Return of the Modfather

Next week sees the release of Paul Weller's new record 22 Dreams in the UK. The record however won't see release until July in the USA. This week, the first single, "Have You Made Up Your Mind" was released on CD as well as two different 7" singles. Each has b-sides that won't be available on the full length. The first 7" contains the b-side "Echoes Round the Sun (Radio Edit)." The second 7" contains the b-side "Rip the Pages Up (Brendan Lynch Mix)." And the CD single contains two songs; Echoes Round the Sun (Radio Edit) and Rise and Fall.

Do the Sparks

Detroit natives The Dirtbombs who released a new full length record this year called We Have You Surrounded have also released a 7" single. Both songs are covers of songs by Sparks. The single is thus appropriately titled The Dirtbombs play Sparks. Side A is a cover of "Sherlock Holmes" which is on the full length record and side B is a cover of "Nothing to Do." More information at In the Red Records.

GBV Inc.

The first release from Bob Pollard's new label, Guided By Voices Inc., is an exclusive web EP entitled Weatherman and Skin Goddess. It is a three song EP that will be available in limited quantities on CD and LP. The first song "Weatherman and Skin Goddess" will be on his upcoming album Robert Pollard is Off To Business that will be released on June 3rd. The other two songs are exclusive to this release. They are; Kiss the Quiet Man, and Coat Factory Zero. More information at Rockathon Records.

Ladies and gentlemen, The Suburbs have re-entered the building

In a perfect example of how difficult it is to hear about everything you might be interested in, I give you High Fidelity Boys 1979, a Suburbs live CD that was released by the Garage D'or Recording Company back in 2006. Not only did I not hear a peep about this CD in the press, I never heard that the folks who ran a great record store in Minneapolis (the Garage D'or) had started up a record label after closing the store. And while they are releasing some new material, it is the releases from past great Minneapolis artists that had me drooling. Not only was there this release, which was a live show from Jay's Longhorn in 1979 when The Suburbs were more punk than new wave, but they have several other releases. Those include a few live records from the 70's outfit The Suicide Commandos (one from a radio show) and two great Reflex Records compilations that have been long out of print and contain a wealth of riches, including; The Replacements doing Motorhead's "Ace of Spades", Husker Du outtakes from the In a Freeland sessions, and tracks by an early Soul Asylum (when they called themselves Loud Fast Rules). And, if that wasn't enough to interest you, on the Garage D'or website they mention that this year will see a release of early Husker Du demos from 1979 called First Strike.

Parker's oxymoron

Graham Parker has released another limited edition live record in his oddly titled "Official Bootleg" series. This one is called Platinum Bastard. It was recorded in 1992 during the Burning Questions tour that had Graham backed by The Small Clubs (which included Jamie Hoover of the Spongetones on guitar as well as; Graham Maybe, Joel Diamond, and Gary Burke) and it is only available from his website. The tracklisting is as follows;

1. Nothing's Gonna Pull It Apart
   
2. Back Door Love
   
3. Clear Head
   
4. Saturday Nite Is Dead
   
5. Empty Lives
   
6. Dark Side of the Bright Lights
   
7. Canned Laughter
   
8. I Don't Know
   
9. Dancing For Money
   
10. Brand New Book
    
11. Long Stem Rose
    
12. Oasis
    
13. Short Memories
    
14. Yesterday's Cloud
    
15. Release Me
    
16. Mr. Tender
    
17. Platinum Blonde
    
18. Worthy of Your Love
    
19. Love Is a Burning Question
    

Directions to get a bonus EP

The Black Angels are set to release their new album Directions To See a Ghost this Tuesday. There is currently a special pre-release offer available through their label Light in the Attic Records where if you purchase the new album, you get an immediate digital download of the record. In addition, when the record is released and CDs are shipped, you will get a bonus limited edition four song EP called Exit which includes the tracks; Surf City (Revisited), Paladin's Last Stand, No Satisfaction, Black Angel Exit/Shine. The last of those four tracks is also available as a bonus track for the iTunes album download. There is also a 7" single for the album track "Doves" which includes the exclusive b-side "Drone (in G# major)" that is available seperately. It is also available as a digital download from eMusic and iTunes.

