What Did I Miss?

Sorry for kinda disappearing yesterday.. stuff comes up, ya know? Don't think I missed too much, and what I did, I present to you now:

NEW GOLDEN SMOG!!! Chromewaves points to Golden Smog's MySpace site for a preview of the band's forthcoming Another Fine Day album. The site has the full stream for the song "52202" (so so), and partial clips of "Corvette" (good), "Long Time Ago" (great) and "Another Fine Day" (so so). The album comes out July 18th.

If you don't know who Golden Smog is, well, you're dumb. (Kidding.) It's a super-group of sorts including, at various times, Gary Louris and Marc Perlman (Jayhawks), Dan Murphy (Soul Asylum), Kraig Johnson (Run Westy Run), Jody Stephens (Big Star) and Jeff Tweedy (Wilco).

In related news, Large Hearted Boy links to a great interview with Mark Olson and Gary Louris in the San Francisco Gate from yesterday. Guess it can't be any clearer -- the Jayhawks are done, done and done.

According to Brooklynvegan, Calexico are playing Warsaw in Brooklyn on June 27th. Not sure whether I'll go to this or not, considering (a) I'll be seeing them with the New Pornographers and the Frames a month later, and (b) Warsaw sucks (except for the kielbasa and Zywiec beer). Plus, I may break down and buy a Band of Horses ticket for Warsaw, and I certainly can't cross the state line twice in one month.

Bloc Party's set from Coachella last weekend is available for free download here. (Link via Large Hearted Boy.)

One of my favorite bands, the Twilight Singers, has a new album coming out on May 16th called Powder Burns. I'm a little disappointed that I haven't seen the album leaked anywhere -- I really want to hear it. (It's available on iTunes, but I hate digital downloads.) WOXY.com is playing a few tracks off the album, and EMusic is now offering the song "Andiamo" as a free download for members. Check it out. Can't wait for my pre-order to show up..

The return of the flash mob? These things ran rampant in New York a couple years ago, and kinda disappeared. Well, there's a new group that's added a bit of a twist to the whole idea, and this time they hit the Best Buy in the basement of my apartment building in New York. Quality stuff.

Much like Live 8 and Coachella before it, Jazz Fest is apparently simulcasting this weekend on MSN. Not sure how many of these will be simulcast, but the top acts this weekend (including this afternoon) are: Little Feat, Jimmy Buffett, Warren Haybes, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Buckwheat Zydeco, Paul Simon, and Fats Domino. Oh, and what Jazz Fest would be complete without Lionel Richie? He plays Sunday night at 5:30pm. For more info, go here.

Much more news, but this post is pretty much full. More later.