“Someday, some guy on a forum somewhere is going to announce that he’s been listening the the Manishevitz catalog and that it’s surprisingly solid, and the other guys on the forum will investigate and concur with that guy’s conclusions. This inevitable event will be well-deserved.”

John Darnielle on Manishevitz, their new album, East To East, and banging one’s head against a wall.

Said the Gramophone has a new track from the Magnetic Fields‘ Distortion disc posted. Get over there soon to check it out, my gut tells me Nonesuch will not be keen on allowing that post to stay.

Speaking of Nonesuch, they just unveiled their new online store, wherein an online purchase of an album nets you both the CD and an instant 320k MP3 download. It’s a great method, I think, and is essentially the same system I have set up for Catbird Records, it’s just we don’t charge $15.98. I give Nonesuch major props for this, though. I keep a big list of labels and my guesses as to their odds of surviving the next year; Nonesuch’s odds just went up.

I’ve totally forgotten to mention this insane bit of news: Sparks are performing all 20 of their albums over the course of 20 nights, capped off by the world premiere of their as-yet-untitled 21st album on the 21st night.

Not to be confused with the Black Kids, Vancouver’s No Kids is made up mostly by members of that band P:ANO, and have a record, Come Into My House due on Tomlab in February.

::: No Kids - For Halloween :::

On a TOTALLY DIFFERENT note, Matador has signed Jay Reatard for six limited edition singles in 2008. Gerard says:

Manufactured quantities of each single will diminish with each successive release. We’ve not figured out the exact scheme yet, but given our commitment to the customer-always-being-angry, rest assured the numbers will be lower than you’d like.For those not nearly hung up on the collector skum scenery, all 6 7″’s will be compiled for a subsequent CD and LP release.

::: Jay Reatard - My Shadow :::

As the Annual “Best Of” List Season begins to wind down, I thought I’d do a quick, obviously-not-scientific-at-all assessment, and see what kinda findings I could come up with re: my Music-Blogger “Best Of 2007″ List Cheat-Sheet.

(Method: Each item on a list that also appears on the Cheat-Sheet = 1 pt.)

Scores:

1. Average Blogger Score: 3/10

2. Amazon, Baltimore City Paper, The Guardian, LA Times, Maxim, Metacritic, Mojo, NME, Other Music, Q, Time, and Uncut: 4/10-5/10

3. Filter, The Onion, Stylus, Drowned In Sound, Paste: 7/10-8/10

4. Stereogum Readers: 10/10 (100%)

I think Pitchfork’s list is supposed to be posted this week; here’s my prediction: 12/18 Update: It’s posted.

I give the Pitchfork List a 7.2.

Pitchfork’s terribly funny Worst Album Covers post today made me realize just how much I miss the old biting, acid Pitchfork. The one that didn’t give a 6.8 to everything / didn’t do a ZOMG news release every time Dan Deacon misplaced a sock.

Even though most people’s frame of reference for Destroyer seems to go back exactly one album (”ZOMG I loved Rubies!”), I feel it is my duty to offer this link up as a simple public service:

Destroyer - Streethawk on Vinyl

I am telling you about this for a variety of reasons: (A.) It is Destroyer’s best album, (B.) You will likely *never* see another vinyl copy (this is only the second one I’ve ever seen (only 300 or so were pressed)), (C.) I’d like to see the price on this go sky high so that I can feel better about the ridiculous price I paid back when I bought a copy.

Catbird Records, 2007 In Review

In recent years, and this year in particular, there’s been a lot of healthy debate about “new models” for record labels. I would just like to point out that, hell, we’ve been running one of these newfangled “ad-supported” models for over 2 years now. Starting in the Fall of ‘05, after 3 years of ad-free existence, Catbirdseat.Org finally decided to take on advertising. But it wasn’t to line our pockets, no sir– we immediately began directing 100% of that revenue toward putting out great releases by great bands. Since then, we’ve done a grand total of 17 releases, and a mind-boggling *10* of those came out in 2007. Here’s a recap of our year:

Catbird (CBR) Releases:

Manishevitz - East to East
Just released this week, East to East is the first new album from Manishevitz since 2003’s superb City Life. East to East finds the band continuing to explore the art-rock territory they began journeying toward on 2002’s Private Lines EP.

