"...Like Clockwork" Queens of the Stone Age Reveal More New Music

For those who may not have heard, Queens of the Stone Age are set to release their long-awaited follow up to 2007's Era Vulgaris on June 4th via Matador. The new album, entitled ...Like Clockwork, is the band's sixth full-length and features a number of guests including longtime collaborator Mark Lanegan, former bassist Nick Oliveri, Alex Turner, and Dave Grohl. Earlier today, the band revealed a colorful, dark animated video for a new song called "I Appear Missing." See and hear the track below.

VIDEO: Ted Leo and The Pharmacists - "Bottled In Cork"

Last week, Ted Leo wrote a short chapter of a book and posted it on his website that detailed his journey as an independent musician over the past two decades. He described the love v. money issue, and talked about how he was thinking about his future and ways he would be able to continue to support himself down the road.

I was thinking he was serious about working on a musical theatre piece and honestly believed that he was actually revealing a theatre project today. Turns out that the Reginald VanVoorst who contacted Ted about creating a piece of musical theatre was just a character played by Mr. Paul F. Tompkins. I feel like a fool! How could I have not noticed the joke lying right before me, especially with a name like "VanVoorst"? Luckily, I feel a lot better after watching what Ted and the Rx were really working on, which you can see below. Hope you're ready to laugh...

Ted Leo And The Pharmacists - "Bottled In Cork" (Official Video) from John Hodgman

Patrick Stickles' cameo FTW.

BUY: If you haven't picked up the most recent Ted Leo and The Pharmacists album, The Brutalist Bricks, do so now right here. As for the vinyl, I can attest to how awesome the music sounds on "compressed globs of goo." Pick it up on vinyl right here.

NEW MUSIC: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - "Even Heroes Have To Die"

It was announced today on the Matablog that Ted Leo's much-anticipated new album will be out next year on March 9th. The new album is entitled The Brutalist Bricks and will be a solid 13 track long-player. As previously reported, the album will be released through Matador and will be available on LP, CD, and most digital retailers.

You can check out a song from the album below.

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - "Even Heroes Have To Die"

Despite the song's more pop orientation compared to singles off Ted's last couple of records, it nevertheless maintains his signature sound and style; quick, energetic acoustic guitars pulling the underlying electric guitar along with the steady beats of Big Steve. It's one of those "here's a first listen" songs that is surely just a small hint of what is to come.

Speaking of which, Stereogum caught up with Ted recently and he offered up a rough demo of another song from the album: the harder rocking "Last Days". Check it out here.

Upcoming Tour Dates:

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists:

December 2 – Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church
December 3 – Washington, DC – The Black Cat
December 5 – Cambridge, MA – Middle East
December 6 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom SOLD OUT
December 10 – Madrid, Spain – Primavera Club ‘09
December 11 – Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Club ‘09
December 12 – Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Club ‘09

Ted Leo (solo):

December 14 – Brighton, UK – Engine Room (with Dillinger Four + Hard Skin)
December 15 – Canterbury, UK – Bramleys
December 16 – London, UK – Brixton Windmill
December 17 – Kingston, UK – New Slang
December 18 – London, UK – Grosvenor (with Wat Tyler)

Ted Leo Official Site
Matador Records

Whoa Whoa Whoa, Graham Tyler and Matt Safer in Julian Plenti?

EDIT: It was not Graham Tyler. I jumped the gun seeing that Epiphone and hair. It was actually Mike Stroud of Ratatat on guitar. Thanks to "Anonymous."

So, Julian Plenti (aka the solo moniker of Interpol's Paul Banks) just performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Upon this first listen, I can't say the song really did anything for me or that it was stronger than Banks' output with Interpol but there is something worthy of note here: Graham Tyler Mike Stroud and Mattie Safer were in the backing band.


(Graham Tyler performing w/ The Mooney Suzuki)

This is awesome. For one, Graham Tyler was a member of The Mooney Suzuki during what I consider to be the band's greatest era (Electric Sweat). He left the band to pursue a career in graphic design and I was under the impression that was the end of his professional music career. This makes it all the more surprising -- and awesome -- to find him on network television, of all places, playing his treasured Epiphone. It's also surprising to hear him play this type of music considering his musical background. Nevertheless, I'm glad to see he's still strumming away.

Considering The Mooney Suzuki went from a straight-up garage rock/pure rock 'n' roll band -- so authentic you could believe they were ripped out of the '60s -- to a psychedelic rock band, I can see why Tyler gradually grew disinterested in playing with the band. It always seemed his true passion and height of his tenure with the band was when they were one of the best nu-garage rock bands of the present day. The Mooney Suzuki is a band that has seen frontman Sammy James Jr. go from a mod-styled, energized rocker to more of a West Coast/California hippie rocker circa mid to early '70s. It's late so maybe my descriptions are vague or somewhat inaccurate, so I apologize for any shortcomings in this respect. If you go The Mooney Suzuki's official website, you'll see the spider logo that was used back during the Electric Sweat-era. Maybe the band is going to have a renaissance of sorts. Maybe.


(Mattie Safer performing w/ The Rapture)

And then there's Mattie Safer, former vocalist and bassist of The Rapture. When I heard a number of weeks ago that Safer was leaving the band, I was a bit shocked. He always seemed like such an integral part of The Rapture's sound. I hadn't heard anything about what he was up to, so it's a double whammy, if you will, to find Safer performing on TV like this. I think Julian Plenti's sound is definitely a bit closer to Safer's background than it is to Tyler's.

I can't tell you who the drummer was.

Interpol, The Mooney Suzuki Ratatat, and The Rapture are all from New York so, really, it's not all that surprising that these three guys performed together. In any case, kind of a supergroup though, no?

Julian Plenti's new LP Julian Plenti Is Skyscraper is available now via Matador Records.