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The MP3 for this week's feature on Lawrence's swingingest new metal band, Hammerlord, has arrived!

It thrashes. It bashes. It wails. It's the perfect gift for Mother's Day. It cleans your chimney. It cleans your dad's chimney. It cleans your chimney dad. It makes all children resemble Clive Owen. It makes lawn furniture more comfortable. It makes French kissing legal again in Oklahoma. It turns plaid into paisley and paisley into the new symbol of the NOW. It elects Barack Obama's head on Claire McCaskill's body and gives it a John McCain-headed baby to kiss. In short, it may be the best thing to happen to metal since The Nothing. Plus, it's kinda catchy.

MP3: Hammerlord, "Dead City Radio"

"No wimps. No false metal."

Hammerlord singer Stevie Cruz asks that you visit the band's MySpace page and bang your head to three other releases from the upcoming record.

By ANDY VIHSTADT

Bob Dylan is releasing the 8th installment in his Bootleg Series on October 6. For $130, superfans can pre-order the special edition of Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006, which is packed with extras, right here. (link1) Submit your email address here for a free download of “Dreamin’ of You,” an unreleased cut from the Time Out of Mind sessions.

By FLANNERY CASHILL

In anticipation of his show this Friday, former Television guitarist Richard Lloyd talked with us at a mile a minute about Hendrix, rock and roll, and transcendental experiences.

Do you tour a lot?

No, and I want to. This is a real new beginning for me.

Have you been to Kansas City before?

Only with Television, I think opening for Peter Gabriel a long, long time ago. I’ve been to Kansas City with Rocket from the Tombs, I’m pretty sure. Rocket from the Tombs is like nitroglycerin, a one-act play where we blow the theater up at the end. It’s very exciting, hard rock, like Alice Cooper meets the Stooges meets Led Zeppelin, so it was very fun for me. And I’m pretty sure I played Kansas City on my Field of Fire tour which would have been in ’87, but not since then and I’m real excited to get over there. A musician is paid to go where the tourists pay to go and when you get there they applaud. I was on my knees when I was a teenager wanting to be a successful musician. Now I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, I’d be an idiot. But it is true that a week or so into the tour, I think, What have I gotten myself into? I’m playing in rooms with no windows and all-black walls and everybody’s intoxicated and I don’t drink, and I think, Oh my god, and then when it’s half over I say, Oh no! I wish it was twice as long!, and it’s over. They plop you down in front of your house and it’s hard to stop moving.

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I don'ts gots cables, otherwise I might have plunked myself in front of the tube a couple weeks ago to catch Lawrence band Big Surrender on the Lifetime show Army Wives. And then I might have grown breasts, but it wouldn't have been the band's fault.

Check out the playlist for episode 7, "Uncharted Territory," and go to the band's MySpace to hear the mighty catchy "Empty House."

Cool! But how'd they do it? Read on, friends, read on....

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The countdown has begun for next week's Pitch Music Showcase -- the 34 bands, $5 affair you've been hearing about that is going to rock you into a coma. Schedules have been printed up and are already making their rounds 'round the city, but I wanted to announce that there have been a couple of lineup changes.

First, download and print this year's Handy Pocket Guide.

Then, go and find a Sharpie marker and scribble in the following changes.

WESTPORT BEACH CLUB
8 p.m. Rockesh Namelessnumberheadman

MCCOY'S
9 p.m. Dri The Noise FM

We're sorry Dri and Rockesh won't be able to make it, but we heartily and enthusiastically welcome talented newcomers the Noise FM and fantastic old comers Namelessnumberheadman to the show!

We'll keep updated if the schedule changes further.

Follow the jump if you want the instant gratification of seeing the whole lineup in black and white. It's going to be a hell of a night, for sure.

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By ANDY VIHSTADT

University of Kansas alumni Mates of State visited the Interface studios at AOL to perform a few songs from Re-Arrange Us, out now on Barsuk. Download the video or audio podcast here.

Alina Simone
July 29, 2008
The Record Bar
By CRYSTAL K. WIEBE

Here comes a bitter rant: The bummer about the rise of such awesome worldly rock acts as Gogol Bordello and Devotchka is that it's led to some really annoying bands. Like Boom – the jokey polka, thespian group that played Record Bar last night. It’s always cool to see people break out squeezeboxes and other less common instruments of rock. But I guess I just wasn't in the mood for Flight of the Conchords-style musical humor and a guy on stage wearing nothing but a green bath towel.

Apparently, pretty much everyone else in the bar was into that, though. Hence, the mass exodus after Boom marched off stage. The few stragglers who hung around caught something real special, though: Alina Simone covering the music of Yanka Dyagileva.

Dyagileva is a tragic, Kurt Cobain-like character for the tiny Soviet punk rock scene. I didn't know who Dyagileva was until I caught Simone a few months ago. It was a similarly empty night at the Record Bar, and Simone got on stage alone with her acoustic guitar and started singing in Russian.

