the record with a show July 2 at Vegetable Buddies in South Bend; the bill also features 2 Big 2 Be Buried and The Columbines. Stream "Lip" via the embed below. The peppy rocker "Shiny Destination" was previously pushed out to the public earlier this spring, is available on limited-edition white 7" from Triple Eye Industries, and a delightful, puppet-packed video for same can be viewed right here.

The Rutabega: Facebook | Internerds

Review: Yr Poetry | Rocket Season EP

We are dogged by an apparently false (or at least presently unconfirmed) recollection of a use of the term "rocket summer" beyond its obvious references within popular fiction and execrable emo. What we recall is a piece of dialogue dubbing "rocket summer" a season in which the lives of a group of young people begin to take off -- you know, like rockets. We thought we'd find the verbiage in the crucial '90s indie-scene film "Half Cocked," whose story features a crash pad called Rocket House, but a repeat screening last week proved fruitless. Instead of continuing to cast about for support for our possibly dreamed-up memory, we're just going to get to these (long-suffering) points: Yr Poetry released last week a thrilling new six-song EP of taut, melodious indie anthems called Rocket Season, and -- as a result -- it is hard not to feel like the project has taken off (slightly adjusted title or no).

Longtime readers will not need the history lesson and can scroll ahead, but neophytes take heed: Yr Poetry is Alexei Berrow and Junior Elvis Washington Laidley of invincible Birmingham, England fight-pop four Johnny Foreigner, although the project is doubly once-removed from that concern via each gentlemen's respective solo endeavor (guitarist Berrow's Yr Friends, f/k/a Yr Dead Friends, and drummer Laidley's Fridge Poetry). Rocket Season, Yr Poetry's second EP, opens on a high with the thunderous basher "Don't Call Me Shirley," a song that tells of a powerful infatuation whose shuddering energy and vivid, desperate vocals echo the electrifying jolt of new, seemingly inescapable love. Given he is endlessly clever, its easy to believe Berrow uses the tune's closing words ("...that boy, still gets you...") as a nod to "Still Got It," the final track of the pair's titanic 2014 debut mini-album No Tribes. Or at least it is easier to believe that than it is to believe that Berrow named a song after a running gag from one of the greatest comedies ever filmed. Either way, the onion-skin layers of yearning and poignancy embedded in the crashing chords and cymbals of "Don't Call Me Shirley" are terrifically affecting.

The EP's 15 minutes transpire rapidly, never presenting a chance to sag, and the tone is generally raw and aggressive: think Johnny Foreigner's thrashing "Who Needs Comment Boxes When You've Got Knives," from the act's triumphant 2010 EP You Thought You Saw A Shooting Star But Yr Eyes Were Blurred With Tears And That Lighthouse Can Be Pretty Deceiving With The Sky So Clear And Sea So Calm [review], and you'll have an idea of Berrow's headspace when writing this short collection. The mid-set charmer "We Are Not The Champions" stands out. The tune condenses the sardonic conceit of Built To Spill's majestic "You Were Right" into a similarly sharp-witted but elegantly architected rocker. It is worth remarking that there seems to be something in the zeitgeist with the sentiment "We Are Not The Champions," as LA's DTCV uses virtually the same title for a completely different rocker on its dazzling LP Confusion Moderne, due next month.

Berrow told Goldflake Paint recently that Yr Poetry is "super proud how [Rocket Season] turned out and vaguely side-eye confident that it stands as a rad piece of music without being propped up by a *side project of.. tag... so who knows, maybe this is our mainstream breakout project." He is an avid reader of sci-fi, so it is very likely the title of the EP was carefully selected, for both its similarity to, and differences from, Ray Bradbury's epochal classic "The Martian Chronicles," whose first chapter is titled "Rocket Summer." Yr Poetry's chosen title if anything is stronger, as it suggests an ability to adapt, and -- importantly -- to return. It underscores the momentum of the project. although that momentum will likely be knocked sidewise with the release of the aforementioned Johnny Foreigner's hotly anticipated next full-length, which may very well street before 2016 burns out.

Rocket Season was recorded over a weekend in Johnny Foreigner's rehearsal space by James and Josh from Mutes; the set was mixed by music-recording-guy extraordinaire Dom James. Yr Poetry self-released Rocket Season as a CD and digital download March 24, and a special pre-order bundle was on offer the week prior to release right here.The bundle included a handmade, numbered and signed CD, an A4 poster, lyric sheet and black t-shirt with a yellow-printed rendering of the collection's ace cover image, but it appears orders are no longer being taken. For those who missed the offer of physical merch, the set should be on Bandcamp soon. For now, stream the entirety of Rocket Season via the embed below.

Yr Poetry: Bandcamp | Soundcloud



Related Coverage:
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Johnny Foreigner Side Project Tsunami: New Music Pending From Yr Poetry, Yr Friends and Fridge Poetry, Hear Titanic "Still Got It" Now
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Show Us Yours #27: Mittenfields

We just recorded our mid-year review for CompCon with KoomDogg (here's part one), and we've been figuratively kicking ourselves because we failed to mention a terrific rock record from Washington, D.C. quintet Mittenfields. The band's long-player Optimists was released in late April and it has since become one of those go-to records for us, the kind of thing -- along with Beeef's tremendous Beeef EP, and Colleen's Captain Of None, and a couple others -- that we put on when we want to take a break for the hamster wheel of reviewing things and simply enjoy a listening experience. Optimists is big guitars and wall-to-wall hooks, and it is fraught with terrifically affecting, impassioned vocals the elongated vowels of which echo those of David Byrne. It's not really accurate to call Optimists an emo record, but the more we listen to it, the more appropriate the tag (meant to connote the modern, non-mallpunk sense of the term "emo") seems. But the thing that attracted us to Mittenfields' music is it can't really be pigeon-holed, and we especially love how it doesn't present overt "D.C.-ness." It's just a big rock record with tons of great melodies (driven home by the act's three-guitar attack), and is probably more like Built To Spill's Perfect From Now On than any release bearing the Dischord or DeSoto imprints. Pressed for additional RIYLs, we'd offer Dark Blue and The Boyfriends. But Optimists deserves to be met on its own terms, and we recommend heading directly to the album highlight "Telepathic Windows" -- and its heartbreaking, repeated assertion "you're never gonna get what you want" -- as a great introduction to the band.

