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]

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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

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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.

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MySpace has lost a lot of ground to Facebook over the last few years and, now with its purchase of imeem, hopes to transform itself into an entertainment destination. The music networking site was acquired for between $8-10 million and Wired reports the majority of this is for imeem’s key staff to help with MySpace’s aforementioned transition.

The acquisition represents a significant loss considering Warner Music Group "injected an estimated $30 to $35 million into imeem." News Corp are hoping to utilize the talents of iLike co-founders the Partovi brothers and imeem founder Dalton Caldwell to help the site "become more popular as a place to watch videos and listen to music, which has always been its core strength." imeem currently streams music from all four of the major labels although a "source tells CNET that one of the labels exited imeem a few weeks ago."

So, Rupert Murdoch, major labels, and social networking in an all-in-one entertainment venture. I think I’ll pass on this Unholy Trinity, thanks!

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Hey now, Vampire Weekend may not have been included in the who’s who hit list of bands on the Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack (um, or were they? It all kinda runs together at this point, doesn’t it?), but they’ll be damned if they’re gonna let you forget just how comparable to Death Cab they are in the genial, hospitable, popular, friendly, adorable-ruffian-like-Fonzie-from-Happy-Days Department.

So without further ado, these happy-go-lucky ragamuffins are proud-as-punch to announce a round of tourdates supporting the release of their forthcoming album Contra, which drops January 12, 2010 on XL. The album’s first single, “Cousins,” is available digitally right now, and the 7-inch will be in stores on December 15. It’s probably about stuff that you can all like totally relate to and shit... you know, like having cousins. Stressful, right? Anyway, this year’s remaining dates appear below.

In other news, did I really need to qualify the name “Fonzie” up there as being “from Happy Days?" I mean, how stupid do I think you are, anyway?

11.23.09 - Sydney, Australia - Notes on Enmore
12.10.09 - Portland, OR, Crystal Ballroom
12.11.09 - Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena
12.12.09 - La Jolla, CA - RIMAC Arena/UC San Diego
12.13.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Gibson Amphitheater
12.15.09 - Seattle, WA - WaMu Theater
01.12.10 - Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater
01.17.10 - New York, NY - United Palace Theater
01.18.10 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
01.19.10 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom

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