So, Dirty Projectors’ Bitte Orca is easily one of my favorite records of the year. If that record has already blown your mind, I’m not sure how much more impressed you can be, but this song absolutely floored me. Originally written as part of a six-song suite for Bjork (more details over at Stereogum), “When the World Comes to an End” is a bizarre yet breathtaking display of crazily complex harmonies and David Longstreth’s mutant falsetto and jagged guitar work. This band just keeps topping itself. Amazing.

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke is putting together an odd assortment of musicians to help bring his solo album, The Eraser, to life. The band consists of a few recognizable names, including Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, and Beck sidekick Joey Waronker. To say that many Radiohead fans will be baffled by the inclusion of Flea is an understatement, but all obvious dick sock references aside, Flea has wildly diverse taste in music. So, despite vast stage persona differences (that make me chuckle just thinking about them on stage together), I could easily see Yorke and Flea sharing some common ground as music fans.

In this interview with Adam Buxton at the recent Latitude Festival, Yorke discusses a few monikers for the group, including Mr T, Thomosexual and Yorkie Fruit and Nut Bar. I stand firmly behind Thomosexual. That shit is gold:

Columbia, South Carolina’s Death Becomes Even The Maiden say farewell to their drummer at the 2009 Free Times Music Crawl with the crowd pleaser “The Only Thing I Feel For You Is The Recoil.”

Also check out the video for their track, Control from The Arrangement EP.

(Full Disclosure: While we typically eschew posting self-promotional items on The Drawer, I’m posting this without Eric’s knowledge or even consent, so there’s really no conflict of interest. Eric is in the band. I’m a fan of Death Becomes Even The Maiden and I think they deserve whatever little exposure Drawer B can provide.) (via)

If the Blur vs. Oasis war were ongoing and measured in stature, I dare say, Damon Albarn would have cleaned the Gallagher brothers’ collective clocks by now. Of course, both Noel and Liam would dismiss Albarn’s post-Blur accomplishments with some sort of drunken slur implying that Albarn’s a fey lightweight. Thankfully, Albarn has long since stopped noticing anything the Gallagher brothers have to say, but true fans on both sides of that debate still have pretty firm allegiances. I stand unequivocally in camp Blur, which is obvious to anyone who’s happened upon this site more than once. Now that Albarn’s name has been bandied about for artistic director of the 2012 Olympics in London, the elder Gallagher has probably winced more than once, though he’s likely not to admit it. Musically, I’m fully confident Albarn would rise to the occasion, as his talent and breadth have extended far beyond the realm of pop music, evidenced by his score to the opera, Monkey: Journey to the West. Below is what he and fellow Gorillaz collaborator Jamie Hewlett dreamed up for the BBC’s coverage of the Beijing Olympics:

Though, the band is somewhat unrecognizable underneath all that hair, the Arctic Monkeys brought a familiar sound to Craig Ferguson last week. “Cornerstone” is a ballad by this band’s standards, but Alex Turner’s golden quill keeps the lighters at bay. Humbug may be a departure musically in so far as it requires more than a perfunctory listen to “get”, and even though the band winces as this being labeled a “mature” album, it’s certainly less frenetic than anything past. “Cornerstone”, however, harkens back to Favourite Worst Nightmare‘s caustically lovelorn side, replete with some of Turner’s best lyrics yet.

[via Stereogum]

Given my multi-decade love affair with Young Marble Giants, I should probably be fawning all over The XX.

Word on the wire is that Unrest’s classic, Imperial f.f.r.r. is once again available on vinyl. 180g at that. I do believe that you are blushing…