An extra Konk

The British band The Kooks have released their second album this last month which is entitled Konk. The title is a reference to Ray Davies' Konk Studios, where the album was recorded. Along with the regular album release there was a special edition 2CD version released. The bonus disc Rak includes the following tracks;

1. Watching The Ships Roll In
   
2. Eaten By Your Lover
   
3. No Longer
   
4. Fa La La La La
   
5. Nothing Ever Changes
   
6. By My Side
   
7. Hatful Of Love
   
8. See The Sun (Alternate Version)
   
9. Brooklyn (Home Demo)
   

A Little Spoonful

For the past few months, the band Spoon have been posting a free MP3 to their website. There isn't one for the month of May yet, but last month's song is still there. It is "I Turn My Camera On (First Version)." The previous month's download was "Cherry Bomb Country (Demo)" which wasn't very country actually. It was a demo of the song "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" and is actually a different demo version from the one that appeared on the Get Nice! EP that came with inital orders of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.

More Free Beats

And the free downloads just keep coming. The Rosebuds have a remix album available as a free download from the Merge Records website. The album is called Sweet Beats, Troubled Sleep (Night of the Furies Remixed) and contains remixes from their 2007 release Night of the Furies. The track list is as follows;

1. I Better Run - Fire Hazard remix
   
2. Get Up Get Out - Justin Vernon of Bon Iver remix
   
3. Silence by the Lakeside - Portastatic remix
   
4. Silja Line - Radical9 vs. Lovesky remix
   
5. My Punishment for Fighting - Wes Phillips remix
   
6. Cemetery Lawns - El Venado (El Venado in Space remix)
   
7. When the Lights Went Dim - JYU remix
   
8. Hold on to the Coat - Luke Warm remix
   
9. Night of the Furies - Jimmy the B remix
   
10. I Better RunV2 - Roger O'Donnell remix
    

Free Slip

While I can't say I'm the biggest Nine Inch Nails fan, I was intrigued to find out that Trent Reznor has decided to put his new album The Slip up on the web as a free download. You can find the link from the NIN website or go to it directly. The ten song album is available in several formats; MP3, M4A, FLAC, and 24/96 WAVE. You can download the MP3s right from the site, but you'll need to use BitTorrent client to get the other formats. A PDF with artwork is also included and there will be CD and vinyl versions in the future. Unlike last year's Radiohead online release, Mr. Reznor is not asking for for you to pay what you'd like (where you could have paid nothing), he is making the downloads completetly free without suggesting you should pay something. Track listing for the record is as follows;

1. 999,999
   
2. 1,000,000
   
3. Letting You
   
4. Discipline
   
5. Echoplex
   
6. Head Down
   
7. Lights In the Sky
   
8. Cornoa Radiata
   
9. The Four of Us Are Dying
   
10. Demon Seed
    

An Oddity from the Odd Couple

"The Odd Couple" Gnarls Barkley have released a limited edition vinyl version of their new album that is indeed odd in that it contains a bonus LP of the entire album ... played backwards. Tracks on the second record are as follows;


Elpuoc Ddo Eht

SIDE A
01. Retteb Elttil
02. Srobhgien
03. Yram Dnilb
04. Swonk Ehs
05. Noos Emit On
06. Esirprus

SIDE B
07. Revetahw
08. Koob Nepo
09. Rellik Eb Dluow
10. (Retsasid Larutan A M’I) Nur
11. No Gniog
12. Lous Ym Evas Annog S'ohw
13. Esac Ytirahc

Hitcthcock & Lowe Split 7"

A limited edition split 7" was released by Yep Roc to commemorate three recent sold out shows that Robyn Hitchcock and Nick Lowe did together. The single will only be available at the Yep Roc website and at Hitchcock or Lowe live shows. One side contains the song "Sicky Boy" by Robyn that is from his unreleased Little Pink recording sessions while the other side is a live version of Lowe's "Heart of the City" that was recorded live at WFUV in 2007.