Centered on lead vocalists Rein Fuks and Eve Komp, Estonian band Pia Fraus are often referred to as neo-shoegaze, and in that sense they do bring to mind the blissful and buried harmonies of My Bloody Valentine and Stereolab. Featuring warm production from the sympathetically-minded Norman Blake of Scotland’s Teenage Fanclub, 2008’s After Summer finds the band reaching for a bit more studio sheen than on previous efforts. Which isn’t to say they’ve sacrificed any of the lo-fi charm and blue-sky energy of their previous work. On the contrary, Blake’s pop craftsmanship is a perfect fit for similarly inclined Pia Fraus and the result is an organic, exquisite little daydream of an album. Poppy but off-kilter, Pia Fraus never sacrifice a great song for sheer noise. Instead, they make room for waves of fuzzy guitar, percolating keyboards, and little nibbles of percussion throughout. In that sense, they aren’t as mannered or predictable as some of their indie pop contemporaries, and evince a supple balance between their more avant-garde leanings and their obvious knack for crafting melodic sugar-rush melodies. From the shimmering album opener “Springsister” to the rippling Theremin affirmation of “Sailing Yes” and the woozily romantic “Doctor Optimism,” these are the sorts of songs that teenage dreams live and die on.

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The New York Times has been running a music blog called Measure for Measure, written by musicians about the songwriting process. Featured are pieces by country singer Roseanne Cash, contemporary singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega, pop songwriter/producer Darrell Brown (LeAnn Rimes’ Family) and eclectic Chicago-based artist Andrew Bird. Generally, these are quite thoughtful and intimate posts that find the artists opening up about personal and professional views they hold on writing and recording music. Bird’s latest post is about recording his upcoming album at Wilco’s Loft studio. He writes, “Sometimes, as I’ve noted before, the object itself gets assigned a mystical value and must be on a song, though I know most listeners could not care less whether we use a Telefunken mic or a 30-year-old calf skin drum head.”

Check the blog here.

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Best remembered for their 1990 hit “Every Beat of the Heart,” the Railway Children also produced two somewhat forgotten and hard-to-find gems of late ’80s indie pop that deserve to be reissued.

Starting out as Factory Records wunderkinds, the Railway Children had little in common with the sound of their labelmates New Order and Happy Mondays when they signed to the iconic label soon after forming in 1984. Fronted by singer/songwriter and matinée-idol looker Gary Newby, the band were less Madchester ravers and more Smiths-influenced indie kids with a bit of a New Romantic flair that was often obscured by an inclination toward thoughtful, melancholic anthems.

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Twenty-year-old Sub Pop label plans weekend of outdoor concerts in July. Green River, the Fluid, Red Red Meat and Beachwood Sparks are reuniting for the festivities. [Reuters]

Detroit’s Movement electronic music fest has announced its 2008 lineup. [Myspace]

Bill Cosby’s hip-hop album drops next month. [Detroit Free Press]

Motley Crue kicks off traveling Cruefest. [NME]

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Beginning with 1983’s New York Second Line, trumpeter Terence Blanchard and saxophonist Donald Harrison released a handful of albums that sprung from their time growing up in New Orleans and as members in drummer Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Bringing to mind the iconic pairing of Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter, the Harrison/Blanchard albums — 1983’s New York Second Line, 1984’s Discernment, 1986’s Nascence all on Concord and 1987’s Crystal Stair and 1988’s Black Pearl on Columbia — were a mix of acoustic hard bop, standards and some adventurous post-bop originals that often referenced New Orleans themes and rhythms. In that sense, the duo was sometimes compared, both favorably and unfavorably, to their fellow New Orleanian contemporaries and Messenger-alums Wynton and Branford Marsalis. As such, these recordings are often disregarded as well studied, but ultimately derivative neo-bop albums that aped the Marsalis mold of conservative, cerebral, double-breasted suit wearing modal jazz — which is in itself an oft-stated party line dismissal of Wynton’s music, but that’s an argument for another day.

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In honor of legendary jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s 70th birthday, AMG takes a look back at some of his best work on the CTI label in the ’70s. While Hubbard made his name with his now classic Blue Note albums of the ’60s, his soulful, stylistically varied, and often avant-garde jazz-funk/fusion albums of the ’70s are equally compelling. Produced by CTI label owner Creed Taylor before the industry moved toward the more commercially-minded mathematic equation of smooth jazz, these albums showcased Hubbard in his adventurous, musical prime surrounded by such forward-thinking artists as percussionist Airto Moreira, pianist Keith Jarrett, saxophonist Joe Henderson, and drummer Billy Cobham.

An easy nominee for one of the best — if not the best — ’70s jazz funk cut, the title track off Hubbard’s classic 1970 CTI debut, Red Clay, is simply one of the hippest things you’ll ever hear.
 
 
 
 
 

Similary, the title cut off his second CTI album, Straight Life, is a roil of Afro-Latin influences that make for another standout fusion moment.
 
 
 
 
 

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On Wednesdays, the New York Times book blog Paper Cuts features a music playlist from a writer. The lists include paragraphs by the writers on each of their choices as well as links to the artists’ website. Past authors have included, among others, Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña and Richard Fariña author David Hajdu, One Pill Makes You Smaller author Lisa Dierbeck and Maynard & Jennica novelist Rudolph Delson. This week’s list comes from The Mistresses’s Daughter author H.M. Homes.

On the Schedule

Thursday:
Flix shows the excellent documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown bright and early at 6 a.m.

Encore WAM presents the Guided By Voices documentary The Electrifying Conclusion at 11:05 a.m. sharp.

VH1 Classic airs the thorough Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story at 2 p.m.

Kid Rock helps Jimmy Kimmel rock in his 1000th episode on ABC at 11:35 p.m.

Ferras and the American Idol finalists drop by the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC at 11:35 p.m.

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