We’ve all seen the sleeve faces by now, but what about b3ta’s Extending Album Art? Some pretty awesome stuff there.

And dudes, not enough of you are clicking on my fake BlogAd (i.e. Sufjanbeat Magazine) — I need 1,000 clicks on there before I’ll start considering actually publishing that magazine.

Anyway… ok, so. I’ve finally started going through my backlog of thousand emails dating back through December, and am now going to start posting things I’ve been meaning to post:

Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele are ostensibly part of a Lounge Revival revival, but I’m glad I gave him more than a cursory listen, because the songs are actually pretty damn good. I’d say the guy has a lot more in common with winsome modern tunesmiths like Jordan O’ Jordan and Jacob Borshard than he does Combustible Edison or Black Velvet Flag. Download Dent May’s EP for free at Dent May dot Com.

Pittsburgh’s Ball Of Flame Shoot Fire seem to have ticked every single checkbox on the List Of Things That Makes For An Enjoyable Indie Band In The Latter Part Of The Aughts (including “Elongated, Semi-Redundant, Silly Name”). I suspect that if these guys can just get the word out, they will become staples of many an indie playlist.

Dramafuckingrama are playing “Everything Everything” on the Ellen show right now, WTF?

Pacific Northwestern Catbird pal Ben wrapped up 2007 over at the Bend Bulletin with a DOUBLE-download album called Near/Far, with one album featuring all local Oregon bands, and one album featuring national bands — it’s, like, 150 megs of free music, all neatly zipped up for your downloading convenience.

Our friends over at Friendly Fire have a new release out this week from a band called the Whitsundays. They’re actually Canadians circa 2008, but you’d be totally forgiven if you assumed they were Brits circa 1967.

::: The Whitsundays – It Must Be Me :::

With bands like Times New Viking and Psychedelic Horseshit drumming up renewed interest in the Columbus, Ohio music scene, it’s a good time to point out the ongoing output of stalwart Ohio label Old 3C. For many years now, Old 3C’s been documenting that Central Ohio sound, putting out classic releases by bands like Great Plains, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, and Log, and they’re still goin’ at it. The recent big news is that all of the Old 3C releases can be had from Amazon MP3 for a mere $5.99 per.

We haven’t heard from Will Stratton in, like, years– but he just let me know he’s wrapping up his second album, and is, for now, graciously offering up a free download of his Collected Outtakes And B-Sides.