Music News & Notes

Iron and Wine Vinyl Release

This May, Iron and Wine will release a 2CD/3LP collection of rare tracks, entitled "Around the Well." Coming from their label Sub Pop, the collection ranges from songs that are out-of-print to those that have never been released. The title of this compilation comes from the band's single, "The Trapeze Swinger."

The first disc is mainly quiet, rough home recordings, while the second is mostly formal studio recordings. The re-released tracks come from songs recorded on 2002's The Creek Drank the Cradle all through 2007's The Shepherd's Dog.

The band will support the weighty release with a small, five-city tour of intimate venues, where it will turn the set list of each show over to fans, making each performance completely unique. From March 6-30, fans can vote by city and night on the songs they'd like to hear at IronAndWine.com.

Iron and Wine has also begun work on a sequel to The Shephard's Dog, to be released in the spring of next year.

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Japandroids Vinyl

Japandroids' first full-length vinyl will be released soon. Record label Unfamiliar will release it in North America on April 28, only on vinyl and digital download. The Vancouver duo Japandroids play shouty, jangled-up anthemic fuzz-rock the way their compatriots in the Constantines do. And that's a good thing.

Coming up over the next couple of months, the duo will play a few shows in Vancouver and Toronto.

Post-Nothing track list:

01 The Boys Are Leaving Town
02 Young Hearts Spark Fire
03 Wet Hair
04 Rockers East Vancouver
05 Heart Sweats
06 Crazy/Forever
07 Sovereignty
08 I Quit Girls

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Jimmy Eat World Vinyl

Jimmy Eat World has announced the details for their vinyl reissue of "Clarity." The vinyl will be available on the band's Clarity tour, and via their online store. The disc will be pressed on 180 gram vinyl and artwork is being produced as a gatefold. The disc will include the bonus tracks “Christmas Card” and “Sweetness (demo)” and online orders will include a Clarity t-shirt.

The band is celebrating the 10th anniversary of their fan favorite album, Clarity, by performing the album in its entirety at ten shows beginning this month. The shows kick off on the 23rd in New York City and wrap up March 7th in Arizona.

"Clarity" was the band's second major label album, released on Capitol Records. Despite lasting critical acclaim, the record did not perform to the label's expectations and the band was dropped. Their next album, "Bleed American" was self-recorded by the band and actually became their breakthrough release.

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Fat Cat Reissues

Fat Cat records is about to reissue two Sigur Rós albums on 180-gram DMM vinyl in the UK. On March 9, the label will release big, luxurious vinyl remasters of 1999's Ágætis Bryjun and 2002's ( ).

The Fat Cat people did the Direct Metal Mastering at Abbey Road Studios, and they're pulling out all the packaging stops for these joints: silver ink on heavyweight uncoated blue card for Ágætis Bryjun, heavyweight outer sleeve with die cut ( ) shape showing through to four interchangeable inner sleeves for ( ).

Those reissues will only be available in the UK or from the Fat Cat UK web page. But American listeners aren't entirely out of luck. Fat Cat is planning similarly deluxe American vinyl reissues of a couple of their other recent classics. No release date on these yet, but Animal Collective's 2004 album "Sung Tongs" and Max Richter's 2004 album "The Blue Notebooks" will soon get the full 180-gram DMM treatment. Fat Cat tells us to expect spring 2009 release dates for both.

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Mangione's Band Members Die in Plane Crash

Two members of Chuck Mangione's group were killed in the crash of Continental Flight 3407 last night outside Buffalo, New York. Gerry Niewood and Coleman Mellett were traveling to Buffalo for a performance with the Buffalo Philharmonic when the plane fell onto a suburban home.

Mangione posted the following message on his official website.

"I'm in shock over the horrible, heartbreaking tragedy of the crash of Flight 3407 which took the lives of my dear friends and band members Gerry Niewood and Coleman Mellett. I am grieving and praying with their families and friends. That's all I can say for now."
Chuck Mangione