Man, what is up with this week and the news? There’s barely anything going on, from the looks of it. Are most of the writers, editors and publicists we know actually students in disguise, rocking some vacation time now that it’s the summer?

What people seem to be mostly talking about are the VMA nominations - which we would only be discussing if we were getting paid or something. And on Pitchfork, the most interesting thing to us is an egregious typo in the headline for their top story: 

“Beastie Boy’s MCA”

On a merrier note, we were just gifted with a copy of the new Mountain Goats record we told you about last week. So we’ve been humming along to The Life of the World to Come (10/6, 4AD), John Darnielle’s plucky (and never prickly) musings on scriptural verses, as they do any don’t apply to modern times. It’s the final track - the piano-based, beautifully named “Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace” - that’s dug deepest into our souls thus far. But also striking is “Psalms 40:2,” one of the more urgent, frantic Mountain Goats songs in recent memory. It appears to be about a person having a spiritual crisis while on a road trip; the featured lyric: “Lord send me a mechanic, if I’m not beyond repair.”

The Life of the World to Come … Amen.

In other news:

No Age just made our day by streaming a four-song EP - at no charge, no questions asked, no refunds - at SubPop.com. On Losing Feeling, the twittery opening track, “No Feeling,” sounds like the soundtrack to a mental breakdown; “Genie” comes across as a Spacemen 3 sketch - before it melts away; and “Aim at the Airport” is an even more rhythm-less track that incorporates some field recordings and ventures deeper into the static. Finally, on “You’re a Target,” No Age tear off the psychedelic mask and reveal themselves for what they really are: a blistering noise-rock force to be reckoned with. Sorry, CD fans - beyond the stream, the EP will only be available as a limited 12-inch on October 6. And if you’re looking to contrast and compare the EP with older No Age material, here are two selections from last year’s Nouns:

“Eraser”

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“Teen Creeps”

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We haven’t heard the eponymous debut from Cass McCombs’ Catacombs yet, but we’re going to write about them for the following reasons:

1. The Chicago non-rockers (they’re really more of a folk thing) threw up a six-minute medley of the album on their MySpace page, and the mix is enchanting us in a Jim James-ey kinda way. And that’s a totally brilliant move, by the by: Maybe bands should consider using the medley approach when busting out sample MP3s of their releases, instead of giving away entire songs for free.

2. Catacombs just dropped last month on Domino, and the album art is transfixing:

3. McCombs’ band features alumni of Darker My Love, the Howling Hex, Gang Gang Dance and other, you know, “contemporary alternative recording musical artists.”

4. Catacombs will be opening for the National and Band of Horses during portions of their fall tour. It begins August 29 in L.A. and wraps back around to L.A. on September 10, with shows in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and San Francisco nestled in between. …

You’ve probably guessed by now that Afro-funk usually isn’t at the top of our playlist. And you’d be guessing right. But, just this morning we presented an interview with dub tropicalia duo Rainbow Arabia interview - so why not throw you another curveball?

Here’s why we still need record stores: So muzos like Frank Gossner - VoodooFunk.com’s DJ Soulpusher - can unearth long-lost gems like Pax Nicholas and the Nettey Family’s Na Teef Know the Road of Teef. It was recorded in 1973 but was swept under the rug after Fela Kuti - for whose group Pax Nicholas played conga and sang backup -allegedly freaked out about how good the Afro-funk album was and demanded it not be released. Of course, Pax Nicolas (real name: Nicholas Addo-Nettey) obeyed the revered, dictatorial Kuti back then - but he was likely overjoyed when Gossner recently tracked him down in Berlin to inform him of the record-shop discovery. On September 1, esteemed indie NY label Daptone will formally roll out the release with its original art. Here are some samples from it that we found on the label’s site:

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And here’s a pic of the most fly Pax, who was cooler than we’d ever dream to be:

Here’s another oddity: our video of the day. Even odder, we snagged it from ESPN.com:

Former presidents in action: Bill Clinton helps free American journalists from North Korea; GW calls Barney “the son he never had.”

And finally, what you just read was the IndiePit Blog’s 100th post. Where’s our piñata?