New album news: Superchunk, The Thermals, Les Savy Fav, TVOTR's Dave Sitek, Radiohead's Phil Selway
A slew of new albums have just been announced, most of which we are somewhat measurably excited about (in our own jaded, cautious, socially stunted, guardedly ironic kind of way, of course).
First: Pitchfork has passed along the cover, track listing, and release date of the upcoming full-length from indie-rock codgers Superchunk—a band some of us still like to call punk, thank you. The group's new disc will be titled Majesty Shredding, will be released on September 14, will feature backing vocals from The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle, and will sport a song called "My Gap Feels Weird," which could possibly be a reference to Superchunk's long (nine-friggin'-year) break from album-making.
Pitchfork also has news of a fresh full-length from The Thermals—dubbed Personal Life, produced by Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla, and due on Kill Rock Stars on September 7—and the solo debut from TV On The Radio's Dave Sitek, whose self-titled album under the name Maximum Balloon will be released by DGC/Interscope sometime in August.
Another solo-album-from-a-lesser-known-dude-in-a-bigger-band: Radiohead drummer Phil Selway has dropped details about Familial, his first full-length. As reported by Rolling Stone, guest artists on the August 30 release will include Lisa Germano and Wilco's Glenn Kotche—and Rolling Stone even astutely points out that Selway isn't the only major-league drummer to have branched out on his own, citing Genesis' Phil Collins, The Eagles' Don Henley, and The Beatles' Ringo Starr. Thanks, Rolling Stone.
And last but never least, spazz-rock stalwart Les Savy Fav is working on a new disc, the first since its ass-kicking 2007 comeback, Let's Stay Friends. According to NME, the New York outfit is recording tracks for the as-yet-untitled album and tentatively aiming for a September release date. Says bassist Syd Butler, "We're not buying atmospheric gizmos to fill out space on the songs. They're all three-and-a-half minutes long. They're more compact and concise. This record feels a lot more '90s, closer to our roots." Adds utterly mad frontman Tim Harrington: "Yeah, we're trying to get back to the time when we didn't have any fans!" Bless your hearts, gentlemen.