Yo La Tengo are back -- after a three-year hiatus from their brilliant 2006 return to form I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass -- with a new mp3 from an album coming out this fall (September 8, to be exact) and a corresponding tour. The Hoboken trio are calling the album Popular Songs and I expect it to be popular with this blog, at least, which raved about their previous album for months. Oh, and in case you hadn't heard it, the members of the band spent the early months of the year on a side project called Condo Fucks, whose cover album Fuckbook (a play on their 1990s Yo La Tengo cover album Fakebook, not the ubiquitous Facebook), was released on Matador this spring. One of the tracks is also below.
Matador's other classic indie rock band from the 1980s, Sonic Youth, are releasing their - I don't know, 25th? - album today, The Eternal. I have to admit that my enthusiasm over new Sonic Youth albums waned sometime after the disappointing release of Washing Machine, circa 1995, but each of their many subsequent releases usually has a hidden gem or two (typically a Thurston penned track) and 2006's Rather Ripped was rather great. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found much to like about The Eternal overall, but here's one of the hidden gems.
Magnolia Electric Co. have released a 7" of four songs about the death of touring bassist Evan Farrell, 33, who died in a house fire last year. The EP, available on eMusic and other sites, is titled It's Made Me Cry, and proceeds from the release go to the Evan Farrell Memorial Fund. Check it out on eMusic -- the songs are really short, but two of them in particular ("It's Made Me Cry" and "Protection Spell" are wonderful) and they help out Evan's wife and his two young sons. The following track is the first mp3 from the new full length from Magnolia, titled Josephine, and due July 21st on Secretly Canadian Records.
The Radio Dept. are returning for their first full album in years, Clinging to a Dream, due later this year from Labrador Records. You may remember this Swedish pop band from last year's EP Freddie and the Trojan Horse or from 2006's Pet Grief, and they are releasing an EP of four songs called David on June 24th. The single "David" is below.
- Download The Radio Dept. - "David".mp3
- Download The Radio Dept. - "Freddie and the Trojan Horse".mp3
- Download The Radio Dept. - "The Worst Taste in Music (Extended)".mp3
- Artist website
The Dirty Projectors latest album Bitte Orca is releasing today on Domino Records. They've been getting a lot of play on Sirius in recent months and I've liked what I've heard of the new record. It's available today.
Rock Plaza Central have a new album coming out next Tuesday, titled At the Moment of Our Most Needing. They have a sound that I can only describe as unique, which is certainly not a bad thing in music today. Sort of a rockabilly, Americana, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, twangy Canadian sound. From Ontario. I really love the songs of their first album Are We Not Horses? so I hope this one approaches that quality.
Comments