Out of the Fiery Furnace and into the solo arena, Eleanor Friedberger released her debut solo record Last Summer last year to positive reviews (I’m pretty sure we liked it too). Currently enjoying an Australian summer playing a few shows and watching the tennis, Eleanor also found time to put together a video for her song “Heaven” which you can watch here, and a four track live EP which you can download above. It’s like an endless summer of Eleanor. Dig it.

Recent Rough Trade signings Howler stake their claim as a band to watch in 2012 (while coming across like a Midwest Strokes) with a brand new track “Back of Your Neck” taken from their forthcoming debut album America Give Up due out January 16. Download the song for free above and catch the band touring the UK early next year.

Webcuts has favourite Misfits songs and it has favourite Misfits songs. This one tops the lot. Indie rock veterans Superchunk also have a thing for the Misfits too, in what seems to an annual Halloween tradition, they’ve posted a new Misfits’ cover on their website for the occasion. The band says, “Happy Halloween everyone! An omelet of disease awaits your noontime meal! In the tradition of doing something we did last year, we’ve got another Misfits cover for you. We recorded it with John Plymale at Overdub Lane. Everyone sings! So it’s festive. Here you go, ‘Where Eagles Dare‘.” Dig it, Halloweeners. And yeah, it’s a day late, but we spent Halloween watching Fucked Up dressed up as man-babies totally kicking ass, so there’s our excuse.

Electro-rockers The Big Pink follow up their 2009 debut, A Brief History of Love, with a new single “Stay Gold” taken from the forthcoming album Future This, due out November 7 with the album to follow in January on 4AD. You can download both the track and a remix by AraabMUZIK for free right here. The band will be touring England throughout November with tour dates posted at musicfromthebigpink

Electro-rockers The Big Pink follow up their 2009 debut, A Brief History of Love, with the new single “Stay Gold” taken from the forthcoming album Future This, due out November 7 on 4AD. You can check out the clip for “Stay Gold” below as well as download both the track and a remix by AraabMUZIK. Look out for Future This to drop some time in January next year.

The band will be touring England throughout November, culminating in a show at Brixton Academy in London on November 24. Full tour dates have been posted at http://www.musicfromthebigpink.com/

It is way too soon to post Christmas songs on this site, especially in October, but yet again we have been disarmed by the come-hither-fanboy charms of Zooey Deschanel and the gentle strum of M.Ward. As you should be well aware, there is a She & Him Christmas album afoot and you can listen now to the first track “The Christmas Waltz” right here, or perhaps just download and forget about for a while, lest you irritate people who only listen to Christmas songs on Christmas Eve. Right?

The Christmas Waltz by She & Him

Folk-rock oddity Jeffrey Lewis releases his umpteenth album A Turn In The Dream-Songs on October 10 via Rough Trade. The album features a host of Jeffrey’s friends feature on the album including members of Dr. Dog, The Vaselines, Au Revoir Simone and The Wave Pictures. Check out his semi-autobiographical ode to the unappreciated “Cult Boyfriend”.

Over the past few years 4AD have been posting specially recorded studio performances from artists in their roster. They’re now releasing a compilation of those sessions, featuring tracks by Deerhunter, Twin Shadow and Ariel Pink, in a limited vinyl release. Download a free digital version here and possibly win a copy on vinyl.

New York’s Twin Shadow has released a brand new one-off single entitled ‘Changes’, the original song (“Circus Is Gone”) was written and recorded by 80s group Baggare. Those of you who’ve seen Twin Shadow over the past 6 months would’ve heard this track as part of their live set. To hold you over until the next album, you can download the track right here.

It takes patience and determination to be a Faker fan. Which isn’t to say good things don’t come to those who wait, but for this beloved Sydney band, we have all grown significantly older since the release of their sophomore album Be The Twilight in 2007. Having already released the dance-embraced about face that was “Dangerous”, Faker are strengthening their return with the prelude-to-album release entitled How Did We Not Get Loved?. The EP features five new songs, including the strangely titled “Back When Solvents”, which Hudson confessed on twitter as being “possibly our best song about bike safety ever”. Well, there you go. How Did We Not Get Loved? is out October 9, coinciding with a nation-wide tour.

Back When Solvents by Faker