So late post today, but with good reason. With the stroke of 10AM EDT, an embargo has been lifted and I can happily announce to you a little something that An Aquarium Drunkard, La Blogothèque, Brooklynvegan, Gorilla vs Bear, My Old Kentucky Blog, You Ain’t No Picasso and I have been working on the last few months – The Hot Freaks!, part the second – a sequel to our wonderfully successful showcases during SxSW this past March, The Hot Freaks! part the first.

This time, we’re once again heading back to The Mohawk and Club DeVille in lovely (and sweltering) Austin, Texas to throw a couple of after parties in mid-September. It’s sponsored by the Dell Lounge and the lineup shakedown is as follows:

September 14 @ The Mohawk – Art Brut with Crazy Sexy Rainbow
September 14 @ Club DeVille – Grizzly Bear with Brazos
September 15 @ The Mohawk – St Vincent with Sparrow House
September 15 @ Club DeVille – The Rosebuds with Yellow Fever

Not bad, eh? Not bad at all. Admission will be free but involve a not-as-byzantine-as-it-sounds RSVP/wristband process that will be detailed on Wednesday. The first Hot Freaks! was one of the most fun and satisfying things I’ve ever had the pleasure to be involved with so I’m really looking forward to doing it all again, not to mention checking out all the great acts playing the ACL fest proper.

MP3: Grizzly Bear – “On A Neck, On A Spit”
MP3: St Vincent – “Now Now”
MP3: The Rosebuds – “Get Up Get Out”
MP3: Sparrow House – “When I Am Gone”
MP3: Yellow Fever – “Culver City”
MP3: Brazos – “Hands Up Little Gun”
Video: Art Brut – “Direct Hit” (YouTube)

Pitchfork reports that Grizzly Bear will release a new, 10-track EP entitled Friend on November 6. They’ll be in town at the Mod Club on September 20. Spinner’s Interface featured Art Brut a few days ago and The Torture Garden has an interview with St Vincent, Filter a feature and Pitchfork a guest list of this and that.

And looking to the Austin City Limits fest, transpiring the same weekend, Austinist wants to be your one stop for all things ACL-related, offering up interviews, previews and whatnot with the artists playing the fest. Check out conversations with The National, The Decemberists and Midlake. Wireless Bollinger also have an interview with Midlake, who’ll be releasing an iTunes-only EP on September 4 entitled Oak And Julian and The AV Club have a talk with The National’s Matt Berninger. And Spoon’s Britt Daniel plays “name that tune” with Harp. Love the comments about Ryan Adams.

Of course, getting to ACL requires me to survive V Fest next weekend, an event that just lost Peter Bjorn & John from its lineup as, according to their MySpace blog, they will instead be in Las Vegas hoping to catch a few seconds of screen time at the MTV Video Awards rather than play a gig to tens of thousands of festival-goers. Smart move, guys (thanks to Thierry for being the bearer of bad news). But their loss is offset by the addition of The Constantines to day two. It never ends! Whee.

Harp has a chat with Jose Gonzalez about his new record In Our Nature, which will be out on September 25. He recently recorded a Takeaway Show for La Blogotheque and will be in town for a dine-in performance at the Mod Club on December 7.

Amiina’s September 10 show at the Horseshoe has been cancelled due to illness in the band.

Back for a third time this year, The Pipettes will be in town at the Opera House on October 5. The domestic edition of We Are The Pipettes will be out a few days prior on October 2 and Pitchfork has the new cover art and info on bonus tracks. Dr Dog play the Mod Club on October 6 (tickets $13.50), The Besnard Lakes return for a show at the Horseshoe on October 12 and Ween are at The Docks on October 26. Film School will be in town on October 29 for a show at the El Mocambo with Land Of Talk (also playing there this coming Tuesday with Cloud Cult) and Eulogies. Film School’s Hideout is out September 11.

Have you seen this teaser for The Dark Knght already? I hadn’t. Interesting that Heath Ledger sounds like he’s trying to channel Jack Nicholson…

Trailer: The Dark Knight