Ten years after the release of their debut United By Fate, the dudes in Rival Schools decided to get back together and release some new material. Shot After Shot is the first taste of an album, Pedals, that is due for release in March.

Combined with the reunion of Far, this is all starting to feel like I’m opening a bizarre post-punk time capsule I’ve unearthed in my own backyard. Still, as I’ve said before, Rival Schools frontman Walter Schreifels has earned a lifetime free pass from me (mostly for the influence of Quicksand) and guitarist Ian Love was the subject of this blog’s very first Q&A.

Weirdly – or maybe not? – Shot After Shot sounds like, well, a Rival Schools song that should have come out in 2003. It could just be that Schreifels’ voice evokes a feeling of a certain time period for me, so I’m eager to hear the rest and see if the band reignites a new feeling or if 10 years is too long to make up for lost time.

More indisputable evidence that Ben Bridwell is one of the more genuine dudes in rock: He and two of his band members delivered a surprise performance of Marry Song at the wedding of a couple that got engaged at a Band of Horses show earlier in the year.

Full story from the YouTube summary:

“Njal proposed to Elin at the Band of Horses show in Oslo earlier this year. When the Bride and Groom heard that BoH was to play a festival in Tromso on the same day of their wedding, they contacted the band and told them their story. With all the coincidences surrounding the wedding, the band said, “What the hell” and decided to surprise the couple. The band showed up minutes after landing in Tromso to play Marry Song at their ceremony. BoH was honored to be a part of the couple’s special day. Congratulations Njal and Elin!”

The groom seems torn between looking at his soon-to-be wife or the band.

If you were paying attention back in April, you know that a Telekinesis 7-inch containing two new songs and a cover was released for Record Store Day.

Well, those three tracks ended up on a five-song EP that is out in digital format today, called Parallel Seismic Consipracies. This is all leading up to a sophomore LP, with production by Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla, scheduled for release in early 2011, according to Spin.

The EP contains two new originals (Dirty Thing and Non-Toxic), two covers (The Drawback by Warsaw and Game of Pricks by Guided By Voices) and a full-band version of Calling All Doctors from the Telekinesis debut LP.

A new video for Dirty Thing was also unveiled:

Internet TV network Revision3, which I’d never heard of until today, employed an arsenal of HD video cameras to film Frightened Rabbit at a recent sold-out tour date at San Francisco’s Rickshaw Stop.

The result is a 70-minute, 14-song experience that sounds just as wonderful as it looks – this is no distorted/jittery/pixelated Flip-cam job. You can watch the whole thing in full (above) or even skip from song to song at the site on a setlist that includes a cover of The National’s Fake Empire that segues into Backwards Walk.

Can’t think of a better way to prepare for the band’s show at the Clubhouse in Tempe on Oct. 17.

I mentioned recently how much I’ve enjoyed The Soft Pack’s self-titled debut, and here the band performs one of the tracks (Answer to Yourself) from the LP for La Blogotheque’s Take-Away Show for part of its series from NxNE in Toronto.

Remember: The Soft Pack makes its way to the Clubhouse in Tempe on Sept. 18 as a co-headliner with Menomena.

Appalled that I’d chosen to spend time with Menomena’s Mines over a leak of the new Arcade Fire album a couple weeks ago, a friend accused me of being a hipster, which I guarantee is the first time that’s ever happened.

Without trying to pit one against the other, the truth is, I’ve just found that Menomena’s musical eccentricities hold my attention a little more. And Dirty Cartoons is a definite standout on Mines. Here we have a condensed version of the song for a video (via Pitchfork) that features an air-drumming busker – who keeps time quite nicely. (Much as I enjoy this video, though, it cuts short the full satisfaction of the 4-minute, 53-second original.)

Remember: Menomena and The Soft Pack are co-headlining the Clubhouse in Tempe on Sept. 18.

Watching The National’s set on the Lollapalooza live stream over the weekend and this four-song session on The Interface is all I can do to keep from counting down the days to the band’s two-stop return to Arizona in October.

I, for one, will never tire of the end-of-the-show climax that Mr. November has become or the red-faced, middle-of-the-crowd freakout of Abel. Mostly, I’m looking forward to seeing the new songs performed in person for the first time, especially England, my favorite off High Violet.

The band performed England (below), along with Afraid of Everyone, Lemonworld and Terrible Love for The Interface. Be sure to watch the interview, in which you will discover the band’s rooting interest in baseball.