Despite having just pushed out its full-length LP, Mittenfields has been around for seven years, its earliest germ springing from a Craigslist ad posted by bassist and singer Dave Mann. The lineup shifted for a couple years, but the act's three-guitar attack -- inspired by a particularly compelling Broken Social Scene show -- gelled around 2010, and now includes guitarists Sam Sherwood, Donald Seale and Michael Ball, as well as longtime drummer Brian Moran. After living with Optimists for several weeks we decided it was high time to get in touch with the band to learn more about how they do what they do and where they do it as part of our long, long suffering featurette Show Us Yours. All of the Mittenfields guys were super gracious with their time, so there's a lot of interesting stuff here, about gentrification, pie, and some upcoming tour dates. Oh, did we forget to mention that dudes practice in the back of a pie shop? Yeah, you read that right. Our advice? Click on the embed at the foot of the post, scroll back up here, and dig in.

Clicky Clicky: So why do you use this practice space? What makes a pie shop -- let me say that again for any readers who were like "wait, what?" -- a pie shop the best space for Mittenfields to practice in right now? This makes me wonder about the noise-dampening qualities of pie...

Sam Sherwood: One of the (many) side effects of the gentrification of so much of DC is that it's pretty tough to find a practice space at all: every commercial or industrial space in town is just waiting to become another small plates restaurant, and bands can't really compete with that rent-wise. And practicing in a house or apartment at the volume level we play at is a non-starter if you don't want your neighbors calling the cops every week.

Dangerously Delicious Pies has a solid rock and roll pedigree -- it was started in Baltimore over a decade ago by Rodney Henry, the frontman for the Glenmont Popes. They opened their first DC outpost a few years back on H Street NE (pretty much ground zero for the aforementioned gentrification), but the building was bigger than they really needed. Somebody had the excellent idea of putting up some soundproofing in the back rooms, setting up some PAs, and running the extra space as a full-time rehearsal studio. Pie Shop Studios pretty much checks all the boxes: good gear, plenty of nearby bars for pre/post-practice "band meetings", and sweet, sweet (or savory) pie.

CC: Is there an idiosyncrasy or quirk to the space that has affected the sound of one of your songs, or even the overall Mittenfields sound?

SS: The space itself is pretty straightforward -- we wish we had a story about how some weird reverb property of the room inspired the backwards guitar effect on "Doctor! Doctor!" but that would be a lie (I think). Sonically, the most notable feature is the presence of Supreme Commander, who've practiced in the same time slot as us pretty much the whole time we've been there. This is a major bonus. First, they're excellent guys. But also, we can get pretty bogged down in the minutiae of arranging parts for three guitars. When that gets frustrating, it's nice to step outside the room and hear the roar of Supreme Commander down the hall, just kicking ass and not arguing about major 7th voicings.

CC: You walk into your rehearsal space. What's the first thing that you smell?

Brian Moran: I do wish I could say delicious pies baking and just waiting to be eaten. Unfortunately, it's not quite so glamorous. The place is very well ventilated for a practice space, and the other bands are respectful, but sometimes you can't shake the smell of sweat from the walls. The load-in area is also in an alley, right next to some big dumpsters, so that smells don't make their way inside the space, [but] can still hang out for a while in your nostrils. But no pies. I think the baking is done in the morning anyways.

CC: I see you've got dates in Arlington, VA this month and next month -- and then a show somewhat randomly in Atlantic City, NJ in Aug. I think that is the first time I've heard of an indie rock show in Atlantic City. Have you played there before? Is there a scene there?

BM: My first show with Dave and Sam was actually in Atlantic City. I'm guessing at the very same venue that we're playing coming up. We had the name Mittenfields, but instead of Mike and Donald, we had a keyboardist and a trumpet player. It was a rather different time. But like many leads we get through Dave, I usually never get much of a grasp on how we gained this contact in Atlantic City. We're playing some sort of festival over there -- from what I understand, the guy runs two festivals a year or so. The shows aren't held in the champagne-of-beers casinos of Atlantic City, but in tiny little bars, just like everywhere else. From what I remember about the Atlantic City show 5 years ago, there was a strong sense of community. I think bands came from all over to play there, but everyone was real cool to each other. I imagine someone's gotta live and play music there though?

CC: We're a very big fan of Optimists here at the blog. The thing that I find curious about it is that there is nothing about it that very overtly screams "THIS IS A D.C. BAND!" While it is definitely noise-pop of a certain stripe, the music on Optimists doesn't betray a huge Dischord, DeSoto or Slumberland influence. Was that a conscious decision at some point, to not sound like "a D.C. band," and to sound more like, say, contemporary hitmakers Dark Blue or The Boyfriends or whatever?

Donald Seale: We didn't really set out to get away from or try to honor the classic DC sound. It's more that it isn't relevant to what we are doing. We all have a few points of musical intersection but we have fairly disparate tastes. We are more worried about the parts fitting together in a way that satisfies us than just following genre conventions. Genre is kind of nebulous anyway. We just want to make memorable music that will have an emotional impact and hopefully be of value to somebody. If we played a more traditional or regional kind of music then the indigenous styles would be more valuable reference points. I personally grew up on punk rock and have a soft spot for all of that stuff, but it was created by a bunch of pissed off kids almost thirty years ago. While we (or more accurately I) am still pissed off, we aren't kids who for some reason are adamant about not ever getting laid or having a drink or just giving it a fucking rest for a minute. That said, the DIY spirit is alive and well in the world of Mittenfields. We do just about everything in-house which allows us the luxury of doing things exactly how we want. In that sense there is a real influence. So I guess philosophically that spirit is alive and well even if isn't immediately, musically apparent. Although, there are still a few spots where banging out some barre chords at an absurdly fast speed speed is really the only viable option. If you listen you'll catch it. Also, I'm still just looking for an excuse to shove a Doc Marten up someone's ass. Maybe we need a more adversarial audience to bring out the punk rock spirit.

CC: We suppose it would be really fun here if your response to that last question was hurt disappointment, like, "Damn it, we were REALLY trying to sound like Nation Of Ulysses!"

DS: Sorry to disappoint you.

CC: So what does the rest of the year look like for Mittenfields?

Michael Ball: More shows, more music. We've got a few local dates lined up, and plan to head up to Atlantic City in early August for an indie rock festival. We are also putting together some dates in the south -- Raleigh, Atlanta, Oxford, MS, and Chattanooga -- in mid-September. Beyond that, there are a few other shows here and there we hope to pick up, but nothing firm just yet. We're already working on some new tunes and trying to keep the creative juices flowing. Don't want to go four years between releases again.

Optimists is available now in a limited edition of 300 vinyl LPs, as well as on CD or as a digital download, all of which one can avail one's self of right here at the Mittenfields Bandcamp. Stream the entire LP via the embed below. As noted above, Mittenfields have two pending live engagements, and details of those dates are noted below as well. Our thanks to all of the Mittenfields guys for playing along and making Show Us Yours 27 a pretty darn good one.