MP3: Manishevitz - Dead Birds

$7 CD | $7 320k MP3s | $10 CD + 320k MP3s | iTunes + | Amazon MP3 | eMusic

Moviola - Dead Knowledge
With 6 albums already under their belt and nothing to lose, Moviola spent two years leisurely recording their 7th. In the end, what came out was Dead Knowledge, their timeless, glorious, honest-to-goodness chef-d’oeuvre.

VIDEO: Moviola - Humility (MP3)

VIDEO: Moviola - Truth and Devotion
MP3: Moviola - Rudy

$7 CD | $7 320k MP3s | $8 CD/DVD | $10 CD + 320k MP3s | iTunes | Amazon | eMusic

Mathew Sawyer & The Ghosts - Blue Birds Blood
A beautifully broken and bruised record from London Englands’s inimitable Mathew Sawyer. Quietly melancholic and romantic, punk’d up, folk’d out, and lo-fi; I like to call it a good, solid 40-minutes of “uneasy listening.”

MP3: Mathew Sawyer & the Ghosts - Penny Falls

$7 CD | Amazon | UK Edition (MP3s)

Catbird Special Projects (CSP):

Jason Zumpano - In The Co. Of Ghosts CD + Print Set
A collaboration between the illustrious Jason Zumpano (of Zumpano, Destroyer, and Sparrow) and visual artist Jason McLean, consisting of 12 piano compositions from JZ and 3 hand-screened prints of McLean’s artwork. NOTE: we have only 2 copies of this remaining. Sold out.

MP3: Jason Zumpano - Matchless Dancer

$5 CD/Prints

The Underpainting - s/t
A thoughtful and gently unfolding work from Brian Michael Roff & Co. Brian’s songs are modest, honest, organic, and charming.

MP3: The Underpainting - The Underpainting

$5 CD | MP3s at Tower of Song

Fulton Lights - s/t Special Edition
Andrew Goldman (Maestro Echoplex) returned this year with this sublime, sprawling tone-poem, sketching out his love affair with The City.

MP3: Fulton Lights - Fire In The Palm Of My Hand
MP3: Fulton Lights - Thank God For The Evening News

$7 CD | iTunes | eMusic

Catbird Vinyl (CB7) Releases:

Get Him Eat Him - There’s A Guy 7-Inch
They put out a great new full-length this year, but GHEH also graced us with this purple vinyl slab with 3 non-album tracks, including a great Capstan Shafts cover.

Stream: Get Him Eat Him - More Lovely Than Likely (The Capstan Shafts)

$2.50 7-Inch

And finally: What You Missed (Sold Out 2007 Releases)

Clear Tigers - s/t EP
A fantastic 4-song EP from Brooklyn’s rock-solid Clear Tigers. Although you missed the EP, you can still get their debut full-length, Brutal, directly from them. I highly recommend doing that.

MP3: Clear Tigers - Igloo

Prairie Cat - Attacks!
A great short and sweet pop album from Canadian Cary Pratt. We did a special edition version with hand-painted covers, but you can still get the album in its regular edition from Toronto’s Fuzzy Logic Recordings.

MP3: Prairie Cat - Grumpy Forever

Forest Fire - Psychic Love Star EP
Enchantingly lo-fi and sneakily catchy, this 6-track EP from Brooklyn’s Forest Fire is something I call “homegrown hymns for those with no religion.” Full-length coming in 2008.

MP3: Forest Fire - Psychic Love Star

[And ok; if you bothered reading this far, here’s a lil’ bonus for you: Catbird Special Holiday Deals.]

The eighth Destroyer album, Trouble In Dreams, is due out on March 18 from Merge. Here’s the first mp3, for “Foam Hands.”

