I’m not even going to phrase this as an “Am I The Only One Who…,” because I already know I’m the only one who, but I have to come clean regardless. Ok. So. I keep coming across this little thumbnail image on different websites of that Gnarls Barkley album cover, and every time I see it; *every time*, I momentarily think it’s this. I don’t care what you say, I think the compositions look *totally* the same. I’m not crazy. Except I did stop taking my meds last week. Was that bad?

P.S: I am old.

I have been totally digging on that BMR/Joseba Irazoki split that just recently arrived from Spain. Have you taught yourself Basque yet by putting Joseba’s track from the April Mix on repeat? Yeah, me neither, but I do understand English alright, and luckily, that’s the language that BMR sings in. I’m bringing this up partly because I want you to have one more chance to order that super-limited Moonpalace split, and partly because I want you New Englanders to know that BMR is doing a small tour starting next week:

Brian Michael Roff New England Tour ’06:
4/17/06 – WUNH 91.3, Durham NH. 5pm – 6pm.
4/17/06 – The Red Door, Portsmouth NH. (w/ Matt Bauer and Gregg Porter)
4/21/06 – Lorem Ipsum Books, Cambridge MA. w/ Matt Bauer
4/28/06 – The Grow Room, Providence RI w/ Matt Bauer, Tom Thumb, Herman the Great
4/29/06 – Montague Bookmill, Montague MA. W/ Matt Bauer, Brown Bird, KG Fields

Know who else is on tour? CBR‘s beloved homeboys Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, on their first-ever West Coast jaunt. I predict a whole new onslaught of musicblog activity, as the West Coasters get out and see the amazing SSLYBY live show for the first time.

SSLYBY West Coast Tour ’06:
4/14/06- Vaudeville Cabaret, Tuscon, AZ
4/15/06 – Che Cafe, San Diego, CA
4/16/06 – USC-Ground Zero, Los Angeles, CA
4/17/06 – Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA
4/18/06 – Tangiers, Los Angeles, CA
4/19/06 – Mezzanine, San Francisco , CA
4/20/06 – Serendipity Cafe, Sacremento, CA
4/21/06 – Club SOTA, Tacoma, WA
4/22/06 – TBA, Portland, OR
4/23/06 – Sunset Tavern, Seattle, WA
4/24/06 – Rock Coffee, Spokane, WA
4/25/06 – The Raven, Missoula, MT
4/26/06 – Kilby Court, Salt Lake City, UT
4/27/06 – Lion’s Lair, Denver, CO
5/6/06 – Artsfest on Walnut Street, Springfield, MO
5/6/06 – Nathan P. Murphy’s, Springfield, MO
5/13/06 – Eastside Tavern, Columbia, MO

And yeah, I could, at this point, present you with some rare SSLYBY track, but instead, I’m gonna give you something a little different. Something a little more suited to your Friday afternoon. I’m gonna give you the “hit single” from SSLYBY’s rap-offshoot, MC Migraine Head. Kick it!

::: MC Migraine Head – Secret Master Plan :::

And while I’m on the subject of perfect Friday afternoon tunes, I’ma go ahead and throw you another one. Because, for the first time in, like, RECORDED HUMAN HISTORY, Columbus, Ohio can actually say to NYC, for once: Where the fuck you been? Because The Voice, finally figuring out what we in Ohio have known for years, decided that Gil Mantera’s Party Dream was, like, the pick of SXSW. The Party Dream’s newest one, Bloodsongs, came out recently on Audio Eagle Recordings. This track is a Friday afternoon favorite:

::: Gil Mantera’s Party Dream – Bunz Therapy :::

Between those 2 songs, I certainly hope that’s enough impetus for you to take off your pants on a Friday afternoon. C’mon. It’s only a job. You can get another one.

There’s soft and there’s loud today.

Soft:
Only three posts in, and Brendan of Audiovant has already produced three especially nice podcasty interviews with CYHSY, Tapes N’ Tapes, and Jens Lekman. There’s even a little bonus: A live version of Jens doing “Another Sweet Summer Night On Hammer Hill,” using only a thumb piano. The result is like a slowly cranked jack-in-the-box with Jens singing along to the melody. It’s nice.

::: Jens Lekman – Another Sweet Summer Night On Hammer Hill :::

Loud:
AYF posted this one last month , but it slipped by me. Luckily, Pinder reposted it last night. I’m talking about Vancouver’s The Christa Min, and I suspect that if Black Mountain had chosen to ape JAMC instead of Sabbath, it would probably have sounded something like this:

::: The Christa Min – Stockholm :::

Fans of Kings of Convenience, Swedish music, or just sweet melodic pop in general might want to check out Marching Band, from Linköping, Sweden. They just finished their newest s/t EP, which you can order from them for a mere 60 SEK, which is about 8 bucks US. Wow, I just did that conversion in my head. Man, that’s effed up.

::: Marching Band – Feel Good About It :::

There’s a handful of other mp3s on their music page, if you want some more o’ that.

Also, hey, the winner of the Merge Records “Deface Dan (Bejar)” Contest has been announced over at the Merge Forums. I didn’t win, but I tell you, it wasn’t for lack of trying! I now reveal my three entries:

Owen “Final Fantasy” Pallett’s D&D opus, He Poos Clouds (snicker) seems to be all wrapped up. I know this mainly because it’s now leaked. But it’ll be officially out May 9th. Here’s a track:

::: Arctic Circle :::

Our friends at Said The Gramophone have another track, “Song Song Song” up– go grab it while you can, lest you find yourself forced to roll a 1D20 Saving Throw Vs. Expiring MP3 Links.

Sometimes, stuff shows up in your inbox at 2:30 in the morning and just blows you away. Ladies and gentlemen, I present Beirut, a “Balkan Magnetic Fields by way of Neutral Milk Hotel:”

::: Beirut – Postcards From Italy :::

Beirut’s album, Gulag Orkestar is out next month on Ba Da Bing Records. As I told Ben of Ba Da Bing, if I hadn’t received the email from him, there’d already be a Catbird Records offer on the table. This is great stuff.

I’m an idiot. I don’t think I ever remembered to point everyone to the Myspace page of Jordan Geiger (of Minus Story). I just noticed he’s posted a new track for download, “I Do Not Understand,” which is pretty nice, though I am still really diggin’ hard on “Baby For J,” which has been up there for awhile. Go check ‘em out.

Minus Story will be hooking up with The ‘Slice for a number of shows in May.

Nobody expected some lame “April Fool’s” post, right? ‘Cause I didn’t do one, instead I just posted the new mix, and that’s not funny. Unless you want to laugh at the idiot who spent his Saturday afternoon uploading mp3s, artwork, etc for a mix. Anyway, big thanks to Mr. Bob London for coming through with this month’s artwork.

Also, take note of track #2 in the mix; it’s by Tap Tap, who you may remember from the February Mix. You should be hearing even more from Tap Tap in the next month or so, when Catbird Records releases Tap Tap’s CD (code name CBR 005, of course).