Mittenfields: Bandcamp | Facebook



07.11 -- IOTA Club -- Arlington, VA
08.08 -- The Boneyard -- Atlantic City, NJ

Previous Show Us Yours episodes:
Shapes And Sizes | Dirty On Purpose | Relay | Mobius Band | Frightened Rabbit | Assembly Now | Meneguar | Okay Paddy | Charmparticles | Calories | Sun Airway | It Hugs Back | Lubec | A Giant Dog | Bent Shapes | Krill | Golden Gurls | Earthquake Party! | Hallelujah The Hills | Seeds Of Doubt | The Cherry Wave | Coaches | Night Mechanic | Kindling | Julius Earthling | Hideous Towns

Review: Benjamin Shaw | Goodbye, Cagoule World

It's a long rain jacket, is what a cagoule is, to answer what is likely the first question any American has about this record. The second question is probably something along the lines of "Benjamin who?" Even so, longtime Clicky Clicky readers will recall Benjamin Shaw's sublime 2011 set There's Always Hope, There's Always Cabernet [preview], and perhaps other of his releases. Mr. Shaw, simply put, is among the best London has to offer, a songwriter both morose and sly, a man whose ghoulish songs are stunning, detailed tableaus of rich absurdity, beautiful putrefaction and boundless despair. While it is not sonically as of-a-piece as the aforementioned Cabernet or the fantastic 2013 instrumental set Summer In The Box Room, Shaw's latest long-player Goodbye, Cagoule World is nonetheless a marvel, illustrating both the breadth and depth of the talents of this underlooked fun trick noisemaker.

The record features Shaw's characteristic, charmingly dour reportage on slow doom and slower decay, around which he has arranged into an immersive aural collage a surprising and rich array of exquisitely crafted sounds. There's the lonely vibrato guitar leads quietly hammering themselves in the head, and the demented and aimless saxophone, in "Always With The Drama." The mid-tempo, canned swing of "Break The Kettles And Sink The Boats" hints only slightly at the shuddering boxed rhythm that opens the instrumental "A Day In The Park." But as good as Shaw's instrumentions sound, it is his incisive and decimating lyrics that resonate most powerfully. After a protracted, spectral introduction, the album opener "No One" presents a vivid, indeterminate and potentially terrifying narrative with only a single lyric: "No one can love you like I do, 'cause you never, no you never, leave the flat." Is this a description of a quiet, prim relationship? The quiet taunt of captor to captive? Whatever is happening in the song, it has taken the last great single-lined song -- Built To Spill's towering (and apparently rarely performed) "You Are" from 2001's Ancient Melodies Of The Future -- and bent it tantalizingly toward Shaw's "Endgame"-esque aesthetic.

This is not to undersell Shaw's penetrating wit (we'll leave it to Audio Antihero to do the underselling -- OOOH BURN! -- Ed.). As beautiful and human as the aforementioned moments are, the easy lilt and sardonic lyrics of the booby-trapped "You And Me" make it the closest thing to a pop hit among the songs of Goodbye, Cagoule World -- while, of course and in true Shaw fashion, aiming to torpedo pop convention. Over a serene epilogue, a bed of wavering synth tones that recalls the bed of Hypo's microhouse anthem "Nice Day," Shaw bullet-points the makings of a lamestream lyric: "so here's a line about the system, and here's a line that's quite funny, and here's a pop culture reference, and a lazy refrain, like 'you and me.'" Shaw's distinctly smart and singular voice -- whipsmart and deeply affecting, and we're using "voice" in the figurative sense here -- puts him in the rarified company of non-hitmakers of the day including Krill's Jonah Furman or Los Campesinos!' Gareth Paisey.

Goodbye, Cagoule World will be released as a compact disc and digital download by the aforementioned, venerable mess of a label Audio Antihero April 21. The first 100 pre-orders of either format will also receive a Benjamin Shaw-endorsed stress ball, if they click the correct button on the Bandcamp page here. A stress ball seems rather ridiculous given the transcendent futility consistently portrayed in Shaw's music -- so wait, maybe it's perfect, actually. The release of Goodbye, Cagoule World will be feted at a show April 29 at Servant Jazz Quarters in London, but if you'd prefer not to wait as long as all that, Shaw will also appear Wednesday at London's Ivy House. For the time being, the entirety of Goodbye, Cagoule World can be stream right here at GoldFlake Paint. We've also embedded the title track and "You And Me" for your listening pleasure below.

Benjamin Shaw: Bandcamp | Facebook | Internerds | Soundcloud | Twonger

Previous Benjamin Shaw coverage:
Today's Hotness: Benjamin Shaw
Benjamin Shaw | There's Always Hope, There's Always Cabernet
Today's Hotness: Benjamin Shaw

Review: Heavy Midgets | Super King

We've witnessed countless record promotion tactics over the years,* but none is as pleasurable for fans presently as what could be construed as anti-promotion: the sudden and unannounced album drop. It's been famously done recently by Beyoncé and, a year ago, by My Bloody Valentine, among many others. With almost every aspect of our largely mundane lives memorialized in the infinite sea of data soup that is the Internet, these days real surprises -- hell, even real experiences -- are hard to come by. Richmond quartet Heavy Midgets made life a little more real early this month when it delivered a tingly eureka moment of its own in the form of their stellar first full length Super King. The set was posted to Bandcamp without warning, and the songs contained therein just as abruptly emerged from the foursome's former furrow of lo-fi haze into sharp resolution, carrying with them a renewed and impressive ethos expressed in terms of complex, DIY guitar pop.

The beautifully realized collection impresses with its range and routinely inspired songwriting, which seems to draw from influences as disparate as Aftermath-era Rolling Stones and modern San Francisco art-punk. Super King leads with its best pop song, "Nothing New," a showcase for Heavy Midgets' signature sour guitar dynamics, skittish rhythms, and rich, driving vocal work from one of the band's four singers. Charlanne McCarthy's wonderful vocals echo the affecting, lower-register of Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier, but do so with a bracing punk vigor. The song abandons its verse-chorus structure after introducing a bristling bridge of serrated guitars whose experimental edge will sound familiar to fans of Deerhoof or math-mod rockers Welcome. The dazzle of "Nothing New" persists with notable guitar interplay and, eventually, theremin. "Daylight Savings" follows, and brings with it some surf-punk charm and the telling lyric "some of us won't even survive daylight savings."

Thereafter, the album showcases in turn each of the singers and songwriters within Heavy Midgets. The male voices propound harder-edged approaches within shorter, faster frameworks. "Furry Thing" touts a darker, more reverberated menace, while "Wedding/Bedding" alternates spoken passages and sweetly sung melodies alongside inventive and engaging xylophone. The heaviest impression is left by the sunny pop moves of "Dynasty;" indeed, one might consider it the "Divine Hammer" of Super King -- a bubbling, carefree track that closes with a loud, distorted power chord section and guitar solos that call to mind vintage Weezer and Built To Spill.

