If you haven't heard, the new Raconteurs album, Consolers of the Lonely, will be in stores and online this Tuesday, March 25th. There has been no press, no news, and no hoopla. The band did this intentionally, as explained in their press release:

The album was mastered and completed in the first week of March. It was then taken immediately to a vinyl pressing plant. Then to a CD pressing plant. Then preparations to sell it digitally began. March 25th became the soonest date to have it available in EVERY FORMAT AT ONCE. The band have done no interviews or advertisements for this record before this announcement.
No screwing around on their part, eh? So many bands spend forever and a day promoting records, taking out ads, making commercials, releasing singles, and here's a band that said, "screw it, let's make a record." I love it. Further:
The purpose: to get the album to the fans as soon as possible and as we promised. We wanted to get this record to fans, the press, radio, etc., all at the EXACT SAME TIME so that no one has an upper hand on anyone else regarding it’s [sic] availability, reception or perception.
Awesome. Seriously -- rather than hearing what some douchebag reviewer [how ironic, considering I've been known to review records around here] thinks of the new album and having their opinion tainted by that -- fans get to simply judge for themselves. And here's my favorite part:
Another purpose was to also allow people to have their own choice as to exactly which format they would like to hear the album in IMMEDIATELY, rather than having to wait for their favorite format to become available. The band are also not releasing any version of this record that contains bonus tracks. Musically this album will be the same as the band created it no matter what format it is purchased in (The sound quality of each format however, is a different story. The Raconteurs recommend hearing it on vinyl, but the choice is of course up to the listener).
Hey, look! A band that isn't interested in selling extra copies via the bonus disc system, where to get all the songs, someone would need to buy 2-6 copies of the same album. It's so revolutionary... a band saying, "we will not screw you over if you buy this record. We just want you to enjoy it." It's hard not to respect that. And finally:
The reason we are announcing this release one week ahead of time is because of retail pre-ordering and stocking, information about this album’s imminent release was bound to come to light and could be confusing to fans. Also in the event that the record leaks, we didn’t want this method of release to be seen as a REACTION to such a leak. It’s not. The actual worst thing about a leak is the usual poor sound quality, akin to watching a movie on a wristwatch instead of in a theater. Which for the album’s creators is a bit of a letdown, but again, it is completely up to the listener.

I love their attitude. I hope this plan is successful, since they also said they don't care about first week sales, but really want to focus on the long-term success of the band and the album. It's a refreshing attitude in todays "oh my God! Must sell millions in the first week or it's a failure!" world. I'll be buying this album, mostly to show my support for how cool this band is and how much I respect their way of leaving things up to the listener and not screwing the fans in any way when they absolutely could.