EASE DOWN THE ROAD

Little Brother Radio (WBOI 89.1, NPR’s Fort Wayne affiliate) is currently working to continue the weekly interview segment of their popular Saturday night program which airs 9 p.m.-midnight each week. Luckily for us, they let Ease Down the Road play along from time to time, offering their airwaves while we chat up some of our favorite artists. Tune in to the Brother’s July 5 show to hear EDtR interview Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Tift Merritt about her excellent new album, Another Country. Merritt was a dynamo, armed with a silver-tongued gift of gab. She offered unthinkably quick-witted, insightful and funny answers to EDtR’s questions without so much as a breath of thought. Also be sure to tune in on July 12, a show that will see EDtR chatting it up with another of our favorites, Silver Jews honcho David Berman, who recently spoke with us about his just-released new record, Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea. Other interviews in the coming weeks include Junior League, The Orange Opera, Luego and another EDtR segment with Phil Elverum (The Microphones, Mount Eerie), amongst others. Stay tuned to www.myspace.com/littlebroradio for details.

By releasing a four-disc box set full of B-sides and rarities, The Jesus & Mary Chain are doing what I’ve forever wanted many of my favorite bands to do. (Well, actually, I’ve long hoped for a new auteur, you know, with some groundbreaking visual approach – natch – to come along and score an atmosphere-focused film with never-before-heard Radiohead B-sides. A dweeb’s dream.) TJMC will release their box o’ shoegazer gold on September 30 via Rhino Records. There will be at least two complete albums worth of fully baked non-album tracks from the band’s classic early era that should overjoy casual fans who never bought the band’s little-known 1988 collection of rarities, Barbed Wire Kisses. Also included, as per the usual, will be a whole gang of unneeded alternative versions of album tracks, a poster and some other goodies. And, yes, the Brothers Chain are still working on a comeback album. Ehh.

New pop diva Katy Perry’s debut album, One of the Boys, might not be doing quite as well as her label, Capitol Records, figured, but her current single, “I Kissed a Girl” is, as of press time, the No. 1 song in America. I’ve been following Perry for a year or so now, trying to get an interview with her so as to ask all the tough questions about her hasty (read: questionable) career change. (For those still unfamiliar with Perry, in less than a year she went from being the “next big thing” in Christian pop to a scantily clad, chain-smoking, middle finger-throwing diva who makes raunchy pop hits.) Yeah, sure, she might be a complete waste of hype, airplay and endcap priority – not to mention words in this column – to most, but as far as bigger-than-life personalities go, I’m intrigued. Also, she’s a pop princess who plays guitar and says and does a bunch of weird, naughty stuff. Her music, however, is, well … I’ve not really even heard it. Not really. I tolerated about 30 seconds of her breakout hit, “Ur So Gay” (not even kidding about that title) before writing her off as just another pretty face – albeit one with a seemingly very unique, erratic personality. Prediction: Perry ends up on TV or in movies. The gal is a face, not a voice.

Sir Robert Pollard, fresh off the release of his passable-at-best new record, Is Off to Business, just announced that he will release a collaborative album with his brand new band, Boston Spaceships. Joining Pollard for this venture will be drummer John Moen (The Jicks, The Decemberists, Perhapst) and guitarist Chris Slusarenko (The Takeovers, Guided by Voices). Look for the band’s first album, Brown Submarine, to hit shelves on September 9. Also, if you’re curious at all to see if Brown Submarine will be the first essential Pollard release since Normal Happiness, dig around online until you find a site that’s still offering the album’s closer, “Go for the Exit,” for free download.

With record labels struggling and bands looking for inventive ways to try to get new era listeners to pay for their music, news of The Shins attempting to self-release their next album doesn’t really hit like a bombshell. Currently Sub Pop Record’s flagship current-catalog band, the label hopes to hold on to a portion of the revenue generated by Shins sales by offering their distribution, marketing and web services to James Mercer and the boys. Currently slated to hit the studio sometime in 2009 with The Shins, Mercer has been hinting around lately, implying that he may have another band in the works. Hey, the dude likes to keep his options open; nothing wrong with that.

Despite rumors that they’ve been butting heads with their new label, Epic Records, it appears that Indianapolis-based indie rockers Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos are getting quite a bit of support from the major label world as of late. Not only will the quirky pop band release a new EP – culled from their recently recorded Daytrotter Sessions – on July 29, but Epic will release two new Margot albums, titled Animal and Not Animal, on October 7. Animal, set to be only available on LP initially, is the album the band intended to release. Not Animal is an Epic-approved collection that will be released in CD and digital formats. Five songs will appear on both albums.

Out next week: Beck’s Danger Mouse-produced Modern Guilt, supposedly a trippy, creative album made for daydreamers; Ron Sexsmith’s Exit Strategy of the Soul, another batch of clearly penned, catchy and memorable Americana; Age of Rockets’ Hannah, a strange, blippy pop record that sounds like The Notwist on Red Bull; and, most importantly, Albert Hammond, Jr.’s awesomely poppy and cool Como Te Llama? The week after that will see new albums from The Hold Steady and Nas. EDtR also recommends picking up a copy of the recent Exile in Guyville reissue.