1. Ride your bike / car / legs and listen to the first four songs of Beck’s Modern Guilt album over and over.
2. Attend as many free concerts as humanly possible, even if you do not like the music - the shows are free and you can always leave. If you live in the Capital Region, there are plenty to go around.
3. Ride your bike / car / legs around listening to “No Air” by Jordin Sparks over and over and over.
4. Play copious amounts of croquet with your family. Make sure the grass is trimmed for optimal ball rollage. It also helps to take one quick pre-match trip around the course to check out any hidden tree roots or surprise moguls.
5. Try to not shed a tear (or get choked up) driving around listening to “Murder in the City” by The Avett Brothers from their Second Gleam EP.
6. Save up your pennies and take your family out to Lanci’s who will be closing at the end of August. Get while the getting is good!
7. Make plans to be at Goodship’s official Troy Night Out Afterparty on August 29th to see BEWARE The Other Head of Science! (who KILLED at the Rock Pancake-a-thon!) and Charlie Everywhere (who are always killer, indeed).
8. Challenge yourself to a new creative project that you can complete quickly - example: write and record 8 one-minute songs for your friend whose birthday falls on 08/08/08. (True story - I did this over three days last week and hope to share the results with you soon… Mill Fest maybe?)
9. Spend a few minutes online to download the Yellow Bird Project’s theme song written and performed by The Tallest Man on Earth! The Yellow Bird Project is a non-profit from Montreal who solicits some of today’s greatest indie musicians to design one-of-a-kind t-shirts that are sold via their website. All profits from the shirts go to a charity of the band’s choice. Some pretty rad shirts on there from The Shins, The National, Au Revoir Simone and I even like that Devendra Banhart shirt! Check them out!
10. Follow the travels of SWOON’s Switchback Sea floatillas as they launch in Troy, NY this Friday and follow the Hudson River down to Long Island City where they will end up on September 7th. I am a fan of SWOON’s work and really look forward to the unique opportunity to witness something on this scale.

** 7/22 :: The Avett Brothers - “The Second Gleam” CDep/LP - Despite having what seems to be a top-secret tracklisting, it has been revealed that one of my favorite songs from their wide catalog, “Murder in the City” will appear on the second installment of their slightly-less-raucous-than-usual “Gleam” series. After witnessing this tear-jerker at Revolution Hall on Thursday, I am even more ready for this thing to arrive.
** 8/15 :: The mailing of the first of a years’ worth of SubPop’s Single of the Month Club 3.0 - While I’m not an outright fan of any of the currently listed bands on the list for this installment of SubPop’s SOTMC, I did swear that if they were to bring back the Club again, I’d join, just for the fun of it. Looking forward to sharing a detailed report of each single here as they arrive.
** 8/18 :: Death Vessel - “Nothing is Precious Enough for Us” CD/LP - Discussed here. Just added a video from a show at Pete’s Candy Store in February featuring a new song which may just appear on the album…
** 9/06 :: Horse Feathers - “House Without a Home” CD/LP - I was lucky enough to witness Horse Feathers four times last year. At least half of their sets were filled with new songs that simply brought the band to a new level of beauty. Since the release of Words Are Dead in 2006, cellist Heather Broderick joined the existing version of the band with her brother Peter Broderick on a zillion instruments and Justin Ringle on voice and guitar. Her addition to the sound was crucial to my ears, adding a powerful vocal harmony and strong low end to what was already excellent. Be prepared for many future posts about this record as it starts to surface over the next few months.
** 10/?? :: Winterpills - (title tba) - A little over one year ago, I made a visit out to Dave Chalfant’s studio in western MA to witness what was then a recording session for the Winterpills’ new EP and ended up singing a bit on a song called “Beesting”. The EP has since been expanded to a full-length album and will be released in October 2008. After much nagging, I’ve been blessed to hear most of the album and I must say that the band has really hit a stride in songwriting / arrangement / studio presentation that is just so exciting to me. There’s a dash of sonic experimenting and some new rhythms on this collection, but most importantly - some severe hooks and melodies that will not let go. For days.

Keep an eye out for these — I have a hunch they will seep around somewhere / somehow.

Are you looking forward to anything?

Bryan Thomas has become the official photographer for myself and Collar City Records. Well, not really, but at this rate he should be on “the payroll”. Check out pics from last night here! More »

For those of us hungry for hints about what the next Death Vessel record is going to sound like, head on over to the DV SubPop Artist page for an mp3 of the song “Bruno’s Torso” from “Nothing is Precious Enough For Us“. This has been on my short list labeled WHERE IS THIS ALBUM AND WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG TO FINISH LIST. Since 2005’s “Stay Close” was released, I’ve been counting the minutes until we are blessed with more of Joel Thibodeau’s hook-laden, yet complex songs full of tradition-informed accoutrements. Thankfully, SubPop will release it unto the masses on August 19th on CD AND Vinyl (most definitely with mp3 downloads included, as they are so kind to do…)!!!
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