Although I first mentioned that Kill Rock Stars would be releasing an Explode Into Colors 7″ this summer (and later pointed out their new self-released tape), please allow me to spell out *exactly* what sort of good stuff we can expect from the Explode Into Colors camp in the immediate future. There are THREE 7-inches in the works; one on KRS (”Eyes, Hands, Mouth” + 1), one on M’Lady’s Records (”Coffin” b/w “Sharpen the Knife”), and one on Just For The Hell Of It. All will feature artwork by a different Portland artist, but they’ll share a consistent theme. Later, all of the 7-inches’ tracks will be collected into an EP (CD/vinyl), and that will be followed by EIC’s first full-length, which’ll come out on (you guessed it) Kill Rock Stars.

If, like me, you’re excited to hear stuff from Portland’s ‘Best New Band,’ then this is all very good news.

MP3: Explode Into Colors - “Sharpen The Knife”

It’s that time again– time for Catbird Records to fill out your earbuds with something new and wonderful. Our newest release, I’m proud to say, comes from England’s George Washington Brown, who some of you may remember from this brilliant video/song. Or perhaps you remember him from his former life, as “Johnny X” from ’90s punkers Kenickie? Of course, his music these days has less to do with the UK punk tradition, and much more to do with the UK indiepop tradition (he does live in Sunderland alongside Field Music, after all). In short– Catbird has been graced with a wonderful EP of golden honeyed English indiepop from GWB, and we’ve got them available now– just $5 for the CD (with the kick-ass sleeve by Patron Design Studio), or a mere $3 for a 320kbps MP3 download.

MP3: George Washington Brown - “A Guess, Rewind”

A beautiful, sunny Springtime day like this? This is exactly what you need to be listening to– Go grab it.

An unstoppable force of music in the Philadelphia scene, Mike Kennedy has at some point played with virtually any Philly band you can think of, but he’s also been releasing music with his project Audible for almost 10 years now. It’s some lovely, melodic pop, and they’ve just release a brand new album today. Sporting a beautiful watercolored cover, and hosted by the great new site-for-bands Bandcamp, you can download the whole thing for just $8. There are even 2 free tracks available. Here’s one of ‘em; give it a listen:

MP3: Audible - “Hours Ago (Sad Mac)”

MP3: Royal City - “Can’t You Hear Me Calling”

Another track off the forthcoming Asthmatic Kitty collection of one of my favorite bands of all time, Royal City.

Have you grasped yet that I’m really anxious for Sharon Van Etten’s upcoming record Because I Was In Love (out 5/26 on Language of Stone? Today, the official video for “For You” was unveiled; check it out.

There’s a new issue of the always-amazing Yeti out next week– and this one looks to be going over and above the already-high Yeti standards. Besides the 200-page perfect-bound book (with cover by Mingering Mike), this one’s companion CD features exclusive material from:

• Grouper
• Dum Dum Girls
• Wooden Shijps
• Dutchess and the Duke
• Nodzzz
• Crystal Stilts
• Fresh + Onlys
• Explode Into Colors
• Woods
• Christmas Island
• PLUS TONS MORE

They’re saying it’s the best CD they’ve ever done…

So go grab a copy already– it’s only $10!

By now, I’m sure that everyone reading this has already gotten in on the Catbird limited-edition Unbunny LP project, right? And if not, what are you waiting for?

‘Cause, well, here’s another great music project to join in on: Kind of Bloop: An 8-Bit Tribute to Miles Davis. It features chiptune artists Ast0r, Disaterpeace, Sergeeo, Shnabubula, and Virt, doing their own interpretations of Davis’ work. Andy is going above and beyond with this project, by following all of the arcane, antiquated, institionalized music royalty rules– so it’s going to take about $2000 to get the project going. Go get involved; this is a really awesome idea.

Raven Sings the Blues posted two new tracks from Sharon Van Etten’s sure-to-be-great upcoming full-length Because I Was In Love (Language of Stone, 5/26). Surely you already checked out the song “For You,” when I posted it back in March (and saw the lovely ‘Secret Garden’ video from last year)… these new songs are lovely too. Here’s one, grab the other one, “It’s Not Like” over at Raven Sings the Blues.

MP3: Sharon Van Etten - “Consolation Prize”

PS: this song is no relation to Julie Doiron’s “Consolation Prize” from earlier this year

How appropriate that I just posted about Unbunny’s Black Strawberries, as it was originally released in 2002– so it’s approximately the same age as this site.

Yes, this month marks Catbirdseat.Org’s 7th anniversary. I would do you a recap or crack some jokes about it, but I already did that 2 years ago. Instead, I’m just going to ask a favor: please click the link below to add a Delicious bookmark for me (please– it’ll take you literally about one second), and/or throw me a link from your blog / Facebook / Twitter / Tumblr / Livejournal / Geocities Page.

→ Bookmark The Catbirdseat on Delicious ←

Thanks! And feel free to keep telling me that the site doesn’t look a day over 6.

Danzig - “777”

I’m in the process of arranging for a super-awesome limited-edition 180-gram pressing of one of my favorite albums, Unbunny’s Black Strawberries, and you can help! I’m running the release through the brilliant new website Kickstarter, and it works thusly: I’ve set a target goal, and for the next 60 days will accept “pledges” (ostensibly “pre-orders”). If we reach our target in time, the project will be go, and everyone will get their records. If we don’t manage to hit the target goal, no one is charged anything, and we cancel the project– no harm, no foul.

But I don’t want this to be cancelled, you dig? So head to the Kickstarter Unbunny Black Strawberries page and join us!

For the unfamiliar, I could describe to you how Unbunny’s music has been compared to: Harvest-era Neil Young, Elliott Smith, Neutral Milk Hotel, Sparklehorse and Jasons Lytle and Molina, but I’ll do you one better and just let you listen for yourself. Below is the album’s wonderful opening track.

MP3: Unbunny - “In A Way”