The Antlers

The Antlers' album Hospice was a beautifully bleak addition to 2009. Even though the album has managed to wriggle out of me a few uncomfortable contemplations of my own mortality, I am eager to hear more, and I am sure that many other people are, too.

Luckily for those seeking more emotive introspection, The Antlers have a couple more songs to share. And they are offering them for free.

New York Hospitals is the name of the two-song EP, which can be downloaded on the band's MySpace Page. The EP accompanies the new music video for Hospice song "Sylvia," which chronicles an agonizing relationship. This might not be the kind of music that you will want to listen to while you bask in the sun -- or maybe it is. Spending your relaxation hours in a state of existential crisis might be refreshing change of pace.

Corin Tucker

Corin Tucker was a guitarist and the vocalist with the vibrating roar for stellar threepiece Sleater-Kinney before they went on hiatus in 2006, having released their last album, The Woods, in 2005. Since then, drummer Janet Weiss has been focusing on band Quasi and guitarist/vocalist Carrie Brownstein has been writing NPR Music blog Monitor Mix; Brownstien has also been crafting comedy skits with Saturday Night Live's Fred Armisen as the duo ThunderAnt.

Little, however, has been heard from Corin Tucker. But Tucker will be releasing her debut solo album on the Kill Rock Stars label sometime in the future. No release date or album title has yet been announced, but the real news here is that she is making music and her supreme sounding vocals will be experienced once more. She has mentioned The Slits, The Raincoats and The English Beat as stylistic reference points for the record, which is currently being recorded.

And a Sleater-Kinney reunion has not been ruled out, folks. It is always a possibility.

Dum Dum Girls

After too many posts focusing on the males of indie music, I searched for some cool females I could draw. I was looking for females who rock and have irrepressible style to boot. And then I found some. Who better than Dum Dum Girls, whose Sub Pop debut I Will Be just came out March 30, to bring some serious garage rock, black leather jacket, red-orange lipstick energy to this blog?

Having only released a record few days ago, one would think new wares from Dum Dum Girls could not be expected for a few months at least. One would be thinking wrongly, my friend. Check your local independent record store shelves in two weeks and you might find a special surprise.

Dum Dum Girls will be releasing a split 7" with Sub Pop label-mates Male Bonding as part of the Record Store Day festivities on April 17. It is a day for all of us music freaks to show some serious appreciation for our independent record stores and reap the many releases that indie artists put out especially in honor of Record Store Day. Athens' own Haffa's Records is one of the many participating record stores, so stop by and take a gander at all the independent music confections that surround you.

LCD Soundsystem

Is there any band in this indie world that is not putting out an album this year? All the big guns, and the new littler but just as important guns, are announcing new albums to be released this year. All of us amateur music critics will have a pretty tough time compiling best of the year lists once the year ends if more bands keep announcing 2010 album release dates.

In the past few weeks alone, Broken Social Scene, The Hold Steady, The National and LCD Soundsystem have all recently announced albums with May release dates. I cannot believe all that music awesomeness will be occurring within the span of a few Tuesdays. Our pocket money will surely be hurting in June.

But, seriously. What in the world is going on in May? Is there something these guys know that we don't? Will June bring a sort of indie apocalypse, or an actual apocalypse, for that matter? We'll have to wait and see, I guess. In the meantime we can all eagerly anticipate the arrival of too much exciting music.

Dan Bejar

Dan Bejar is a Destroyer and a New Pornographer (and yes, that is Dan Bejar up there. Not Sean Lennon with a mass of ragged waves of hair). He has a priceless voice and he writes wonderfully weird words that he speak-sings with that incomparable voice.

Merge Records has announced that they will be reissuing remastered editions of three of Destroyer's early albums on April 20. These three albums, City of Daughters, Thief, and Streethawk: A Seduction, will be available on CD in brand new packaging. Streethawk: A Seduction will also be available on LP.

In other Dan Bejar news, a new New Pornographers album, Together, is due May 4 on Matador. Three of the 12 tracks are Bejar-written (the nine penned by lead New Pornographer A.C. Newman).

Say hip-hip-hooray if you are a Destroyer or New Pornographers fan. The New Pornographers will be performing at Sasquatch! Festival this May. Hopefully Dan will be there, speak-singing his new songs. That would be nice.

Rufus Wainwright

This post is for me.

It is fair to say that I am partially, if not completely, obsessed with Rufus Wainwright. What a voice he has, what songs he writes and what a stylish performer he is. He can captivate any room and conquer any project. He has tackled the Judy Garland songbook at Carnegie Music Hall, written an original classical (and French!) opera and, most recently, released a live record of his own material.

Rufus' pop albums, however, are what make me happiest and nerdiest. And, luckily, Rufus is releasing his sixth studio release, All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu, which arrives on April 20. I am quite excited, it is obvious. If I have the chance to see Rufus perform live again, I will not miss it. Few voices can fill a theater like his can.

Thoughts also go out to Rufus after the death of his mother, folk singer Kate McGarrigle.

(P.S. My illustration does not do Rufus justice, so please look at all the lovely pictures of him out there on the wonderful Internet).

Festival Lineups

Don't be fooled. Festival lineups is not a band name. It refers to the arrival of music festival season. A flood of lineup announcements are currently filtering through music news sites everywhere.

Coachella's full lineup has been announced, and Bonnaroo's initial list is out. Tickets are on sale, people, so get them before they are all scooped up. Speaking of scooped up, three-day passes for the Pitchfork Music Festival sold out in under a week. Wowza.

Too many bands to illustrate are set to play these fests, so I had to choose a few: Phoenix is on the bill at both the Coachella and Bonnaroo festivals, The Dead Weather will be performing at Bonnaroo and Gossip is playing Coachella. They will be much more vibrant and lively in person than on paper, so don't miss a chance to go to a festival. It will cost more than few bucks, but there will be more than a few good bands at each festival.