Rentals #1… Boompa!

After more than eight years away from the fray, the Rentals are back in a big way, debuting atop the Mediaguide Alternative Specialty Song chart with “Little Bit of You in Everything.” This helped their forthcoming effort, The Last Little Life EP (available now at eMusic, with a physical release from Canadian indie Boompa due August 14), debut at #2 on the Album side of things. Some of the stations that have been giving Matt Sharp and Co. a new lease on life--sorry, couldn’t resist--include WPBX West Palm Beach, KUPD Phoenix, WNNX Atlanta, WTKS Tampa and the mighty KROQ Los Angeles. Speaking of La La Land, the Rentals will be doing a July residency at Spaceland; make sure to check it out if you’re in town. Meanwhile, UNKLE’s “Burn My Shadow” (Surrender All) and Editors’ “Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors” (Epic) remain firmly ensconced in the second and third chart positions for the second straight week, while big moves are made by the Cribs (Warner Bros.) with “Men’s Needs,” which vaults 46-4, and Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals (Virgin) with “In the Colors,” which jumps 20-8. Ruling the roost on the Album side of things is Interpol (Capitol), whose Our Love to Admire racked up more than double the spins of the nearest competitor, the aforementioned Rentals. The biggest move on the Album side belongs to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s fantastic Baby 81 (RCA), which catapults 58-5, while the top debuts belong to the Magic Numbers with Those the Brokes (Astralwerks) at #11, followed at #12 by Warner Bros. artists the Cribs’ whimsically titled Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever. Which can’t help but make us ponder…what about Rich’s needs?

Record of The Week: The Moog

THE RAKES “THE WORLD WAS A MESS BUT HIS HAIR WAS PERFECT” – It’s a conundrum that’s plagued aspiring artists for generations: whether to ramble the rocky road to rock & roll stardom…or just toss it all and become a hairdresser. Happily for the London, England-based Rakes, they get to sidestep that thorny problem altogether with the video for “The World Was a Mess But His Hair Was Perfect,” which alternately features the band performing the poppy, peppy number in a house whilst simultaneously trimming the locks of many of their mates (how many folks remained their mates after the amateur haircuts is a topic for another time). While the song will be released on July 16 as the second single from the Rakes’ sophomore effort, Ten New Messages, it was actually written for a Dior Homme fashion show in 2006…and was originally over 15 minutes long! They’ve trimmed it down to a smooth 3:28 for the video, which features live tracks recorded on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio broadcast. Check out the video HERE.

THE ENEMY: “HAD ENOUGH” – Hailing from Coventry, England, teen trio the Enemy has been making increasingly bigger waves across the pond since signing on with the revitalized Stiff Records. Of new track “Had Enough” (not to be confused with the angry, John Entwistle-penned tune of the same name on Who Are You), NME raved, “‘Had Enough’…crams in New Wave jerks, Keith Moon drum fills, glam chanting and Slash riff rampages to end up sounding like Guns ’N Roses doing ‘Eton Rifles’ with Slade.” Whew! NME backed up those bold words with actions, making “Had Enough” a recent “Track of the Week.” Having recently supported such hot acts as the Fratellis, Kasabian, Ash and Manic Street Preachers in the UK, the Enemy will be second-billed at this year’s Godiva Festival, which they also played in 2006; they’ll also be performing at Japan’s Summersonic festivals in August. Pay a visit to the Enemy at their home website (www.theenemy.com), or check out “Had Enough” at their MySpace page (www.myspace.com/theenemycoventry), where they are rapidly closing in on a million overall plays.

Robb

hhA!: Robb, for our readers who live on Mars, would you please tell us the history of Saddle Creek and how you got into the music industry, your background, etc.?

Robb: “I grew up in Omaha surrounded by friends, siblings and acquaintances that played in bands. Our older brothers and sisters got us into the Replacements and the Smiths and set us off on the right path. Then we discovered Merge, Matador, Dischord, and Sub Pop Records and began to formulate an association between record labels, regional scenes and quality music. We wanted to document what was going on around Omaha with all the great bands here, so we started our own label modeled after that concept.” 

hhA!: Robb, what do you currently have out in stores/radio?

Robb: “Upcoming releases include:
Art in Manila - Set the Woods on Fire CD/Digital (August 7th, 2007)
The Good Life - Heartbroke 7"/Digital (August 7th, 2007)
The Good Life - Help Wanted Nights CD/LP/Digital (Sept 11th, 2007)
Two Gallants - Two Gallants CD/LP/Digital (Sept 25th, 2007)
Georgie James - Hello CD/LP/Digital (Sept 25th, 2007)

Available now:
Two Gallants - The Scenery of Farewell EP CD/12"/Digital
Bright Eyes - Cassadaga CD/2xLP/Digital
Bright Eyes - Four Winds CD Single/12"/Digital
Maria Taylor - Lynn Teeter Flower CD/Digital”

hhA!: Who’s currently out on tour?

Robb: “All tour dates are available at http://www.saddle-creek.com. Eric Bachmann, Bright Eyes, Cursive, Neva Dinova and Two Gallants currently have dates posted.”

hhA: I read an article about Bright Eyes once where Conor said he wasn’t interested In having the label spend money on the whole indie promo game and trying to go for regular rotation, etc. It almost seems to me as if your artists do well by organically spreading music at radio without doing a huge “push” and without strictly relying on old school methods of “breaking a record.” Is this the case? If so, what do you rely on?

Robb: “Typically indie artists/labels can't afford to spend the amount of money that it takes to have a full-on commercial radio campaign. We tend to focus more on college radio and building a word-of-mouth interest rather than spending tons of money marketing in hopes for a big hit/return on the investment. We tend to be a bit more 'conservative' in that regard and just try to get the music to the actual music fans, rather than getting the music out to everyone and shoving it down their throats. There is enough crap being shoved down people's throats via mass marketing.”

hhA!: Besides your own artists, what are you currently listening to?

Robb: “This week--Vampire Weekend, Feist, Regina Spektor, Wilco, the Zombies, Illinois….”