Spouse

It’s unclear, from this vantage point at least, precisely to whom the proper noun in the band Spottiswoode & His Enemies refers.

Is it Roger Spottiswoode, the director of Turner and Hooch and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot? Or is it 17th century Scottish Archbishop John Spottiswoode, or 19th century English mathematician/physicist William Spottiswoode, or perhaps Victoria Cross-winner William Spottiswoode Trevor, a major in the Bengal Engineers who fought valorously during the 1864-1865 Bhutan War, vanquishing 200 barricaded enemy soldiers all while greatly outmatched?

DOWNLOAD: Cheater Pint, "Control Freak" (mp3)

As their name suggests, CHEATER PINT is a bar band — but a bar band in a great Boston tradition that stretches from the Charms and the Dents back to the Lyres and the Real Kids. Call it garage punk if you must, or find some new synonym for the kind of ragged power pop that boasts too many hooks and too much heart for a gang who couldn't give a shit about playing sober.

Start your engines. From the inbox:

MySpace Secret Shows is very pleased to present
Broken Social Scene plays Kevin Drew "Spirit If..."
Tuesday, August 28, 2007. FREE! / All Ages! Doors @ 7:00 PM
At TT The Bears (10 Brookline St. Cambridge, MA 02139-4152 - 617-492-BEAR)

YOU WILL NEED A WRISTBAND - ONE WRISTBAND PER PERSON

DOWNLOAD: Drug Rug, "Tiny People" (mp3)
WATCH: Drug Rug at YouTube
FRIEND: myspace.com/drugrugdude

Along with Mean Creek and Hats and Glasses, Drug Rug are among our favorite newish local bands led by a boyfriend-girlfriend team making beautiful music together, as Pepé Le Pew would say.

As we were leaving Thunderdome last Friday, we passed by our bowler-clad ace shutterbug John Nikolai -- a man who has photographed more punk legends than you've listened to, probably -- and, as he swept past, we hoped that a) he was headed in the direction of that long line snaking out of T.T.'s, and b) that he had his camera with him.

Yeah, we didn't buy that "Stallyns" listing either. But we're also not entirely sure that the Bravery warrant fake-name gigs yet. At least not in New England, where some of us still have first-hand memories of Sam's ska past. In any case, now that the Killers sophomore effort has tanked, it's the Bravery's turn: having just completed The Sun and the Moon, with Brendan O'Brien, in Atlanta and New York, they're kicking off the obligatory club show in their home-away-from-home

Deja vu all over again: Who at Garden

Petra: keeping her mouth shut.

Not like we can afford satellite radio or anything, but thanks to Sirius's freebie campaign we heard Pete Townshend walk off the Howard Stern show this morning in a huff, after Robin made mention of those old child-porn charges (like we're supposed to forget about 'em just because he was acquitted

Songs from Albert Hammond Jr's solo album have been floating around the internerd for a while now, and with the record due out next week (at least in countries like England and Japan), the kid has announced a couple of club dates. Gig #2 is at T.T. the Bear's Place on the night before Halloween. Try to contain your excitement.

We’re not sure exactly when the folks at Pitchfork started valuing “actual decent songs” over “instant-cred reference points” (can someone point us in the direction of a well-written Wolf Parade tune?), but that’s their main criticism of Movie Monster, the Capitol debut from Austin upstarts Sound Team, which received a lowly 3.

We all know who invented the internet, but now Letters to Cleo's Kay Hanley -- among many others -- is out to save it.

In case you haven't been following the dastardly battle going down in Congress, Big Telecom is on the verge of wrecking the Web with a fucked-up piece of legislation that would allow internet providers to charge you more money depending on what sites you visit -- or even to block your access to certain sites altogether.

DOWNLOAD: Age Rings, “Millions of Americans” (mp3)

This song was recorded last weekend at a converted Civil War-era barn, and you can practically hear the woodgrain. Age Rings have yet to officially release a single song, but after listening to their previous demo for six months, we’ve already started thinking of them as Boston’s answer to Wilco.

DOWNLOAD: Dylan in the Movies, "Better Days" (mp3)

If AAA radio was a game run by Daniel Lanois, Bill Janovitz, Greg Dulli, and Grant Lee Phillips instead of douchebags like that guy from Train, it might sound like this elegant, brush-slapped duet -- on the chamber pop tip -- by Dylan in the Movies' Brian Sullivan and ex-Belly/Throwing Muses chanteuse Tanya Donnelly.

Furvis: "No, let me give you head!"

Message to Campaign for Real Time: spend your Rumble winnings wisely. In other words, make like Furvis, who made it to the Rumble finals in '05 on a platform of strict Pavement impersonation, underwent one of the more dramatic makeovers in recent local-rock history, and here unveil a slab of Stones-y, whiskey-pickled cawntry-rock, recorded by Gentleman Ed V.