So Interpol’s third album and major label debut Our Love To Admire hits stores next Tuesday and I am forced to ask myself how interested I am. Like everyone else, I was all about Turn On The Bright Lights when it came out back in 2002, less for the Joy Division comparisons which I never really thought held up past Paul Banks’ baritone, than for the fact that the guitarwork was a pure Chameleons tribute, with maybe a little less chorus and dodgy ’80s production values. And Banks’ iffy lyricism aside, it was a totally solid album. I dug it.

For reasons unclear to me, the follow-up Antics never won me over. I had already begun to lose interest thanks in no small part to a stupefyingly dull live show at the Kool Haus in September 2003 – especially disappointing considering how terrific they were the year before at the Horseshoe – and Antics felt like more of the same as Bright Lights yet not nearly as good.

First impressions – granted, just a single listen so totally not a final judgement – of the new record are along the same lines. I certainly didn’t expect them to go back to the more atmospheric sounds of Bright Lights and they haven’t. Things are still taut, tight and dry and, well, unmistakably Interpol. Nothing revelatory though “Wrecking Ball” is an early standout. There’ll be further listens and I’ll get a chance to re-evaluate the band in a live setting on September 8 when they play V Fest in the midst of a rather insane Summer and Fall touring schedule. Let it never be said I wasn’t willing to give a band a second (or third) chance.

And this isn’t meant to be a review so much as an excuse to point you to some linkage – MTV and The Scotsman have interviews while Spinner had the band in their studios for a session and interview, all captured on video. And you can stream Our Love To Admire in its entirety below, courtesy of MuchMusic.

Stream: Interpol / Our Love To Admire
Video: Interpol – “The Heinrich Maneuver” (YouTube)
MySpace: Interpol

PJ Harvey will release her new album White Chalk on September 24 in the UK, North American date to be confirmed but sanity would dictate it comes out the next day, September 25. And the music industry is nothing if not sane. Billboard has more details.

Definitely coming out September 25 is Washington Square Serenade, the new record from Steve Earle. After a couple of albums of full-out, righteously indignant rock Earle is in a quieter frame of mind with the new one. CMJ has the track list and a couple quotes from Earle about the record, a love letter of sorts to his current home base of New York City.

Spinner has got one of their 3×3 things featuring Voxtrot.

San Diego City Beat talks to Band Of Horses’ Ben Bridwell. They’re at Lee’s Palace on August 11.

Conversations about the past and present with a couple of the more interesting and quotable figures of British pop – Filter talks to Jarvis Cocker about the legacy of Pulp while Junkmedia discusses Rasputin’s penis with Andy Partridge.

Drowned In Sound isn’t terribly excited about the news of The Verve reuniting, and they’ll tell you why.