RecaPitulation: Adolescents, Nick Cave, Firs, RJD2, Spiral Stairs, Unearth

We’re the first ones to admit that we don’t talk about enough punk-rock on this blog. We would, if good indie punk weren’t so hard to come by these days and if linchpins like Against Me! weren’t signed to major labels. (All this said, if you have any punk recommendations, drop a note to kurt@indiepit.com.) But here’s some news: We previously told you a little bit about Riot Fest, Chicago’s fifth-annual hootenanny, happening October 7-11. Murder City Devils, Riverboat Gamblers and Naked Raygun would be our must-sees if we were to go. But alas, we can’t go to Riot Fest this year. But wait, we can: The shindig has just announced a West Coast installment, happening at some of L.A.’s most notorious clubs (Palladium, the Roxy, Key Club) on November 12-14. Like Chicago, the City of Demons will also get treated to a set by the legendary Naked Raygun - and the Adolescents, Teen Idols and Dead Milkmen will also be raising hell. If you have $75 handy, you might wanna grab a three-day pass when they go on sale Saturday at noon PT. …

Hardly a day goes by without an update about Nick Cave’s soon-to-be-released second novel. (If your local library is cool enough, copies of “The Death of Bunny Munro” will be trucked there on September 1.) Here’s the latest: The limited-edition version of the book - which is signed, numbered and boxed - goes on sale Tuesday. If your ears are perking up at the news, go to the Bunny site next week to secure your copy. Also fresh on the site is a recording of Cave reading from “Chapter 4.” Lastly, the author (and old PJ Harvey boyfriend) will be doing the whole live-Web-chat thing on the Waterstones.com on September 3 between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. U.K. time. Do the math. …

Since hardly anyone is buying records from brick-and-mortar stores anymore, there’s really not much incentive to releasing new music on Tuesdays. A little bit of trivia, in case you’re wondering why CDs usually drop on that day of the week: It’s because mail doesn’t come on Sundays, so record stores wouldn’t have a equally fair shot at selling albums on Monday mornings. Anyway, we know the suspense is killing you, so we’ll get to the point: Joey Cook understands that music doesn’t need to come out on Tuesdays only anymore, so today he put out the first full-length by his new solo endeavor, Firs. The atmospheric Man in Space (Lujo) finds his soft vocals counterweighted by even softer ones, from friend Sophia Cunningham; here are three of the nine songs on the LP, all for the taking:

“The Descent“:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Welcome Home“:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Destroyer of Worlds“:

If Joey Cook’s name sounds familiar, you must be aware of his other ensemble, Pomegranates. Cook just contributed to our “Shoebox” series; maybe we’ll break that out today. …

We got a dispatch from RJD2 this morning: “After much legwork/lawyer hours/busting ass, I announce to you that I have started my own record label, RJ’S ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS, and the first signing is…….RJD2!!! I am now a free agent, working for myself.  Been a long time coming, and it is truly one of the most exciting moments of my career.” He’s hooked up with the Orchard and !K7 for distro - and, lucky for him, reaquired his first three albums from Def Jux and XL. The electro-phile just reissued in digital form three rarities collections he had put out on his way smaller Bustown Pride label - Your Face or Your Kneecaps, In Rare Form and Things Go Better Instrumentals - but fans will really be going gaga over a massive release he has planned for October 20. The vinyl-only RJD2 2002-2010 will be locked and loaded with Dead Ringer, The Horror EP, Since We Last Spoke and a new seven-song EP, The Tin Foil Hat. Collectors’ collective heart rates will go up when they hear about the packaging: It’s silkscreened, signed, has a numbered posted and download card, and comes in a printed box. Finally, RJD2 also let us know that his new album is done too. Now that’s one busy body. …

A.M. listening: Harvestman’s In a Dark Tongue. Pass by a park that’s located not too far from the IndiePit HQ, and you’re apt to see someone doing tai chi on the grass. But why move around and all that stuff if you can just listen to this record instead and get the same effect? Steve von Till - he of Neurosis, Tribes of Neurot, and hey, this band too - is the meditation instructor we never had. We’re just getting around to inhaling the second release by his Harvestman project, which came out this spring on his Neurot label, and the stress is just melting away. Humming guitars, light electronic manipulations and other gentle effects are bringing us closer to our center. If this were any more of a therapy session, we’d have a bill to pay by the end of it. …

On the completely, 180-degrees-different, polar-opposite end of the spectrum, we also unwrapped a bit early The Real Feel (October 20, Matador) by Spiral Stairs. Yeah, we thought the guitarist was dead too. But it’s a good thing he isn’t, because this new album sweeps under the table everything he put out via his mediocre Preston School of Industry project between the Pavement era and now. An all-around solid rock record - we’re talking classic, indie, folk - we wouldn’t have known right away that it revolves around his recent divorce and other personal issues. It’s jumpy, ro(lli)cking and even funny - on one minute-long track, he instructs an old lady to croak, “Spiral Stairs,” over and over again. (If that’s Scott Kannberg’s mom, we apologize.) He’s been citing Fleetwood Mac - they just keep popping up, don’t they? - as a big influence, since his recent divorce is one of the themes, but the songs (not surprisingly) rely much more heavily on guitar. And there aren’t any female vocals. And it doesn’t sound like he just did a pound of blow. So we’re not really seeing the comparison (aside from the eight-minute “Blood Money”). …

We were a little underwhelmed by Unearth’s The March, which came out last year but didn’t measure up to the band’s best release by far, 2004’s The Oncoming Storm. But hey, The March could’ve be worse - it wasn’t, like, Godsmack-bad or anything. The beer-bong enthusiasts are revising their latest release with a deluxe edition due November 10 (on Metal Blade, of course). Its bonus DVD is littered with three videos for the record; a doc shot by Doug Spangenberg, who’s also filmed Job for a Cowboy and Lamb of God; concert footage; behind-the-scenes footage; and, you know, all the usual extras and such that come with a bonus DVD that’s done up right. …

Let’s just consider for a moment what would have happened had an anti-Bush protestor shown up at one of his town-hall meetings with an assault rifle. Oh, wait, that’s right, Bush would only let supporters attend his gatherings.