
Here's a video tutorial on how to turn Lost Lander's fine new album DRRT into a homemade planetarium. YouTuber (and very chipper person) Abby Williamson demonstrates exactly how to fold the CD package into a triangular shaped box that, with the aid of a flashlight or phone, can throw celestial patterns onto your darkened walls and ceiling. It's actually quite a neat trick, which perhaps can't quite be captured on a YouTube video in all its glory. There are different star patterns that correspond to different songs, but more importantly, you will never, ever need to look at the night sky again.
(Also, suck it, OMSI.)
The long-awaited DRRT was released yesterday, and is available for purchase (either download or the physical copy with planetarium) at Bandcamp. The band plays a record release show at the Doug Fir on Saturday, February 4. Listen to a track below:
In its eighth year, the Goodfoot's The Art of Musical Maintenance music poster show opens tonight. It's my favorite time to go to the Goodfoot—when you can order a toddy and an obscene amount of chicken strips (Lincoln Log yourself a cozy little fort out 'em), then ogle the posters that cover every square inch of the bar's walls. All prints are for sale—either framed or not—at very reasonable prices. My hubby was a bit of a poster junkie for a couple years, so I always knew it was a great spot to nail his Xmas present. There's over 40 artists in the show, with some standouts including Ben Wilson, EMEK, and Guy Burwell. The Goodfoot isn't adding the artwork to their website until Sunday, but I hope these lovelies made the cut:
Goodfoot, 2845 SE Stark, opening reception tonight 5 pm-2:30 am, through Jan 21
More hopeful inclusions after the jump, including a gratuitous movie poster (which is effin' amazing).

Goody goody goody. The Twilight Singers are putting out their first live album on November 15 and it has a fantastic track list. It was recorded live in New York at Webster Hall in May. If you order the CD they tack on two extra tracks ("Don't Call" and "Too Tough to Die")—the CD is only available through pre-order and nowhere else. It's $20, but it looks totally worth it. Mr. Greg Dulli & Co. absolutely kill it live. All of my favorite Afghan Whigs and Twilight Singers albums are the live bootleg stuff, so this is totally making it on my Christmas wishlist. YOU HEAR THAT SANTA?
Track list after the jump.
Let's talk about The Jesus & Mary Chain. We've been seeing them name-dropped everywhere as of late, most often in connection to some bullshit hype band that's doing everything they can to rip off the Reid brother's skeletal pop aesthetics. But you've actually heard them, right? Listen, it's just not right to lump JAMC in with all the other '80s bands trending at the moment. Equal parts sweet and sour, JAMC laced gummy pop tunes with pealing guitar feedback and Jim Reid's deadpan vocal stylings to achieve a one of a kind sound that is still emulated (albeit unsuccessfully) to this day. In short, they're the original—the real deal. Just such a winning combination.
Oh, you say you've heard them already? And you own "Upside Down" on vinyl? OK, so you probably already pre-ordered the new Psychocandy and Darklands reissue packages. You know, the ones with all the B-sides, outtakes, various archival sessions, interviews, DVD's, and more. It looks like Demon Music Group really went all out for them. I heard they even included the banned track "Jesus Fuck" on there. No joke—way back in the day, the manufacturer actually refused to press it on vinyl due to the song title. Word on the street is that this isn't the last of the reissues, either. Releases of the remaining JAMC LP's will be staggered throughout the fall.
Check out the can't-miss video above to learn some more about the band's not-so-humble beginnings, and stream their first single, "Upside Down" below. For more info, and a really cool, interactive look at the reissues, gimme a click.
LISTEN:
The Jesus and Mary Chain - "Upside Down"

