Brooklynvegan reports that Longwave have been given the heave-ho by RCA. It’s been a rough year for the band, their solid new album There’s A Fire kind of slipped under everyone’s radar and they had tour after tour pulled out from under them as the bands they were supporting cancelled for whatever reason. That, combined with the fact that they never quite turned into the second coming of The Strokes that I’m sure RCA was hoping for pretty much spelled the end of that relationship.

Happily, the band appears to be soldiering on – a note on their MySpace page wryly states that they’ll be maintaining the page themselves from now on (as opposed, I imagine, to a lowly RCA lackey), and there’s even a newly recorded, untitled song for your listening pleasure. However, I don’t know what’s up with the copious use of the “blink” tag. Jeff – if you’re reading this – c’mon. You know better than that.

There is Stereolab news, but I can’t quite decipher it. There’s a new album out on March 7 and I don’t think it has a title yet, though there is a tracklist. What I have determined definitively is that they are touring North America and there’s a date at the Phoenix in Toronto for March 14. Almost for sure.

Joey Burns of Calexico gives Billboard and Pitchfork a sneak preview of their new full-length Garden Ruin, out April 11. He promises “moodiness and ambience”, but also “some more electric, rockin’ numbers”. Assuming that they played some of this material when I saw them live last week, I will indeed testify that Mr Burns is not lying.

James Mercer of The Shins tells Chart that their third album, tenatively entitled Sleeping Lessons, could be out in July or August of next year.

The Mountain Goats wish everyone a merry Christmas with a gift of two unreleased tracks, circa We Shall All Be Healed.

Spoon’s Britt Daniel will be rocking the mic on an upcoming episode of Veronica Mars with a karaoke version of Elvis Costello’s “Veronica”.

Cat Power has a new website to promote her upcoming album, The Greatest, out January 24. And if you want more Cat Power things to click on, try the ad over there on the right. Give my sponsors a thrill.

Prefix presents the initial list of acts confirmed to play SxSW. God, has no one ever heard of line breaks? Donewaiting also has the 2006 edition of their SxSW blog up and running.

Pitchfork stirs the pot with their list of the worst releases of 2005. I have no comment except to say I’m with them 200% on the slagging of M83’s “Car Chase Terror!” – that track alone keeps Before The Dawn Heals Us from getting more than a cursory listen every now and again. Sure I could just skip the track, but the knowledge that it’s even in my CD player makes me uncomfortable. So so so bad. They’ve also gotten a variety of artists to submit their own year-end lists, just like Filter, who continue to update their lists.

np – Longwave / There’s A Fire