A lot has changed for Ecstatic Sunshine over these past few years. Most significantly, founding member Dustin Wong (Ponytail) left the band, forcing other founding member Matthew Papich to shift their sound from guitar-duo battle to something more expansive. On the band’s last record WAY — just before Wong left the group — the duo added third member Kieran Gillen on electronics. And now, on the the brand new Yesterday’s Work, Ecstatic Sunshine are evolving yet again, with Papich having recruited Joe "White" Williams on drum machines and synthesizers.

According to a press release, Yesterday’s Work’s "sonic palette is much broader than previous guitar-centric releases; soft bouncy bass and crisp synthesizers balance and serve as counterpoint to Papich’s loop-based guitar work. Think Berlin School and Penguin Cafe Orchestra, or a Harmonia record produced by Coxsone." Matthew Papich speaks about the record’s influence:

Outside the record there are many sounds. Some of those sounds were moved, through memory, into the record. We would hear soft bass through the windows of a car, or listen to birds waking up before dawn, and learn to remember those sounds and later draw them out of synthesizers or guitars. In this way we could hear the record before it was made. It is like John Cage’s ideas about incidental sound, except instead of composing with those sounds, we composed for them. The record is an homage to the Everyday. It is music that happens, and is heard, and then said.

Yesterday’s Work will be released on HOSS, who also issued their "Turned On" 7-inch. It’s due December 8 (just got pushed back from its original release date of November 24).

Yesterday’s Work tracklisting:

1. Conch
2. Faceplant
3. Dunk
4. Over Easy
5. Sweet Spot
6. Because
7. Space Sick
8. Space Sicker
9. Soft Opening
10. Topless

[Photo: Sally Glass]

Apparently, it’s not enough for Tim Kinsella that he and his brothers already own the entire Chicago music scene. For Joan of Arc’s new album, Don’t Mind Control, Kinsella decided to recruit any musician or band that has ever played in Joan of Arc over the entire length of their career, to curate a double-album consisting of 18 new songs by 41 different Joan of Arc members. Due out on Polyvinyl Records January 26, 2010, Don’t Mind Control features new songs from Owen, Cale Parks, Vacations (ex-Chin Up Chin Up), Ghosts and Vodka (ex-Cap’n Jazz), Disappears, and, of course, Kinsella himself.

Don’t Mind Control tracklisting:

1. Litesalive - Uwar
2. Disappears - Guider
3. Birdshow - Privacy
4. A Tundra - The Doug McComb Over
5. Owen - No More No Where
6. White/Light - Kickstart
7. Euphone w/ Tim Kinsella - Friend in Common
8. Slick Conditions - Spit in Layers
9. Cale Parks - Long Looks
10. Joshua Abrams - Blanes echo Blirds, Bless echo Blouds
11. The Cairo Gang - Oh Solo
12. Tim Kinsella - Roots Dug into Dunes = Landslide
13. Jeremy Boyle - Second Door From the Left
14. The Zoo Wheel - Flicker
15. Vacations - Friday the 13th Part 2
16. Pillars and Tongues - Oakey
17. Ghosts and Vodka - Gameshow Buzzer
18. Birthmark - Drivin’ me Crazy

Last week was a happier time for me. I went to the zoo and saw a grizzly bear take a huge dump. My hair was a shorter, more manageable length. I had more money. But a lot can change over a week. The bear and his discharge is but a memory, my hair has since grown to look too similar to the nest of a large bird, and the city has demanded 100 of my dollars for some bullshit traffic violation they claim to have caught on one of those bullshit little stoplight cameras. But even in a week so packed with disappointment as this one, there’s always room for another letdown.

To that end, I regret to inform you that the Method Man, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah collalbum that was originally set for a December 22 release has now been pushed back to 2010. And just to kick ya’ll while you’re down, Redman’s upcoming record Reggie Noble 9 ½ has ditched its December 8 drop and joined the Wu in the indefinite wasteland of a 2010 release. Here’s hoping both projects have been bumped just to avoid being overlooked from the usual year-end roundups.

