3 Round Burst

1.
The new Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP Is Is is full of old songs that never made it to albums for whatever reason. And it's excellent. I still haven't tracked down their performance from Letterman, but I heard they played "Down Boy". Pitchfork has a great review of Is Is and a continuing onslaught of videos from the EP.

2.
Sebastien Grainger continues to work on his solo album which appears to be slated for 2008. Everything I am hearing from his MySpace page rocks. Life after Death From Above 1979 isn't perfect, but solo work is better than nothing.

3.
The new Ataxia album is suberb. John Frusciante continues to blow my mind. Another solo slbum of his (dubbed Solo X by fans) is slated for release towards the end of this year. Production quality is expected to lean towards the polished, synthed-out stylings of Shadows Collide With People. We can also expect a sequel to A Sphere In the Heart of Silence.

 
MP3: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Down Boy"

 
MP3: Ataxia - "Hands"

 
MP3: John Frusciante - "Penetrate Time (Lou Bergs)"

 
MP3: Sebastien Grainger & Les Montagnes - "Are There Ways to Come Home?"

Ataxia - AWII

The second half of John Frusciante's work with Joe Lally (Fugazi) and Josh Klinghoffer (formerly of The Bicycle Thief) is on the way, but there is no solid information to rely on. The album was originally intended to drop on March 6th, this past Tuesday. It is currently available for pre-order at Amazon.com, but there are rumors that the album will be released only on vinyl or as a download-only deal through JohnFrusciante.com, this is contrary to what Amazon, Warner and Record Collection have to say. Record Collection posted the following message on their site on January 2nd:

"John Frusciante (RHCP), Joe Lally (Fugazi), and Josh Klinghoffer (Bicycle Thief) fans should start getting ready for Ataxia II."

Amazon has it pegged as a March 20th release through Record Collection, but they don't have the artwork for the album. The artwork above was (supposedly) released from Warner Brothers Germany.