Ever since the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Microcastle’s premier, the folks of Deerhunter seem to have been keeping their progress shrouded from the public eye (can you blame them?). The absence of updates on their blog has left many geeks like myself to speculate on what they may be cooking up, but now we have our answer! Next month, Deerhunter are set to release their new EP Rainwater Cassette Exchange on Kranky!  This five-track offering was recorded at the Rare Book Room with with producer Nicolas Verhes.

We first heard the title track “Rainwater Cassette Exchange,” during their mind bending set at the Noise Pop Festival last month. The finished version is pleasantly effected and spacious, furthering Cox’s obsession with doo-wop and 60’s girl groups and bringing in lo-fi psych elements from their Unrequited Narcissist tape. These guys could’ve been the Xanadu house band. Also looking forward to hearing the studio versions of “Disappearing Ink” and “Famous Last Words” which seem to reinterpret teenage fascinations with Pavement and Stereolab. Given that Cox and the gang’s track record has allowed us to get super psyched about every release so far and never get let down, I highly doubt this is going to be any different. The CD and Vinyl are set to drop via digital download May 18th and will be available on CD and Vinyl June 8th on Kranky Records. The track listing for for Rainwater Cassette Exchange is as follows:

01. Rainwater Cassette Exchange
02. Disappearing Ink
03. Famous Last Words
04. Game of Diamonds
05. Circulation

MP3 :::
Deerhunter – Rainwater Cassette Exchange
Deerhunter – Disappearing Ink (Live @ Noise Pop Festival, San Francisco)

All the news that’s fit to print…

The Animal Collective website is rather mystifying today. You have the typeface and album art of Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished / Danse Manitee (with the mysterious words “Merriweather Post Pavilion” and “January”) plastered across the index.html, coupled with an awesome but inexplicable fish video thing.

Merriweather Post Pavilion, as per Google, is a rather large outdoor amphitheater outside Baltimore. Since January outdoor concerts in Maryland are none too successful, and AC probably can’t fill 17,000 seats, this might be the title of the new jam hive. And that would make sense, too – as the pavilion is named after Majorie Merriweather Post, the heiress of the Post Cereal fortune, continuing the theme of breakfast established with Strawberry Jam. See?

Are we in store for a toast, cereal, orange juice concept album suite? Totally hope so. Anyway, if Animal Collective history is any indication, expect some of the included fan favorite MP3s to make their way onto the new album, if this is indeed what AC’s website is trying to express. Of course, it’s also entirely possible that Merriweather Post Pavilion could be the name of (or tangentially have something to do with) Animal Collective’s film project. Both are possibilities, but in the meantime, I’m going to enjoy the fish.

See Asobi Seksu Rock Show Okay Fun! My business associate Tiny Mix Tapes is reporting that the neo-shoegaze giants will spend the latter half of this month sugar-coating the U.S. without much of a break. Good to see ‘em back! Though Citrus has been out on disc for a little while, it’s finally getting the vinyl treatment on November 25th (the same day Chinese Democracy drops… ZOMG!!1) courtesy of Friendly Fire. Keep creepy Rivers Cuomo away from the following venues on the following dates:

10.17.08 – Annandale-on-Hudson, NY – Bard College
10.18.08 – Boston, MA – T.T. the Bear’s
10.19.08 – Montreal, QC – TBA
10.20.08 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe
10.21.08 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop
10.22.08 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
10.24.08 – Denver, CO – Hi Dive
10.25.08 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
10.27.08 – Seattle, WA – Nectar
10.28.08 – Vancouver, BC – Media Club
10.29.08 – Portland, OR – Holocene
10.30.08 – San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop
10.31.08 – Los Angeles, CA – TBA

Finally, you know by now that the Decibel Tolls pledges Kranky Uber Alles every morning. Brainwaves Fest will be taking over the Regent Theater in Boston around turkey time (November 21-23), and is honoring the 15th anniversary of the against-the-current formidable force with an impressive roster of sick folk and old hippies, including but not limited to Silver Apples, Borduf Songs, Benoit Pioulard, Major Stars, Matmos, His Name is Alive, Lichens, and more.

That’s all I got. I’ll write more creative entries tomorrow. I’m tired and I’ve more business to attend to.

MP3 :::
Animal Collective – Bearhug
Animal Collective – Lion in a Coma
Asobi Seksu – New Years
Silver Apples – Misty Mountain
Benoit Pioulard – Ragged Tint
Boduf Songs – I Can’t See a Thing in Here