The Radio Dept collect a-sides, offer up b-side

Max WeilandI was actually going to skip posting today entirely, so meagre was the amount of post-worthy material I had ready, but then there trickled in juuuust enough that the night/day off went out the window.

And it took some Radio Dept. news to do it. On the short term end of things, there’s the fact that their new single/EP for “Never Follow Suit”, taken from this year’s divine Clinging To A Scheme, is coming out next Tuesday. It’s limited to 1000 pieces of 12″ vinyl and is advertised as exploring the band’s dubbier side. Yeah. And to prove their point, one of the b-side tracks is available to download.

A little further out, Under The Radar has some more details on the double-disc compilation from the band due out in January 2011. Whereas initial reports made it sound like it was going to be all b-sides and rarities, and as someone who’s collected a good number of their older EPs I can attest that there’s a lot of great non-album material to be compiled, it now sounds as though it’s going to be a mix of proper singles and rarities. The set will be called Passive Aggressive: Singles 2002-2010 and I can accept it containing material I already own if it provides them the excuse to finally stage a proper North American tour in the new year, as they’ve hinted they will. And if/when that happens, you bet your sweet bippy there’ll be a blog post about it.

MP3: The Radio Dept – “The One”

NOW and Chart preview Friday night’s Junip show at Lee’s Palace.

Pitchfork has a stream of the new single from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, taken from their forthcoming record Belong, out in March.

There’s a new video from Of Montreal’s latest long-player False Priest.

Video: Of Montreal – “Famine Affair”

The Ash Gray Proclamation talks to Tobin Sprout, once again of Guided By Voices.

Even though it was just rescheduled last week, Lissie’s Toronto debut has been moved again – it will now be happening on January 24, still at the Opera House. Tickets for both the October El Mocambo show and the short-lived January 18 show will be honoured. Relix has a short feature on her.

A studio performance is doubling as the new Grinderman video, just in time for the start of their first North American tour at the Phoenix in Toronto on November 11. Guess they blew their whole budget on the special effects spectacular for “Heathen Child”.

Video: Grinderman – “Worm Tamer”

Mike Mills spills to Spin on some of the guest stars who will appear on the next R.E.M. album Collapse Into Now, due out next Spring.