Ornery Scottish band Mogwai will be releasing their 6th album, The Hawk Is Howling, via Matador on September 23rd. Since waiting is for suckers, you can get your hypothetical hands on the mp3 of the first single, “The Sun Smells Too Loud”.

Like them or not, any band that titles the first track off of their album, “I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead,” deserve your respect.

Mogwai “The Sun Smells Too Loud”

Today is not a good day.

Noel Sayre, violinist for the Black Swans and the Pretty Mighty Mighty, passed away this morning. He was 37.

Apparently Sayre was involved in an accident on Tuesday that left him unconscious at the bottom of a community pool in Wheelersburg, Ohio. Lifeguards pulled him out and performed CPR but he remained on life support ever since. This morning Sayre had a “massive” heart attack and passed away at 1:08 this morning.

The Black Swans' Jerry DeCicca was quoted as saying a memorial service will take place July 12 in Huntington (Ohio) and more information can be found at the Black Swans site.

The Black Swans' Noel Sayre Dies at 37

Black Swans at Hype Machine

The legendary Sub Pop Singles Club will be making a triumphant return next month. Sub Pop will send one extremely limited (only 1,500 pressed) 7” to subscribers each month for a year (so when 1,500 people sign up, the gate is closed, no more allowed in). The first mailings go out on August 15th with a brand new 7” by Om. More details and “facts” can be found on the Singles Club site. A subscription in North America will set you back $75 (outside NA is $90). If you’re on the fence, the first Singles Club release back in 1988 was the Nirvana “Love Buzz” bw “Big Cheese”.

In other Sub Pop news, in celebration of their 20 years, Elysian Brewery has created a special Sub Pop beer available in “pale, munich, crystal and cara-hell” malts. Where can you get it? At the Sub Pop 20 fest happening July 11 – 13th or in select stores in Sasquatch country (Pacific Northwest). If they were to truly honor the Sub Pop spirit, there would be a limited press of the beer on white vinyl and the lucky few who get one will sell it for insane amounts of money on eBay years later.

Sub Pop Singles Club 3.0

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Yeah this premiered in front of some IMAX I Am Legend screenings but some of us didn’t go see that.

After watching these 6 minutes, if I dare, I can now show up to the theater 46 minutes late (after the commercials). I think the only other time I was this excited for a movie, it was the cartoon Transformers movie when I was a kid. The one with Orson Welles. He played a planet. A really, really fat planet that had a sled named ‘Rosebud’ as a child.

To help steer clear of overkill with Dark Knight news, this will be the last post on all things Dark Knight until the film at least comes out. That is unless Heath Ledger shows up at the premiere and does a dance or something. That would warrant mentioning.

First 6 Minutes of Dark Knight

Late pass needed. Xiu Xiu put out a video from their well received Women As Lovers album that came out earlier this year.

What happened to videos where the band was turned into cartoons and they had to solve a mystery or something? That’s why the music industry is in such a hole. Cartoons, speeding cars, mystery, then ??? then extreme profit. Age old equation.



New Xiu Xiu Video "Master of the Bump"

Natasha Shneider of the band Eleven and also a frequent collaborator of Queens of the Stone Age, died earlier this week of cancer. In a message posted on myspace yesterday, former bandmate Troy Van Leeuwen posted:

“Natasha Schneider, musician extraordinaire, former actress, singer of the ground-breaking band Eleven, and one-time Queens Of The Stone Age keyboard player, died today at 11:11am of cancer. She was a brilliant, beautiful, and ballsy woman who will be missed deeply by all those who knew her. Send your loving thoughts her way in the universe.”

A memorial fund has been set up in her name. Shneider was only 52.

Rock Musician Natasha Shneider Dies At 52

From Now On They Shall Be Known As Bonermelons. Watermelons Are Basically Viagra. Well Kind Of.

And the Whole Time, He Didn’t Say a Word. Monk Sentenced to Jail for Self Love…On a Bus.

He Has a Heart On For You. Child Born With Heart On the Outside, Hoping For Surgery to Move It To His Sleeve.

How Do You Talk Like a Newfoundlander? Have a Stroke.

What Happened to Thanks for the Food? Group Asking God to Help With Gas Prices.

It Must Be a Gift From a Very Obese, Diabetic God. “Creamy Ranch Dressing” Floods Clintonville Basements.

