[Here’s an excerpt from Casey Dolan’s weekly Downloads column, which you can find

here:]

The Sea and Cake, "Crossing

Line": An odd piece of musical magic from Chicago’s venerable band, “Crossing Line”

is from the new album “Everybody” — the Sea and Cake’s first release in four years. Sam

Prekop’s half-asleep, funky white-boy vocals are a perfect juxtaposition with the

low-budget distorted guitars, and listen to Eric Claridge’s wonderfully in-the-pocket

bass. It’s hard to make out what Prekop is singing about, but the subtle, organic music

more than makes up for the obscured lyrics. It’s a casual groove for a summer afternoon.

Down

load.

||| See the Sea and Cake perform Saturday and Sunday at the Troubadour.

Photo by Jim Newberry.

Computers are likely to be busy around 10 a.m. Saturday when tickets for the Arcade Fire’s shows May 29 and 30 at the Greek

Theatre go on sale.

Tickets for another big show go on sale Saturday, too —

the third annual Hullabaloo, a

benefit for the Flea-founded Silverlake

Conservatory of Music. The bill for this year’s show (May 5 at the Fonda Theatre)

includes the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eddie Vedder, Charlie Hayden, the Ditty Bops and

students from the school. Woody Harrelson will emcee; magician Rob Zabrecky. The price

tag ($250, or $500 for VIP ticket) includes food, beverage and parking. Tickets will

only be available through the school’s website.

◊ ◊ ◊

Download: Local orchestral pop ensemble the Minor Canon, who have two weeks left in their

Monday residency at Spaceland, have made another song from its new album "No Good

Deed Goes Unpunished" available for download. Visit the band’s MySpace for "The Rockets

Countdown."

◊ ◊ ◊

More: Voxtrot’s self-titled debut is out May 22 (the band

plays May 29 at the El Rey Theatre). Seriously catchy. From the new album, here is "Kid

Gloves."  … And "Garden State" soundtrack balladeer Cary

Brothers releases "Who You Are" on May 29. It’s easy to hear why he’s become a

favorite in L.A. coustic circles. Here’s the title track.

◊ ◊ ◊

Touts for the weekend: The Autumn headline the

Roxy tonight. … On Saturday, it’s battling bands from the U.K. — the hot Klaxons play

the Ex-Plex, while Art Brut performs at the Troubadour. … Indie darlings Smoosh play

the Knitting Factory on Saturday, and the blippy Books perform at the Malibu

Performaning Arts Center.

[Kevin Bronson is taking a little time off to alphabetize his CD collection —

and where do you put these

people? Starting Thursday, please welcome guest blogger Jeff Weiss, who is

taller and has a better fastball. Meanwhile, Bronson empties his notebook …]

Several

upcoming releases have me geeking out. Like "Boxer" from the Brooklyn-based

five-piece the National,

due May 22. "Alligator" was my album-of-the-ear a couple of years ago (refresher). Quick first

impression after "Boxer" arrived this week: more orchestral, no less heady.

Here’s a taste:

||| Download: "Fake

Empire."

Then there is "Spells" by the Comas, coming April 17 on Vagrant. A

little bit of everything here, and all good: Weezerish bursts of ear candy, a couple of

epic anthems and a dose of contemplative dreampop that reminds me of the fine New York

duo Joy Zipper.

|||

Download: &quot

;Red Microphones."

First impression of "Baby 81," due May

1 from Black Rebel Motorcycle

Club: It’s the great, gutsy rock ‘n’ roll record you suspected all along they could

make. And, hey, the photo on their website was taken right in front of our favorite

downtown L.A. bar. The band plays the Wiltern on May 8. And it might just be me, but the

first single is a middle-of-the-pack song compared to the rest of what’s on the

album.

||| Stream: "Weapon of Choice."

And for you dancers

who might have already worn out this

album, there will be the moodier, eyeliner-informed "Night of the Furies"

by the Rosebuds. It’s out April 10 on

Merge.

||| Download: "Get Up Get

Out."

◊ ◊ ◊

Live, in store and now on disc: Amoeba Music has released a four-track,

limited-edition EP titled "TV on the Radio Live at Amoeba," which captures a

slice of the band’s in-store appearance in Hollywood last September. The "limited

edition" part means the EP will be sold for the next 30 days, or while supplies

last. You weren’t among the hipster throngs in the aisles that day? Looky here.

◊ ◊

◊

Yikes: Arcade Fire canceled eight European dates because

Win Butler is suffering from "sinus and bronchial infection" that will require

sinus surgery. He explains on his diary here, but suffice to say the band will not

play live again until their Coachella warmup,

which is April 26 at San Diego’s Spreckels Theatre. The band is scheduled to play on the

second day of the three-day festival in the desert. Personal note: I had sinus surgery

several years back, and I can testify that you can’t sing when you have a weeklong

bloody nose.

◊ ◊ ◊

Nice addition: One of L.A.

finest purveyors of funk, the Breakestra,

has joined the lineup for KCRW’s "A Sounds Eclectic Evening" on April 14 at

Gibson Amphitheatre. Old school.

◊ ◊ ◊

And

finally: We’ll miss you, Sharp

Ease.

