Wha??? The new Mix / Podcast is up a day early? How often does that happen? Never, that’s how often. What’s more, I also brought the Archive of Old Mixes Which You Can No Longer Listen To up-to-date. Anyway, here’s the mix for those of you too lazy to click on the mix link over there:

• The Shedding Path – The Lord Dog Bird
• The Furnace – Meursault
• Strange Overtones – Byrne/Eno
• Fear – Benjy Ferree (Register @ benjyferree.com to d/l)
• I Won’t Lie To You – Let’s Wrestle
• New Hollywood Babylon – Don Cavalli
• Inside The Cinema – Culture Reject
• The Sound – Human Highway
• Mockingbird Diet – Karl Blau
• Go For The Exit – Boston Spaceships
• The Gift of Song… – The Lord Dog Bird

Or just grab the podcast.

Constantines‘ new 7-inch, “Our Age” b/w “Fuckin’ Up” (Neil Young), is out tomorrow. You can grab the single from the AC Shop, or better yet, get it from the band when they kick off their super short US tour next week:

12/4 – Big Orbit’s Soundlab, Buffalo, NY
12/5 – T.T. The Bear’s, Cambridge, MA
12/6 – Heirloom Arts Theatre, Danbury, CT
12/7 – Music Hall Of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
12/9 – Bedrock, Baltimore, MD
12/12 – The Summit, Columbus, OH
12/13 – Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL
12/14 – The Crofoot, Pontiac, MI

You may also be interested in checking out the unique CON | LADY book by photographer Jeremy Jansen, which documents the 9-day Cons/Ladyhawk (not Ladyhawke) tour from June of this year.

And while you’re over there sniffing around the Arts & Crafts site, don’t forget to note that Gentleman Reg Vermue is back on the scene these days, with a new single, “You Can’t Get It Back” b/w “City of Eros,” just out, along with a modest “Greatest Hits” disc, Little Buildings, as well. Reg’s brand-new full length, Jet Black, is due later in ‘09.

The swelling, souled out, retro quasi-retro pop croon of Benjy Ferree’s “Fear,” from the forthcoming album, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Bobby Dee, Bobby Dee. The reason there’s no mp3 here is because Domino asks that you go here and submit your email address first. So go do that, like, immediately.

I am VERY much enjoying the François Virot tracks that Sean posted over at Said the Gramophone today.

Francois Virot – “Cascade Kisses”

Chad VanGaalen’s Soft Airplane came out back in September, but I haven’t seen much online action for it, which is a shame, since it’s just as good as his previous efforts, Skelliconnection and Infiniheart.

Sally Crewe, recipient of my fawning praise for 2003’s Drive It Like You Stole It has a new record coming out in January, called Your Nearest Exit May Be Behind You (check out some tracks at Myspace). Oh, and also? Crewe has recruited Tommy Keene to handle bass duites when she and the Sudden Moves play a string of dates opening for The Wedding Present in the UK next month.

Attention music nerds old like me: I’m reminding you that Merge’s reissue of Polvo’s Celebrate the New Dark Age is now out (on 180g vinyl, no less). Those memories of ‘94 are flooding back.

I know you’re skeptical, but ace stroker Fab Moretti’s new Little Joy project is not half-bad. Check out the vid just posted over at Pissfork:

Dean (who I’m going to pretend to be on a first-name basis with), aka the oh-so-often-mentioned-here Capstan Shafts, just sent over a link to his 9,686th release, which is free for immediate download over at Archive.Org. This one’s titled Cretin Flowers (which in my head makes me sing “ ♫ When you were dumb, you were the king of Cretin Flowers ♫ ”) and features 6 tracks of totally perfect lo-fi pop.

Jez Burrows has done a limited edition print run of his outstanding Destroyer’s Rubies: A Modern Listener’s Guide infoporn (remember?). It’s an edition of 200, on 300gsm fine art stock, stamped/signed/numbered.

I realize that the price (about $75 US) may put some of you off, but remember: this is a work of fine art, and besides, all you Destroyer fans routinely pay twice that amount for Destroyer LPs on Ebay.

I clearly remember the day after Election Day 2004. This site went totally dark (black, actually), and I left one lone sentence on the page. It read: “NO MUSIC TODAY.”

Post-Election Day 2008 is the complete opposite of Post-Election Day 2004. It stands to reason that I should do the opposite of what I did in 2004.

So from now until 12am EST, the entirety of the Catbird Records catalog is available for free download. Most of these releases have been sold-out and unavailable for quite some time, and I assure you that I am yanking them at midnight– so download early and download often.

Catbird Records has really been blessed, by repeatedly getting the chance to work with some of the most amazing artists out there. I hope you discover a new artist to love, a new song to put on repeat, or even just new background music for your daily commute. And thanks for voting yesterday.