Earlier this afternoon we received an e-mail from Merge Records with a subject line that piqued our curiosity: "Neutral Milk Hotel need your help to save The Paragon Carousel." 

The e-mail consisted of an impassioned plea -- written by Julian Koster of Neutral Milk Hotel and the Music Tapes, and co-signed by elusive NMH leader Jeff Mangum -- to save this historic landmark, a small carousel located in Hull, Massachusetts. The fact that members of a legendary indie rock band were asking for help for a cause like this was interesting enough. Second, Koster's letter referred to the carousel as his "neighbor" -- and did that mean he was currently living in Hull? And if so, did he know about With the Needle That Sings In Her Heart, the Amanda-Palmer led high-school musical based on his old band's classic album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea?

Clearly, we needed to know more, so we made some calls and got him on the phone. Our brief question and answer session follows, including a deliberately vague quote about Jeff Mangum that nonetheless may strike joy into the hearts of people who wish these guys would just reunite already. READ THE Q&A AFTER THE JUMP.

We're not sure where we first heard the phrase "J. R. R. Tokin'" to refer to stoners who also love fantasy, but never has it seemed more appropriate than when looking at the cover art for the new Dinosaur Jr. album, Farm. 

But that's not important right now. What is important is that we can now hear two new songs from Farm, and, as of today, we can download one of those songs, "I Want You To Know," from either the band's site or Jagjaguwar's official site. And it is quite awesome. 2007's Beyond, the band's first album with its "classic" lineup (J. Mascis on guitar and lead vocals, Lou Barlow on bass, and Murph on drums) intact since the 1980s, was pretty great, but this song seems even better still; it's a bit more in Mascis's heavy-yet-mellow wheelhouse (again, see above artwork) than tracks like "Been There All the Time," and Mascis's falsetto overdub gets a nice showcase. What I find most interesting, though, as someone who thought that the band's post-Barlovian output was, though not as good as the older stuff, quite good in its own right, is that this new song - scorching, slow, and melodic - sounds like something from Where You Been, the second album Mascis recorded without Barlow. Check another new song, "I Don't Want To Go There," which debuted on Pitchfork.TV, as well as Where You Been's "Out There," after the jump.

LISTEN: Dinosaur Jr., "I Want You To Know" (mp3)

Four years of my misspent youth were whiled away as an English major at a piney liberal arts college where, when not playing beer pong as it’s meant to be played, I was in the library muddling through abstruse academic texts like Julia Kristeva’s Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art, Gilles Deleuze’s Empiricism and Subjectivity, Felix Guattari’s Psychoanalysis and Transversality

^{"Ghost Dance," by American Memory Project}

William Morrison, Skinny Puppy collaborator and co-creator of American Memory Project, is standing in the darkened Pozen Center explaining the muddled pedigree of his video piece "Artifacts." He lists the ingredients: heavily tweaked loops of the sneering racist poem “Raggedy Man” draped over a percussion skeleton of pops and hisses culled from wax-cylinder recordings, all set against clips of Nosferatu, Iraq oil fires, and Al Jolson in blackface.

The DEAD VIDEO/LIVE VIDEO FESTIVAL is more than moving pictures — there’s also a significant music and sound-art component. This Saturday, an eclectic group of local artists will perform at MassArt’s Pozen Center. There’ll be live electronic dance music (no samplers, sequencers, or the like) from PSYLAB, some interactive beats and animations from Beat Research’s venerable DJ FLACK, abrasive sound and video work from QFWFQ, and much more.

Since I've for years written that it's in Boston's great interest to preserve and invest in Dorchester's Strand Theatre, I now feel partially responsible for helping the institution's volunteers and organizers keep the great hall busy. The long-lasting $6 million renovation is finished; the place looks dignified (from outside at least - I haven't been in yet); and the shows-they-are-a-coming.

NOTE: We ended up taking this post down this morning because it turns out we weren't supposed to spill the beans about the EP. Oops. In any case, it's too late now so with HH's permission we're putting it back up. Also, Steve Brodksy emailed us to correct the producer credits -- so if you're one of the metal sites that linked to the old post, please note the clarification below.

Posted "about three hours ago "on the King of Crunk's Twitter feed -- which, by the way, is on its way to becoming one of the more consistently entertaining celebutweets, period:

N DA AIRPORT AND MOTHERFUCKERS COUGHING N SHIT NOT COVERING THEIR MOUTHS! SHIT FUCKIN SWINE FLU GOIN AROUND! I'M BOUT 2 CUSS A BITCH OUT!

1. HANDS AND KNEES, “YOU GOT POP, YOU GOT STYLE” (mp3)
2. THE EVERYDAY VISUALS, “HEAL ME”
3. GROWLERS, “ALL BUT THE BONES”
4. PASSION PIT, “LITTLE SECRETS”
5. SARAH BORGES AND THE BROKEN SINGLES, “NO ONE WILL EVER LOVE YOU”

Check out New England Product on WFNX 101.7 every Sunday, 11 pm–midnight

Hands and Knees play Great Scott on April 30.

Their debut album hasn't even been released yet, but PASSION PIT are already towering over Kanye, Bat For Lashes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Sonic Youth on a national chart. That's right: for at least a week or so, the Pit have been esconced as the #1 slot on the "Hot Artists" list at the mp3-blog aggregator Elbo.

^{The Roots}

ON SALE THURSDAY APRIL 30

The Dream + Keri Hilson + Bobby Valentino | May 26 at the House of Blues, Boston | $35-$45 | On sale April 30, at 10 am | //www.houseofblues.com

The Orb + Orchard Lounge | July 9 at the Paradise, Boston | On sale April 30, at noon | //www.livenation.

As my readers might remember, one of my absolute favorite discs last year came from Boston MC Moe Pope and Bay Area producer Headnodic. I would further boast about their Megaphone project here (like I often do at the dinner table, in stadium church services, and on the orange line), but I already reviewed it and profiled them for the Phoenix last year.

GREEN DAY had previously announced their summer tour itinerary, which showed that they'd be in Boston for July 20. Today the the band confirmed they'll be playing TD Banknorth Garden, and that tickets will go onsale May 16 -- the day after Reprise drops the band's new rock opera 21st Century Breakdown.In the off chance you haven't pointed your browser at an MTV-owned web site recently, there's a single from this opus which is apparently in heavy rotation everywhere:

IN a monologue the length of which is usually reserved on MSNBC for Keith Olberman kidney-punching Karl Rove, RACHEL MADDOW last night launched into an impromptu tribute to Metallica's MASTER OF PUPPETS, in which Maddow recalled that, when she was 15, the album "blew my mind" and became the soundtrack to "the part of my adolescence where I was doing what I was not supposed to be doing."