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While some musicians go for a more entrepreneurial approach, Blitzen Trapper is happy to ditch its DIY ways and sign on the dotted line. The Portland, Oregon, outfit has built a healthy following with a relentless tour schedule and a few self-released albums, including last year's critically hailed Wild Mountain Nation. The next collection of psychedelic folk-rock songs will be the band's first to carry the Sub Pop logo. Download the first single, "Hear in Colour," free from Subpop.com (www.subpop.com/media). Furr comes out on September 23; catch Trapper live at the Monolith Festival at Red Rocks next weekend.
You've got to hand it to Peter, Bjorn and John. After gaining a global audience with their commercial-friendly whistler "Young Folks," the Stockholm trio isn't afraid to throw caution to the wind and ditch the singing. Seaside Rock sets sail on September 23 on Almost Gold Records and will be instrumental save for monologues in each member's native Swedish. But don't let that discourage you. The opening track's industrial drum loop, grindhouse guitar riffs and Morphine-induced saxophone are better off without catchy choruses. Download "Inland Empire" from Pitchfork. The album won't be released on CD, just on limited-edition vinyl and digital formats.
While we wait for the next round of '70s-era soundscapes and pep-rally cheers, the Go Team is giving its fans an assortment of freebies. Hand over your e-mail address to TheGoTeam.co.uk for access to the group's hard-to-find debut EP, Get It Together, as well as a newly recorded version of the import-only tune "Milk Crisis." You can also pick up a few gratis remixes of and by the U.K. six-piece or download the individual parts of "Ladyflash" and the Chuck D collaboration "Flashlight Fight" to create your own double-Dutch reconstructions. We recommend you stretch out first.
Instead of going the pay-what-you-like route, Paul Westerberg has set a definite price tag (49 cents) for his latest digital-only release, 49:00...of Your Time/Life, which marks his seventh solo album (eighth, if you include the soundtrack of that animated bear movie, tenth including...never mind) since the Replacements dissolved in 1991. Amazon.com was the only retailer willing to go along with the low price, but there's a catch. The entire thing downloads as a single 44-minute track. Those of you who still long for Westerberg's glory days can relish the fact that the final four Replacements albums will be getting the deluxe treatment later this month. Just don't expect them to be this cheap.
