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Hey Neutral Milk Hotel fans - your favorite band just put out a new album! Their first in nine years! This is huge!

Rock Plaza Central - My Children, Be Joyful.

Okay, so this isn't Neutral Milk Hotel, and I'm kind of an ass for focusing on the similarity, but isn't it kind of uncanny? Also, I think this record, Are We Not Horses, is damn solid work. I don't know if they had NMH in mind when they wrote and recorded, but there seems to be a torch-passing thing going on here, and it's really well-done.

That's Rock Plaza Central singer and guitarist Chris Eaton, backed up by six musicians. The press info says the record is about "robotic horses who think they are real horses - for real," and I haven't listened close enough to the whole thing to confirm that plotline. But sure, why not? The more important thing here is that these guys are on the crazy side, and we're all better for it. Are We Not Horses is one of the best records I've heard this year, and I recommend you pick it up.

You can order the record directly from Yep Roc, the label who released Are We Not Horses last week.

The Teenagers - “Homecoming” (YouTube)

I’ve already seen this video on like almost every blog I subscribe to… but it’s just too perfect not to repost for the millionth time. So much love for The Teenagers.

Ah… in the past six months they’ve remixed like every trendy band ever. The band has become so much more than just an Internet favorite. It makes me all weepy like they’re all grown up now and headed off into the big bad world of booking agents and record labels.

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Though tickets were still available as of yesterday morning, by 10PM Webster was a sea of mostly middle-aged bodies, on hand to take in the live style of quintessential power pop gurus Fountains Of Wayne. Traffic And Weather may not be up to snuff with Fountains Of Wayne or Welcome Interstate Managers, but it does have its moments -- and the band's near perfect setlist (sadly, no "Red Dragon Tattoo") dug catalogue-deep and aimed to please. On hand for the evening's festivities were local indie rock celebs Albert Hammond, Jr. and the ubiquitous Iha (stop stalking us, James), and a three-man horn section whom FoW brought out after "Hey Julie." Chris's voice was shot from some strain of illness, so Jody had us sing the hook of second encore "Bright Future In Sales."

Actually, this was round two with FoW for us this week; we caught 'em rock the Apple store in SoHo Friday night. Was a short set there, couple of tunes they'd repeat at Webster ("Hackensack," "Yolanda Hayes," "Joe Rey") -- and at both shows, a very psyched crowd. (Also, the sound system at Apple is amazing. Why did we not know this? Feel stupid for missing that Rapture show way back when.) Take the jump for more pics, setlist supplies, and video of the crowd-enhanced "Bright Future In Sales."

The genre-splicing, conceptual-mindfuck maelstrom that is Battles first full-length will finally see release late next month, though good web trolls like yourselves have already seen the stellar, Mirrored vid for their kick-ass "Atlas." Much as we love the more challenging stuff on this album ("Race:In" to "Atlas" may be the most ambitiously gratifying one-two album opener of '07), the track we have for ya comes as a stop for breath on the tracklist, a relatively static, metronomic groove-based workout, welding quirky filtered vox to Battles deep-pocket funk.

Battles - "Leyendecker" (MP3)

From there it's back to the math, though, with the progged-up slammer "Rainbow." If you can't tell, we love these guys. The avant rockers' opus Mirrored is out 5/22 on Warp. After the jump, behind the scenes of the "Atlas" video.

Dontcha just hate kids sometimes….the ones who grew up just assuming that doing amazing tricks like a 720 alleyoop inverted aerial mctwist were normal.  They spent all their time watching videos of professionals doing trick after trick then took their boards out and did those tricks b/c they didn’t know any better. Now those 8 year olds are professional boarders. Ya, well the same thing is happening with dj’s, too.  Sleazy V aka Victor Ramos is making jaws drop all over So-Cal.  This 20 year old’s repertoire isn’t simply limited to bangers…he can throw anything in from Dolly Parton’s ‘9 to 5′ to Surkin and make it f’in seamless (yes, even sans serrado).  Not only does he have magic fingers in mixing, but he’s busy producing his own music (which, as we all know, is where the notoriety is these days).  So even though he’s been blowin out soundsystems in clubs from tijuana to LA, he’s technically not even allowed in…..shhhhh, dont tell anyone.

p.s. that’s not a photo of him above…just a visibly excited (cold?) fan.

Sleazy V- Enjoy the Mix

playlist (more…)

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NY Mag broke the sad news that our local neighborhood nightlife scene was about to deteriorate further, as one of the most beautiful People, Pete Wentz, has decided to invade the East Village with a bar that serves as a refuge for society's cast offs. We support the idea of inclusiveness, naturally. It's just the Fall Out Boy part of the idea that hurts. Well, Wentz expanded on the bar's mission statement:

This is a bar for all the rejects, Whoever comes, comes...

Awesome! So you can totally hang out with Fall Out Boy. Right, Pete?

...but basically, we can only hold 200 people, so when we hit capacity, we hit capacity.

Got it. Get there early...

Though my friends will always get in.

OK, so get there early, and hope Gym Class Heroes don't turn up? What if they come later?

Maybe we could just toss the boring people out. If you’re not dancing, there’s somebody else who will.

Oh, cool. So you mean it'll be just like all those selective trendy bullshit places we already hate, only you'll be the one to own it. In our hood. This is great!

Whatever, of course we're still curious. Thanks to this UrbanDaddy review of Angels & Kings, we know what to expect.

Is it midnight already? "Icky Thump" made its way into the hands of XFM DJs before it even stood a shot over at iTunes, and the requisite radio rip is available for your consumption at Web Vomit. "Icky" literally thumps through the verses, Jack plying on the keys, rattling off some slick-tongued rants (sounding sorta Adrockish for a sec in verse three), and offering concert goers at least one easily memorable lyric for concert fest chant back purposes (i.e. "la la la la la").

Frenetic and adorable Swedish indie pop troupe Love Is All edited together some home footage of their sessions recording the follow-up to the spazztastic Stereofave 9 Times The Same Song. You'll see how the band pulls together their characteristic, repetitive chants (i.e. slowly and hilariously). May be a stretch, but this song is likely titled "If You Mind Your Business (I'll Mind Mine)." Or it should be.

Those MySpace blog posts not offering enough insight into the condition of Lily's psyche? P4K is there to help, taking advantage of Ms. Allen's newfound free time by asking about her favorite shit in the world. But Lil's got her own, albeit predictable, spin on things. Asked about her favorite band, she offered her least favorite instead:

I hate that band The View: they're Worst New Band. I think they sound like a cross between the Proclaimers and Arctic Monkeys. But I like the Arctic Monkeys.

Her favorite video game? The Sims, obviously. But how about the best thing on the telly?

Actually, I watched a show Sunday night before last called Brothers & Sisters-- with Ally McBeal in it, or whatever her name is... Calista Flockhart-- which I really liked.

So, not always predictable. Haven't seen Brothers & Sisters, but we always pegged her for an Office sorta girl. At least something a bit more cheeky with a lot more booze.

Unless you were born with one of those silver spoons, you likely work a day job, sneaking time for your own business when not taking care of someone else's. You're not alone. Every week, Brandon Stosuy finds out how our favorite indie artists make ends meet...

Before beginning this week's installment, please offer a round of applause to Gregg Gillis, a.k.a Girl Talk, who recently gave notice at his job. In case you forgot or missed it, Gregg debuted Quit You Day Job back in February with a discussion about biomedical engineering. Always looking for a follow-up, I contacted him yesterday to see how he felt about ditching the 9-5: