Gone are the days!!!

So it only took four years, but there's finally a new Mirah album! I arbitrarily decided to check out the K Records site just now and (A)spera apparently released February 11th (then again it might be up for pre-order, and they just failed to mention that, because it says elsewhere that it doesn't realease until March 10th)! And I even managed to scrounge up a track from it! "Gone Are the Days" is a bit more bare-bones-folk-pop-y; it's just Mirah, bongos, and the occasional trumpet.

Gone are the days .mp3

I would also highly recommend giving the Vibrarians new single a listen. It's streaming on the site and to borrow K's word, it's a real corker!

New Cats on Fire!!

I almost missed the boat on this one! Not really, but I didn't know they had anything coming down the pipeline. Our Temperance Movement comes out March 11th, but it's available for pre-order from a couple places, like Record Label X and Stupido Shop for about $22.50 (Record Label X is a euro cheaper). They have a couple of the new tracks streaming on their myspace, and if what I've heard is any indication, this is going to be the best thing to come out of Finland since their last record. "Garden Lights" features all the great Cats on Fire guitar, bass, and vocals that you would expect, plus what sound like some bongos and a stellar clarinet solo! Sooo good!

Garden Lights .mp3

A fucking whore's never sounded so good

Only a couple months after Apathy the gals from Liechtenstein have dropped an ace little CDR! They have the title track "Everything's for Sale" streaming on their myspace. I've given it a good number of listens and can't quite put my finger on what it reminds me of, but that's okay since it's every bit as good as you'd expect from the girls (read amazing). To steal Matt's comparison, the guitars are very Talulah Gosh-y, as are the bang-bang snare/tambourine drums. As usual their harmonization is right on, and the "sha-la-las" in the outro WILL get stuck in your head. And if they don't something else will, like, say, the "sooo-sooo-sooome say (s)he's a fucking If you live in the UK or Germany you can pick up the new disc at their live shows. As for the rest of us, it's about $15 shipped from Fraction Discs' mailorder department.

Magic Marker 10 Year Anniversary

Word on the street is it was a blast. To commemorate the occasion, the boys over at Magic Marker put out a 5x 7" set of Magic Marker bands covering Magic Marker bands. It was available at the show, with all the left-overs being put up on their webstore. From what I heard, they didn't make very many (somewhere around 50 copies, I think), so I would head over to the Magic Marker site ASAP to get your hands on a set. I sadly don't have any mp3s, but here's the track-list:

7" #1
The Owls "Springtime Fall" (Dear Nora)
Walker Kong "Bells" (The Bats)

7" #2
The Manhattan Love Suicides "Superboy & Supergirl" (Tullycraft)
Dear Nora "Air" (The Owls)

7" #3
BOAT "Nosebleeders on the Track" (The Faintest Ideas)
Galactic Heroes "Former Hero" (Heikki)

7"#4
Tullycraft "Welcome to the Big Ten Conference" (Vehicle Flips)
Birds of California (Lunchbox) "Kick It back" (The Manhattan Love Suicides)

7"" #5
The Gazetteers "Ordinary Day" (Lunchbox)
Kissing Book "Any Kind of Pain" (The Best Friends Group)

NYC Popfest!

May 15th, 16th 17th!
If I counted right, that makes four different Popfests this year!
I should look on Anorak more often...But thanks Maz for the update! I would assume his blog is going to be the place to get the lowdown as it goes down. I'd go look anyways to get some nice, compressed, nuggets of pop goodness.