As Pitchfork reported at the end of February, North Carolina's Annuals are putting out a somewhat unusual split-EP called Wet Zoo with themselves. The news story explains how that works, and the record is due April 1. "Sore", the first track on the release, is an intriguing introduction to the set, as it moves from a hushed, Sufjan-like opening to highly emotive crescendos slathered in strings. Sounds like they're thinking big, and it suits them.

MP3:> Annuals: "Sore"
[from the Wet Zoo EP; due 04/01/08 on Canvasback]

The M's, as fine a purveyor of vintage British glam-pop as any Midwestern band, have enjoyed a slow but confident climb. After their fine debut and finer follow-up, Future Women, the third album has some expectations to face-- and, surprisingly, the band is playing it coy. A keyboard squiggle and healthy dose of damp distortion kick off "Big Sound" in a manner not unlike Blur's "Bugman" (replete with some falsetto "la-la-la's" later), though the eighth-note piano hammering and horn section point back towards the era they're aiming for. But for better or for worse, those are the clearest instruments in an intentionally murky mix; the vocals are lost in echo, the guitars are an overdriven open-handed slap rather than the punch of earlier records. The lyrics mention flashes of lightning and bass that shakes the ground, but the band's swagger is coming from somewhere more inscrutable-- it sounds like it was assembled from junkyard scraps, not pointy guitars and high heels. The expectedly excellent drumming teases a low-end attack that never comes, waving a big stick without ever quite using it, and what sounds blown-out and thin at first slowly takes on an ominous tone. Budget Fridmann-style production may not be the most adventurous choice they could have made, but it's working nonetheless.

MP3:> The M's: "Big Sound"
[from Real Close Ones; due 06/17/08 on Polyvinyl]

Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan perform this track from Saturnalia in a tinsel-curtained nightclub complete with a dancing girl, a scene out of David Lynch's dreams. And then, inexplicably, the action moves to what appears to be New Orleans and we see a dude pop-and-locking in a cemetery for no good reason at all.

[from Saturnalia; out now on Sub Pop]

The Danish duo the Raveonttes, who are now based in New York, took a trip to Midtown to the Ed Sullivan Theater to perform Lust Lust Lust's "Aly, Walk With Me" on Letterman.

Lust Lust Lust is out now in the UK on Fierce Panda and in the U.S. on Vice]

As Justice continue serving up brutal French house across North America, the duo's Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosna are unveiling a few remixes of their latest video selection from last year's †, the pounding "DVNO". Australia's Sunshine Brothers have arguably gone furthest with the track, trading fist-pumping aggression for smooved-out r&b synths, a more conventional house bounce, and what sounds like a Junior Boys- or Hot Chip-like attention to sonic detail after Justice's brain-squashing compression/distortion. The vocal, by Mehdi Pinson from Parisian band Scenario Rock, goes through a vocoder-like effect that's somewhere between Justice forebears Daft Punk and the ongoing T-Pain contagion. Justice's de Rosnay has said the title of "DVNO" refers to suburban "clubs where you have to wear like a white shirt to get in." If the Sunshine Brothers remix were a club, it might still be choosy about who it lets in, but it would probably have a stricter anti-douchebag policy. And fancier drinks.

MP3:> Justice: "DVNO (Sunshine Brothers Mix)"
[original track from †; out now on Downtown]

This Panda Bear tune has had a very long lifespan-- we reviewed the track in December 2005, it appeared on Person Pitch, a video arrived in October 2007, and there've been a number of remixes along the way. And why not? It's one of the highlights of the album it wound up on, which topped many best-of 2007 lists, including Pitchfork's. The "XXXChange Remix" by Spank Rock producer Alex Epton currently making the blog rounds turns the wispy vocal loops of the muted original into surging dancefloor fodder; it's not exactly a natural look for the song but it winds up working pretty well, as it essentially embeds fragements of a subtle, dreamy tune inside a crushing anthem that won't be denied.