I’m a New Yorker at heart, but I’ll be the first to admit that Baltimore’s DIY music fiddlings are slowly but surely catching up to the the Brooklyn music behemoth in reputation. Just look at Dan Deacon, Ponytail, Double Dagger, and practically the entire Whartscape lineup. Brooklyn’s got nothing on that.

And now Baltimore’s own fuzz n’ buzz outfit Future Islands are staking their claim on the indie mainstream (wow, oxymoron). After receiving a slew of positive feedback for their 2008 release Wave Like Home (TMT Review), Future Islands are now newly signed to Thrill Jockey and are expected to release In Evening Air come spring 2010. And speaking of Brooklyn, be sure to stop by Death By Audio for Future Islands’ record release show on December 17. The rest of their tourdates are below.

11.19.09 - Sheperdstown, WV - Blue Moon Saloon *
11.20.09 - Greenville, NC - Lucky’s *
11.21.09 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 *
11.22.09 - Asheville, NC - New French Bar *
11.23.09 - Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light *
11.24.09 - Charlotte, NC - The Milestone *
11.25.09 - Charleston, SC - Adolini’s Pizza *
11.27.09 - Raleigh, NC - Berkeley Cafe *
11.28.09 - Baltimore, MD - Floristree *
12.03.09 - Greenville, NC - Tipsy Teapot
12.04.09 - Chapel Hill, NC - The Cave
12.05.09 - Wilmington, NC - Drifters ^
12.13.09 - Baltimore, MD - Jesus Camp %
12.17.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Death By Audio $

* Thank You
^ Lonnie Walker
% Javelin
$ Javelin, Jones, Moss of Aura

Remember Wilco’s second album? ...No? Oh man, that’s gonna make this story kinda difficult then, isn’t it? Hmm... okay, okay, it’s the one after A.M. that everyone says Wilco kinda “came into their own sound” on? A.K.A., it’s the one with “Misunderstood” on it, followed by all those songs that sound just like A.M.? Ah! See? NOW you know what I’m talking about! Aaaand, I proceed:

Wilco’s present hoity-toity label home, Nonesuch Records has just announced a reissue of this 19-track, double-album-sized love letter to charming and amusingly 90s-sounding alt-rock on every format that counts. That’s right, for $21, you can pick yourself up double vinyl, CD, AND MP3 sonic documents of such questionable Tweedy managerial decisions as: employing a full-time dobro player, NOT firing Ken Coomer sooner, and so on! Wow! Here’s the tracklist! Order now!

Side 1:
1. Misunderstood
2. Far, Far Away
3. Monday
4. Outtasite (Outta Mind)
5. Forget the Flowers

Side 2:
1. Red-Eyed and Blue
2. I Got You (At the End of the Century)
3. What’s the World Got in Store
4. Hotel Arizona
5. Say You Miss Me

Side 3:
1. Sunken Treasure
2. Someday Soon
3. Outta Mind (Outta Sight)
4. Someone Else’s Song
5. Kingpin

Side 4:
1. (Was I) In Your Dreams
2. Why Would You Wanna Live
3. The Lonely 1
4. Dreamer in My Dreams

From Belle and Sebastian’s official website:

[Thanks to Fausto Koerich for the tip!]

To all those hardcore TMT fans out there [wild applause], you probably already know how a lot of us here love Graham Lambkin (ex-Shadow Ring, Tart, Elklink, etc.). Last year, he released The Breadwinner (TMT Review) with Jason Lescalleet, and the year before he self-released Salmon Run (TMT Review) on his own label, Kye. This year? Well, it looks like he’s taking a stab at musique concrète with another self-release, Softly Softly Copy Copy.

Featuring two 20-minute tracks, Softly Softly was described by Scott Foust (who recently released his own solid album, Jungle Fever) as "very disorienting, like a long exhausted train journey where you awake once in a while for a few minutes to a new, beautiful, and odd situation." Sound good to you? If so, make your way to Swill Radio and order a copy (FYI: Kye has a collection from Moniek Darge available too).

