Help Wanted Today

M83, aka Anthony Gonzalez, toned his sounds down on fifth album Saturdays = Youth, but the emotions remain teenage, achy, and perfectly romantic. Following “Coleurs” and “Graveyard Girl,” Gonzalez is releasing another album standout “Kim & Jessie” as a digital single 7/22 on Mute. It’ll include four “Kim & Jessie”’s — the album version, a radio edit and remixes from DatA and Montag. If patience isn’t your thing, no worries — we have Montag’s spare, ambient, percussive remix in this week’s Drop. We asked Gonzalez what it felt like to have his tune tweaked. You can check out his responses and listen to the track here.

This week we also offered the chance to win a Def Jux shopping spree.

We got the heads up on new music from Zack a few weeks ago, when he and ex-Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore announced their One Day As A Lion project and self-titled EP along with the band bio “one day as a lion is both a warning delivered and a promise kept.” That’s incomplete, though. Our modified version reads “one day as a lion is a warning delivered and a promise kept and by promise we mean promise to appeal to fans of rage against the machine.” It’s not like we were expecting Zack to unveil an eight octave vocal range or offer a love song, but ODAAL’s premiere single “Wild International” falls squarely within the realm de la expectation: still that ratatating delivery, still those allusions to class struggles, politics, and religion, etc. That said it’s great if you dig Zack’s flow, Theodore brings a fat backbeat, and it takes a certain something to successfully work “Muhammad and Christ” into a song hook. Hear it at MySpace.

The five-track One Day As A Lion EP is out 7/22 via Anti-.

Last week we showed you a clip of the Flaming Lips rehearsing for the “VH1 Rock Honors” concert at L.A.’s Pauley Pavilio, where they’d be joined by Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Incubus, and Tenacious D in paying homage to Who. The show has since happened. Hopefully practice made perfect. No telling as of yet, but for now VH1’s upped a clip of the Foo Fighters and Supergrass’ Gaz Coombes rocking out on “Bargain.” It’s a preview of the show that airs tomorrow. Grohl is really into it. Coombes is probably just relieved to to drop that Diamond Hoo Ha Men thing for a few minutes. Also, maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me, but I swear Kirk Hammett’s in the crowd.

The latest installment of the Cure’s pre-album release Single Of The Month Club, “Sleep When I’m Dead,” threw us for a loop on Monday, coming unexpectedly in repeated-clip form. But now thanks to a YouTube upload by Craig, he of the comprehensive Cure fansite Chain Of Flowers — a great go-to for obsessive updates on all sorts of Cure related news points and ephemera, even if he doesn’t always love our Cure takes (wink, Craig) — we get the whole cut fastened to the black and white official vid for the song.

Los Angeles indie-gospel act Bodies Of Water’s sophomore album A Certain Feeling is out next week. We’ve already heard its “Under The Pines,” and when the quartet stopped by Daytrotter they offered up more: “Even In A Cave” and Certain’s title track (along with two familiar songs from last year’s self-released debut Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink). You can hear the aforementioned and read hardworking Bodies member David Metcalf’s song notes at Daytrotter. Because the album release date’s so close, we thought we’d also post another new one to celebrate the occasion.

Bodies Of Water - “Gold, Tan, Peach, And Grey” (MP3)

A Certain Feeling is out 7/22 via Secretly Canadian.

People who like their music progressive and their politics satirically conservative should set their DVRs right now: Tomorrow night Rush end more than 30 years of TV absence with a performance for The Colbert Report. Billboard.biz reports the band will perform “Tom Sawyer,” and that this is their first appearance on American television since they were on Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert in ‘75. I’ve been to see Colbert once, and I’m not sure the studio’s big enough for Neil’s kit. The best part of all this, of course, is that thanks to Stephen’s tendency to interview bands post-performance, we’ll finally get to stop wondering if Geddy Lee speaks like an ordinary guy.

More music on Colbert: Nas (7/23), Toby Keith (7/28), Crosby Stills & Nash (7/30).

In a new seven-song live session, ScarJo supplements her prolonged assault on the Tom Waits songbook with a take on the Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry.” Buyer beware: It’s an iTunes exclusive, so the curiosity click will cost you a dollar. Not sure who’s backing her on the session, and although it’s probably some variant of the group of Sitek All-Stars that brought that soundbite-friendly “cough medicine/tinkerbell” vibe to the LP, Scarlett’s “Boys” has less in common with TVOTR’s lushness than with the Doors’ modal meandering. This is the end, beautiful friend. Available here.

The 20+ person Swedish band managed to fit everyone into the studio to record a follow-up to Let Me Introduce My Friends. It’s called “Who Killed Harry Houdini?” and comes out 10/14 on Mute. Until then, SPIN has one of its tracks “Paper Planes” streaming. Decent, but would’ve been cooler if it was an M.I.A. cover.

EJ’s about to play VT for the first time, thus the state’s dairy duo Ben & Jerry are giving him the Phish/Jerry Garcia/DMB treatment with an honorary limited run flavor. Its title? “Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road.” Eh. We prefer commenter Xlynn’s suggestion in our last ice creamy conversation: “Toffee Dancer.” The B&J take does sound delish, though (chocolate ice cream, peanut butter cookie dough, butter brickle and white chocolate chunks), and proceeds benefit AIDS research. So, pretty sweet all around. (via Rock Daily)

By the end of September you’ll get to add two Mercury Rev albums to your collection. If you’re still collecting Mercury Rev albums after The Secret Migration. Just kidding. The upstate New York crew’s decided to follow that 2005 effort with Snowflake Midnight, which you can purchase at a regular price, and Strange Attractor, which you can download for free. The first taste of the new Rev comes from the freebie — Snowflake’s “Senses On Fire” brims with energy and a glossy, trippy feel. Ready or not, here they come. With a rabbit.