Is there anything better than waking up in the middle of the night, right before your left calf seizes up in a muscle spasm that ranks right up there amongst the worst kinds of pain you’ve ever experienced? No, I really don’t think there is. Not much to do except bitFour hours later and I’m still trying to stretch it back out. Owie.

Metacritic’s upcoming release page lists something called T-Shirt by Neutral Milk Hotel coming out on August 19. I can find no mention whatsoever of a new NMH release of any kind anywhere – does anyone know what this might be, if it exists at all? Nothing worse than an NMH tease, let me tell you.

This guy has too much time and Lego on his hands, but goddammit those designs are inspired. I have no idea where he got pieces in those colours and shapes, though. They never had Lego like that in my heyday. George Lucas should take notes.

Mojave 3 Online has the cover art from Spoon And Rafter. Pretty.

I have some pictures from the Saturday Looks Good To Me show on Wednesday here.

np – Interpol / Turn On The Bright Lights

Luna have redone their website. It’s about time, IMO.

The new Spoon video for “Jonathan Fisk” is up here. Their EP for The Way We Get By isn’t getting a North American release, but will be available from 12xu when it’s released on September 1. With six unreleased tracks and three videos, it may end up being worth ordering from the UK. Dilly-o from Stereogum and Catbirdseat.

There are rumours of the Doves b-sides comp, Lost Sides, finally getting a commercial release. Some online shops in the UK have September 29 listed as a street date (including a limited edition 2-disc set), but there’s no official word yet what this release is. Lost Sides was originally supposed to be released domesitcally last Fall, but was pulled for whatever reason. Whether this forthcoming release, if it exists, is still just Lost Souls-era material or if it includes b-sides from The Last Broadcast remains to be seen.

This morning, the forecast was all “thunderstorms, thunderstorms, thunderstorms! Wrath of God! Build the ark! Sinners repent!” Well, 3:30 and not a rain cloud in sight. Someone owes me two subway tokens, dammit.

np – Pavement / Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe

Cinescape lists their 10 best comic book movie adaptations (1 through 5 and 6 through 10) with the 10 worst to follow. Wow, that’ll be a tough list to complete…

Death: At Death’s Door is a Sandman-related graphic novel by Jill Thompson done in manga-digest format. It takes place concurrently with the “Season Of Mists” storyline, wherein Lucifer resigns his stewardship of Hell, answering the question of “what happened to the damned when they were exiled from Hell?” – apparently they went to hang out at Death’s place.

I’ve never really liked any Sandman spinoffs that weren’t scripted by Neil Gaiman. I find he’s the only one who has a true ear for his characters, and At Death’s Door doesn’t prove me wrong. Jill Thompson deliberately crafts a light-hearted, humourous story but at the expense of some long-established characterization, particularly for Despair. It just doesn’t feel right that something so whimsical should be intended as being a true account of the events around “Season Of Mists” – it just doesn’t fit. Nor does Thompson have an expert feel for the manga style of art she tries to emulate – it comes off exactly as what it is – like a westerner trying to imitate the Japanese artistic style with middling results. All in all, it’s not a bad read, but unfortuately doesn’t earn itself a place in the Sandman mythos.

Details of the third Amos House charity compilation have been revealed. Again, a terrific lineup of talent for a good cause. I enjoyed the first two much more than I normally do with compilations – this one looks to be as good or better. After all – Wilco, Spoon, Wheat, Elf Power…

Beulah must be taking career advice from Robert Svehla’s agent. In conversation with Pitchfork, they are saying they may or may not call it quits after Yoko, depending on how well it does, sales-wise. They had previously reported they were splitting up after touring to promote the record this Fall, then retracted that and said they were staying together for all eternity. It seems they’ve finally found their balance sitting on that fence. There’s also an item on their website addressing the sale of advance copies of Yoko on eBay and the downloading of the new album. Personally, I have had the opportunity to download a copy of the album but have decided against it, waiting for the official release. I like the tingle of anticipation. Still waiting on official word of tour dates this fall with John Vanderslice.

Fark photoshop fun with boardgames. Better have a clean pair of Depends handy before going through these.

np – Rilo Kiley / The Execution Of All Things

Club crawls on a Wednesday night. First off, to the Rivoli to catch Hawaii and Mellonova, the latter featuring ringer Clay on bass.

I was pretty eager to hear Hawaii as they’d gotten some favorable comparisons to bands I like, and I was reasonably impressed. The male singer/guitarist was a one-man riff machine, churning out non-stop wacky guitar licks – mostly tasteful but not all. The female singer/guitarist was boredom personified. When she took her turn at vocals, she stood absolutely immobile, save for the occasional strum at the guitar. Her voice was remarkable, with a real Hope Sandoval quality, but points off for negative stage presence. They were definitely at their strongest playing the melodic, dream-pop numbers, but unfortunately there were also a couple of heavier riff-rockers that just didn’t fit or play to their strengths (the second guitarist didn’t seem to play a note for one of the songs – she just stood there, absolutely still, while the other guitarist went to town). Hawaii could do very well if they get the arena rock out of their systems and play to their strengths.

Clay and Mellonova served up some proficient song-centric space rock that reminded me more than a few times of material from OK Computer. I think the keyboardist was also a ringer, judging from the crib notes, but for a jury-rigged lineup they sounded impressively tight and cohesive. Apparently after Saturday night’s show, the Mellonova name will be retired in favour of something indicative of a new lineup/direction – tonight’s show was a worthy send-off.

After that, I biked up to Rancho Relaxo to meet up with 517 for Saturday Looks Good To Me, from Ann Arbour, Michigan as they were sure to inform us. Playing as a three-piece instead of the Spector-esque cast of thousands that appear on the records gave the material a markedly different presentation, but it was still a good set of pop music with strong Motown inflections and some crazy guitar work. Bloody loud, too. I used to carry earplugs around in my bag in case of emergency. I have to start doing that again.

np – The Wedding Present / Seamonsters

My credit check cleared with no problems and I pick up the lease on Saturday. This is very exciting.

The Claytron Rock Machine kicks off a very busy week of shows filling in on bass for Mellonova at the Rivoli tonight (an UmbrellaMusic Live show with Hawaii), and then again on Saturday back at the Rivoli. This is in addition to rocking the skins for Lake Holiday at the Silver Dollar on Monday (subtle plug!). Clay will be one tired boy.

Not really much else going on. I’m tired. Went to sleep at 11 last night after Vic tried, partly in vain, to give me a crash course in object-oriented programming. He also lent me a book on Python that is making a decent pillow.

np – Slowdive / Pygmalion