The long-awaited third solo album by Ben Folds will be released this fall on September 30. Entitled Way To Normal, the album was mostly recorded in Folds’ home studio in Nashville and features a variety of guest musicians including Regina Spektor on the album’s first single, “You Don’t Know Me.”

CSS made a strong impression on the international music scene by embracing a snarky and hipper-than-thou attitude that legions of music lovers lapped up eagerly. Songs that referenced Paris Hilton, Jennifer Lopez, and Death From Above became dance floor favorites with sleek bass lines and self-referential, pop culture-laden lyrics. It comes as a surprise then, while listening to the group’s latest effort, Donkey, to hear a collection of songs less eager to please and more set upon musicianship.

Neuraxis‘ fifth album, The Thin Line Between, will be released on Tuesday. The Montreal metal band’s newest effort will be the first release off their new home Prosthetic Records. For those of you up north – or those of you willing to make the trek – you can find Neuraxis on this year’s Summer Slaughter Canada tour, which will take place for the majority of August.

Long Island’s punk-rock outfit Bayside will embark on their Involuntary Movement Tour this fall, in support of their upcoming album Shudder. Along for the ride will be peers The Matches, Valencia, and The Status, and they will tour most of the country from October to mid-November. Bayside is currently recording the new album in Los Angeles with veteran producer David Schiffman (Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, Johnny Cash).

Indianapolis-based Grampall Jookabox has just become the newest member of the Asthmatic Kitty family. The label – started by Sufjan Stevens and his step-dad, and home to some of today’s most innovative artists – will release Grampall Jookabox‘s second official release, Ropechain, on November 4th, in association with Joyful Noise Recordings. Ropechain finds Grampall Jookabox‘s mastermind David “Moose” Adamson continuing to push the envelope with an eclectic range and style of music – from hip-hop beats to mountain folk, from punk to chain-gang hymnals.

Although Hercules and Love Affair’s eponymous debut doesn’t necessarily fit into what’s popular in the mainstream or independent music scene, it’s not difficult to classify the group’s sound. The group proudly shows off its musical influences – with songs giving enthusiastic nods towards Chicago house and early disco – all while maintaining a unique and fresh aesthetic.

The first thing to understand about Terrible Two, the new album by Baltimore “rhythm/action” trio Thank You, is that it is background music. If that sounds harsh, try and remember some of the great records that work just as well when you’re not paying attention as when you’re digging for details. Can and Neu! are obvious. Brian Eno is too easy. And just look at all that Chicago noise released on Thank You’s venerable label, Thrill Jockey. This doesn’t mean it is music to be ignored, just satisfying music that stands up to a number of situations.

I’m standing on the sidewalk with Tim Fite outside Chicago’s Landmark Theatre shortly after Fite has delivered an inspired and truly beguiling set. Bathed in streetlight, Fite shows me his pink, argyle socks before explaining that his new record, Fair Ain’t Fair (Anti-), is an album of violent regrets and was recorded during one of the lowest emotional points in his life.

Then he laughs and begins talking about his keen socks again. To say the least, Fite is somewhat of an enigma. Having lambasted capitalism and delved headfirst into hip hop on his free 2007 online release Over the Counter Culture, Fite returns to his folk leanings on the new record Fair Ain’t Fair, and outdoes Beck in his “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to genre cross-stitching and lyrical playfulness.

In an announcement recently posted by the band, Annihilation Time has confirmed that they will be forced to cancel all of their Bay Area shows. Though the band has been rather vague about the exact reasons, they did disclose that two of their San Francisco shows will be canceled due to family issues within the band; the July 21 show was canceled because the venue “fell through.”

Rage Against the Machine frontman, Zach De La Rocha, and former Mars Volta drummer, Jon Theodore, have teamed up to form a prospective side-project called One Day as a Lion. With Theodore manning the sticks and Rocha taking over vocal duties and playing keyboards, the super group seems to be doing pretty well for itself despite little publicity and having formed Lion only a few months ago. On July 1st the duo was signed almost instantaneously to Anti-Records without fans even hearing a note.

With the Night Marchers‘ latest, See You In Magic, now a few months old, the band is ready to begin their next tour in support of the album. The tour, which commenced on July 17th in front of the Marchers’ hometown crowd in San Diego, will also include several festival appearances, including this weekend’s Download Festival in Los Angeles. The Marchers will also make festival appearances at the Øya Festival in Oslo, Norway and the Monolith Festival in Morrison, Colorado.