It's been a long 15 years since the release of Supreme Dicks' final cut, The Emotional Plague, but the band never actually called it quits. In the late '90s, half of the group moved to L.A., and the others remained in Massachusetts, each retaining the (ahem) cocky moniker and playing an occasional live show. The Dicks were never well-known, even in their heyday, but back in the late 80's they garnered a cult following, and even played a show as "Dinosaur Jr." at the request of J. Mascis. Over the years, several unique personalities took note of the band and even performed alongside them, including Beck, Jeff Mangum, Courtney Love, Lou Barlow, and Mascis himself. The band gained further attention by repute of their chaotic live shows, vows of celibacy, and preoccupation with religion.
The tunes, avant (at times krauty) takes on psychedelic folk music, are often much more intentional than their distended recordings indicate at first listen. Over the course of four records, the band elaborated upon an intrinsic strangeness that easily exceeded their contemporaries Sebadoh, Thinking Fellers Union Local 182, and Dadamah; these tunes were nothing like anything coming out in the states at the time.
Happily, Jagjaguwar are reissuing their entire catalog, and dickipedia indicates the potential for a reunion tour. Fuck yeah! I'm pretty sure we can all get excited about Supreme Dicks.

Don't judge an album by its cover. The Boston Spaceships, one of Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard's many side projects, have released their final LP, and it's one big hairy mess. Twenty-six tracks and two discs worth of stretchy stadium-fuzz and disheveled one-offs might sound like a bit of overkill, even for Pollard, but the band brought in some notable guests to knock it out of the park, including Colin Newman (Wire), J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.), Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate), Mick Collins (The Dirtbombs), Dave Rick (Phantom Tollbooth), and Mitch Mitchell (Guided by Voices). The press release claims that Let It Beard is the "White Album meets Quadrophenia meets Jesus Christ Superstar meets Same Place The Fly Got Smashed." Now, I realize that sounds unequivocally wack, but it is actually all those things in the best way possible. Of course, it still can't compete with this guy.
You can stream the trailer for the album below.
In just a few short days, Pendarvis Farm will start to fill up for Pickathon, and if you need something to pass the time between now and pitching your tent, look no farther than Pickathonography, Tim LaBarge and Patrick Barber's new book chronicling the first last five years of the storied music festival. Dominated by LaBarge's photos of past years' events, the book is also a compendium of essays and remembrances from LaBarge, the musicians who've played (from Captain Angus Bogg to Langhorne Slim to Chris Funk), and the music critics who've fallen in love with it over the years. (I'm not just saying the Mercury's Ned Lannamann's entry is the best one just because he's Ned. It is the best one.)
Full of adoration, the book is designed to get you itching for the festivities to begin, often drawing attention to how unique and pastoral Pickathon is compared to the usual festival scene. Here you'll find a huge effort being made to keep things clean and sustainable (there's to be no single-use dishes and silverware this year), there's nary a douchebag or menacing security guard in sight, and what's that? Oh just the farm's proprietress riding through the backstage area on a stunning white horse. Some of the musicians' pieces are overtly lyrical (see Slim's memory of when he "almost broke my neck watching a red-headed Gemini doing the Green Boogie in the Barn one night," for instance), others chummier (see Funk's chuckling account of how he accidentally shut down all the lights in the campground. All are rapturous.
Whether you've had a taste of Pickathon's charms (in which case you'd better scan the many crowd shots for your own mug) or you're itching for your inaugural experience, this is an awesome tease and keepsake. One can only hope that the good vibes will extend through the next five years to afford another heartfelt collection of testimonials.

Oh boy! If you're anything like me and you're living every day like it's 1991—vote Paul Tsongas in '92!—then you still worship the band that brought alternative to the mainstream.
While the majority of Nirvana's unreleased material was exhumed for 2004's With the Lights Out, the promise of an unreleased live concert and unheard material should be enough to whet your appetite. The four CD, one DVD, Nevermind collection—garnished with unreleased recordings, rarities, BBC sessions, and alternate mixes—is set to be released September 19th courtesy of Universal.

I'm not sure about you, but after a long, hot shower (where I go from Ol' Dirty Bastard to Ol' Clean Bastard) I need a bath mat that ain't nothing to fuck with and won't have me tracking water all over my personal Shaolin Land. That is why I need this Wu-Tang Bath Mat, which is exactly like something you'd buy from Bed Bath & Beyond, yet somehow infinitely cooler.