With Super King, Heavy Midgets deliver one of 2014's first truly interesting guitar records. Every song transcends their familiar elements to reveal creative and singular compositions welling with both grit and clarity in satisfying proportions. Richmond has made its name in recent years on creative guitar bands, and this crew, as well as the folks at Bad Grrrl Records, can be considered among the vanguard. Super King is available as a digital download now, and will be issued on cassette by Bad Grrrl Jan. 30. That same day Heavy Midgets play a release show at Richmond's Gallery 5, with support from New Turks, Spandrel and Malatese; full deets here. Bad Girl released in 2012 Heavy Midgets' previous effort, a split with scenemates Tungs that we wrote about right here. -- Edward Charlton

Heavy Midgets: Bandcamp | Facebook | Soundcloud



*This discussion always calls to mind Fat Wreck Chords or Epitaph sending an inflatable sex sheep to WESU in the mid-'90s. Yes, we just typed the words "inflatable sex sheep."

That Was The Show That Was: Built To Spill | Paradise Rock Club, Boston | 8 Nov.

A Built To Spill concert is a practice in mutually respectful attentiveness. Not to put the band in a bad light, but one gets the feeling the Boise-bred unit methodically delivers the same set whether the room is half empty or a sell-out, as the Paradise Rock Club in Boston was on Friday. Which is totally fine, 'cause Friday night ruled. Led by indie rock lifer Doug Martsch, the act has for decades now wrought thoughtful, measured guitar music that aims straight for the head. As a songwriter, Martsch is at his best when he's stuck in his own mind, fabricating tangible dreamscapes that swoon and rock. A Built To Spill record -- or show, for that matter -- doesn't incite dancing, but more of a gentle, eyes-closed sway in time to the beat.

After impressive opening sets from The Warm, Parasol, and Slam Dunk, Martsch and Co. quietly took the stage and opened with a number from 2006's You In Reverse [review]. What followed was a set that leaned heavily on Reverse and 2009's There Is No Enemy. While those records aren't entirely indicative of the sound the band built its name on, the guitar heroics and jam-band vibe of the songs from that era shine just as brightly onstage as anything in Built To Spill oeuvre.

The band thankfully didn't ignore its older material altogether, and it may be that the songs they played off 1994's titanic indie pop effort There's Nothing Wrong With Love were the most warmly received. However, the set's biggest surprise may have been "Else" off Keep It Like A Secret. The tune's rolling high-hat stutter tranfixed the crowd, setting the stage perfectly for the first set's closer, "Carry The Zero." If the former song was all silent disbelief from the assembled mass, "Carry The Zero" was a downright sing-along by comparison, one that had the crowd hanging tightly with Martsch's high, inflected tenor to the end.

As is customary, Built To Spill closed out its set with impressive covers; this night the band proffered versions of Dinosaur Jr.'s fuzz-rock classic "Sludgefeast" and The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now." The evening ended with Built To Spill's own bona fide classic, "Car," an apropos closer, and a gentle suggestion that Martsch legitimately owns a berth among those indie elites. Built To Spill's current fall tour kicked off almost a month ago and runs all the way up to the night before Thanksgiving; the remaining dates -- including some post-Christmas multi-night stands -- are listed below. -- Dillon Riley

Built To Spill: Internerds | Facebook





11.12 -- Grog Shop -- Cleveland Heights, OH
11.13 -- St. Andrews Hall -- Detroit, MI
11.14 -- Metro -- Chicago, IL
11.15 -- Turner Hall Ballroom -- Milwaukee, WI
11.16 -- Barrymore Theatre -- Madison, WI
11.17 -- First Avenue -- Minneapolis, MN
11.18 -- Blue Moose Tap House -- Iowa City, IA
11.20 -- The Rev Room -- Little Rock, AR
11.21 -- Granada Theater -- Dallas, TX
11.22 -- Fitzgerald's -- Houston, TX
11.23 -- Stubb's Amphitheatre -- Austin, TX
11.24 -- Tricky Falls -- El Paso, TX
11.25 -- Club Congress -- Tuscon, AZ
11.26 -- Vinyl -- Las Vegas, NV
11.27 -- Urban Lounge -- Salt Lake City, UT

Prior Built To Spill coverage:
YouTube Rodeo: Built To Spill's "You Were Right"
That Was The Show That Was: Built To Spill, Dinosaur Jr, Meat Puppets
Review: Built To Spill | You In Reverse
Built To Spill/Treepeople: Tour News And Gratuitous '90s Flashback

Today's Hotness: The Wolfhounds, Soltero, Household

>> Long-time readers are well aware of our penchant for big-guitar belters, and a forthcoming single from veteran UK indie rockers The Wolfhounds authoritatively delivers the goods. The band first formed in the mid-'80s before folding around 1990, and those first five years yielded many things, of which perhaps the best is the towering second single "The Anti-Midas Touch." The band reformed in 2005 to mark the 20th anniversary of its first single, and the next year played a 20th anniversary celebration for the seminal NME "C86" compilation, according to our shadowy friends over at the Wikipedia. The Wolfhounds' latest, "Divide And Fall" b/w "The Ten Commandments Of Public Life" is being released digitally Oct. 28 via Oddbox Records, and pre-orders of the limited edition of 300 blood-red vinyl 7" discs will ship out on or around Nov. 4. The single's very formidable A-side is rough, desperate and melodic, and recalls the best of Superchunk's first four years. "The Ten Commandments Of Public Life" is more subdued, contemplative and psychedelic, and stretches across more than five minutes that somehow still feel too short. This single is the band's second of the year on Oddbox; in January the label released The Wolfhounds "Cheer Up" single, which boasts four songs and is apparently still available on vinyl. Based on a tweet from Oddbox Thursday, the forthcoming single is already at least half sold-out on pre-orders, so you'd be well-served to get your order in sooner rather than later. Could there be a full-length in the offing? We certainly hope so, because this latest single is among the best music The Wolfhounds have recorded in any decade. Stream "Divide And Fall" b/w "The Ten Commandments Of Public Life" via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through to order a copy before they go the way of the dodo bird.



