According to frontman Dick Valentine, “Zodiac is perhaps our most collaborative, most unique and most fun record, we also had nothing to do with it. You heard me. The experience of making a record called Zodiac has opened our eyes to how REAL all this shit is. The record was already made. All Electric Six did was not stand in the way.”

You heard it hear folks, this shit just got real.

The new record, which you can currently preview on MySpace, will drop September 28 on Metropolis.

Tracklisting:

1. After Hours
2.American Cheese
3.Clusterfuck!
4. Countdown to the Countdown
5. Doom and Gloom and Doom and Gloom
6. Jam It In The Hole
7.I Am A Song!
8. It Ain’t Punk Rock
9. Love Song For Myself
10. The Rubberband Man
11. Table and Chairs
12. Talking Turkey

This is Sufjan’s first release since the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway inspired BQE in 2009. The title track is supposed to be “a dramatic homage to the Apocalypse, existential ennui, and Paul Simon’s “Sounds of Silence.”” Wrap your head around that one…

Tracklisting:
1. All Delighted People (Original Version) – 11:38
2. Enchanting Ghost – 3:39
3. Heirloom – 2:55
4. From The Mouth Of Gabriel – 4:03
5. The Owl And The Tanager – 6:39
6. All Delighted People (Classic Rock Version) – 8:07
7. Arnika – 5:14
8. Djohariah – 17:03

Listen to the track below, and be sure to check out the John Hillcoat-directed music video for “Heathen Child” over at Pitchfork.

Grinderman – Super Heathen Child (with Robert Fripp) by MuteRecords

The Swell Season tackles Neutral Milk Hotel this week with a slightly more aggressive — but mostly straightforward — cover of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea‘s “Two-Headed Boy.”

The Swell Season covers Neutral Milk Hotel

Here’s the video, just released and packed with grainy footage of APTBS in the live and lots of flashing lights. Sian Alice Group’s Ben Crook directed the clip.

In other APTBS news, the band released a five-song EP in June where this track took front-and-center and received the remix treatment from the likes of Cereal Spiller, Broken Spindles and Secret Machines. Listen to the latter below, and download it here.

Exploding Head and the I Lived My Life To Stand In The Shadow Of Your Heart EP are both out now via Mute.

Earlier this month, the recently reviewed Fargo, ND threesome Secret Cities, stopped by the Elbo Room on Valencia St. in San Francisco. Here’s a video of the mellow Pink Graffiti album closer, “The End.”

Pink Graffiti is out now via Western Vinyl.

Animal Collective’s Dave Portner, also known as Avey Tare will be making his first solo mark with Down There, to be released October 26 on Paw Tracks and recorded by Collective companion Deakin.

This news leaves me with the question, “down where?” The album cover (above) features a crocodile head of sorts, the fourth track is called “glass bottom boat” and the Paw Tracks website claims that the aforementioned crocodile played a big role in the record. Hmm. Perhaps “down there” alludes waters infested with that particular beast? To expect a crocodile-themed concept album might be pushing our luck [Matthew Herbert, I'm looking at you - Ed.], but just being influenced by the ancient reptile seems pretty promising.

Down There:
01 Laughing Hieroglyphic
02 3 Umbrellas
03 Oliver Twist
04 Glass Bottom Boat
05 Ghost of Books
06 Cemeteries
07 Heads Hammock
08 Heather in the Hospital
09 Lucky 1

It really gets me going when the first song on a new (and much-anticipated) album makes me swoon on both a sexual and an intellectual level. Menomena’s “Queen Black Acid,” off their most recent album, Mines, does just that. Even more impressive is the equally stimulating bundle of tracks that follows. What girl wouldn’t like to hear, “You’re five-foot-five/not a 100 pounds/I’m scared to death/of every ounce” crooned over heavy brass? Maybe it’s me, but listeners can expect to be drawn in by catchy lyrics coupled with ever-changing delivery as the three Portland, Oregon natives share vocal duties on this new album.

It’s easy to classify Menomena as experimental, given the wide variety in sound found throughout their entire discography, which includes two previous LP’s I Am the Fun Blame Monnster! (2003) and Friend and Foe (2007), in addition to two EPs, Wet and Rustling (2003) and Under an Hour (2004). Add Mines to that list as well.

The acoustic grit of “Dirty Cartoons” reminds me of everything I like about live shows: hearing a stutter in a strum or a fault in what sounds like an otherwise perfect delivery. The simple addition of some piano also gives the track an impromptu feel, as if someone happned to lazily drag their fingers across the keyboard only make a splendid discovery.