◊ ◊ ◊

Touts for Wednesday, March 28:

Anya Marina joins the bill for the final night

of the Greg Laswell residency at the Hotel

Cafe. … San Diego metallurgists the Locust

rock the Knitting Factory. … Scanners

and Datarock invade Spaceland for Club

NME. … And welcome back, Hoodoo Gurus. The

tuneful Aussies perform at the El Rey Theatre.

Photo of the National by Sonya

Kolowrat.

[Humble apologies for the dearth of posts last week. I was walloped and waylaid

Now, here’s to wellness:]

Limbeck’s music wears like a flannel shirt on

a brisk morning. The Orange County foursome, which shunned their pop-punk leanings after

their first album, has matured largely in a tour van, with the highways and landscapes

of the U.S. coloring their experiences. Limbeck recently expanded its travels to include

Australia, where singer Robb MacLean and band mates Patrick Carrie, Justin Enstmiger and

Casey Prestwood were greeted warmly on a 16-city tour. "Everyone was so

hospitable," MacLean says. "They laugh a lot at your jokes — which really

lowers the bar on how funny your jokes have to be." On April 10, the quartet

unveils its fourth album, this one titled, simply, "Limbeck." It’s another

growth spurt for the band’s wide-eyed but grown-up Americana. The band won’t be back in

its home state until April 18 and 19 (Chain Reaction and the Troubadour, respectively)

to play behind the release, but here’s a new song to tide fans over:

Download: "Big

Drag"

Photo of Limbeck by Bryan Sheffield

◊ ◊ ◊

Emma Burgess, who was the subject my

Buzz Bands print column this week, will be back at the Hotel Cafe on March 27 (it’s

the release show for Norwegian songstress Kate Havnevik’s album

"Melankton"). Burgess’ album "Swim" is thus far only available

digitally, at eMusic on her MySpace website using the SnoCap software. Here’s a taste:

Download: "Big

Break"

◊ ◊ ◊

I was also sorry to have missed the Jason

Lee-endorsed Midlake last week at the Troubadour,

not that their album "The Trials of Van Occupanther" was as life-changing as

Mr. Lee apparently found it. This song has been around the web a while, but here’s a

taste in case you missed it:

Download: "Roscoe."

◊ ◊ ◊

Seems like ages until the May release of "Trading Twilight for

Daylight" by the gorgeously melancholic local outfit Great Northern. They play tonight at the

Viper Room with the Pity Party at

Indie 103.1’s "Check One … Two" night. In the interest of tiding you over:

Download: "Home."

◊ ◊ ◊

Touts for Monday, March 5: The red-hot Airborne Toxic Event opens its

residency at the Echo, with the Happy

Hollows among those supporting. …  Australians the Panda Band play Spaceland in the

first of their three L.A. dates in seven days; the occasion is the first night of Berko’s residency. … Buffalo Roam and Castle Door have a dual residency at

the Silverlake Lounge. … The Vacation rock Safari Sam’s. …  And To Live and Die in L.A. and Kissing Tigers play a free show at the

Troubadour. 

Only one member of the band is old enough to have a beer,

and three others look as if they just walked out of a casting call for "The Brady

Bunch." But Great Glass Elevator

dispenses sophisticated pop songs, marrying its merry melodies with unexpected choruses

and bridges, none of which is wasted on the trifles of playground love.

"A lot of men turn / their hearts to ashes / while they suck the world dry / to

please the masses," David Braun sings in "Drunk on Another Planet," the

first song off the band’s third EP, "Our Hands Turn Into Machines."

When I first saw the Orange County quintet in early 2006 playing to a typically giddy

all-ages Tuesday night crowd at the Key Club, Braun and band mates Andrew Honore, Matt

Mason, Barrett Slagle and Josh Stephens augmented their theatrical live show with videos

and sundry antics. None of that was present, or necessary, when Great Glass Elevator

played Tuesday night to a small crowd at the Troubadour. The songs were enough.

Signed to Atlantic last May, the quintet is currently touring and writing songs for

its full-length.

Meanwhile, they are offering the "Our Hands Turn Into Machines" for free

download (email address required). As the kids would say: Totally worth it.

Click here.

[Here’s some Friday-fresh music to

sample:]

American

Eyes plays as if it secured the last existing copyright on suburban teenage angst,

with a sound that infringes on a lot of territory — retro metal, dancy but hard-edged

’80s new wave and even a little emo. Fresh off a recording session with Josh Abraham

(who has worked with Velvet Revolver and Weezer, among others), the L.A. quintet is

self-releasing an EP titled "Space." With their roots in the San Fernando

Valley and their amps on the Sunset Strip, the quintet returns to the Key Club — where

the band has long been a favorite of young crowds — for a record-release show at 10

tonight. Expect front man David Henry Zonshine to be at his swaggering best.

||| Download: "Burn It to the

Ground."

◊ ◊ ◊

Three-year-old Canadian rock band Jets Overhead, just nominated for a JUNO award

for best new band, has an interesting philosophy — the quintet gives away its music via

its website and asks

the downloader to make a voluntary purchase. It’s worth it. The band’s 2006

"Bridges" album is a great slice of guitar rock (especially the track

"Shadow Knows"), and its "Jets Overhead" EP from the previous year

is worth a hit to your PayPal account too. Here’s hoping for an L.A. tour stop sometime

this year.