Interpol goes indie with EP release

[Late with a post today, sorry; here are some news bits:]

The band is no longer on an indie label, but Interpol today released a six-song live EP, "Interpol Live," that's available only at independent music stores. You mean there's some of those left? Yes, indeed. The retail outlets, listed at Think Indie, include North Hollywood's Miles of Music and Long Beach's Fingerprints, along with that cozy hole in the wall at Sunset and Ivar. The EP, by the way, is heavily weighted toward new material -- four songs off this year's "Our Love to Admire."

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The Plug Independent Music Awards nominees include a healthy number of major-label artists too, but who's counting? What's indie? I've watched this video five times and I'm still befuddled. The Plugs do appear to be an emo-free zone, however, even though there's a lot of indie emo. L.A.'s very own No Age and Sea Wolf (that's Alex Church at left) are among nominees for new artist of the year. Even if you don't vote, the Plug list offers the chance to test your cool quotient -- how many discs on the album-of-the-year list have you heard? Or how many do you own? And did you really make it all the way through the Beirut album? And why can't this Beirut get any love? So many questions.

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Highlights for Tuesday, Nov. 27

If I were in the mood for some serious, thoughtful music tonight, I would see Johnette Napolitano at the Roxy. The ex-Concrete Blonde singer-bassist's solo album “Scarred” is powerful stuff -- plus she has a reputation for delivering the goods live. ... If I were in the mood to dance my legs off and hear the Cure recycled, I'd hit Cinespace for its Tuesday party -- War Tapes is playing, along with local rockers Policy. ... With only an EP on their resume, there's a buzz surrounding the indie pop of Los Campesinos!, who are from Wales but sound like they should be from Canada and are touring with another of our northern neighbor's government-supported indie outfits, the Most Serene Republic. That show is at the Echoplex. ... Maybe coolest of all, one of the Quannum Projects heroes, Honeycut, is down from San Francisco for a show at the Knitting Factory.