I caught up on this week’s Gossip Girl last night, and amid the mad teen dramz, I noticed a familiar, awesome power-pop song — The World Record’s “We’re No. 1.” (Dudes have now joined Division Day in the “relatively undiscovered L.A. indie rockers magically on The CW” club.) We’re still waiting for the group’s next album (seriously, fellas, decade’s ending over here) but I’ll take any excuse to bring this jam to your ears once again. (P.S. Thank you, Josh Schwartz, for bringing the goods early this season. P.P.S. Sorry for all the tween girl content lately, dudes. But go get the Paramore album, for real.)
* Midlake‘s Courage of Others won’t be out until February 2010, the band has stated in two recent interviews. (Same goes for The Radio Dept.’s Clinging To a Scheme.)
* Holopaw‘s awesomely titled Oh, Glory. Oh, Wilderness., which sounds pretty glorious indeed judging by the first single, is out Nov. 3. >> “The Art Teacher and the Little Stallion”: mp3
* Scrappy twee dudes Pants Yell! return with Received Pronunciation on Nov. 10. First single “Cold Hands” brings the jangle.
* Desolate folkies the Holy Sons make a Criminals Return on October 27.
* Rawkblog pals (and Rock Band favs) The Main Drag have finished production on their third full-length. Release details here as soon as I’ve got ‘em, but it’s going to be a weird one.
* Also due in 2010 now: Ted Leo‘s Matador debut (!), Vampire Weekend‘s Contra.
Via Dead Air Space, Thom Yorke and a cobbled-together all-star band (including members of Beck’s Record Club — Nigel, obviously, and drummer Jerry Waronker — maybe a long-awaited Thom/Beck collab could be in the works?) will play at the Orpheum on October 4 and 5. The Radiohead frontman’s announcement after the jump.
Did we know about this? Before Elf… before She & Him… there was 2002′s The New Guy, a certifiable lollercoaster of a movie starring the skinny dude from Road Trip and featuring a gratuitous Eliza Dushku bikini dance sequence. But more importantly (for blog geek-out purposes) it also spotlights a young, blonde Zooey Deschanel showing off her vocal chops in a couple of funky scenes. Somewhere in America, future husband Ben Gibbard was recording “Such Great Heights” and totally watching this movie.
After a pair of good-to-embarrassing albums and one extremely embarrassing home movie, the Flaming Lips are probably feeling some pressure to make a statement. Embryonic, a weird, wonderful two-disc epic, is certainly that. While not exactly a return to form for the band — it shares little with the widescreen pop of The Soft Bulletin — it is a much-needed swerve left. Over 18 tracks, the Oklahoma City lifers offer a surreal journey into the psychedelic mystic, rotating between cathartic and fuzzy (“Convinced of the Hex,” the totally awesome “Aquarius Sabotage”) and ethereal, airy sounds (“Sagittarius Silver Announcement”). Bands such as Dungen and Black Moth Super Rainbow have impressively tested these waters in recent years, and fans of the Lips’ more tuneful leanings may be at a loss with these chorus-free tracks, but longtime Lips listeners (and Syd Barrett dudes) should be more than satisfied to hear Wayne Coyne & Co. exploring the outer limits.
Videos: A Feist/New Buffalo-style take on Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” from Pomplamoose. Wonder how Kanye feels about this. Also, the bleak-but-funny James Mercer-starring trailer for Garden State 2: Some Girls Are Bigger Than OthersSome Days Are Better Than Others.
*Not actually by Feist but mad charming nevertheless. (Via Hipster Runoff) (Also via c’mon, you love this song.)
Pomplamoose – “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”: mp3
Rawkblog best-of-decade folkies The One AM Radio, with a fresh new lineup, fresh new songs and a tour EP with a Dirty Projectors remix, are hitting the road. Hey fellas, play LA and put out yr new album already. Dates after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
I caught up on this week’s Gossip Girl last night, and amid the mad teen dramz, I noticed a familiar, awesome power-pop song — The World Record’s “We’re No. 1.” (Dudes have now joined Division Day in the “relatively undiscovered L.A. indie rockers magically on The CW” club.) We’re still waiting for the group’s next album (seriously, fellas, decade’s ending over here) but I’ll take any excuse to bring this jam to your ears once again. (P.S. Thank you, Josh Schwartz, for bringing the goods early this season. P.P.S. Sorry for all the tween girl content lately, dudes. But go get the Paramore album, for real.)
Jams to get excited about:
After a pair of good-to-embarrassing albums and one 
New Music: 
