Raindeer - “Dark Place” “Dark Place” starts out swooning, and then just gets swoonier from there on out, rolling out in gentle waves of harmony and synthetic texture over a stiff metronomic beat. The singer promises to someday take you to their dark place, but it doesn’t sound like such a scary thing — it comes out sounding romantic, sweet, generous, intimate. How bad could that dark place be when the song sounds so pretty, gentle, and thoughtful? It all feels a bit tentative, but in a hopeful way: He wants that trust to be earned, because love is most true when you can open up and reveal yourself and all your flaws and still feel accepted for who you are.

Get it for free from Raindeer’s Bandcamp site.

Pop & Hiss interviews Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo about the band's new album, Hurley.

You wrote a song with Ryan Adams, another iconoclastic master of the pop hook, for this record. What was it like collaborating with him?

It was super fun working with Ryan. He has a lot of crazy energy and enthusiasm. I showed him a few ideas I had, and he said, "Great, let's go in the studio and jam it out right now." So I got on the drums and he got on the guitar, and we just jammed out the ideas for half an hour. And at the end of that, we pretty much had the song that you hear on the record.

The Boston Globe interviews Rob Sheffield about his new book, Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut.

The Boston Herald profiles singer-songwriter Tracy Bonham.

Clash profiles Au Revoir Simone.

The Free Music Archive now shares 23,762 free and legal mp3s from a variety of genres for streaming and/or downloading.

As part of the A.V. Club's Undercover series, the Swell Season covers Neutral Milk Hotel's "Two Headed Boy."

The National visit The Current studio for an interview and live performance.

Denny RenshawWhen Sufjan Stevens is about to kick off a massive North American tour that makes those intimate club dates last year seem even more intimate and while Stevens and his merry troupe will be welcomed with open arms at all of them, there is the question of exactly why he’s doing it. Last year at least, there were the BQE multimedia project and Run Rabbit Run rework to justify a tour – even though neither of those records was represented in the shows – but there’s been no official word about a follow-up to 2004′s Illinois. Perhaps this is their way of hinting that the album that The National’s Bryce Dessner told Exclaim that Stevens was recording this Summer is done and ready for release in mid-October? If that’s the case, then they’re clearly eschewing the traditional long lead time and will probably spring the official release of the album with short notice, thereby driving the indie-net into a tizzy and ensuring that people mispronounce “Sufjan” well into the Winter.

MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “The Henney Buggy Band”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “The Man Of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts”
MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Casimir Pulaski Day”

Other announcements of note… Amusement Parks On Fire – who were held up as the second coming of My Bloody Valentine a few years back but turned out to just be pretty good if not especially original shoegaze disciples – will release their third album Road Eyes on October 5 and be accompanying The Boxer Rebellion on their North American tour.

Video: Amusement Parks On Fire – “Venus In Cancer”

Rae Spoon has booked a cross-Canada tour in support of his new record Love Is A Hunter which is due out on August 17. Exclaim has the dates.

MP3: Rae Spoon – “You Can Dance”
Video: Rae Spoon – “Love Is A Hunter”

Sarah Harmer is currently touring in support of her new record Oh Little Fire. The Edmonton Journal and Vancouver Sun have interviews.

Video: Sarah Harmer – “Captive”