>> It's hard to believe, but it's been 11 years since we first saw long-running, itinerant indie pop concern Soltero. It was a memorable night, headlined by the then-still-unsigned but already-incredible Mobius Band, and punctuated by our first experience standing near the late, great Billy Ruane as he was going off, charging around in front of the band at various acute angles, driven by the music. Soltero was terrific, with fronter Tim Howard practically shaking as the songs flowed through him, and we distinctly remember turning to a friend after the band finished up the brilliant "The Moment You Said Yes" and one of us making a favorable comparison to Elvis Costello. In the many years since then, Mr. Howard has lived in two more major mid-Atlantic metropolises, as well as North Carolina and Central America, and he's released just about as many records as he's had residences. The moving around suggests a restlessness and yen for adventure that can be heard in the music of Soltero's latest collection, the short set Jamming The Gaydar. The patient and mildly spooky opener "In The Sun" is pocked with hand percussion and muted guitar, while its melody glides along on flotillas of organ, droning tenor saxophone and cascading guitar lines. Album highlight "Big Satellite" commences with a wistful guitar melody and organ, then blossoms via layers of guitars and stacked sax tracks into something like a more reserved scale model of a weighty Built To Spill-styled jammer. Jamming The Gaydar is a very rewarding (and, incidentally, very seasonally appropriate) collection that showcases Howard's songwriting and arranging acumen, and it is available now as a free download -- at least for now -- via Bandcamp. We've embedded the entire record for your perusal below, which we certainly recommend to your attention.



>> Paul Simon once wrote "my life is made of patterns that can scarcely be controlled." One careening cycle that this reviewer has observed in his brief time was the rise of and retreat from the popular consciousness of lean, taut, and danceable post-punk. Indeed, the first four years of the present millennium were a glorious time for that particular aesthetic, until over-exposure eventually got the best of the movement and it fell from fashion. Absence, of course, can make the heart grow fonder, and so we were pleased to recently happen upon Household, whose preview single "A New Leaf" serves not only as a nice taste of their upcoming, six-song EP -- titled Elaines and due on Dull Knife Records -- but also as a pleasant reminder of the finer points of upbeat indie. In the wake of the Brooklyn combo's 2011 debut full-length Items, the band continues to nip and tuck at their core sound. "A New Leaf" presents pared-down instrumentation, resulting in a complete excision of excess notes or drum beats. And yes, while the rigid guitar lines and Wire-styled strums of the chorus recall the clean Telecasters of the kinetic punk of yore, or even a peppier Young Marble Giants, Household still manages to imprint their own identity on its music. Much of the vocals, dry production, and DIY slinkiness have more in common with many of the earnest female-led outfits within the Pacific Northwest scene, like Grass Widow, Chastity Belt and myriad other basement dwellers and K Records signatories. Taken in sum, the complete package inspires the need to bob the head and shake the hips a bit, and provides a refreshing twist to a familiar sound. Elaines was originally slated for release Nov. 5, but a manufacturing error has delayed the release of the vinyl until Nov. 30. Pre-order the EP from Dull Knife right here, and stream "A New Leaf" via the Bandcamp embed below. -- Edward Charlton

Review: Radiator Hospital | Something Wild

It seems like only yesterday we were praising the merits of the latest and greatest from the white-hot Philadelphia underground, but even so it didn't take us long to turn up something new from the musically fertile City of Brotherly Love, something that just may be the best the metropolis has to offer this year, Radiator Hospital's terrific LP Something Wild.

Indie pop concern Radiator Hospital is the brainchild of Philly-based singer/songwriter Sam Cook-Parrott. While Something Wild features a fully fleshed-out, four-piece band including Swearin' drummer Jeff Bolt on the skins, Mr. Cook-Parrott has been releasing singles and EPs with different collaborators for a few years under the Radiator Hospital moniker. Incidentally, Mr. Bolt isn't the only connection between Radiator Hospital and Swearin’: the two acts also share a living space. That’s right, folks, the house that brought you Swearin', Waxahatchee and the Crutchfields twins' mutual side project Great Thunder is also home to yet one more killer indie rock act. Indeed, Something Wild was even recorded in said house. And while a new record from Swearin' could be out this fall, any new entries in the realm of indie pop in 2013 will have to go a very great distance to surpass the brilliance of Something Wild.

Breathlessly brief at under a half hour, Something Wild still captivates and satisfies in a way few other records have this year. That's largely because it's so dynamic. The long-player, which touts 13 tracks, boasts an impressive stylistic breadth and depth offering almost equal parts revved-up pop-punk, unguarded folk and jangly downer-pop. Indeed, at times individual songs can sound like the product of different groups. But what's best about Something Wild, however, is that it never feels the least bit empty. Cook-Parrott jettisons all unnecessary excess, and occasionally even conventional song structures, to focus more intently on crafting short and sweet bursts of sugary pop goodness. Even in the single rare instance that the band draws things out over three minutes during the acoustic strummer "Big Cloud," the subdued tune more than gets by on the raw immediacy of pretty, layered vocal harmonies and rootsy instrumentation.

Cook-Parrott is just as comfortable nasally waxing poetic over a brittle and crudely recorded acoustic guitar as he is belting out love-lorn narratives above over-driven guitars and pounding drums. Needless to say he's just as effective at conveying emotion either way. It should come as no surprise then that Something Wild's greatest track, "Your Boyfriend," reaches its emotional climax when Cook-Parrott and co. shift from one dynamic extreme to the other. Kudos to any band that can turn real emotional pain into catchy summer jams as well as these guys do. With no shortage of electrifying tunes, from the belter "Our Song" (and its fist-banging chorus "You won't get off that easy, no don't say you love me, when you know you don't") to the, uh, other belter "Ghost Story," Radiator Hospital delivers the goods in as impressive a fashion as we've heard all year. Something Wild is due July 15 on LP from Salinas Records and pre-orders are being taken right here. The record is also available as a free download from Bandcamp (click through the embed below), so indie rock fans have no excuse not to treat themselves to Something Wild. -- Dillon Riley

Radiator Hospital: Bandcamp | Facebook | Internerds | Vimeo

Today's Hotness: Footnotes, Superman Revenge Squad

>> We were inspecting the pending live engagements of Philly-based emo heroes Everyone Everywhere when we stumbled upon their recommendation that fans might also dig a band called Footnotes. The Clementon, NJ-based duo -- whose members appear astonishingly young -- somehow concocts Kinsella-influenced guitar music from just a single guitar, drum kit and vocal. The songs are necessarily lo-fi a la Japandroids, and the rhythms go wobbly now and again, but the results are still impressive. Footnotes plans to release sometime this summer a new EP charmingly titled Summer Shit; the collection is currently being mastered, according to this recent Tumblr post. The pair completes a short strand of tour dates this evening in Watertown, CT -- a/k/a the hometown of our former housemate Franklin Trench -- playing with Merchant Ships, Prawn and The Guru. Summer Shit will likely be available in a limited physical edition, and Footnotes plans to sell the set -- recorded at Gradwell House in New Jersey, otherwise known as the studio run by some of the Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start guys -- digitally at Bandcamp and elsewhere. What is especially exciting is it appears Footnotes are giving away every single previous recording digitally right here. Here's a hot track from the 2009 collection Everything Last Year to get you started.

Footnotes -- "It Get's Better" -- Everything Last Year
[right click and save as]
[download all that Footnotes goodness right here]

>> Fret not, Ben Parker devotees. Despite apparent quiet, the Superman Revenge Squad fronter reports that the duo has completed work on the planned EP Dead Crow Blues, which is slated for release by Smalltown America date TBD. According to a MySpace bulletin posted here, the final track destined for the EP was finished two weeks ago and now the short set is being mixed. Parker has also begun playing guitar with a surprisingly ace new act called The Jonbarr Hinge, and has contributed one track, "De La Fonte," to the fledgling outfit led by Sam Pluck Feezal. At first blush we'd say that The Jonbarr Hinge is a bit reminiscent of early (i.e. awesome) Built To Spill; check out the new act's MySpace page here. We predict The Jonbarr Hinge will be signed to an indie label by the end of the summer.

Remarks: Varsity Drag, Grownup Noise, Winterpills

[Our exponentially increased work and parenting responsibilities have made it so we can no longer adhere to the rigid format we actually really, really like that we've developed for album and show reviews over the years. And so we are creating a new quasi-category for items we are simply titling Remarks. -- Ed.]

Friday night's wholly satisfying Varsity Drag show at the Middle East Up held some surprises. Not the least of which was the supporting act Grownup Noise, a bunch of locals we'd never heard of who were launching or celebrating the pending launch of a national tour. The band blends the voice of Richard Buckner, the cello work from Built To Spill and indie hooks filtered through a cracking pop sense, which for some reason made us think of Paul Simon. The fronter looked to us like former Junkmedia scribe Jonathan Donaldson, but now that we think about it we don't think we've ever seen Mr. Donaldson. Anyway, we were very impressed with Grownup Noise -- right up until they bafflingly (although ably) covered House Of Pain's "Jump Around." This ruffled our feathers a fair amount, and caused us to turn to compatriot Rock P. and remark "well, this certainly took a turn." Thankfully, Grownup Noise did two more numbers, as we'd hate to have our final thoughts on their excellent performance totally colored by the shlocky cover.

Varsity Drag stepped up and delivered a hot show as well, its first as top-liner on any of the stages at Cambridge's venerable Middle East. We've seen the trio numerous times, but fronter Ben Deily (you know, he was in that band...) and cohort continue to have aces up their six sleeves. This night it was an electrifying, slightly stripped down cover of The Cure's triumphant guitar anthem "Push," a highlight of the damn-near-perfect 1985 long player The Head On The Door. The already-lean Varsity Drag didn't have enough hands to recreate the full instrumental bombast of the track, but the trio gave "Push" a rough edge that made a keen match for the song's desperate tone. The Drag are prepping a long-awaited second set of new material, and we can't help but get the sense that Friday's performance put a lot of wind in their sails. Varsity Drag were celebrating the release of a live set Rock N' Roll Is Such A Hassle -- Live In Europe, which is out now on Boss Tunage in the UK and which domestic fans can purchase digitally right here. A lot of bands have taken on The Cure's "Push" over the years; our favorite might be this rendition by the late, great Garden Variety.

Garden Variety -- "Push" -- Step On A Crack Volume 2 comp (Go-Kart Records)
[right click and save as]
buy Garden Variety records from MusicStack.com right here
buy Garden Variety music from EMusic right here

Northampton, Mass.'s Winterpills held the second slot, the first we witnessed upon making the scene. The band's self-titled debut from 2005 holds several songs that we enjoy, but we've never been fully into the band's lighter, folksier fare. Friday's performance didn't change that, but we were pleased to hear the quintet -- which struggled with a recalcitrant keyboard and ended up re-working its set -- play the up-tempo strummer "Laughing." Our hopes of hearing "Threshing Machine" were not met, but regardless Winterpills are charming on stage and we still enjoy their peppier stuff. -- Jay Breitling

YouTube Rodeo: Built To Spill's "You Were Right"

[Uploader: CoolLikeMiles] Shaky camera work, annihilatingly great track. We logged a lot of hours in a cubicle in early '99 listening to Built To Spill's fourth set Keep It Like A Secret. And while the kids all swooned then for "Carry The Zero" and "Time Trap," it was this immensely bitter anthem -- which appropriates memorable lyrics from Dylan, Hendrix, The Stones and others -- that fueled our actually-pretty-contented-in-retrospect general discontent for many months that year prior to our move to Boston. In late September of 2008 we benefitted from KoomDogg's misfortune and were able to avail ourselves of his second-row, center seat for Built To Spill, Dinosaur Jr. and Meat Puppets [review here]. "You Were Right," sadly, was not performed. The video above was shot at Lancaster, PA's Chameleon Club on July 3, 2007, and is well worth looking at.

That Was The Show That Was: Built To Spill, Dinosaur Jr, Meat Puppets

We last saw veteran indie rockers Built To Spill so very long ago that we couldn't recall the year and our review of it no longer exists. A search of the Googles reveals that the show was Sept. 18, 2001. Which seems like an odd night to see a show, as it was but a week after Sept. 11. Weren't we all hunkered down in bomb shelters back then? We guess not. We recall the show as being along the lines of the press we've seen for the current tour: nice, but somewhat uninspired. Some lame fan called out for "Free Bird" toward the end of the set that night, and Built To Spill obliged, which was slightly bad-ass. But the emotional high point of the show was the all-too-brief encore, when fronter Doug Martsch returned to the stage alone with an electric guitar and delivered a haunting solo rendition of The Smiths' "This Night Has Opened My Eyes." Another search of the Interwebs reveals this was a favorite of Mr. Martsch's around that time, because he was playing it a lot; here's a video of him playing an acoustic version.

Built To Spill was selected to perform its (in our opinion, relatively bloated) third record Perfect From Now On at last week's All Tomorrow's Parties festival in New York, and Martsch and band tacked on a strand of additional performances, of which last night's show at Boston's Orpheum was one. We've expressed numerous times that we prefer Built To Spill's earlier indie pop material, specifically the band's sophomore set There's Nothing Wrong With Love. That record is love-struck, wide-eyed and optimistic, while Perfect From Now On is heartbroken, darker and bummed-out. Despite its slower pace, its fewer emotional punches are potent, occasionally devastating, and are punctuated by some of Mr. Martsch's best lyrical hooks. We get goosebumps each time we hear the lines "I'm gonna be perfect from now on / I'm gonna be perfect starting now" (from "Randy Described Eternity") and "there's a mean bone in my body / it's connected to the problems that I won't take for an answer" or "let you go to sleep / feeling bad as me" (from "I Would Hurt A Fly"). Still, that Perfect From Now On has steadily developed a cult following, as evidenced by the skinny, t-shirted and flailingly enrapt in attendance last night, is curious to us. Even so, it is our second favorite of the band's records, and we are certainly happy that Martsch -- he formerly of the underrated act Treepeople -- continues to cultivate a young, fervent fan base.