A xylophone solo delicately opens the next track, “Tithe,” which became an instant personal favorite, if not for it’s simple beauty then for it’s heartbreaking lyrics: “Spending the best years of a childhood horizontal on the floor/like a bobsled minus the teamwork and the televised support/and nothing sounds appealing.” Driven and moody, the song showcases the band’s talent to create a surprise around every corner with a diverse selection of instruments—first a riffy guitar, next with bouncy bass, then a Korg-and-piano duet.

The second half of the album is more reminiscent of Menomena’s older work, specifically “BOTE,” which is heavy on the funk and brass. It tells a tale of reaping what you sow in a relatable “my boat is sinking and I’m lost” kind of way, while the vocals beg “Oh, sea legs please don’t fail me now!”

“Oh Pretty Boy, You’re Such a Big Boy” claims the longest song title of the album, yet has the least amount to say. Four or five lines are repeated over, driving home the track’s melancholy message:

All my life I’ve run away
From those who’ve begged me to stay
All your love is not enough
To fill my half empty cup
Your love, oh my love, is just not enough

The band has been criticized for feigning maturity, but I found Mines to be enjoyable without being too serious or calculated. This is evidenced in the last two tracks, “Sleeping Beauty” and “INTIL.” Here, Menomena find the perfect balance between what is ideal and what is real, pairing cohesive chords with sporadic, out of key movements, all without losing their sound. Perhaps that’s why Mines is such a success—it isn’t trying to be perfect. Rather the band seems to have let that fall behind a higher priority to mirror reality.

“Queen Black Acid”

These days, the mediums through which artists can present themselves abound: We’re in the midst of a momentous vinyl revival, and not far behind are the clicks of cassettes changing sides as their nostalgia seems to be having an ever-increasing influence on smaller music acts. On the other end of the spectrum is the Internet, where we can click, listen, watch, dig and tweet until our eyes are bloodshot.

Chicago, Illinois-based Colin Caulfield, a.k.a. Young Man, takes full advantage of the latter. Granted, most bands would be foolish not to use the Internet to spread their goods, but for Caulfield, it seems to be his birthing place.

The first time I heard Young Man was actually the first time I found SoundCloud, where his debut EP, Boy, was streaming in its entirety. For first time listeners of Caulfield’s music, I suggest starting from the same place. Boy is a concept work—about being five years old, playing in the backyard and the unfairness of life. Despite the latter item on that litany, the EP is a pleasant ride packed with excellent vocal harmonies and satisfying guitar work.

The reason you should begin with Boy and not, say, his extensive arsenal of YouTube covers (below), is because the EP is the first real output Young Man can claim as his own. One of my initial reactions to it was a subconscious revisit to a Sung Tongs state of mind. Lo and behold, the kid appreciates “Winters Love” as much as I do! I don’t like Caulfield’s music because he covers cool songs; rather, because the musical gene pool he selects from seems to be creating a solid offspring. Caulfield opens the blinds at the right angles where whatever influences you choose to pick out of his sound shine through to create a warm room that is his own.

Colin Caulfield covers Animal Collective’s Winters Love:

A more recent and unique cover of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti/Rockin’ Ramrod’s “Bright Lit Blue Skies”:

Earlier this month, Young Man was picked up by Frenchkiss Records. Boy gets an official U.S. release on August 31 (digital) and October 12 (physical). The EP is already out in Europe on Kitchen Music.

Bonus mp3: “Fate,” Caulfield’s latest non-Boy track.

Young Man tour dates:
08/04 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
08/09 Iowa City, IA – Gabes Oasis
08/21 Nashville, TN – THe Basement
08/22 St. Louis, MO – Off Broadway
08/25 Minneapolis, MN – 400 Bar
08/26 Chicago, IL – Schubas

Warren Hildebrand, a.k.a. Toronto’s Foxes in Fiction gives Memoryhouse’s recent dream pop hit, “Lately (Deuxième),” the cover treatment. Hildebrand’s version doesn’t deviate much from the original in terms of mood or style, keeping it on par with the Memoryhouse recording. Hildebrand explains that the track was recorded by “bouncing some of the guitar tracks to and from [a] tape machine about three times,” and without samples. His redux is below, along with the original Memoryhouse recording.

Foxes In Fiction’s debut album, Swung From the Branches, is available now via Orchid Tapes, a cassette based record label run by Mr. Hildebrand himself. Threw away your tape players? Orchid Tapes also offers the album up as a free download over at his blog.

Memoryhouse – “Lately (Deuxième)”