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It's been a tough to keep up with just how many of our favorite bands were dropping new material in '07, and Tim DeLaughter's solution is one to grab even the most ADD-addled blogger: ditch the rainbow robes, don the black parade fatigues, and tease the forthcoming record in a coherent, seamless mashup. This track comprises bits from all eleven cuts from The Fragile Army, perfect for the Ritalin set, still enough to whet you Spree fiends' appetites for a few weeks. We even get a little promo pitch from Tim in the coda.

The Polyphonic Spree - "Fragile Army Mashup" (MP3)

Wow. Yes, we just got a whole lot more excited, too. The Fragile Army is out 6/19 on TVT. Sucks to have to wait 'til June, but that gives you plenty of time to cop the new Polyphonic threads.

Weeks later, our initial take on Wolf Parader Dan Boeckner's project Handsome Furs holds up: Plague Park is a creepy, brooding beast. "What We Had"'s crestfallen, synth-laden, spaghetti-western folk is our fave from the record. Grab it.

Handsome Furs - "What We Had" (MP3)

For more Handsome Furs goodness, Dan and fiancée Alexie Perry's vid for "Dumb Animals" is worth the time away from your work project. Plague Park is out 5/22 on Sub Pop.

The Furs have some dates lined up through May, listed after the jump.

It'd be tragic if Elliott Smith became indie rock's Tupac. After the initial excitement of a new, unreleased chapter had passed, From A Basement On The Hill felt alien. That won't happen with New Moon: Its two-dozen spare, achy, candlelit songs, recorded between 1994-1997, are immediately at home with vintage Kill Rock Stars Smith, the period we've always liked best (apologies XO and Figure 8 maniacs).

Respect to Larry Crane, archivist of Smith's estate, who handled and mixed the material with care—he rarely tweaks too noticeably (bumps in the night remain). It's a pristine, profoundly human sound. As anyone who saw Smith play live knows, the last thing the guy needed was polish, so it's a pleasure to listen to something as raw as the hushed midnight prayers of "Placeholder" (hear the intake of air toward the end?).

Barcelona-based DJ Guillermo Scott Herren is better known and loved as glitch-heavy auteur Prefuse 73, but this post is about his acoustic alter-ego, Savath & Savalas. His new record under the S&S moniker spans 16 tracks of lush, electro-stained, polyrhythmic mood music, with Herren providing most vocals and performing on Venezuelan and Puerto Rican cuatros, the Cuban tres, flamenco guitars, various Latin percussion, vibraphone, electric bass, concertina, Moog synthesizer, and harmonium.

The record also pulls vocal support from Jose Gonzalez and Tyondai Braxton of Stereofave Battles. Golden Pollen deconstructs digitally-altered acoustic music as much as it celebrates; in other words, play it to analyze, or just to impress at your next cocktail party. "Ya Verdad" is the undeniable "single" of the bunch, Savath & Savalas going for wholesome harmonies and hearth-warming melodies. Check it.

Savath & Savalas - "Ya Verdad" (MP3)

Here, he jams with Juana Molina.

Hear another from the record ("Apnea Obstructiva") at MySpace. Golden Pollen is out 6/19 on Anti-.

Thanks to all who took our Volta Photoshop This! challenge. As always, the graphic designers among you impressed us. Of course we received hundreds of thousands of entries, but sorted out the cream of the crop for your voting consideration. Yes, some people submitted multiple entries, which increases their chances of winning. We never specified one entry per person (oops), so we'll up the prizing and give away Björk's Volta (when it's released) to the top three most lauded artists. Take a gander after the jump, then sound off in the comments. And if you scored an early download of the album, free free to engage in some premature evaluation.

There were two good reasons to tune in to last night's very special American Idol Gives Back telethon: (1) to secure the relevant telephone number and make a donation; and (2) to witness the debacle that would be Celine Dion's virtual duet with Elvis Presley. And yet the charity drive special had an irresistible pull on our Coachella-distracted minds. Was it watching Gwyneth Paltrow dancing with Helen Mirren to "Staying Alive"? Or maybe Jack Black's satirical singing (a first, for sure) of Seal's "Kiss From A Rose"? (Worth it for Kyle Gass's reaction shots.) Sounds like fun, right? It wasn't.

The Spiderman 3 soundtrack caught us all off guard with its indie-friendly roster of artists offering original contributions, and though the Walkmen, YYYs, and Black Mountain tracks are all impressive (particularly that Black Mountains cut, so good), you're most curious about Coyne and Co.'s offering, originally titled "Spiderman Vs. Muhammad Ali." How Wayne planned on roping Cassius into the Spidey saga, we had to know. Later, the Lips changed the track title to the equally awesome "The Supreme Being Teaches Spiderman How To Be In Love."

Apparat - Arcadia (shorter version)

This is going to be one of those times where I tell you about something I like, but it is not going to be available for you for a while yet, so I apologize in advance. I'm sorry. I know you don't like to wait.

The new Apparat album, Walls, is coming out in the middle of May, and I think it will be worth the wait. According to Apparat (aka Sascha Ring) the thirteen tracks on the album are the refined results of over 70 unfinished tracks he had begun working on over the past few years. Four of the songs feature vocals from Raz Ohara, who also appeared on Apparat's Silizium EP, and a few of the songs feature vocals by Ring himself, marking the first time he has sung on a record - in fact, this song (which also appears on Ellen Allien's Fabric Mix) is one of them.

The music itself is downright gorgeous too: a solid combination of popping electro tracks (as in his collaboration with Allien, Orchestra of Bubbles), and loads of actual acoustic instrumentation and strings, with barely-there electronics. Ring is quoted in the press release for the record saying that he "was bored of too much programming. My studio is quite a playground these days. Lots of instruments", and it shows in the wide-ranging sonics of the record. Oh, and interestingly enough, the final mixing of the record was done by Josh Eustis, of Telefon Tel Aviv, who are closely tied to our friends at Hefty.

Walls is being released by Shitkatapult, the label Ring co-founded with Marco Haas, aka T.Raumschmiere, on May 15th. The first single for the record, "Hold On", is out now (I think) and features some excellent remixes by Modeselektor and the Funkst??rung follow-up project Chris De Luca vs. Phon.o. Walls will be available via our friends at Forced Exposure and iTunes here in the US, and from the usual Europe sources, like my favorites Picadilly or Boomkat, or direct from Shitkatapult's online store.

Highly recommended.

Jack and Meg have never really "done" Canada before -- at least not in a touring capacity -- so a couple of weeks after festivals in Europe and one in Manchester, TN (i.e. Bonnaroo), the Stripes will embark on an exhaustive exploration of our neighbor to the north. Said Jack White:

Having never done a full tour of Canada, Meg and I thought it was high time to go whole hog. We want to take this tour to the far reaches of the Canadian landscape. From the ocean to the permafrost. The best way for us to do that is ensure that we perform in every province and territory in the country, from the Yukon to Prince Edward Island. Another special moment of this tour is the show which will occur in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia on July 14th, The White Stripes’ Tenth Anniversary.

After they're done trudging through the permafront, the duo's got similar plans for the States, hitting first-time stops including Wilmington, DE and Southaven, MS, in addition to shows at Madison Square Garden and Boston's Agganis Arena. Take the jump for the dates.

Alex Kapranos and Erol Alkan spread New Order synth luster all over Franz Ferdinand's take on LCD's "All My Friends" -- so maybe we're just in that mode, but John Cale's version sounds like "Isolation" off of Joy Division's Closer, just with a James Murphy melody, right down to Cale's Curtis-sized delivery. For the trifecta, the "All My Friends" single also will have LCD covering Joy Division. There's a connection in there, somewhere. Hear Cale's cover at myspace.com/dfarecords.