New Calexico with Notorious B.I.G. mash

Everyones favorite indie/alt country band Calexico is touring Europe with a new tour album in tow titled Toolbox. The album is an instrumental affair which is something that Calexico does very well.

"The instrumentation on the album features a wide range of instruments John and I have collected over the years including acoustic/electric guitars, drums, upright bass, cello, vibes, accordion, glockenspiel, cuatro, banjo and a new addition to the guitar collection, a waylacho from Mexico. For the recording process John and I ping-ponged parts and popped out the album in three days. We wanted to go back to basics and see what we could do with just a handful of instruments played between the two of us."

Toolbox comes highly recommended (by me) and is available in the Calexico Store and at their upcoming shows.

The first track off the album:

• Calexico - Above the Branch

Bonus mash of the song above and the Notorious B.I.G.'s Party and Bullshit:

• The Notorious B.I.G. vs Calexico - Above the Bullshit (zshare)

I think Calexico recorded this song with the intent of Notorious B.I.G. rapping over it. word.

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Oracular Spectacular

Hey MGMT got some p-fork love today. Its about time, even though it was only really two sentences. They have lots of potential, wait for this debut album to drop I tells ya. But if you want a taste go to the Cantora Records page and order a copy of the Time to Pretend EP for $9 (well worth it) or go to Amazon and spend $64 for the same thing if you are in the mood to throw down some cash. There is still a short wait (September?) for their debut album, Oracular Spectacular to drop on Columbia. Also worth mentioning is that the legendary David Fridmann produced the new album.

They have tour dates with Of Montreal which happens to have a stop in Dallas, check the tour dates here.

From the Time to Pretend EP:

The MGMT - Time To Pretend
The MGMT - Destrokk

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Spoon video

I'm not sure if I mentioned Spoons new album, I figured that every other blog out there did already so I had no need to. Great album none the less, I'd say it would rank #2 in their incredible discography. Anyway check out the new video for Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga album highlight, The Underdog. Is that Jason Reece from Trail of Dead playing the bottles? Sure looks like him.

Also there is a limited edition bonus EP you get with the album, pre-order from Merge Records. Or go to Target on Tuesday and get it for $8? When did Target start to matter? Here's a track from that ep.

Spoon - Mean Mad Margaret [zshare]

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The Rentals cover The Rentals

There is this snow-cone place on my route back from work, I stop by on especially hot days to indulge myself in its cooling magic. Last time I felt I need something a little bit more in my snow-cone so I upped the ante, threw 50 more cents down and got extra juice. Too much blueberry sweetness. It made for one of the worst snow-cones ever but I still took down the majority of it....see it was hot, I think I mentioned that. In the long run I learn the lesson that it was too much to handle and I had to pace myself on the juice.

Thats how my music to do lists is going. June has so many new albums that are so good that while I'm trying to give them all a fair share its just over load. New Interpol, Super Furry Animals, They might be giants, Bumps, John Vanderslice, Okkervil River, Bishop Allen, Rentals, couple others all pretty much fell in my lap around the same general time.

The most recent would have to be the new Rentals EP titled The Last Little Life . I was a huge Rentals fan by way of Weezer. The Rentals were the band that introduced me to heavy snyths mixed with power pop, a formula which if done right, will never bore me. This EP is the first Rentals release since 1999's, 7 More Minutes, which was embarrassingly under-appreciated by the majority of the public and was assumed to be the end of The Rentals. You can expect a new full album in 2008 from Matt and co. but lucky The Rentals leave us this EP to savor on while they cook up something new in the studio.



The last track on the EP is a reworking of the Rentals classic Sweetness and Tenderness originally from their debut album Return of the Rentals. Judging by this track and the others from the EP the Rentals have a looser sound to them in their recent incarnation, they still keep the male/female vocals going with some strings floating in and out but nothing strongly similar to either of the previous albums.

The Rentals - Sweetness & Tenderness [zshare]

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