FADE IN: AMSTERDAM, JUNE 30

Like Beck and the Raconteurs before them, Brit post-punk outfit Bloc Party are challenging the industry status quo, announcing the release of their new album less than week before it's set to arrive. That's right, Intimacy, the quartet's third full-length to date, will drop globally this Thursday, Aug. 21 as a digital download.

Officials for the 2008 Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival have completed the festival's lineup, adding Death Cab For Cutie, Tapes ‘n Tapes, Superchunk, Two Gallants, and the Weakerthans, among others, to a bill featuring Beck, the recently reunited Stone Temple Pilots, and Neko Case. The festival convenes at Seattle, WA's Seattle Center from Aug. 30-Sept. 1.

After the smoke cleared and the hangovers faded from the weekend's big bombs and bashes, the party raged on as the Smashing Pumpkins unveiled plans to celebrate their 20th anniversary, the fruits of Beck and Danger Mouse's partnership arrived, and Albert Hammond Jr. went to bat. Let's recap:

Here's a rundown of what's available online and in record stores this week. Click each album title to read Spin's review:

Beck, Modern Guilt: Pop's two cleverest auteurs decide to carpool.

What? From his slack 1994 clunker "Beercan" to 2004's full-size fuzz "E-Pro," Beck Hansen has forged a flourishing career out of the obscure, the ever-morphing. And after all these years -- thankfully -- not much has changed.