Chickens Don’t Clap and Puppies Don’t Belong In Hats!

Sampson Gets Me Lifted. Man and Puppy Get High Together, Only Man Goes to Jail.

Do You Not Understand What Genetics Means? Couple Turn to Impregnating Daughter the Old Fashioned Way After Giving Birth to Consecutive Children With Congenital Diseases.

Runaway Groom No More: Space Weddings!

As we mentioned earlier, Swedish band Love Is All recorded a tour EP of 5 covers as selected by their members. 5 Covers was available at their shows but is now available for you shut ins via eMusic (though not their take on Prince’s “Darling Nikki”).

The band’s cover of Dire Straits’ “So Far Away,” has been commended for being irony free which is difficult as Dire Straits kind of automatically take you back to baseball bloopers and fake cartoon videos.

Love Is All - (Almost) 5 Covers

1. "kung-fu on the internet" by lung leg (picked by josephine)
2. "i ran" by a flock of seagulls (picked by åke)
3. "so far away" by dire straits (picked by johan)
4. "fucking hell" (we're actually not sure about the title of this song) by jed dmochowski (picked by markus)

Love Is All “So Far Away” (Dire Straits)

Back in February, Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox put out a solo album under the moniker Atlas Sound. When the album, Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel, was released in North America, it was without the bonus disc that everyone else got. The situation will be resolved on July 28th when Let the Blind... is rereleased in North America with the bonus tracks included on the Let the Blind… double vinyl rerelease.

Bradford Cox is staying busy and will release a split 7” with Selector Dub Narcotic on August 5th via K Records. Side 1: Cox's Atlas Sound doing “Atlas Shrugged” (not a reading of the God awful book) and Side 2: Selector Dub Narcotic doing the same song, only re-titled “Shrug-a-Dub-Dub”.

Also on the schedule, Cox regroups with Deerhunter to help out Jay Reatard with his own 7” series. The 4th in Reatard’s series will be released on July 22nd and features Reatard covering Deerhunter’s “Fluorescent Grey” and Deerhunter doing Reatard’s “Oh It’s Such a Shame”.

During all of this, instead of taking up golf or something peaceful, Cox will instead hit the road with both Atlas Sound and Deerhunter for a few dates throughout September.

Atlas Sound:
7/19 Chicago IL, Union Park (Pitchfork Music Festival)
7/22 Toronto Ontario, The Mod Club
7/23 Montreal Quebec, La Sala Rossa
7/24 Cambridge MA, Middle East Downstairs
7/25 New York NY, Seaport Music Festival

Deerhunter :
7/31 Charleston SC, The Map Room
8/1 Norfolk VA, The Boot
8/3 Brooklyn NY, McCarren Park Pool
8/5 Toronto ON, Air Canada Centre
8/6 Buffalo NY, Big Orbit's Soundlab
8/7 Uncasville CT, Mohegan Sun Arena
8/8 Worcester MA, DCU Center
8/9 Lancaster PA, The Sugar Tank
8/10 Pittsburgh PA, Garfield Artworks
8/11 Morgantown WV, 123 Pleasant Street
8/12 Knoxville TN, Knoxville Civic Coliseum
8/13 Duluth GA, Gwinnett Arena
9/2 Morrison CO, Red Rocks Amphitheater
9/3 Salt Lake City UT, The E Center of West Valley
9/5 Oakland CA, Oracle Arena
9/6 Inglewood CA, The Forum

The Summer of Cox

The Boston Phoenix has decided to celebrate the impending 4th of July not the traditional way involving beer and minor explosives but instead using beer to find the best band, best solo artist and best current act from each of the 50 states. Their rules:

The 50 all-time best bands: based on where the band was formed. We allowed some elasticity here, like if the band members met in art school in one state and then moved to another state, we gave it to the state that needed it most.

The 50 all-time best solo artists: we were much stricter on this one. To win this category for a given state, you had to be born there. If it’s good enough for your passport, it’s good enough for us.

The 50 best new bands: this could also be read as best newish band, because some of our winners aren’t exactly brand-spanking new. But the acts we selected for this category are, for a general audience, relatively undiscovered. Cue up your MySpace now.

You may not agree with all of the decisions from the panel of judges (ahem NY) but one thing is certain; all 150 choices are 100% pinko commie free. USA! USA! USA!

50 Bands, 50 States