RecaPitulation: These Arms Are Snakes, Nick Cave, Deastro, Junius

Unnerving e-mail subject line of the day: "Naughty by Nature is back"

We still consider These Arms Are Snakes‘ first-ever release, This Is Meant to Hurt You, to be one of the best punk-rock EPs ever made. So we’ll begrudge them their less-impactful follow-up releases, which have erred on the mild side. TAAS’ live shows, however, are anything but mild, and they’ll be playing a slew of them this fall. The North American swing will launch September 13 in Vancouver and last till October 17 in Seattle. …

Will the creative potential sparked between Nick Cave and Warren Ellis ever peter out? We’d tell you about the million projects they’ve teamed for in the past, but we’d be typing into tomorrow. If you’d like to get a taste of some of their various endeavors but still want to leave some cash in your wallet, make a note to pick up White Lunar (Mute) on September 22. The two-disc compendium culls some of the music they made for “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” and “The Proposition” - as well as yet-unreleased music they crafted for the upcoming film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road.” Filling out the set are additional songs made for the under-the-radar documentaries “The English Surgeon” and “The Girls of Phnom Penh,” as well as unreleased archival tracks. …

Here’s another two-person project that isn’t of the recently ubiquitous husband-and-wife variety: Helena Espvall and Ghost’s Masaki Batoh are fossilizing their friendship with Overloaded Ark, due August 18 on Drag City. We haven’t heard anything yet from this, their second release, but with a litany of instruments that includes the auschpfeife, crumhorn, darbuka and a bunch of other things we’ve never heard of, our interest is way piqued. …

Cue the “Twilight Zone” music (ner-ner-nur-nur): About four blocks away from where this post is being written in Santa Monica is Princeton Street - and one of the houses situated there is where Gainsbourgh-y gang Princeton were born and bred. Now residing in Eagle Rock - which happens to be IndiePit’s HQ, eerily enough - the four tigers are about to unleash their first album, Cocoon of Love (September 29, Kanine). They just hatched one of its songs for download:

“Calypso Gold”

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The song is a little lite for our taste, but hey, sometimes you have to give your neck a break from all the head-banging. Princeton - who count twin brothers among their ranks - will hit the streets for a bevy of shows, starting with two gigs happening real soon: tomorrow at LA’s E2 Building and Tuesday in San Fran. But the real work starts on August 29, when they kick off a 29-date stretch in Salt Lake City. The trip ends October 3 in Boston. …

We got another MP3 for ya. This one’s by the seemingly Ian Curtis-inspired group the Fresh & Onlys:

“Invisible Forces”

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The band’s centrifugal forces are two guys, Tim Cohen and Shayde Sartin, but they often lean on three other people for extra support: guitarist Wymond Miles, drummer Kyle Gibson and singer Heidi Alexander. They’ll have their new album, Grey-Eyed Girls (Woodsist), wrapped in time for a fall release. And if you were already planning to go to one of the stops on Stephen Malkmus’ tour, you’re in luck: All five Fresh & Onlys will be opening for him and the Jicks during a portion of the former band’s tour, which runs from yesterday in Sacramento through October 25 in San Fran. …

Today is something of a synth overload, and Deastro uses that instrument - and bells - liberally on the misleadingly titled “Toxic Crusaders“:

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This is the third single from 22-year-old Motor City musician Randolph Chabot’s already-out Ghostly International album, Moondagger. Apparently Minotaur Shock - another one-man project - has been liking what he hears, because he coughed up a remix for one of the single’s two B-sides. The other flipside track is another remix, this a stuttery version by Vancouver producer Van Benton:

“Toxic Crusaders (Van Benton Remix)”

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A bank vault isn’t exactly the most obvious place to record music. But that’s one of the sites where heady astronauts Junius landed while charting their latest voyage, The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist. Thanks to them, we learned something new today: “catastrophism” is the concept that geographical formations like mountains and oceans were created by catastrophic change - not slow evolutionary development. Get your Mylene Sheath-issued textbook on October 13. …

We still don’t know how to pronounce their name, but OOIOO are rejOIning for their sixth album, Armonico Hewa. We know what is going through your mind right now - what the hell does that mean? - so we shall tell you: the phrase is a combination of Spanish and Swahili that basically translates to “air in a harmonious state.” The LP/CD is due in late October on Thrill Jockey. If it’s like OOIOO’s previous stuff, don’t expect much by way of melody - their songs are like receptacles for the assorted brain-enhancing sounds you hear while walking through a science museum. …

Those lovable propagandists of absurdity, Electric Six - who sing songs about Taco Bell, gay bars and Detroit Tigers pitcher Aurelio López - are getting fired up for a new album and tour. They’re finishing up the last few tracks - or should we say cracks - for Kill (Metropolis), which you’ll see October 20. East Coasters can catch the jesters at four consecutive dates starting August 19 in Hoboken, New Jersey. …

Distorted-guitar addicts the Pains of Being Pure at Heart - who sound like a pop version of Flying Saucer Attack - have bounced back with a four-song EP, even though they already dished up a full-length earlier this year. Slumberland will slip out Higher Than the Stars on September 22. A couple of weeks before that the unisex quartet will squeak out another single, “Come Saturday” b/w “Side Ponytail,” on the same label. …

Let’s get Reatarded in here: Jay Reatard will be visiting all three Amoeba stores - and no, he’s not on a quest for that impossible-to-find Rites of Spring 7-inch. The ruffian will be performing for free at the music emporiums on August 18, 22 and 23 - at the Hollywood, San Fran and Berkeley branches, respectively. The first gig will double as a release fiesta for his new Matador missive, Watch Me Fall, due that same day. …

Pulverizing metal-punks Trap Them have signed with Prosthetic (hey, we recently profiled that label). The Seattle band - whose St. Louis gig tonight with Skeletonwitch and Saviours is tempting us to hop on a last-minute flight - will release a full-length in the first half of next year, preceded by an EP on Southern Lord.