“Boy,” the first single from Ra Ra Riot’s sophomore album The Orchard, is available now at iTunes, where it can be purchased along with “Keep It Quiet (Bear)” (a stripped down version of The Orchard track that the band previewed last month) and a cover of Sparks’ “Saccharin and the War.” The track “Boy” is currently streaming at Stereogum and available as a free MP3 via rarariot.com.

Buy Ra Ra Riot’s “Boy” on iTunes:
http://bit.ly/itunesboy

Due out August 24^th on Barsuk Records (U.S.) and Arts & Crafts (Canada), The Orchard was hailed this week by NPR as “Incredible… An epic album with soaring strings and fat bass lines,” and is now available for pre-order. The Orchard will be issued in standard physical and digital versions, as well as a number of special editions including limited colored vinyl, and a bonus DVD featuring a beautiful 38 minute impressionist behind-the-scenes documentary on the writing and making of The Orchard directed by Taryn Gould and Emily Kowalczyk. To place pre-orders and/or view a full list of configurations, go to http://bit.ly/preorchard.

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Stereogum Premieres the Track “TAOS” for Free Download

“With Mines, this Portland trio continues what they started on their epic debut I Am The Fun Blame Monster! and builds upon their ingenious third album, Friend and Foe. Magical.” - Filter

Menomena, the acclaimed Portland, OR art-rock trio, will release their fourth full-length record, Mines, July 27th on Barsuk Records (and July 30th in Germany, and August 2nd in the UK and the rest of Europe, all on City Slang). The record is now streaming in its entirety as part of National Public Radio’s Exclusive First Listen series.

Listen to Menomena’s Mines [Barsuk Records] in full on NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128568845

Additionally, our friends at Stereogum are offering the track “TAOS” for free download, right here:

Download and share Menomena’s “TAOS” from Mines [Barsuk Records]:
http://stereogum.com/442631/menomena-taos-stereogum-premiere/mp3s/

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The praise being bestowed upon LA’s Local Natives is thanks, in large part, to the gloriously arranged harmonies and relentless energy that propels Gorilla Manor to places like the #11 spot on NPR’s recently-released Best of 2010 reader’s poll. The rest of the thanks is owed to the band’s stage show, an imposing wall of voices, sweat and roiling vigor. You can hear and see a bit of both on the band’s recent stop in AOL’s LA offices, where the Natives tore through characteristically emphatic renditions of Manor faves “Sun Hands,” “Airplanes,” “World News” and “Wide Eyes.” The performances are available to watch, embed or download over on AOL Spinner.

Watch Local Natives Perform On AOL’s Interface:
http://www.spinner.com/interface/local-natives

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Vinnie Paz has had a career spanning almost two decades, co-founding the legendary Jedi Mind Tricks as well as East Coast indie supergroup Army of the Pharaohs, and he’s showing no signs of slowing down.  This week, the underground MC has ventured out on his own with his solo debut, Season of the Assassin, out now via Enemy Soil. Hip Hop DX calls Season of the Assassin, “an exciting break from the usual JMT formula, with Paz hitting his stride as a lyricist and showing a different and more fully-rounded side to his craft.”

The album features a virtual who’s who of artists and producers, including Beanie Sigel, Clipse, Freeway, Paul Wall, ILL Bill, and R.A. the Rugged Man.  Vinnie unleashed the first video, “Keep Movin’ On” featuring Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), on his official website last week.  Check it out below.

Watch “Keep Movin’ On” featuring Shara Worden:
http://www.jmthiphop.com/vinnie-paz-keep-movin-on-video

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RJD2 has once again penned a personal note to fans to announce his latest album, Inversions of the Colossus, in stores now from his label, RJ’s Electrical Connections. See below for the full message and check out http://www.RJsElectricalConnections.com for more on Inversions of the Colossus.

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Band is the First Signing to Legendary Label Recently Relaunched by Richard Gottehrer and Seymour Stein

Today, record label Blue Horizon announced it has signed Austin-based psychedelic rock band, The Black Angels.  The Black Angels third album, and first release on Blue Horizon, is the highly anticipated Phosphene Dream, which is set for release on September 14th in the US and September 13th in the UK.  Phosphene Dream marks a giant leap forward for the band.  Produced and mixed by Dave Sardy (Oasis, Wolfmother, Black Mountain) over a period of six months in Los Angeles, the album shows off both sonically and musically a bold new direction for The Black Angels, a fresh take on the neo-Psychedelic movement they’ve been at the forefront of for years.  The band premiered the first track off the record on Stereogum today.