This month’s mix has posted for your listening pleasure, and I just had a realization: I should be double-posting mix tracks here every month, so that y’all aggregators can get at ‘em, too. Durrr.

Catbird December ‘07 Mix

: Spook House - Clear Tigers

Just A Thought - Cross Country

Shine On - Air Waves

Lolita - Throw Me The Statue

Gayle - Guy Blackman

Je Suis Ton Copain - Le District Oueste

That’s That - Cass McCombs

Pass It Along - Marmoset

2080 - Yeasayer

City Lights - Dark Hand & Lamplight

Love Will Come To Town - Mathew Sawyer & The Ghosts

Hey! - Home Blitz

Know How - Camberwell Now

Gone To Seed - Moviola

Grumpy Forever - Prairie Cat

Boredom - Clear Tigers

Catbirdseat.Org December 2007 Podcast

The Top Five 2007 Albums You Didn’t Hear

Woods - At Rear House

At Rear House, the second full-length from Woods (the lo-fi, acoustic, back-porchy offshoot of Meneguar), was one of my most-listened-to releases of the first part of this year. To paraphrase Fake Jazz, it’s something like “a junk shop TV on the Radio covering old school Sebadoh.”

MP3: Woods - Be Still

Dolorean - You Can’t Win

This is the other record that soundtracked the first part of my year. I’ve been a fan of Portland, Oregon’s Al James since 2003’s Not Exotic, and this one is, I think, his best yet. It’s a dreamy, lovely, meandering record, if a bit overly melancholy and beatdown. Al James sings of futility and disillusionment here, and rightly so; he’s an artist creating solid, well-crafted slow-burners, in a world that seems interested mainly in faceless Facebook pablum pop.

Album Stream: Dolorean - You Can’t Win

Giantess - s/t

There was a band called Battles that was really big this year, and there was a band called (The) Battles that was really big (to me, at least) last year. The band that was called The Battles last year is now called Giantess, and they put out another great record this year. Featuring members from Destroyer, the New Pornographers, Black Mountain, and Precious Fathers, Giantess deals in a left-field 70’s vibe, reminiscent of the Soft Boys and Roxy Music (which is to say: Good Shit.)

MP3: Giantess - Saturday Night

Jason Anderson - Tonight

People love Jason Anderson. Well, people that know of/have seen Jason Anderson love Jason Anderson. For years now, Jason has been gracing living rooms and backyards all across the country with his ebullient one-man love-in acoustic-guitar dance-parties. But for the most part, Jason’s recorded output hasn’t come close to matching the exuberance of his live show. Tonight manages to do just that.

MP3: Jason Anderson - July 4, 2004

Nathan Lawr & The Minotaurs - A Sea Of Tiny Lights

I got familiar with Toronto’s Nathan Lawr via his amazingly great 2003 release, The Heart Beats A Waltz. 2005’s Secret Carpentry wasn’t a great departure from the previous release’s sound, and neither is this new record trying to be dramatically different, per se, and you know what? These are good things. Lawr is a greatly talented songwriter, with a wonderful, smooth voice, to boot. Lawr keeps good company; he’s played in Royal City, The Constantines, and with Jim Guthrie and more. They all seem to recognize that there’s Something About Nathan Lawr, and so should you.

MP3: Nathan Lawr & The Minotaurs - Righteous Heart

Cripes, welcome to the internet age. That Bejar/Vermont Hello Blue Roses record isn’t even out for another 2 months, but there’s already a cover of one of the tracks! It comes courtesy of Ruby Isle (Dan Geller from I am the World Trade Center and Mark Mallman (Minneapolis Rock Monster)), on the recently-resurrected Kindercore site.

“Last Friday, Ruby Isle was in the middle of recording our new record and were looking for some inspiration so we decided to take whatever track was number one on elbo.ws and cover it. It turned out it was a song by Hello, Blue Roses called Shadow Falls…Our take on it is VERY different, I hope we don’t offend HBR because we mean no harm. It was just supposed to be a fun send up of a current indie fave.”

(And here’s the original, if you need a refresher:)