It appears, God willing, our seemingly never-ending run of 100-degree days was mercifully ushered out of Arizona on Monday with some very welcome rain. Ninety degrees? Open the windows! I’m still waiting for that first chill, when I can walk our bulldog without fear of him succumbing to overheating. It’s the small things.

In the meantime, I welcome any and all signs that portend fall’s anticipated arrival. So it seems fitting to receive a new track from The Autumn Defense, the band headed by John Stirratt and Pat Sansone, who also have somewhat notable gigs as bassist and multi-instrumentalist, respectively, in Wilco.

Once Around, the group’s fourth LP, will be put out by Yep Roc on Nov. 2. Check out the first single, Back of My Mind, a warm piece of piano pop that I can envision soundtracking a cool night on the back patio – whenever that might be.

• The Autumn Defense | Back of My Mind

To celebrate a block of tour dates both as headliners and co-headliners (with Kurt Vile), the Soft Pack has pressed up a tour-only 7-inch, limited to 500 copies.

The group’s co-headlining run stops a day short of Kurt Vile’s scheduled Nov. 14 stop at the Trunk Space in Phoenix, so this piece of vinyl might be hard for anyone in Arizona to acquire. But the good news is the band has made the A-side, GagDad, available as a free download. The song churns for six no-frill minutes, with drummer Brian Hill grinding out the backbone of a beat to push the surf-punk action along.

• The Soft Pack | GagDad

So maybe Flying Lotus didn’t stroll in for Friday’s festivities at the Hidden House, but Zilla Rocca and Curly Castro still put on a ferocious show, winning over fans with a tightly prepared and professional set.

You know how, like, 89 percent of rap shows are a clusterfuck of towel-waving hype men and a ragtag set of songs? This wasn’t like that at all. Castro and Zilla hit the stage with a definite purpose. If there’s one (humbling) thing I learned hanging out with these guys for two days, it’s that I have a long way to go in keeping up with hip-hop’s rich culture – past and present. Whatever I thought I knew, they inspired me to keep digging.

And it’s hard to illustrate what I appreciate in their intensity and preparedness much better than what comes across in this video I took on my digital camera. Don’t tell me you’re not feelin’ the drop at about the 39-second mark … “There’s nine rappers I actually relate to / the rest are a waste of my time.”

I can’t remember which song exactly – I think it was Wet Hair – but Japandroids managed to inspire a mini mosh pit of sorts at their show on Friday at the hot-and-uncomfortable-as-hell Clubhouse in their opening slot for The Walkmen.

It’s unlikely Heavenward Grand Prix, the third single in the band’s five-part 7-inch series of previously unreleased material, will inspire such self-inflicted body bruising. By Japandroids’ standards, Heavenward takes a bit of a mid-tempo breather from their usual frantic pacing.

Yet it’s still not hard to imagine the song – like Art Czars and Younger Us before it in the 7-inch series – fitting in on Post-Nothing, the debut album whose writing sessions birthed these tracks. At just eight songs, Post-Nothing probably had room to take on another song or two. But given the duo’s minimal aesthetic, some tough cutting-room decisions were likely made because none of these tracks in the 7-inch series feels like obvious throwaway material.

You can pre-order the Heavenward Grand Prix 7-inch, which includes a cover of PJ Harvey’s Shame on the B-side, at Polyvinyl’s website.

• Japandroids | Heavenward Grand Prix

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