Listen to The Black Angels’ “Bad Vibrations” from Phosphene Dream [Blue Horizon]:
http://theblackangels.com/stream/bad-vibrations/

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Philadelphia duo Dutch released one of the year’s most exciting debuts this week via their label Enemy Soil, and it’s streaming in all of its dreamy trip-hop-esque glory through the weekend on AOL Spinner.  A Bright Cold Day is the phantasmagorical journey through the dreams of Jedi Mind Tricks’ production sage Stoupe The Enemy of Mankind, combined with the rich and soulful vocals of Liz Fullerton. Three years in the making, the album is a landmark in the collaboration between Stoupe and Fullerton. First meshing ideas on the Jedi Mind Tricks tracks “Razorblade Salvation” and “Death Messiah,” the duo was inspired to create a new project together which would take them in a different direction, and Dutch was born.

Dutch’s music is a flavorful departure from JMT’s hardcore hip hop sound into blissful martini-dry and scotch-smooth sips of eclectic brilliance. Taking influence from classic trip-hop artists like Portishead and Massive Attack, A Bright Cold Day is a dark genre-busting time machine that transports the listener to a barstool in the kind of smoky nightclub which James Bond would be most likely to frequent. Just like 007, this album is timeless, sophisticated, and travels to exotic places that are sure to leave you shaken, not stirred.

Stream Dutch’s A Bright Cold Day [Enemy Soil] on AOL Spinner:
http://bit.ly/ayMlHW

more after the jump…

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Seattle sludge masters Melvins are gearing up for the release of their TWENTIETH album, The Bride Screamed Murder, this June, and yesterday the band premiered the massive first track from it on AOL Noisecreep. Like all Melvins album openers, “The Water Glass” doesn’t hold anything back, hitting like a sucker punch with serious riffage and heavy drums that rock your face. The surprise comes close to the 2-minute mark, with a military marching cadence that is so utterly Melvins that you wonder why they’ve never done this kind of thing before. Check it out below.

Stream Melvins’ “The Water Glass” from The Bride Screamed Murder [Ipecac Recordings] on AOL Noisecreep:
http://www.noisecreep.com/2010/05/24/melvins-the-water-glass-song-premiere/

MP3 download:
http://dailyrindblog.com/audio/melvins_thewaterglass.mp3

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Mines Tracklisting And Album Cover Debut on Pitchfork

Menomena, the Portland, OR, based trio, will release their fourth full-length record, Mines, July 27th on Barsuk Records (and in Europe July 26th on City Slang). Fans can now download the album track “Five Little Rooms” via www.menomena.com/mines (or, for you Twitter users, tweet #menomenaMINES).

Pitchfork debuted the album cover and tracklisting earlier today, right here: http://pitchfork.com/news/38849-new-menomena-five-little-rooms/

In keeping with the band’s tradition of engaging interactive packaging (see I Am The Fun Blame Monster’s flip book, and Friend & Foe’s intricate die-cut puzzle), what look like identical front- and back-cover images for Mines are actually slightly different stereographic photos, visible as a three-dimensional single image if the curious viewer crosses his/her/its eyes just right.

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Denmark’s Under Byen (Danish for ‘under the city’) released their fourth album of dark, moody orchestral pop today.  Just awarded a 7.6 by Pitchfork, Alt Er Tabt (All Is Lost) is the band’s first studio LP since 2006’s internationally-acclaimed Samme Stof Som Stof, and it’s the band’s third release on Paper Bag Records.

Under Byen broke the music world open with 2006’s North American release of their album Samme Stof Som Stof. The band performed the album all over the world, including in such unconventional locations as an 18th-century Belgian house and a Swedish forest.

“A lot has happened in the band since we released Samme Stof Som Stof four years ago,” says Nils Gröndahl. “Thorbjørn, who played the piano, has left the band, and being without him has in some way turned us into a new band. He wrote most of the music, but on Alt Er Tabt everyone in the band has contributed to the songwriting.”

Listen to “Alt Er Tabt” from Under Byen’s Alt Er Tabt [Paper Bag Records]:

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