The Hold Steady's Craig Finn talks to Spinner about his early love for hardcore music.

As part of the A.V. Club's Undercover series, Cymbals Eat Guitars cover Superchunk's "Detroit Has a Skyline."

The Drums talk to Clash about their plans for their second album.

Matthew Dear talks to Pitchfork about the music he's loved over the years.

PopMatters interviews composer Olafur Arnalds.

NPR is streaming S. Carey's new album, All We Grow (out August 24th).

Frank YangI don’t really maintain any sort of live music “bucket list” – I find the very notion a bit creepy – but there are bands whom I’ve long wanted to see but never gotten the opportunity for whatever reason. Near the top of the list are New York’s Versus, whom I discovered just after they finished promoting their last record Hurrah, back in 2000. Of course, at the time I didn’t know that they’d basically be going on a decade-long hiatus after frontman Richard Baluyut moved to San Francisco. That they weren’t going to be coming around any time soon became clear as every member began rolling out their own projects and aside from very occasional one-off gigs, Versus remained dormant.

But a move back to the east coast by Baluyut took the band out of mothballs and though the band is down to a trio, their new record On The Ones And Threes sounds like almost no time at all had passed between it and Hurrah. It’s still split between guitar-driven ragers and more thoughtful pieces, marked with Baluyut and Fontaine Toups’ distinctive vocals both together and apart and though still quintessentially ’90s college rock in spirit, doesn’t feel out of time or fashion in 2010. It’s a good record and perhaps more importantly, an excuse to tour again for the first time in a decade...

Photos: Versus, Soft Copy @ Lee’s Palace – August 13, 2010
MP3: Versus – “Invincible Hero”
MP3: Versus – “Deseret”
STREAM: On The Ones And Threes in its entirety via Listen@MBV

The Village Voice interviews Dean Wareham of Dean & Britta about the Warhol 13 Most Beautiful project and revisiting the Galaxie 500 ouvre on their upcoming Fall tour.

Seattle Weekly and Spinner interview Craig Finn of The Hold Steady.

Sharon Van Etten previews a couple of songs from Epic for NPR’s World Cafe. The new record is out October 5.

Billboard talks to Interpol about their return to the indies for self-titled album number four, out September 7.

Filter thinks you should already know The Magnetic Fields.

Billboard profiles Ra Ra Riot as they prepare for the of their sophomore effort The Orchard, which isn’t out till next Tuesday but is now streaming in whole at NPR.

Video: Ra Ra Riot – “Boy” (US only)
Stream: Ra Ra Riot / The Orchard

Paste and Filter have features on Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, who just released their new record Let It Sway, currently available to stream right here at MBV Music.

Stream: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin / Let It Sway

The Los Angeles Times has a feature on California’s Avi Buffalo.

MP3: Avi Buffalo – “Remember Last Time”
MP3: Avi Buffalo – “What’s In It For?”

Read Matthew’s new interview with music critic/author Rob Sheffield at Fluxblog

Sun Airway – “Oh Naoko” From Nocturne of the Exploded Crystal Chandelier, out 10/26 on Dead Oceans.

You can’t keep a good band down– not even by snidely lumping them in with that “Blog Rock ’06” movement. And so it is that Springfield, MO’s own Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin returns next week with their third full-length, Let It Sway. Produced by Death Cab’s Chris Walla and engineer Beau Sorenson, Let It Sway delivers a perfect balance of the band’s earlier bedroom sounds with a (power) pop sheen. It’s not too late in the summer to add a new summer album to your collection.

You can pick up the record here from Polyvinyl on the format of your choice (all come with a digital bonus EP), though I’d recommend the tasty mailorder-only peach vinyl version.

Listen above, enjoy, and do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. Happy Friday!