Proggy warriors Yeasayer spent much of the past year recording the follow up to All Hour Cymbals. The first tune to hit the Inter-streets is “Ambling Alp,” which, if you try to say it five times fast, will have your tongue wrapped around your hangy ball. Not to be confused with a nut, your hangy ball will, in turn, be triggering samples on the MPC in your tonsils. Ok, enough dental imagery.  As is usually the case with Yeasayer, “Ambling Alp” is a worldly, tripped out affair unafraid of twisting itself up in all sorts of sound found hieroglyphics and Aboriginal beats. Oh, now you wanna hear it? Well, in order to do that you gotta sign up for the Yeasayer Clinic’s Free Dental Service, aka their list serv, through which an exclusive MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 will be delivered to your inbox. Brilliant! Peep Yeasayer’s new alliteration of a web site for more info on the limited edition 12″ single, super heady tri-color T-shirt and some other new Yeasayer swag.

Shamanic psych-pop trio Yeasayer have announced that their highly-anticipated follow-up to 2007’s All Hour Cymbals will be released February 9th through Secretly Canadian. Mute will take up releasing the record outside of North America. It’s name? Odd Blood. That would have read better had we typed it out in caps. The band is planning on playing an extra-special, rotunda-illuminating show at the Guggenheim Museum in New York next Friday, October 30th.  Just after that, an appearance at the Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin is scheduled for November 7th. Do you guys have any idea what this means?! New music.

The fourth annual Fun Fun Fun Fest will hit Austin, Texas’ Waterloo Park for two days packed with music on November 7 and 8. The full lineup for the 2009 festival was just announced, and includes Ratatat, Of Montreal, Crystal Castles, Les Savy Fav, Yeasayer, Mission of Burma, Broadcast, Atlas Sound, No Age, Shonen Knife, Fuck Buttons, Times New Viking, Crystal Antlers, Jesus Lizard, Kid Sister, HEALTH, Neon Indian, and Alaska in Winter, among many others. Tickets go on sale today on the Fun Fest’s website, with early bird tickets going for $67.50 and early bird pip tickets selling for $135. The entire lineup is available for your viewing pleasure here.

As announced through their myspace, Yeasayer is hitting the road for a few dates with Ponytail to and from the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago this weekend. See the dates below and make sure you open your ears as wide as possible because Yeasayer will be jamming out some new songs “in one shape or form.”

07.17.09 Madison, WI @ UW Madison Memorial Terrace
07.20.09 Columbus, OH @ Skullys Music Diner
07.21.09 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale

Snagging the top narrative feature award at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the film “Wah Do Dem (What They Do)” has been catching the eyes and ears of indie snobs and music nerds alike. The film follows the journey of a Brooklyn teen (folk bro Sean Bones) to Jamaica after being dumped by his girlfriend, played by none other than pesky Norah Jones. Jones and Bones perform a duet of “Turn Them,” a track which will be featured on Rings, Sean Bones’ forthcoming album. Other musician cameos include three quarters of Brooklyn, including Ira Tuton of Yeasayer and Simon O’Connor of nascent scuzz-rockers Amazing Baby.

—Meryl Natow

They released their latest EP last month, and we have been on a Suckers-love streak since our interview with them a few weeks ago, so we figured, why not stream their latest video for their new single “Easy Chair” for you?

With an ethereal blend of experimental sounds and pop-song progressions, it might be hard to deny that Suckers are a product-protege of Yeasayer’s Anand Wilder’s production skills. The Brooklyn foursome use a multitude of similar sounds — mainly from their use of multiple instrumentation as a technique to create a swarm of experimental sound — but the band still encompasses a vibe unique to them, taking on a more synthetic pop sound, which can be heard throughout their new EP. Along with Suckers’ having a seemingly obvious influence in their sound from Yeasayer, the band seems to be using a similar route of psychedelic visuals to accompany their surrealistic sounds as well, as seen within the video for “Easy Chair”. It might look like one of those iTunes visualizer tracks, but the concept is there and we have to say we like it. 

With the new EP out, Suckers will be heading out on the road this summer, and will even be opening for MGMT at Prospect Park this summer as part of Celebrate Brooklyn.

Suckers – “Easy Chair”

While Yeasayer is working hard on their new album, the band’s guitarist Anand Wilder is testing out his chops as a musical-maker. Yes, you read that correctly. The Brooklyn-based musician who is known for creating experimental sounds and psychedelic visuals with his fellow members of Yeasayer, is in the process of writing a musical, which is planned to be released as both a stage show and an album.

According to Pitchfork, the work is entitled Break Line, and was written with the help of Max Kardon. The story line “revolves around an interracial love affair in a coal mining town around the turn of the century,” according to a Yeasayer representative. Wilder is also said to have a hoard of his talented peers assisting him with his new project. The roster ranges from fellow Yeasayer band members, to the likes of MGMT, Man Man, Chairlift, Dirty Projectors, and Dragons of Zynth, but Wilder said he won’t be done with the project until he works with a gospel choir to finish up the recording process.

Wilder definitely seems to have his work cut out for him, but we can’t wait to hear what the final product will have to offer.

Preparing for the release of her alter-ego opus Two Suns this coming April, Natasha Khan, aka Bat for Lashes, might be taking things a bit too Beyonce / Sasha Fierce. Good thing she has some other voices to lend besides her own and her other one.

As announced earlier, Khan’s “destructive, self-absorbed, blonde, femme fatale” alter ego — Pearl — will do battle all over Bat for Lashes’ new album, which is due out on April 6 via Astralwerks. The press release goes on to read, Pearl is a direct foil to Khan’s more mystical, desert-born spiritual self, with Khan confronting the end of the illusory world and prepare for wherever the world will take her next.

Khan travelled to New York, the Joshua Tree Desert in California and London to write and record Two Suns, which was produced by David Kosten. The track “The Big Sleep” seeing her sing a duet with Scott Walker and she also collaborated with Yeasayer on the title track, with them providing bass and beat programming.

The release of Two Suns will coincide with a UK tour, kicking off with a gig at the Manchester Ritz the day after the record’s release.

Two Suns track listing
01. Glass
02. Sleep Alone
03. Moon and Moon
04. Daniel
05. Peace of Mind
06. Siren Song
07. Pearl’s Dream
08. Good Love
09. Two Planets
10. Traveling Woman
11. The Big Sleep

Bat for Lashes tour dates
04.07.09 – Manchester, England (Ritz)
04.08.09 -Glasgow, Scotland (Queen Margaret Union)
04.09.09 -Newcastle, England (Northumbria University)
04.11.09 -Leeds, England (Metropolitan University)
04.12.09 -Birmingham, England (Town Hall)
04.13.09 -Oxford, England (Regal)
04.15.09 -Bristol, England (Anson Rooms)
04.16.09 -Brighton, England (Corn Exchange)
04.17.09 -London, England (Shepherds Bush Empire)

As we get closer to the top of many our lists, we’ve found that the results start to skew a bit on the hippie side. With many a beard and worldly instruments, it’s a place where high-brow, lo-fi animation videos reign supreme. And the first of the crop to show up on our best of 2008 is Yeasayer’s video for the single edit of “Wait for the Summer”.

Yeasayer – “Wait for the Summer”
Produced by Mixtape Club