A couple new posts are up at Circa 45:

Hunter from Macktronic and Gold Robot Records discusses a couple tracks off James Brown’s The Original Disco Man. Go to post.

Last week, I served up a Silversun Pickups B-side, Mercury, that came off a 7-inch packaged as a bonus when I bought Carnavas on vinyl. Go to post.

And some links:

The Los Angeles Times welcomes back Arizona’s own Meat Puppets, who, with the return of bassist Cris Kirkwood, are releasing a new CD in July.

The place of my day employment talked with Brent Knopf of Menomena, which plays Tempe on Saturday. See you there, beeeyotches.

So Much Silence favorite DJ Z-Trip produced the soundtrack for 2K Sports’ All-Pro Football 2K8.

I haven’t even read it yet, but this post from Marathonpacks looks like it will be worth anyone’s time.

David Vandervelde and Blitzen Trapper, which just got praised by Pitchfork, are playing Stinkweeds in Phoenix on July 14. It’s only $5.

Should I drive to Tucson on Sunday to see the Rosebuds?

At this point, I can’t top what Chris posted yesterday, so I’m just swiping his goods.

Lonesome Sundown always has been one of my favorite Halo Benders tracks what with Calvin Johnson’s disturbingly deep voice and Doug Martsch’s contrasting high-pitch whine. To get this in an acoustic setting with Julie Doiron pretty much takes honors for Best Post of the Week … or maybe month.

I love this. Props to Chris and Garrison Reid.

• Calvin Johnson with Julie Doiron | Lonesome Sundown

SPEAKING OF Doug Martsch, Built to Spill is coming to Tempe on Sept. 11. And Jimmy Eat World is playing Ikeda Theater (capacity 1,500) at Mesa Arts Center on Aug. 3.

I know Picasso has been all over Sea Wolf from the get-go, leaving me – yet again – woefully behind the curve.

Another “wolf” band name notwithstanding, Sea Wolf’s Get to the River Before It Runs Too Low EP is magnificent. Most notably, the EP’s opener, You’re a Wolf, has captivated me – the hypnotic opening guitar lines, the way the strings melt over the arrangement, Alex Brown Church’s repetitive/catchy singing of the song’s verses. Then dig the third verse – about that damn gypsy woman – when the snare drum becomes more pronounced and the cello bounces back and forth.

The rich instrumentation never allows Church to wither into an acoustic singer-songwriter cliche. Production by Phil Ek (Built to Spill, Band of Horses) doesn’t hurt. Only one problem: You’re a Wolf is so good at track No. 1, the rest of the EP is getting unfairly ignored.

Buy Get to the River … at Dangerbird Records.

• Sea Wolf | You’re a Wolf

SPEAKING OF Dangerbird bands (segue!), I’ve posted a Silversun Pickups B-side, Mercury, over at Circa 45.

This past weekend I played the part of Bob Vila. On Saturday, I put up doors on a bedroom closet; Sunday, I replaced a bathroom faucet. Seriously, next weekend I may knock out a wall or two just for the fun of it.

What’s the point of this? Well, I was too damn tired Sunday night (and, truthfully, I wanted to watch the Sopranos finale) to see Bryan Scary at Hollywood Alley in Mesa. Funny he came around because a good friend of mine told me to check out Bryan Scary only about, ooooh, two years ago. Hey, I got around to it.

The more I listen to Misery Loves Company, the more I’m gonna regret missing the show. This is very theatrical listening, like a modern incarnation of Queen. Even more impressive – or depressing, if you’re 29 years old and trying to figure what in the hell a drain flange is and how that figures into your life on a Sunday afternoon – Scary recorded The Shredding Tears at 23 years of age … in his apartment. Yeeeah.

You can pick up The Shredding Tears at eMusic.

• Bryan Scary | Misery Loves Company
• Bryan Scary | Desdemona’s Leaving Town

TONIGHT: Quannum’s Lifesavas are at Chaser’s in Scottsdale. Barring any Home Depot trips, I should be there.

They don’t know it, but the Shout Out Louds, ousted after Capitol’s merger with Virgin, have major expectations from me for their second full-length, Our Ill Wills, due out Sept. 11 on Merge.

See, I made mix CDs as favors for friends who came out a couple years ago to celebrate my birthday. The Comeback, off Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, was song No. 1 on said mix, and I got nothing but compliments for it, as if I somehow had anything to do with writing the song.

Needless to say, I’m looking forward to including Shout Out Louds on the next mix. So far, the lead single, Tonight I Have to Leave It, is a fine candidate. (I picked up the five-song EP with the single, two remixes and two B-sides at eMusic.) It’s maybe not as catchy as The Comeback, at least not right off the bat, but the layered percussion arrangement – is that a xylophone? – is not to be ignored here.

• Shout Out Louds | Tonight I Have to Leave It

It was bound to happen: I’m obsessed with Boxer, the new LP from the National. Obsessed as in it’s all I’m listening to – in my car, at work, at home, on my computer.

I loved Alligator, and now I’m trying to decide how Boxer ranks against it. Some thoughts: Alligator is excitable; Boxer is tempered and more even-keeled. Boxer also feels more cohesive as a whole than Alligator does. There are fewer peaks and swells where Alligator (Abel, Mr. November) was a bit more temperamental. Regardless, they are each fantastic albums.

For the record, Apartment Story is Song of the Year material without a doubt. How does one even begin to write lyrics like this?:

“Oh we’re so disarming darling, everything we did believe/
is diving diving diving diving off the balcony/
Tired and wired we ruin too easy/
sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave.”

Thanks to AOL’s the Interface for a glorious four-song session by the band. I trimmed up the original MP3 into individual tracks. But download in full (with interview) here. You can also check out video of the performance.

The National on AOL’s the Interface:

• Mistaken for Strangers
• Apartment Story
• Slow Show
• Start a War

Sky Blue Sky has taught me an important lesson: Knee-jerk reactions are just that, my own included.

I was pretty quick to jump on the Wilco bashing when I heard the first few leaked tracks. Then I bought a vinyl copy (180-gram, free CD included!), and it’s about the only album I’ve listened to consistently the past few weeks.

Looking back, I did the same with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, thinking it was a little too weird for me. And now we’re turning our backs on Jeff Tweedy for being a little too … well, normal. If nothing else, Sky Blue Sky deserved a more patient listen, more time.

Granted, some of the lyrics are goofy (“I trust no emotion/I believe in locomotion” and just about all of Hate it Here) and Glenn Kotche is terribly underutilized as a percussionist (listen to I Am Trying to Break Your Heart to hear the difference). Yet there’s a striking sense of clarity on the record. At first, I was worried Nels Cline’s lovemaking to his guitar would weigh down the record. But I’ve even grown to appreciate a little extended solo. (The solo on Impossible Germany “is tits,” was how a friend put it.)

If Yankee Hotel was a complicated listen for its weird tendencies, then Sky Blue Sky is just as compelling for its cleaned-up edges. I like Jeff Tweedy’s versatility. I like that probably a lot of people expected another record in the vein of Yankee Hotel and A Ghost is Born. And that Sky Blue Sky’s almost disarming normalcy causes such unease. So Tweedy’s so-called passive approach must be at fault here and not our constricted expectations.

Really, listen to it again.

• Wilco | You Are My Face