A rare treat: Low’s ninth studio LP, C’mon is streaming from Sub Pop and the Graun this week ahead of its release on the 11th and 12th of this month. Recorded in the same Duluth church as 2002′s Trust, it’s a typically brooding release from the band – and it’s typically marvellous, too. The enlistment of Katy Perry, Leona Lewis and Avril Lavigne collaborator Matt Beckley as producer might have been a bit clever too, as there’s maybe just a hint more peppiness buried deep within the record… or maybe I’m hearing that just because I’m too darned happy to he hearing a new Low record.
Coming out of Sub Pop is this new single from Papercuts’ 4th LP Fading Parade: “Do What You Will” has a nicely understated opening that’s sort of dominated by a chunky bassline and whispering guitars and vocals, before turning on the big chorus sound. There’s a sort of ethereal-ness to it that’s pretty irresistible to be honest. Do What I Will? Okay, thanks! I’ll just, er… turn this up and shuffle around the room, maybe.
The legendary indie label exclaims: *Due to technical (and a little human) error, the version of “He Doesn’t Know Why” from the brand new, self titled Fleet Foxes album that was available from the iTunes Music Store had two audio drop outs. This has now been fixed and all purchases henceforth will be correct and defect free, as the good lord intended. We apologize profusely for this inconvenience & would like to hereby offer a free MP3 of that song to anyone who would like it. Please accept this & our apologies for the mistake.*
Here are the deets courtesy of a recent MySpace bulletin: *Sub Pop Records in Seattle, WA is offering a grand total of $13,000 worth of college scholarship money to three eligible high school seniors. There are three scholarships – one for $6,000 and two for $3,500 each. To apply for these scholarships you must be a resident of Washington or Oregon, and a graduating senior on your way to full-time enrollment at an accredited university or college. We are looking for an applicant who is involved and/or interested in music and/or the creative arts in some way. To apply for these scholarships we would like you to submit an essay, no longer than one page…* For further information, head here.
in the united states. which is pretty sweet. we’ve been teasing them for ages, and they’ve finally fell for us. it’s your average love story, really. we’re going to be putting out pretty soon. putting out… an album! aha. right. in like april or something. so we can start touring america at length. i’m talking a big bus, some pancakes, some kings of leon on the stereo, a big hat, some sort of item of denim, and the long open road. this will probably be around the same time as we release an album. yeah, great. now back to the miserable fucking m1. xx* Download a Foals MP3 below.
The heroic indie label has the following message to share: *We just finished a pretty massive import of MP3 albums into our store, giving us close to 200 full-length albums in the digital format! In case you haven’t noticed yet, we think this is pretty great. We’ll be working to add singles and EPs and fill the holes in the catalog in the coming weeks and months, and we have every intention of making rare and out-of-print titles available exclusively through our shop.*
“We’re partnering with MTV2, and the focus is going to be Wal-Marts, big box stores, red states, and TV advertising– to really go beyond… We don’t really expect indie rock stores to support this record. It’s for the casual fan.”
Oh my. That quote is from Vice’s Adam Shore regarding a rumored upcoming compilation featuring some indie-rock giants including (but not limited to): Bloc Party, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Silversun Pickups, M. Ward and more. Word is that Vice, Matador, Sub Pop and other indie labels will take part in the series of ‘best-of’-type indie collections, targeted towards the OC compilation-loving folks, that will probably start seeing the light of day this summer. Hmm.
Read the rest of the story and quotes from EW.com over at Pitchfork.