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By FLANNERY CASHILL

Dead Child combine chugging hardcore with heavy metal wails for the ultimate in dude rock.

MP3: Dead Child, "Sweet Chariot," from Attack (Quarterstick Records)

Richard Lloyd, former guitarist for proto-punks Television, gets technical with simian psychedelia.

MP3: Richard Lloyd, "Monkey", from Radiant Monkey (Parasol Records)

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Who: Canadian indie rock band Broken Social Scene

Where: The Beaumont Club

When: October 16

When do tickets go on sale?: Saturday, August 2, but if you're worried about getting tickets, a pre-sale is on now at the Arts & Crafts Web site.

Is the band touring behind a new record?:
It is, but it's not a new BSS record. It's the solo album Something For All of Us by BSS band member Brendan Canning.

Whoa. Is that Canning?
Yes.

Why does he look like that?
He's Canadian.

That dude's not the first Broken Social Scenester to put out a solo record, is he?
Correct. Canning joins Leslie "Feist" Feist, Jason Collett, Kevin Drew and Andrew "Apostle of Hustle" Whiteman in releasing solo albums.

Wow, that's a lot. Are they actually good?
Surprisingly, yes, a lot of them are.

What is it with those Canadians? How come they all get to put out albums?
Government funding.

Can any area high schools beat Broken Social Scene at basketball?
Shawnee Mission West can, but only if Feist and Collett aren't on BSS' team.

Will Feist and Collett be at the Beaumont show?
No, but Canning, Drew, that apostle guy, and four others will.

Did Canadians invent that ungraspable, wispy, lyrically vague, chock-full-of-ironic-titles-and-T-shirts, jangly, overproduced lo-fi thing we know as indie rock?
Quite possibly.

How?
Government funding.

By FLANNERY CASHILL

Attention all yodelers, cat jugglers, and Harlem Globetrotters: Kansas City's historic El Torreon is reopening, and in an effort to raise funds for building restoration, organizers are hosting a talent show. Interested parties should call (816) 561-3596 or (816) 359-9085 to register for their chance to compete. There is a $15 entrance fee for performers and a jackpot of $100 or more, depending on the number of participants. The all-ages show costs $2 at the door and begins at noon on Sunday, August 10th, giving competitors less than two weeks to master weight lifting and spoon bending.

By FLANNERY CASHILL

At what point does AC/DC’s self-parodying rock and roll become a regular-ass laughingstock? Probably this year, when AC/DC launch an international tour in support of their new, Wal-Mart exclusive album. Other artists to join the rollback savings club include The Eagles, Garth Brooks, Hoobastank, Clay Aiken, Taylor Swift, and my worst Christmastime memory, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. We’d cry "sell-out," but really, what integrity did the men behind “Hard as a Rock," "Family Jewels" and countless other boner jokes have to lose? Not much. For those about to schlock, we salute you.

By ANDY VIHSTADT

With a number of upcoming projects in release date limbo, MF Doom has been somewhat dubious over the past two years. To pass the time, Stones Throw mainstay Madlib has remixed his original 2004 collab with the masked man, Madvillain. Shell out $125 for this or download the affordable version here.

MP3: Madvillain, “Boulder Holder”, Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix (Stones Throw)

By ANDY VIHSTADT

Kings of Leon are leaking the first new material from its forthcoming Only By the Night, due September 22 on RCA. Download it here for a very limited time and look for album’s first single, “Sex on Fire,” to debut on August 11.

Rancid
July 27, 2008
The Beaumont Club
Better Than: Broken homes and broken bones.
By ANDREW MILLER

The Philips brothers and Rancid go way back. In 1997, Brandon, Zach and Adam comprised the Gadjits, a baby-faced ska-punk outfit that regularly covered Rancid singer Tim Armstrong’s former group Operation Ivy. The following year, The Gadjits became labelmates with Rancid on Epitaph, before releasing their next album on Rancid’s own label Hellcat. It’s been almost a decade since the two bands had any formal connection, but it’s a testament to the punk community’s “family forever” ethos that Rancid hand-selected The Architects (the Philips’ current project) to open its Kansas City show.

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By FLANNERY CASHILL

Those technophiles eager to announce the end of an analog era may want to consider the new trend in music consumption: motherfucking vinyl records. In many markets, vinyl outsells CDs, and turntables outsell guitars. This Saturday, Earwaxx Records in Gladstone (6408 North Oak Trafficway) opens its doors, and introduces a new generation to record store babes, record store douches, the thrill of discovery, and the shame of guilty pleasures. Owner Gary Wilkerson aims to avoid dusty, dollar-store records and keep the shelves stocked with new releases and reissues. “I’m all about trying to get stuff for the customers,” he tells us. Tomorrow’s grand opening will include live music, giveaways, specials and free hot dogs.