Oxford Collapse call it quits, perform 2 farewell shows

Sonic Youth
Spike Press, 2009

Above: Irony! (i.e. the 2 dudes are “Girls”)

I’m not sure I noticed before that the new album (titled Album) from San Francisco’s Girls (makers of blog-favorite track “Hellhole Ratrace”) was coming out as a sort of joint effort between True Panther and Matador. But at any rate, the 12-track Album is due out on 9/22, and will be preceded by a limited-edition (of course) 10″ for “Hellhole Ratrace” (the video for which you can watch right here).

This brand-new collection of Royal City rarities is out this week courtesy of the fine folks at Asthmatic Kitty. The revered Toronto-by-way-of-Guelph band was formed in 1999 by Jim Guthrie, during which time they released 3 fine full-length albums and collaborated with the likes of the Arcade Fire, Feist, Final Fantasy, Sufjan Stevens, Gentleman Reg, and Bob Wiseman. AK’s new release collects all sorts of odds and sods from the band, including covers of the Strokes (“Is This It?”) and Iggy Pop (“Here Comes Success”).

And MBV has put together a very special giveaway in honor of this album’s release– go submit your name!

The Vitamin String Quartet “The Bleeding Heart Show” I’ve heard plenty of Vitamin Records’ string arrangements of well-known songs, and the best of them tend to bring out something in the melody of the piece that was always there, but not quite so evident in the original recording. In the case of this New Pornographers song, the quartet pushes much further into heart string-tugging melancholy than Carl Newman and company, and the result comes off like a sad love theme from some corny movie. That’s not a bad thing, or at least, it’s not if you can appreciate that sort of thing, or have some fun imagining extremely overwrought dramatic scenes that it could accompany.

Buy it from Amazon.

When I heard that Asthmatic Kitty was releasing a new collection of rarities by Royal City (a band that means a lot to me), I knew I wanted to do something special for it here at MBV. So I got together with Lisa Moran and Tyler Clarke Burke, the founders of the late great Three Gut Records (Royal City’s old home). Lisa got me all of Tyler’s original artwork for all of Royal City’s original releases– 2000′s At Rush Hour The Cars, 2001′s Alone At The Microphone, and 2004′s Little Heart’s Ease, and from this original artwork, I crafted a series of prints.

We’ve done a very special limited-edition pressing of these prints: 30 hand-numbered sets of 3. They are giclee prints measuring 6½in. x 6½in., archival inks on 310gsm German Etching stock. The majority of these sets have been given to the band and the label– but (of course) we also want to give some to you!

We’re going to give away one of these sets here at MBV, and all you need to do for a chance to win is to enter your email below. Go for it.

CONTEST ENDED. THANKS FOR PLAYING!

Want to double, or even triple your chance to win? Not a problem– MBV’s Canadian contingent, Chromewaves and Said The Gramophone will also both have a set up for grabs, so be sure to enter their giveaways too.

And of course, go buy the self-titled Royal City collection when it’s released tomorrow!

Royal City – “Bad Luck”(Original version; new version appears on the new album)

Yesterday's updates to the 2009 Bonnaroo music festival live show downloads page include bittorrent downloads of lossless shows by David Byrne, Grace Potter, Ilo and the Coral Reefer Allstars (with Jimmy Buffett), Andrew Bird, Toubab Krewe, Erykah Badu, Galactic, and Phish.

Out magazine interviews Bat for Lashes' Natasha Khan. (via)

NPR's Weekend Edition also profiles the band.

The Skinny wraps up its interview series with Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis.

Decider Denver/Boulder interviews Michael Benjamin Lerner of Telekinesis.

D: You've said in other interviews that you're a big Destroyer fan. Are the characters like Henrietta in "Rust" little nods to the characters in Dan Bejar's songs?

MBL: No, Henrietta is a real person that I had the hugest crush on in Liverpool. I think Bejar's writing about things that come through his head. I don't know what he's talking about most of the time, but I really try to figure it out, and that's what's cool about his music. That's the opposite of what we do, I think, because Telekinesis is really straightforward and simple, with lyrics about traveling and love. Something like Destroyer is really whimsical and off the wall, which is something that I would like be able to do. But it's tough to write about something that isn't really dear to you, at least for me. But I think that's because I wear my emotions on my sleeve.

PopMatters and Express Night Out review the new album by Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers, Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs).