The Killers Say New Album Has a Tom Petty ‘Flavor’ + More

-- The Killers are known for their love of Bruce Springsteen, but the iconic sounds of another classic American rocker also rubbed off on their forthcoming 'Battle Born' album, which drops Sept. 18. "The Tom Petty flavor is in us," says drummer Ronnie Vannucci, Jr. [Fuse]

-- Indie folk act Lower Dens have a new video out for the song 'Candy' off their 'Nootropics' album, and it's an odd one. Just watch and you'll see what we mean. [Death + Taxes]

-- Power-pop trio Fountains of Wayne have recorded a cover of 'The Story in Your Eyes' by classic rockers the Moody Blues, turning in a "more aggressive and rough-around-the-edges" version of the original. Listen to it here. [Ultimate Classic Rock]

-- Spinner ran an interesting piece on Austra's Katie Stelmanis, who explains how her training as an opera singer impacts her band. "I think we take a lot from opera just in terms of the visual intensity of it and it's just very theatrical," she says. "But musically I think that we're pretty far from opera." [Spinner]

-- You probably knew that Spoon frontman Britt Daniels is moonlighting in a band called the Divine Fits, but have you heard about his other new side project? It's called Spl:t S:ngle, it features members of Telekenisis and Superchunk, and he promises he will follow it with new music from Spoon. [Stereogum]