Hooray! Greg Prato reports for Billboard…

XTC guitarist Andy Partridge recently combed his vaults and discovered an exorbitant amount of rarities and outtakes recorded by the defunct English art-rock combo, resulting in a nine-disc boxed set that will come out on October 16.

“The Fuzzy Warbles Collectors Album” (Virtual Label) features alternate versions of many XTC favorites, unreleased tracks and also unfinished material that Partridge revisited and completed for this release.

“Working on this stuff took many years,” Partridge told Billboard.com. “I just kept writing — who knows what’s going to fall out? It was recorded in spare bedrooms, the kitchen, the attic and of course my now infamous garden shed. Pop songs, radio jingles, film and TV music, or just plain old goofing about.”

[thanks Harris]

…instead, just go put on some Allman Brothers, and watch this.

Dave Itzkoff wrote a nice article about those wacky Pitchfork kids in the current issue of Wired. A sample passage:

At any given moment, Pitchfork’s homepage provides an instantaneous read on a broad swath of pop-music happenings, with band interviews, tour dates, and a frequently updated news feed. But what immediately catches a reader’s eye is the profusion of adjectives and adverbs that don’t always mean exactly what they say but are passionately trying to say something: The debut CD from the Brooklyn trio Au Revoir Simone is described as “musically fanciful and lyrically Pollyannaish,” while the latest release from the avant-garde band TV on the Radio, we are told, has “abstract and electronic textures,” and a new album from the British group Keane is excoriated for its “portentous clichés.”

Yep — pretty much sums up what I like about ‘em…

That’s right folks — for a limited time, JoeRockhead.com is offering Free Shipping on orders of $25.00 or more shipping to a US address. Flat Rate shipping for international orders is also still in effect. There’s lots of great new stuff coming out this month, so you better get in on this deal while you can!

Coinciding nicely with the Sept. 12th release of And I Feel Fine, the original four R.E.M.’ers are scheduled to kick it old-school on September 16th as they get inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Wanna go? Both VH1 and Newbury Comics are running contests for tickets, airfare and such.

I suspect the festivities will go something like this:

From David Menconi at the Raleigh News & Observer:

Chapel Hill pop icon Chris Stamey has been busy this summer preparing an expanded version of his 1985 album “Christmas Time.” Credited this time to “The dB’s and Friends” and retitled “Christmas Time Again,” the new version comes out Nov. 7 on Collector’s Choice.

The 21-track set includes earlier songs by Stamey, the dB’s and Big Star. New additions include contributions from Whiskeytown, the reunited dB’s, Don Dixon, Marshall Crenshaw and Thad Cockrell with Roman Candle.

Its ‘American Idol Gone Wild’ when Kelly Clarkson gets herself all liquored up and ends up on stage with some random poodle-hair band. Her publicist probably isn’t happy, but somehow this makes me like her all the more. And hey, she sounds better than Axl sounds these days…

Weird Al has made the first single from his upcoming Straight Outta Lynwood album available for free on his MySpace page. “Don’t Download This Song” is sort of a “We Are The World”-style one-finger salute to the RIAA and their Global War Against Downloaders. Go get it now. And then go buy a cd.

Palace fans take note: On September 19th, Drag City will release The Letting Go, the first all-new Bonnie “Prince” Billy solo album since 2003’s outstanding Master And Everyone. Joining in on vocals this time is the lovely and talented Dawn McCarthy (aka Faun Fables).

Check out this video of Outkast’s ‘Hey Ya’ as covered by a dude with an acoustic guitar in Arizona named Mat Weddle. Sure, the juxtaposition of styles is funny, and that alone is worth the click. But what’s really cool about this is how it illustrates just the basic, fundamental power of a great pop song.

[via MeFi]