Meanwhile, Lambkin is also set to release a limited-edition book + CD. According to Penultimate Press, "’Dumb Answer to Miracles is the first official publication of writings by Graham Lambkin. Previously 20 copies of a signed private edition entitled Tomb of Speed were circulated amongst friends, collegues and mail order customers. This collection gathers all the Tomb of Speed writings, a handful of Lambkin’s lyrics he wrote for the band Shadow Ring and many unpublished works." You can pre-order the book here. You know, IF YOU WANT TO.

[Artwork: Graham Lambkin]

This week, Dev Hynes from Lightspeed Champion announced the follow-up album to his 2008 debut, Falling Off the Lavender Bridge. The new album is happily titled Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You and is due out on Domino February 1. According to the press release, the new album contains 12 songs, two instrumental intermissions, and even one piano étude (which is “a short composition for a solo instrument; intended as an exercise or to demonstrate technical virtuosity” according to The Free Dictionary). None of that is really as important as the artwork, though. It’s time to start placing bets on if Hynes can top the ridiculousness of his 2008 album artwork. Maybe this time he’ll be holding a kitten and wearing a different-colored sweater. The possibilities are endless!

Tracklisting:

1. Dead Head Blues
2. Marlene
3. There’s Nothing Underwater
4. Intermission
5. Faculty of Fears
6. The Big Guns of Highsmith
7. Romart
8. I Don’t Want to Wake Up Alone
9. Madame Van Damme
10. Smooth Day (At the Library)
11. Intermission 2
12. Sweetheart
13. Étude Op.3 ‘Goodnight Michalek’
14. Middle of the Dark
15. A Bridge and a Goodbye

If you’re either (a) one of those extremely Type A people who really likes making lists/getting a ridiculously huge head start on things or (b) have heard any of the tracks for Clipd Beaks’ forthcoming album To Realize, you might want to start making your Top 10 Records of the Year list early. But like, 2010 early, because the album hits stores on January 26 via Lovepump United Records, home to HEALTH, AIDS Wolf, Indian Jewelry, and others. The Oakland-based group has previously released two fantastic albums of post-punk noise, and if you’ll give me a second, I’ll show you someone with two thumbs and a really big desire to put this record on loud and on repeat: this lady! I’m not alone, either — Time Out and Stereogum are also talking up these guys.

To Realize tracklisting:

1. Strangler
2. Blood
3. Broke Life
4. Visions
5. Home
6. Atoms
7. Dust
8. Desert Highway Music
9. Jamn
10. On One
11. Shot on a Horse

Those Midlake boys sure are a rustic bunch. They seem like the kind of folks that only break their schedule of endless camping trips and whittling sessions to write some songs about the mountains and bandits and the old country. Apparently the whittling block has seen a lot of use the last couple of years, as the Denton, Texas-based group has refrained from releasing a record since 2006’s The Trials of Van Occupanther (TMT Review). Perhaps they’ve busy been observing the growth patterns of the North Red Oak Encroaching Fern. Perhaps you think that’s a real plant and not something I just made up.

Whatever it is that has been possessing Midlake’s attention the last three years, it’s over now, as the band has finished their third LP, The Courage of Others. Recorded at their custom-built studio in Denton, the record is set for a February 2 release via Bella Union. In the days leading up to the album’s release, the band will embark on a short East Coast tour. Or at least a tentatively short tour, as more dates are said to be announced soon. Being the group’s first live dates since 2007, the trek breaks another long silence for Midlake. Unless, I suppose, they played a show in a secluded forest somewhere. I wouldn’t be too surprised.

The Courage of Others tracklist:

1. Acts of Man
2. Winter Dies
3. Small Mountain
4. Core of Nature
5. Fortune
6. Rulers, Ruling All Things
7. Children of the Grounds
8. Bring Down
9. The Horn
10. The Courage of Others
11. In The Ground

Midlake tourdates:

01.05.10 - Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon
01.06.10 - Tallahassee, FL - Engine Room
01.07.10 - Orlando, FL - The Social
01.08.10 - St. Augustine, FL - Cafe Eleven
01.09.10 - Mt. Pleasant, SC - Village Tavern
01.10.10 - Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle
01.11.10 - Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone
01.12.10 - Little Rock, AR - Rev Room