MP3:> Panda Bear: "Comfy in Nautica"
[Person Pitch is out now on Paw Tracks]

"Salute Your Solution", the lead track from the out-of-nowhere Raconteurs album Consolers of the Lonely, has a video. Director Autumn de Wilde apparently created the clip using 2,500 stills. The song? Rock'n'roll.

[from Consolers of the Lonely; out now on Third Man/XL/Warner Brothers]
 

Don't waste your time waiting for the serious bit on this, the lead track from the Long Blondes' upcoming album Couples; the Sheffield quintet is in upbeat pop pleasure mode, as the hooky verses keep building to an explosive shout-along chorus and the lyrics warn against getting in too deep. "I could be a shoulder to cry on/ I could be a body to lie on/ But don't ask me for more than that," goes one refrain. Fair enough.

MP3:> The Long Blondes: "Here Comes The Serious Bit"
[from Couples; due 04/07/08 in the UK and 05/06/08 in the U.S. from Rough Trade]

Hmm, the post-punk revival might be due for a revival. The rise of bands like Interpol, the Rapture, and Bloc Party several years ago brought with it a long-overdue resurgence of interest in the genre, particularly its most acclaimed acts such as Joy Division, Gang of Four, Wire, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Slits, and Orange Juice. More recently, bands whose catalogs were long out of print have enjoyed some welcome reissues, with DFA dusting off Pylon's Gyrate, Domino anthologizing Josef K, and Matador repackaging Mission of Burma's Ace of Hearts releases. Last year, the Acute label did its part by compiling the work of Scotland's the Fire Engines; an 18-track anthology reissuing the work of UK post-punks the Lines is set to follow later this spring.

The Lines toured with the likes of the Cure, Bauhaus, and the Birthday Party, but their 1980 single "Nerve Pylon" lacks the dourness or aggression of those groups. "I saw it all/ There's no need to say anything," guitarist Richard Conning begins gently, backed by electronic percussion, architecturally precise guitars, and a clicking sound. The harmonies and janglier guitar fills on the song's inscrutable chorus put me in mind of early Flying Nun bands like the Chills or the Bats, but after the next chorus, Conning starts holding out his notes, pushing them ever higher, practically in torch-song mode. "I can feel the impossible," he cries out. The rest of the band includes members of punk band Alternative TV and post-punks pragVEC-- for a moment, it sounds like they can feel it, too.

It took Built to Spill to tell a post-Nirvana rock underground consumed with its own angst that There's Nothing Wrong With Love. Rock radio stations didn't listen, nu-metal happened, and now there are a lot fewer rock radio stations. Well, there's nothing wrong with catchy songs or comprehensible lyrics, either. On recent single "Knots", as heard in this simple video, Pete & the Pirates don't take tuneful UK punk-pop anywhere it hasn't already gone in the past three decades, but they know their way around bright, hummable guitar hooks and buoyant, ramshackle choruses. As with former tourmates the WinterKids, whose single "Tape It" was a personal 2007 favorite, this Reading, England quintet make direct, unpretentious guitar pop evocative of sunny afternoons wasted worrying about the opposite sex. With the splashing hi-hats of Franz Ferdinand or Bloc Party, and the multi-part harmonies of the Futureheads, P&TP sing lyrics that stand out for their simplicity: "Sometimes I can't see your face/ It makes me sad." If all that sounds not just unpretentious but unremarkable, too, then that's where the single falls slightly short of some of its predecessors. But there's always a chance this bunch could be perfect from now on.

Bonus! P&TP have also recorded this track live for Black Cab Sessions:

[from Little Death; out now on Stolen Recordings]

In this artfully garish lo-fi video collage, Brooklyn dub/noise/whatsa outfit Excepter make killing people seem kind of fun, or at least something enjoyable to chant about. The track was here in January; JFR/Fingered directed the clip.