A smattering of clips have surfaced showing Blur rehearsing for its comeback concert at Hyde Park (and the smaller warm up club gigs, of course). Things are sounding awfully good, even in this rough footage leaked to build excitement around the band’s obligatory compilation, Midlife: A Beginners Guide To Blur. Here’s to hoping those rumored US dates pan out. Songs featured below include “Death of a Party” and “Song 2” off Blur’s self-titled 1997 record as well as “For Tomorrow” off 1993’s Modern Life Is Rubbish.” The question has already been posed as to why Damon Albarn might be wearing a backpack in the “Song 2” clip, but, more importantly, why is his t-shirt tucked in? Regardless, I’m giddy as a teenage girl about any and all of it.

So, I was just browsing for records recently at Lunchbox Records in Charlotte, NC (an awesome record store, by the way) when I happened across a 7″ by a band called Cotton Candy. The clerk had written “Mark Robinson” on a sticker above the price tag, which is why I picked it up. Well, because of that and the cool artwork. Mark Robinson, as you may well know, owns Teenbeat records, home of one of my favorite defunct bands, Unrest, which Robinson also fronted. As an avid collector of all things Unrest, I must admit it had been a while since I’d been aware of any of Robinson’s creative outlets. Last time I checked in was with the stilted post-punk of Flin Flon, but even that’s been a while. So I was excited to hear what he’s been up to. Cotton Candy stays in the jangly indie pop world Robinson has inhabited on and off for two decades. His half-spoken choirboy voice leads the charge over clean guitars. The other half of Cotton Candy, Evelyn Hurley, adds equally clean backing vocals. Underpinned by stuttering electronic flutters, “Fantastic Spectacular” evolves into a strangely synthetic experimentation, replete with vocoder and spooky, muted voices. Definitely worth checking out, if you’re a fan of any of Robinson’s previous work.

http://www.myspace.com/cottoncandyteenbeat

Depeche Mode has dabbled in grandiose gestures throughout its career, so it’s not surprising that the second single from Sounds of the Universe is a bit heavy-handed. The video for “Peace” isn’t as preachy you might think; it’s more of an internal struggle than a political statement, despite the military backdrop. The song itself flirts with a Southern gospel vibe, reminiscent of the band’s own Songs of Faith and Devotion album, which served as a precursor to Dave Gahan’s emotional and physical bottoming out. Gahan’s got the voice to pull off the drama, though. Just imagine some whiny indie rock nerd trying to sing this song. It would be a catastrophe.

Second single and video from Cursive‘s excellent, still-in-heavy-rotation Mama, I’m Swollen stars an all-grown-up, ahem, Tania Raymonde, who plays Benjamen Linus’ (dead?) daughter Alex on Lost. Lead singer Tim Kasher explained the video thusly to Spinner: “The idea for the video is a gross exaggeration of the ‘trophy wife’ concept — grooms hunting down brides, hanging wedding pictures over the mantel next to a deer head.” Works for me. You do have to sit through an ad to view the video, so be forewarned.

Cursive tour dates:

JUNE 13 DENVER, CO WESTWORD MUSIC SHOWCASE
JUNE 17 LINCOLN, NE BOX AWESOME
JUNE 18 SIOUX FALLS, SD NUTTY’S NORTH
JUNE 19 RAPID CITY, SD DAHL CENTER
JUNE 20 BILLINGS, MT YELLOWSTONE VALLEY BREWERY
JUNE 21 MISSOULA, MT THE PALACE
JUNE 23 SEATTLE, WA NEUMO’S
JUNE 24 PORTLAND, OR WONDER BALLROOM
JUNE 26 SACRAMENTO, CA BOARDWALK
JUNE 27 SAN FRANCISCO, CA GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC HALL
JUNE 28 LOS ANGELES, CA EL REY THEATRE
JUNE 29 POMONA, CA GLASSHOUSE
JUNE 30 LAS VEGAS, NV BEAUTY BAR
JULY 1 SALT LAKE CITY, UT IN THE VENUE
JULY 24 OMAHA, NE SLOWDOWN
JULY 25 IOWA CITY, IA PICADOR
JULY 26 DEKALB, IL OTTO’S
JULY 27 INDIANAPOLIS, IN RADIO RADIO
JULY 28 PONTIAC, MI PIKE ROOM
JULY 29 CLEVELAND, OH GROG SHOP
JULY 30 ROCHESTER, NY BUG JAR
JULY 31 BUFFALO, NY TRALF MUSIC HALL
AUG. 1 TORONTO, ONT HORSESHOE TAVERN
AUG. 3 CAMBRIDGE, MA MIDDLE EAST (Downstairs)
AUG. 4 MILFORD, CT DANIEL STREET
AUG. 6 HOBOKEN, NJ MAXWELL’S
AUG. 7 PHILADELPHIA, PA FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH
AUG. 8 BALTIMORE, MD OTTO BAR

It pleases me to no end to see Sonic Youth rocking out like this after years and years of not doing so. That’s not to say I haven’t appreciated any Sonic Youth records since, oh I don’t know, Dirty, but the band hasn’t been this blatantly rocking in a very long time. The only Sonic Youth record that was a genuine stinker for me was NYC Ghosts & Flowers back in 2000. And the last two records were on an upward trajectory for sure. I’m genuinely excited to buy a new Sonic Youth record, instead of being only half-obligated out of some sort of sentimental loyalty.

I have no idea what the hell this is about but it is hypnotic and all over twitter.

I’m such a sucker for things like this. “This project visualizes lyrics, instrumentation, notes, patterns, and word usage.” Time to listen to some Sufjan. (via)