New Superchunk EP!

N.C. indie rock legends Superchunk have announced the release of Leaves In The Gutter, a brand-new five-track EP. Only one cut is previously released, the until-now vinyl-only "Misfits and Mistakes," originally intended for use in the "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" movie.

This is the first wide-release CD for Superchunk since 2001's Here's To Shutting Up. The band will play at the Coachella festival, and it's probably pretty safe to assume they'll make an appearance at Merge's 20th Anniversary festival in July.

Leaves In The Gutter tracklist below:
01 Learned to Surf
02 Misfits & Mistakes
03 Screw It Up
04 Knock Knock Knock
05 Learned to Surf (acoustic demo)

CyTunes launches at midnight tonight (12/12/08)

Cy Rawls, a longtime friend and fan of the Triangle music scene, lost his battle against a malignant brain tumor in early October. But his friends haven't forgotten. CyTunes.org, a digital music retailer started with the intention to benefit Cy's mounting medical bills couldn't be completed in time, but the organizers soldiered on anyhow, shifting the site's monetary benefactor from the Raws family to the Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University.

Here is a list of artists whose music will available on CyTunes at launch:

Studio Tracks:

All Night
Chew Toy
The Dirty Little Heaters
Evil Wiener
The Ex-Monkeys
The Flute Flies
Greenades
Hammer No More The Fingers
I Was Totally Destroying It
Josh Zaslow
Mercury Birds
The Nein
Red Collar
Ryan Pound
Starmount
Wes Phillips

Live Tracks:

Superchunk
Polvo
The Rosebuds
Birds Of Avalon
Cantwell Gomez and Jordan
Fin Fang Foom
Magic Babies
Double Negative


** For more info on what CyTunes is about: http://test.cytunes.org/about/about_cytunes.html

**For more info about Cy Rawls: http://test.cytunes.org/about/about_cy.html

**For more info about the Tisch Brain Tumor Center: http://test.cytunes.org/about/about_tisch.html

New Mountain Goats EP available for download

The ever prolific, Durham-residing John Darnielle has made a triumphant return to the EP-format, releasing not one, but two tour-only 7-inches for his "The Last Happy Night of Your Life" tour with Kaki King. One is the Black Pear Tree EP, a six-song collaborative piece with King--the first 200 of which are to be printed on colored vinyl, so take note, collectors. (You can stream "Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is In Another Castle," from the Black Pear Tree EP on Pitchfork).

But it's the four-song Satanic Messiah EP, limited to 666 physical copies (clever, eh?), that Darnielle has made available for download at the convenient price of whatever you want at satanicmessiah.com.

Both EPs were recorded by Scott Solter at his Baucom Road studio is Western N.C.

The only Carolinas date on the tour is a Nov. 5 stop at Carrboro's esteemed Cat's Cradle. For those willing to travel some, tour dates are listed below.

October
13 - Chicago, IL, Park West
14 - Milwaukee, WI, Pabst Theatre
15 - Omaha, NE, The Slowdown
17 - Denver, CO, Bluebird Theater
18 - Salt Lake City, UT, In the Venue
20 - Seattle, WA, Showbox
21 - Portland, OR, Wonder Ballroom
23 - San Francisco, CA, the Independent
24 - San Francisco, CA, the Fillmore
25 - Los Angeles CA , Troubadour
26 - Los Angeles CA, Troubadour
28 - San Diego, CA, the Belly Up Tavern
29 - Tucson, AZ, Club Congress
31 - Lubbock, TX, Tequila Jungle

November
1 - Austin, TX, Antones
2 - Dallas, TX, Granada Theatre
3 - New Orleans, LA Republic
5 - Chapel Hill, NC, Cat's Cradle
6 - Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
7 - Philadelphia, PA, Theatre of the Living Arts
8 - Brooklyn, NY, Music Hall of Williamsburg
9 - New York, NY, Webster Hall

Seth Kauffman = Floating Action

Black Mountain, N.C.'s resident lo-fi soul groove whiz kid, Seth Kauffman, is now operating under the moniker Floating Action. To make matters even more confusing, Kauffman's been in the studio working on his next album, titled, you guessed it, Floating Action.

A brief statement from Kauffman, er, Floating Action's label, Park The Van Records reads, "You'll eventually see everything on our site that refers to Mr. Kauffman's shady shady past as the new phoenix from the mire, Floating Action -- but until then, enjoy the confusion."

Enjoy it we will. Floating Action recently dropped by the Daytrotter studios to record a session, unveiling the new nomenclature as well as three new songs. Chack that out here.

Red Collar unveils new recordings

Ever since the release of The Hands Up EP in March of 2007, Durham-based Red Collar's increasingly large fanbase has been clamoring for the promised full-length follow-up, recorded by Brian Paulson, and tentatively titled Pilgrim.

The LP is still without a release date, or even a label to back it.

But, as of today, four cuts from the unreleased record are available to tease eager ears via MySpace. Three of the featured tracks are re-recorded songs from the EP, "Stay," "Hands Up" and "Used Guitars," but "Rust Belt Heart" will be new to anybody that didn't get a chance to download the band's live session at Duke University's radio station, WXDU, a few months back.

Red Collar at Myspace

photo by Allie Mullin.