Bite-Sized News: Castledoor, Foreign Born, Silversun Pickups, & More

by Whitney Hawke

Knowledge is hot. This is the first installment of a weekly post called 'Bite-Sized News' which aims to educate readers -- transforming them into the new know-it-alls of social circles. trying to impress a girl? On the prowl for a pearl-buttoned plaid-shirt wearing stallion? Drop a line like "Yeah, Foreign Born just finished recording their new album at Sunset Lodge Studios, and they're releasing it on some Indiana label called Secretly Canadian -- which releases Jens Lekman and Antony and the Johnsons' records as well." Consider it a done deal -- sign, sealed, delivered.

Now learn:

-- Silver Lake rockers Castledoor have finished a new 11-track album titled Shouting At Mountains. The album was recorded over the course of eight days, under the direction of Robert Schwartzman (of the band Rooney). Hard copies of the album will be available to the few lucky fools making the trek to SXSW next week, and to the general public via iTunes and other digital stores April 21. Castledoor is currently looking for a label to release Shouting At Mountains – the band's first full-length album.

-- Young, local indie-pop quartet Princeton (illustrated above) laid down a four-track session for Daytrotter. The session went live on the site March 4.

-- The fourth installment of The Ship Sessions – the online audio/video series by Earlimart frontman Aaron Espinoza – will be filmed March 21^st at the SXSW, and will feature Rademacher, Jason Lytle and Flosstradamus.

-- Super producer Dave Newton is currently working with local late-1990s-esque rockers The Rhone Occupation. Newton is known around town for his work with bands such as The Happy Hollows, The Movies, Death to Anders, and The Little Ones.

-- Silversun Pickups have completed the much-awaited follow-up to their 2006 super-album Carnavas, titled Swoon. MTV News snagged an exclusive peak at two new tracks. The album, produced by Dave Cooley (who also did Carnavas), is scheduled to be released April 14 on L.A.'s Dangerbird Records.

-- L.A. folksters Foreign Born have finished a new album titled Person to Person, which is slated to be released on Indiana-based label Secretly Canadian Records on June 23. Foreign Born recorded the full-length album over the summer at Sunset Lodge Studios.

-- Avi Buffalo – an infectiously catchy indie quartet out of Long Beach – have scored The Echo's Monday night residency for the month of May. The youngsters (whose sound bares an uncanny resemblance to pre-Oracular-Spectacular-MGMT) are on the look out for a new guitar player to join their ranks – anyone?

-- Acoustic pop band The Western States Motel are playing three FREE shows in Southern California at the end of March – March 24 at HOME in Silver Lake, March 26 at Mercury Lounge in Santa Barbara, and March 28 at Bar Pink in San Diego. Fellow Angelenos The Minor Canon will accompany the band at their Silver Lake and Santa Barbara shows.

(Illustration of Princeton by Johnnie Cluney, courtesy of Daytrotter.com)