Which brings us to last night. Contrary to the press mentioned supra, we thought the show was fairly gripping -- at least when Martsch was at the microphone. He sings like an agitated Muppet and sweats like an out-of-shape jogger. When delivering lyrics, he fully extends his torso upward and his head tilts off the top of his neck to the right and left as he sings. However, Built To Spill as a band, or at least in this configuration (a sextet anchored by exceptional drummer Scott Plouf, formerly of The Spinanes) exhibits zero stage rapport. The group -- save for Martsch -- largely looked to Plouf for cues, and generally comported itself as if it were a group of session players unfamiliar to one another. For his part, Martsch offered no stage banter and was content to quietly tune his guitar between tunes. That said, there was certainly passion in last night's performance, particularly in the two encores that followed the faithful recitation of Perfect From Now On. Directly on the heels of the album closer "Untrustable Part 2 (About Someone Else)," the band catapulted into a searing, dynamic version of "Going Against Your Mind," the standout cut from 2006's You In Reverse [review here]. We were thrilled that the final song was "Car," from There's Nothing Wrong With Love, which closed out the evening on an upbeat note.

Schedule conflicts have conspired to keep us from seeing Dinosaur Jr., one of our five favorite bands, since a wonderful in-store set in Cambridge in June 2007 [review here]. The trio turned in a thrilling, hits-packed performance last night, and we were as surprised as anyone to end up with one of drummer Murph's sticks when he lobbed it into the crowd at the close of their alloted time. Had instinct not kicked in, we're fairly certain the stick would have lodged itself in our left eye. We're building up something of a collection of band memorabilia, as we ended up with one of Lou's bass picks after it was flicked into the audience at the in-store [see our review of the show for a scan]. Anyway, Dinosaur Jr. last night played a loud and exciting set. It seemed to take J a bit of time to build up a head of steam as far as his soloing went, but by the time the band played "Pick Me Up" from last year's excellent collection Beyond [review here], the notes started coming rapidly and furiously. As best as we can recall, the band began with "Sludgefeast," "Been There All The Time" and "Back To Your Heart." The set closed with "Mountain Man," and the encore was "Just Like Heaven." In between Dinosaur played "The Wagon," "Freak Scene," "Out There," "Feel The Pain" and the aforementioned "Pick Me Up." It was awesome.

Doors last night were scheduled to open at 7:30 so we figured we had at least until 8PM before The Meat Puppets took the stage. We figured wrong. By the time we got seated the band had already played a few numbers. Luckily, as we got settled in our awesome second-row, center seat [thanks to KoomDogg] The Meat Puppets kicked in to "Up On The Sun," our favorite song of the band's. The trio, fronted by Chris and Curt Kirkwood, strung together a handful of tunes with echoey space jams, hitting a number of career highlights along the way. We shot a number of typically mediocre pictures of the show last night and you can view the entire set right here. If you are thirsting for audio, we recommend checking in with NYCTaper, who recorded the show the preceding night. Built To Spill's set is posted here; Dinosaur Jr.'s set is posted right here. Built To Spill heads to Europe Oct. 1 for five weeks of tour dates, and you can check out the entire itinerary at the band's MySpace casa right here. Here are a couple Dinosaur Jr. MP3s for readers who actually slogged all the way through.

Dinosaur Jr. -- "Freak Scene" -- Bug
Dinosaur Jr. -- "Pick Me Up (Live)" -- Urban Outfitters In-Store, June 11, 2007
[live recording courtesy of Bradley's Almanac]
[right click and save as]
[buy Dinosaur Jr. records from Newbury Comics right here]

YouTube Rodeo: Dinosaur Jr.'s "Puke And Cry" Live

A complete face-melter of a performance. We had forgotten all about the HBO show "Reverb." Not that we ever saw it broadcast, but the head WMG press guy we used to deal with back in the day was also the producer of the show. Sent us a VHS of a Built To Spill performance, he did, if memory serves. That's probably around the house somewheres. Anyway, we spent most of Wednesday evening watching Ride and Stone Roses clips, but somehow ended up back looking for Dinosaur Jr. clips from the Green Mind era. We were not disappointed. We'll be seeing Built To Spill and Dinosaur Jr. with Meat Puppets here in Boston next month. Yay.

Today's Hotness: Paper Cranes, Meneguar, Psapp

>> [Photo: The author, as shot by Watson, Cracow, 1997] In the 10 seconds it took us to rise from bed this morning and place ourselves under the shower head, some wiseguy on morning gabber "The Today Show" said the word "eastern;" we don't know if he was saying "Eastern Europe" or "Middle Eastern" or what. But what we do know is that immediately this Paper Cranes jam started playing in our head, and has been there most of the day. Right now we are attempting to exorcise it by listening to the track.

We can't recall where how this MP3 made its way to us, although there is metadata in the file indicating it must have come from AreYouFamiliar.Blogspot.com, which we don't recall ever reading and which hasn't posted an update since 2006. The mystery remains. As best we can tell the band is the same one you can find at this MySpace dojo, although we are not certain. If indeed it is them, The Paper Cranes' current material is decidedly more pop, less rough around the edges and spiky. But certainly worth a listen. But this one below is the jam, at least for frigid winter days, which of course is as far from the weather we have in Boston right now as it could get.

Paper Cranes -- "January In Eastern Europe" -- Demo 2005
[right click and save as]
[buy Paper Cranes records from the band here]

>> Indie punk geniuses Meneguar and freakier/jammier sister act Woods (it's not really a side project, it is really its own thing) have just disclosed some European tour dates that you can view here. None of the dates is in the UK, so we imagine somewhere right about now certain dudes in Johnny Foreigner are cursing their busy touring schedule and likely attendant inability to catch the tour as it wends its way from The Netherlands to the Czech Republic. Remember how awesome Meneguar's sophomore full length Strangers In Our House was? No? Here's a reminder.

Meneguar -- "Paint You" -- Strangers In Our House
[right click and save as]
[buy Meneguar records from Troubleman Unlimited right here]

>> Funny how we just mentioned electrotweesters Psapp the other day during our ramblings about the July Muxtape, and now today comes news that the British duo will be releasing a new record in October. The set, Psapp's third, is called The Camel's Back, and it will be out in the U.K. Oct. 27 and in the States the following week. Domino reissued the band's debut Tiger, My Friend, last November. It has the track "Curuncula" on it, which is divine, and so you should have that record. No word on which label will issue The Camel's Back, but it would not surprise us if it is Domino. Surprised we will not be. So there.

