Belbury Poly, the first and still poppiest artist on Ghost Box’s roster, released their third full-length record earlier this winter. Despite being the least abrasive of the Ghost Box club, they’ve still always retained a creepy vibe, something that is a little less pronounced here. Still, it’s more of what you’ve come to expect from the niche label — gurgling and plunking electronics seated squarely in a half-imaginary past of British alchemy, mysticism, and educational multimedia.

Also notable is the album art’s increased departure from the Romek Marber homages that have characterized Ghost Box releases. I’d have admired their tenacity if they had stuck with the same template through every release, but I guess they can’t be blamed for wanting to try something a little different.

And if you are in or around London, be sure not to miss the Belbury Youth Club Night at The Shunt Lounge, this Wednesday, March 11.

If you have an active interest in new music, and the ability to post once or more a week,  please email jay@resounder.org.

It seems Ratatat are getting ready to follow up their 2006 sophomore release Classics, which I thought was leaps and bounds above their debut self-titled, and certainly one of my favorites from that year, if not this decade. Two weeks ago they released the single Shiller, whose A-side you can listen to here. Both tracks are creepy and less beat-driven than their recent stuff, for sure, and I’m glad to see them reaching again this time around. “Shiller” will be featured on their forthcoming LP, LP3, which Evan Mast describes as being “wildly different than anything we’ve done” as well as “by far the best album we’ve ever made,” in this interview with Audiojunkies. Hey that sounds promising doesn’t it.

To supplement this track are two oldies; the first is “What We Meant,” from Evan’s solo outing, Parking Lot Music, which he released under the name E*Vax in 2001 on his own Audio Dregs imprint. Have fun browsing the Wayback Machine’s archives for E*Vax, Cherry, and Ratatat, notably Cherry’s first two websites, the parts where Evan announces his new band, and where Cherry change their name to Ratatat on September 15, 2003.

Oh yeah, and the third track I’m including is from 9 Beats, a mysterious 2006 bootleg about which little is known, but which was seemingly first reported by i guess im floating, and whose story remains at bittersweet being, and which Wikipedia reports as having been used in a CSI episode.

And finally, the cover art to LP3, scheduled for a July 8 release date:

Although I love listening to Breakfast of Champions each morning, there are actually very few times I’m compelled to take note of any particular thing they play. But this morning I heard “Family Romance” by Department of Eagles, and had to call in make sure I got their name.

Department of Eagles is a duo composed of Daniel Rossen (of Grizzly Bear) and Fred Nicolaus. The song, while amazing, didn’t represent the full range of what they do. I was able to snag a copy of The Cold Nose; it’s a surprisingly varied blend of odd samples (strings, piano, spoken word), electronic manipulations, drum machine, acoustic/electric guitar, vocal choruses, and probably several other things I’m forgetting. The pervasive hip-hop leanings — which tend to be dark, DJ Shadow-inspired dalliances — are probably most exemplified in “Forty Dollar Rug,” a tongue-in-cheek glorification of bachelor life (“Forty dollar rug/ Twenty dollar lamp/ Playstation 2/ Tony Hawk 4”).

Meanwhile, they don’t mind sounding like Radiohead at times, in their creepy, Kid A-like harmonies, albeit backed by weird things Radiohead would probably never touch.

The Cold Nose was originally released in 2003 under a different title, and was just reissued this year with some bonus tracks; for my money, it’s better than anything Rossen has done with Grizzly Bear, and I’m sorry to have only come across it so recently. The project is, as far as I can tell, defunct.