Fans of Canadian indie royalty will be shelling out twice as much to their local record stores on October 4 as in addition to being the release date for Broken Social Scene’s long-awaited Windsurfing Nation, Metric have chosen that date to release Live It Out – the follow-up to Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?. Update: The proper release date for the new record is actually September 27. MTV is wrong, and my entire preamble paragraph is null and void. Goddammit.

MTV talked to Emily Haines about the roller-coaster ride that was the making of the new record and how the band almost disintegrated in the process. Having fled their Los Angeles homebase for sunny Toronto, the band have laid out an extensive Fall tour to support the new album, including a September 29 date at the Phoenix. I note that they have nothing booked for the two days prior to that show – perhaps just in case they have a repeat of this past January when they sold out four night at the Mod Club?

I was all about Old World Underground when it came out in the Summer of 2003, but I guess I OD’ed on it a bit because it fell out of heavy rotation after a few months and now only gets occasional spins. I don’t think I’ve heard any of the new material, having not been to a single Metric show since their Horseshoe gig almost two years ago. Not really intentionally, I just… haven’t. Maybe the new record will reignite my interest in the band.

Another much anticipated sophomore effort (at least by me and Aaron is Nellie McKay’s Pretty Little Head, which will be in stores October 18. Billboard has some details on the album, which will apparently only be one-disc but feature 23 songs, as opposed to Get Away From Me, which was a double-album but with only 18 songs. Hmm.

The Age (Bugmenot) declares Sigur Ros the coolest band in the world. I won’t argue with that – they’re from ICEland, after all. Oh God that was bad. Takk is out September 13 and they’re at Massey Hall on September 19. Via Coolfer.

Music video blog Cliptip has been on a tear lately with vids from The Fiery Furnaces, Grandaddy and Bloc Party, among others. Excellent work.

Jeff Mangum sighting in New York City last night! Billboard was on the scene, Prefix has pictures.

The Telegraph examines the economics driving the repackaging of Bob Dylan for a new generation. Via Largehearted Boy.

PopMatters has a little tete a tete with Stephen Malkmus.

Newsarama talks to Brian K Vaughan about the process of turning Ex Machina into a feature film.

I’ve long fancied myself as something of a Neil Gaiman fanboy, but after scoring just 54% on this Neil Gaiman purity test, I am somewhat unsettled that there are people out there who are obviously far more obsessive than I… and I have one question for those people. The one question on the quiz – “Do you know the relation between Stardust and Howl’s Moving Castle?” I do not and am very curious what that relation is. Anyone?

Meet Rusty – the narcoleptic dachshund! Awwwww.

np – American Music Club / United Kingdom