When news of Paul Banks’ solo record hit the week before last, there was very little in the way of musical evidence, save for a few looped blips at julianplenti.com. Now Matador has stepped up with a full download of “Fun That We Have” off Skyscraper, the Julian Plenti debut, set for an early August release.  You may have heard “Fun That We Have”, as it hit the blogs last week, but the other three songs are a little more obscure. I found them over at Bee Killer and managed to grab them before they were taken down. They are rare live versions of songs from the forthcoming record, which give a little more insight into the direction of Banks’ tangent away from Interpol. In addition to “cocky” and” sexy”, we can now add the following to the list of vaguely confusing descriptions proffered: “flashing a sneaky sense of humor from behind a mouthful of poisonous daggers.”

Julian Plenti – Fun That We Have.mp3

Julian Plenti – Cellophane.mp3

Julian Plenti – Esplenade.mp3

Julian Plenti – Larynx.mp3

Haha. If you wondered whether the reunited Jane’s Addiction was living on the edge, think again. Teleprompters all around. Nothing says “rock ‘n’ roll” quite like reading your lyrics off a screen. Karaoke style. [via The Daily Swarm]

As they are wont to do, NPR has a stream of Dan Deacon’s show at 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

The Guardian is featuring Jarvis Cocker as its guest reviewer for Singles Club this week. Well, Jarvis and his kids. He’s given a predictable mix of pop, alternative, and hip-hop. But his take on The Killers’ “The World We Live In” is hilarious and spot on:

The Killers – The World We Live In
That title is just asking for trouble: what, you’re gonna sum up the whole of human existence in 4mins 13secs are you Mr Flowers? OK, hit me. Apparently the planet we are inhabiting sounds like an ELO B-side put through a flanger. This is so bad it actually made me feel sorry for them for a minute. They seem to want success so badly and then they curl this one out and mess it all up for themselves. I used to feel a similar way about Placebo – then I discovered that they were massive in France. The boys started playing on the Wii during this.

And here’s the video for Cocker’s rough and tumble new single, “Angela”, via Rough Trade:

Couldn’t help sharing this Gary Numan collection currently for sale in London.
47 x CD Albums
26 x CD Singles,
71 x assorted Picture Discs, Albums and Singles on Vinyl.
2 x Boxsets.
By Computer book
14 Ticket stubs from Gary Numan concerts.
Gary Numan signed Electric Ballroom cassette..September 19th 1991
Rare blue vinyl Tubeway Army
Collection from Enfield, North London. Sorry cannot deliver.
£350..offers considered.

I enjoyed The Maccabees debut record, Colour It In, but there was an underlying sense that things could go awry in the future. Sort of like when you see someone with fat potential; might look alright now, but you know that two Thanksgivings later things will have likely taken a turn for the worse. For some reason when bands generate praise right off the bat they can’t help but start to take themselves seriously. Bloc Party bit off a huge helping of suck after the success of Silent Alarm by trying to become U2 with a set of songs that screamed self-importance and stadium friendliness. It’s a slippery slope and one that I’m afraid The Maccabees might be heading down, if its latest single, “Love You Better”, is any indication. Vocalist Orlando Weeks’ bellowing yelp is starting to sound like a put on. This song just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I think that taste is disappointment.

Thanks, AJW.