>> Clicky Clicky faves Mobius Band play a free hometown show this Sunday at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. The notable trio is slated to appear around 9PM at what is being billed as a Breeders afterparty. So presumably The Breeders are performing thereabouts that afternoon, perhaps at one of those free outdoor swimming pool dealies? Where's our New York correspondent when we need him/her/it. Mobius Band's sophomore set Heaven was issued last year and was one of our favorite records of 2007. Believe it or not, despite the band tirelessly touring Europe and the UK during the last year, Heaven has yet to be released in the UK. This will allegedly happen "soon." Ahh, soon. Anyway, remember this jam?

Mobius Band -- "Hallie" -- Heaven
[right click and save as]
[buy Mobius Band records from Misra here]

>> At least one reader out there likes to tease us about our affinity for the various bands of Ben Parker, including Superman Revenge Squad and the mighty Nosferatu D2. So for him, here is a link to a blog post from Mr. Parker indicating a Nosferatu D2 reunion of sorts is planned for a gig to take place on Parker's birthday. A few more details here.

>> We would have loved to hear Modest Mouse cover almost the entirety of Built To Spill's unparalleled There's Nothing Wrong With Love. Alas.

Today's Hotness: Zookeeper, Film School, Slumberland Records

>> Longtime readers may recall this post from November expressing surprise at encountering YouTube footage of excellent second-wave emo juggernaut Mineral. The band's 1996 release The Power Of Failing received much play in our old silver Volvo in our final year of undergraduate study. We were equally surprised to get an email reporting that former Mineral (and Gloria Record) fronter Chris Simpson has returned to the world of music after a bit of a hiatus with a new and surprisingly rootsier project called Zookeeper. We've got links to two MP3s below, but make certain you to hit this album stream and listen to the track "Delivery Room," which is our favorite cut on the album. Simspon's ear for a big melodies clearly weathered the hiatus well, and we have to say that the one thing about Mineral's recordings that didn't work for us was all the treble: Zookeeper's broader instrumentation softens the over-all assault. It is a bit jarring to hear Simpson's voice paired with shuffling acoustic guitars and juke-joint organ, but the music is fantastic. Zookeeper's self-titled EP was released last year; a full-length platter Becoming All Things is expected to be released this fall. In a MySpace post last year Simpson stated that he had written and recorded about 40 tracks, so we can likely expect a lot more to come. For those of you itching for some of that old Mineral video footage, here is the band doing the awesome cut "Parking Lot," and Crank! has Mineral music posted here.

Zookeeper -- "I Live In The Mess You Are" -- Zookeeper EP
Zookeeper -- "Tax Collector" -- Zookeeper EP
[right click and save as / buy the Zookeeper EP here]

>> We just got wind of the news that San Francisco-based nu-gaze quintet Film School, which made a big splash a year or two back for being on of the first bands to have the theft of their gear widely written about in the blogosphere (that was weird), have completed a new record. The set is titled Hideout and it is to be released on Beggars Banquet Sept. 11. Hideout was mixed by Phil Ek, who you may recall worked on all the good Built To Spill records. Film School recently added a different rhythm section and a new guitarist, and it will be interesting to hear whether that makes much of a difference. Film School's eponymous full-length debut was released by Beggars last year; it has several standout tracks including "Breet" and "Garrison" that we enjoy listening to with our ears.

>> Speaking of excellent dreampop type stuff, digital music service Rhapsody recently added some of our favorite recordings to its catalog by licensing a bunch of Slumberland Records releases. Chief among these are Rocketship's flawless and crucial 1996 set A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness, which we can and have listened to on repeat for heroic lengths of time. It's that good. Another one of our favorites is Lorelei's stirring Asleep EP and Black Tambourine's discography. All of the Rocketship record is classic, and make a point to listen to "The Sky Is Falling" from the Asleep EP. And don't forget that Slumberland offers a generous amount of MP3s through its recently revamped web site. Below are a few of our all-time favorites. We remember the chills we got when we heard this first one, in Brookhouser's van. And we clearly remember hearing the second one on WPRB on the way to a gig at Princeton's Terrace Club, and thinking it was so good we may as well just stop making music. And eventually, about 10 years later, we did.

Velocity Girl -- "My Forgotten Favorite" -- DRYL 10 7" (out of print)
Lilys -- "Claire Hates Me" -- In The Presence Of Nothing (out of print, stop at nothing to acquire)
Boyracer -- "The Useless Romantic" -- More Songs About Frustration And Self Hate (out of print)
[right click and save as]

Today's Hotness: Mendoza Line, Smashing Pumpkins, Built To Spill

>> And we're back. We're so far behind that we're not sure where to begin. Let's just set 'em up and knock 'em down shall we? In addition to this round-up, keep your eyes peeled in the coming days for track reviews for The Mendoza Line (in the meantime, check out the mother lode of information about the tumultuous state of the band -- yikes! -- in the comments to Frank's Chromewaves post today) and Sleeping In The Aviary as well as our show review of the Fields/Blonde Redhead gig Wednesday night.

>> NME reports here that Smashing Pumpkins 3.0 (or is it 4.0? There was someone before Auf Der Mar but after D'Arcy, wasn't there? The '90s all start to blend together after a while) will include bassist Ginger Reyes and guitarist Jeff Schroeder. We don't know either of them by name, but Schroeder plays with Lassie Foundation, who we've heard good things about from our guy at Rhapsody. Anyway, NME cites reports in the Chicago Trib and MTV News while also reporting that nothing is confirmed by anybody. Smashing Pumpkins will release the (attempted comeback) record Zeitgeist July 7. And if it is anywhere near as good as Gish we'll eat one of our many hats.

>> Pantsfork reports here that three Built To Spill records will get reissued on vinyl in limited editions of 2,000. Unfortunately, none of these records is the band's high water mark and sophomore set There's Nothing Wrong With Love. Instead, Built To Spill's major label releases Perfect From Now On, Keep It Like A Secret and You In Reverse get the nod. The trio will be released by Warner Brothers as double LPs. The band will play at Boston's Avalon nightclub, assuming that the club isn't shut down for the renovation and remodeling of the property described in this Boston Globe article.

>> Quick ones: Ride's not reforming; our senior year we had Sun Ra Arkestra and Cub; Qui, the trio newly expanded to include David Yow, actually signed to Ipecac; the Operation Ivy reissue we've mentioned here and here previously is delayed again, this time until an unspecified date in the fall; the forthcoming Photon Band release has also been delayed [scroll down to comments], unfortunately for an indefinite period of time; Last.FM is adding videos to its music and social networking service; a preview of the forthcoming Dinosaur Jr. DVD and clips of J Mascis playing live at VPRO in Holland.