As surprising as it was when post-rock heavyweights Godspeed You! Black Emperor rolled out of a seven-year hiatus and reformed in 2010, now the ragged instrumentalists feel like part of the touring landscape; known names ready to create their epic music at artfully-minded rock festivals.

And, so, another Godspeed! tour announcement, and it's getting less strange that the Québécois co-op are alive and functioning in 2012, playing the old 'hits' for the kids. As well as upcoming dates at the Pitchfork Music Fest and a September ATP shindig, they now have an autumnal tour through the United States on tap for October.

Fa-Lala-Lala-La-La:
July 14: Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Music Festival
September 23: Asbury Park, NJ - ATP
October 1: Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
October 2: Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
October 3: Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live
October 4: Carrboro, NC - Cats Cradle
October 5: Atlanta, GA - Buckhead Theatre
October 6: Birmingham, AL - Bottletree
October 7: New Orleans, LA - Tipitinas
October 9-10: Austin, TX - The Mohawk
October 11: Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre
October 12: Nashville, TN - Cannery Ballroom
October 13: Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall
October 14: Detroit, MI - Majestic Theatre

Photo © Eva Vermandel

A week after randomly unveiling two brand new songs, those beloved bros from Animal Collective have taken it a step further: announcing a brand new album.

Centipede Hz —the ninth Animal Collective album, and follow-up to 2009's five-star classic Merriweather Post Pavilion— will be released on September 4, on Domino. Neither "Honeycomb" nor "Gotham," the two freshly-released songs, will be appearing on the album, so the mystery is thus-far preserved.

Are "Monkey Riches" the lucre they've made as one of indie music's big festival draws? Is "Amanita" a Bardo Pond homage? Did Deakin wear Crocs whilst making the album? All will be revealed in four short months.

Those wanting to be 'teased' can check out the obligatory in-advance 'trailer' for the album via the Animal Collective website. Otherwise, let the anticipation for one of 2012's most anticipated albums run wild.

Centipede Hz Track List:
1. "Moonjock"
2. "Today's Supernatural"
3. "Rosie Oh"
4. "Applesauce"
5. "Wide Eyed"
6. "Father Time"
7. "New Town Burnout"
8. "Monkey Riches"
9. "Mercury Man"
10. "Pulleys"
11. "Amanita"

Photo © Atiba Jefferson

One of my favorite albums of the year is the debut solo album for Sophia Knapp (pictured!), the leader of Brooklyn rock outfit Cliffie Swan (née Lights). I've been meaning to write the full review with love for its sentiments, its sounds, and it's fantastically evocative lyrics, plus I interviewed Ms. Knapp, too, and, oh, how that remains untyped.

Even in the absence of such a Knapp jamboree, the goodness of her record made me think of the astonishing discography of Drag City, the Chicago label Knapp records for. Though they're not thought of in the Matador/Sub Pop/Merge pantheon, Drag City are, well, actually, they're better than that; if they're never been cool or shifted Billboard-botherin' units, they've pretty much never released a bad record, quietly cultivating a vast roster of idiosyncratic artists and allowing them the freedom to pursue their own unique visions.

Will Oldham (he of Palace and Bonnie "Prince Billy") and Bill Callahan (Sir Smog) have been the two indefatigable mainstays of the label, but Drag City goes way beyond that; tending to such charmed oddballs as Silver Jews, Jim O'Rourke, and the almighty Joanna Newsom.

To take true stock of its greatness, from the label's 22 years (and counting) of impressive audio, here are the 20 Greatest Drag City Albums...

Name: Ryan Power
From: Burlington, Vermont
Story: Fearing death, one man quietly battles obscurity
Sound: Complex synth-pop with croony vocals

I Don't Want to Die is the fifth album from Ryan Power, but the first to be properly released. After a career of self-releasing, the set —initially released in 2010, and now expanded and improved upon— was recently pressed up by NNA Tapes, shining a light on a ridiculously talented musician who'd been toiling in something approaching obscurity.

Power is a studio rat based in Burlington, Vermont, and recorded I Don't Want To Die in a barn in Shelburne. There's nothing snowy nor rustic about his music, though. Instead, he plays complex, odd synth-pop that harkens back to old smooth-rock acts like Steely Dan, Aztec Camera, and Prefab Sprout, '90s pop-perfectionist revivalists High Llamas and the Aluminum Group, and conceptualist/stylist/iconoclast figures like Momus and that exponentially-influential Godfather of all '10s home producers, Ariel Pink.

The record's centerpiece is, somewhat naturally, its title-track, a five-and-a-half minute ballad —all chiming synths and sotto voce vocals— in which Power ably articulates the paralyzing powers of a fear of death. "This is one short trip/why don't we enjoy it?" he asks, amidst the study-of-monogamy that is "The Way It's Always Been," and the question lingers.

"We can't deny/we're all going to die," Power croons, in the rhythmically-odd "You Wanna Seltzer," before revisiting the line, again, almost exactly, mid-"The Knowhow." "Hey, everybody/we're all gonna totally die," he wails, in the middle of a manic jam in which a desire to seize-the-day results in existence as a kind of frantic, chaotic grab-bag of terrified experiences. Life is short; far too short to spend with bad music. Power makes sound that, in its goodness, makes listening feel a worthwhile investment of the few precious moments you have before you expire.

• Listen: Ryan Power, "I Don't Want to Die"
• Listen: Ryan Power, "I Don't Care"