Dinosaur Jr – “I Want You To Know” From Farm, out 6/23 on Jagjaguwar.

Phoenix, Canadian Tour
Rob Petrullo, 2009

The L Magazine lists 8 NYC bands you need to hear in 2009.

PBS's MediaShift blog lists 7 ways bands' websites can avoid making big SEO mistakes.

Album Liner Notes transcribes album's liner notes into text. Check out The Fine Print, the site's blog.

Drowned in Sound interviews The Field's Axel Willner.

The Hipster Handbook lists hipster websites.

Exclaim! interviews Eugene Kelly of the Vaselines.

MusicRadar interview Art Brut guitarist Jasper Future about the band's new album, Art Brut vs. Satan.

On sale at Amazon MP3: Grouper's 12-track Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill.

Magic Arm – “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House” A cover of the LCD Soundsystem “hit,” from Magic Arm‘s upcoming first full-length, Make Lists, Do Something, of which Edward Droste said,

“It’s really lovely ”

The album’s due out 5/18 from UK label Switchflicker.

MySpaceIf I were a more paranoid person, I’d say that Norway’s Ida Maria was deliberately avoiding me. Back in March, she was a no-show for both her official SxSW showcases showcases and at almost the same time, she cut her stint as opener for Glasvegas to just a handful of dates, dropping off the tour just a couple shows before she’d have played Toronto. Maddening, right?

Getting a handle on her debut album Fortress ‘Round My Heart really isn’t any simpler. It was originally released in the UK in the Summer of 2008 on Sony and though a goodly amount of buzz was generated, the relationship between artist and label didn’t work out and she was cut loose. The record was re-released in February of this year independently with rejigged track listing and artwork and it was expected this indie version would be the one to trickle over to North America but it was instead picked up by Mercury Records and pushed back until April, when it came out over here with yet another track listing and different cover art.

It’s ironic that things should be so complicated around Ms Borli Sivertsen, because what she does is about as simple as it gets. Raw, irresistible guitar-rock with whiffs of garage and bubblegum, simultaneously anchored and buoyed by Sivertsen’s rough and giddy vocals. “I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked” might seem like a gimmicky tune with limited shelf life, but has hooks that go far beyond the titillating title. The rest of the album barrels along with tales of booze and bawdiness, all recounted with reckless glee only pausing for breath a couple of times. It has remarkably high re-play value, helped along by the fact that the whole thing clocks in at barely 32 minutes and offering a super sugar buzz without being saccharine-sweet.

Video: Ida Maria - “I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked”
Video: Ida Maria - “Oh My God”
Video: Ida Maria - “Stella”
MySpace: Ida Maria

This week also marks the North American release of A Camp’s second album, the strangely polarizing Colonia. Some really like it, some really dislike it. I opted for “sorta like” when I reviewed it back in February. There’s interviews with head Camp counselor Nina Persson at The Glaswegian, State, Prefix and Birmingham Mail while Black Book asks her about her favourite NYC hangouts. A Camp are at the Mod Club on June 1 and the album is streaming this week at Spinner.

MP3: A Camp - “Stronger Than Jesus” (Harlem session)
Video: A Camp - “Stronger Than Jesus”
Stream: A Camp / Colonia

There’s a couple new videos from little blonde English girls with debut albums coming out soon. Little Boots’ Hands is out June 9, Polly Scattergood’s debut self-title gets a North American release on May 19.

Video: Little Boots - “New In Town”
Video: Polly Scattergood - “Please Don’t Touch”

The Sun quotes Graham Coxon as saying that the Blur reunion should cover all the band’s material - even the stuff he wasn’t a part of.

Interview talks to Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie.

Clash talks to Super Furry Animals drummer Dafydd Ieuan, Wales Online to frontman Gruff Rhys.

In this new Listen@MBV entry, we give you the synthtastic sounds of Edmonton’s Shout Out Out Out Out. Reintegration Time is out next Tuesday (5/5), and their show at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC this Friday marks the start of a big chunk of US dates on their current tour.