Hey hey,

We're closing in on a big release week. First, we're really excited to offer you the vinyl for The Wooden Birds 4 weeks early (details below). The new Silversun Pickups record, "Swoon", comes out on Dangerbird Records! And... (drum roll please) The new Metric record, "Fantasies", as well as two records we mentioned in last week's newsletter: The Juan MacLean record out on DFA, and John Doe and the Sadies out on Yep Roc.

If you haven't already, head over to flea-marketing.com and check out our media section. There you'll find videos from John Doe and the Sadies and Silversun Pickups, as well as links to banners for your website for Other Lives and Amazing Baby.

So, let's get started!

Silversun Pickups: "Swoon" [4/14]

The day has come that many of you have been waiting for...the new Silversun Pickups album is arriving at your doorstep! I would say go ahead and pop it in your stereo, but I bet you've already done that by now. Three years after the release of Carnavas, the Silversun Pickups second full-length album, Swoon, arrives in stores on April 14th on Dangerbird Records.
And swoon you will. You can all release that breath you were holding, its safe; this is no sophomore slump. After touring seemingly endlessly for Carnavas, Silversun Pickups headed back in the studio as they returned home. "We had to water the relationships that we had neglected over those two years [of touring], and I think this darkness came out on our new record,” Brian Aubert

(vocals/guitar) says. NME Magazine agrees, giving Swoon a glowing 9/10 review and calling the record "vast, dark, a little mysterious, sad, dignified and palpably in pain" (nme.com). The guitars are still there. The band has also called upon the help of a 16 piece orchestra to help out. "Swoon is a thick, layered listen, burgeoning with rich strings and crunchy guitars (dangerbirdrecords.com)." We told you it wouldn't disappoint.
Your customers should be ready for this release. The album has been streaming on Mtv's The Leak for the entire week before its release. The video for "Panic Switch" premiered on Mtv2 and MtvU at the same time. Silversun pickups played at SXSW (with Metallica!??) this year and are playing all of the big summer music festivals too. It'll be hard to miss 'em. But if you do, you can always follow their tweets (twitter.com/sspu). So go ahead, Swoon with us and spin the album in your store.

Metric: "Fantasies" [4/14]

April 14th is a big day for us. Not only does the music world get the new Silversun Pickups, but you also get the new Metric album that you've been anticipating for four long years. Metric is releasing "Fantasies" in the US independently. Yup, no label calling the shots. I know, four years was a long time to go without Emily Haines and her cohorts. But we promise its been worth the wait.
Metric "have ventured to make up for four years of silence with an album so consistently well-produced, flawlessly written and ambitious that there’s not much left to do than to be impressed. The paradox here is that Metric’s own secret but straightforward formula of 80s-hinting new wave pop (version 2.0) remains intact and not much different from their back catalogue.

The ingredients are the same, but the methods of reaching the same delicious cake are new" (consequenceofsound.net). So basically, you're gonna love it. With the singles "Gimme Symmetry" and "Help, I'm Alive" making the rounds at their live shows for the past year or so, this album has been eagerly awaited by many. So throw it in the ol' sound system, and let your own fantasy begin. Catch them this summer on tour as they cross North America or join the fans following their tweets (twitter.com/MetricBand).

The Wooden Birds: "Magnolia" [Vinyl OUT NOW!]

We could say it ourselves, but The Washington Post said it the best: "ANDREW KENNY'S new project, The Wooden Birds, isn't significantly different from his previous band, the American Analog Set. That's hardly a complaint, though, as Kenny's hushed vocals and nuanced music made AmAnSet one of the most compelling mellow bands of the late '90s and early 2000s. Much of the Wooden Birds' debut, "Magnolia," uses the same traits: leisurely pacing ("Quit You Once"), a trancelike repetition of words and guitar melodies ("Hailey") and an ability to make even an up-tempo song ("Hometown Fantasy") sound like a lullaby. There are a few departures from the old sound: Gone are the vibraphones that cropped up in the latter half of the band's career, and

newly added are the harmonies of Leslie Sisson, a former collaborator. Sisson's voice adds a sweet innocence to Kenny's dark description of a mental ward on "The Other One," and their dulcet duet on "Seven Seventeen" turns a bizarre look at love into a tender recollection of a childhood moment. Kenny might not be shattering new ground on "Magnolia," but he has found a way to build on the trusty old sound." - The Washington Post

It's the end.  You know the drill.  Does your store have an email update that goes out? Add us to your email list - we want to keep up with what's going on with all y'all. So if you haven't added us already please add these: jo@flea-marketing.com, aj@flea-marketing.com, cody@flea-marketing.com, katherine@flea-marketing.com and chris@flea-marketing.com.

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