The Saratoga Springs, NY duo of Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel, known collectively as Phantogram, are preparing to tour multiple times in 2010. In celebration of the release of their debut LP, eyelid movies (out February 9th, but available for pre-orders now), the band will be hitting the east coast and some Midwest dates. You can listen to the record in its entirety on the NPR website here.

The Long Winters have definitely put the 'long' back in 'taking a long time to make a new album', and we're not complaining (too much) because we know that whenever it's done it'll be great. However, we were very excited to learn that John Roderick recently recorded a very special acoustic version of not moving to portland with his and our friend, the amazing and talented Kathleen Edwards, and that he has donated the recording to the excellent and worthy local charity project GIVE Seattle. You can watch a charming video that John made for the song and learn more about the project on the GIVE Seattle site, but basically, for a very reasonable price, you can get exclusive songs from a ton of Seattle bands and songwriters, including Barsuk family like Pearly Gate Music, David Bazan, and Ben Gibbard.

Absolute Punk and Barsuk are excited to announce that anyone who pre-orders Rocky's new album true devotion before February 23rd will be entered to win some pretty great stuff, as well as getting immediate exclusive digital access to the album plus a bonus 7" single with two non-album tracks (while supplies last). Details can be found here.

A free MP3 from true devotion has just been posted as well, for the song red river.

Phantogram's beautiful beat-driven dreamlike album, eyelid movies, is now available for pre-ordering in the Barsuk shop. The band will be touring throughout February with Junk Culture (and a few dates with Minus The Bear).

The vinyl version of eyelid movies will be released by Ghostly International and will also be available here as soon as they're ready.

Death Cab for Cutie will be performing at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, airing live on VH1 on January 15th at 9pm (EST/PST). The band will perform a cover of the classic Simple Minds song, don't you (forget about me) from the classic film, The Breakfast Club during a tribute to filmmaker John Hughes.

Nada Surf bring their trademark sense of harmony and musical craftsmanship to 12 of their favorite songs with their latest release, if i had a hi-fi, their first album of covers. It will initially be available exclusively at live shows on their tour, which begins March 25. The tour will begin with three "album shows" in New York City, during which they'll be playing all the songs from let go, the weight is a gift, and lucky. There is a fan pre-sale for most US shows at nadasurf.musictoday.com — for more information, visit the band's website.

Death Cab for Cutie's the open door ep, a companion to 2008's full-length, narrow stairs, has been nominated for a Grammy in the Best Alternative Album category. Barsuk is excited to announce the 180-gram vinyl version of this award-worthy EP, which features 4 non-album tracks plus a demo version of talking bird. Look for it in the spring of 2010 — or sign up here to be notified when it's available for pre-ordering.

Pearly Gate Music is an incredibly talented gentleman by the name of Zach, who makes beautiful, unusual, simple-yet-complicated songs structured around his extraordinary singing and melodic sense. His debut full-length will be out in 2010, but we'll be releasing a 7" single in March to whet your appetite, featuring one track from the album, and one non-album track. Quantities will be limited — sign up here to be notified when they're available for pre-ordering.