Welcome home to Drag City, where we’re currently involved in pagan rituals celebrating the change of seasons from summer (ugh) to our favorite season of all, autumn! Yep, the fall is a great time to be alive and selling records — the kids are back in school, Christmas is around the corner, and the industry actually believes in itself for a change! This means we’re finally in step with the world again — or rather, they’re in step with us as we continue our never-ending march to the future, where record sales are possible every day of the ever-lovin’ year! But you know what? If all the rest want to take July, December and February off, let ‘em! We’ve got plenty to keep retailers selling through even the toughest times! Arrghh!

OK, we’re feeling refreshed from the self-aggrandizement — let’s review the slate for the rest of 2005 — and who knows? Maybe even a touch of 2006…

As we write this, the momentous month of September is drawing to a close. It’s been a month of many big releases — including a couple from Blue Chopsticks! Firstly, we were overjoyed to re-release the Bastro live album, Antlers, which came and went in February with incredible quickness. Now that it’s back out there, you can enjoy it a little bit — going down to the record shop and seeing it in the racks, having the luxury of buying it or not…but take it from us, you’ll want to buy this baby! The vintage sounds of the 1991 independent club scene are captured through then-contemporary means (cassette recordings, natch!), providing a scenic sonic window to a most-misunderstood time in the history of music. It’s records like this that will help rewrite the book on what was really going on back then — and the forces that were driving the haves and have-nots in this country to their current positions in blue and red states. Back then, there was still a fire of hope that we could all get along — and that fire burns like a motherfucker on Antlers.

The other Blue Chopsticks release sweeps us from the chaos of 1991 to the relatively sedate art enclave known as Brooklyn, 2005. Here, former Bastro guitarist David Grubbs lives and works — and it was here that Grubbs and celebrated poet Susan Howe collaborated on a project bringing together Howe’s (spoken) words and David’s compositions. On Theifth, two of Susan Howe’s poems are presented in this musical environment, with Grubbs playing piano and computer, Mats Gustafsson playing baritone saxophone and fluteophone and Nikos Veliotis playing cello.

The CD containing these special performances is called Theifth and is being released in a limited edition of 500, which means you should rush out and buy it right now! If not, our poor cursed mailorder service can help you — your order should arrive by Christmas, anyway. Christmas 2005, that is — see, we’re not that bad!

Big news drops in October — in case you hadn’t already heard, October 18th is the date that the new Silver Jews opus Tanglewood Numbers becomes available to a world that has desperately needed more love from the Jews! You see, Silver Jews are a tradition to the young and semi-young of our global village — they quote David Berman’s lyrics, incorporating them as catch-phrases into their impressionable lives, fashion their lifestyles after what they imagine Silver Jews’ albums to be espousing and burn their favorite songs onto mix-CDs that they seek to influence others with, the cheap bitches! Ah, what we wouldn’t do for this fandom…it seems like the least we could do (literally) to release an album every four years or so from one of Drag City’s most celebrated of bands.

Tanglewood Numbers is a celebration of life, played by more living creatures than ever before featured on a Silver Jews record. For all you dweebs out there: yes, Steve Malkmus is one of those creatures. And this helps to make Tanglewood Numbers one of the electric Jews records — as opposed to the more acoustically-flavored Bright Flight, let’s say. At times, the electricity is a bit shocking — but at the end of the day, it’s a great new Silver Jews record, full of life and death and beauty and humor and all the rest. Viva Tanglewood Numbers! It’s loaded with some of the greatest Silver Jews music.

Just in time for the X-mas rush come our November releases, like this Bonnie “Prince” Billy live extravaganza, Summer in the Southeast. The boy don’t tour a lot, but when he does, he goes to town! Or more specifically, towns. As in small towns  towns — like San Marcos, Hattiesburg, Mount Pleasant and Wilmington, wherever the hell they are. These were some of the towns on the “Pebbles and Ripples” tour of early summer 2004 — and some of them towns might have been the locations of the live versions of the seventeen Bonnie, Palace and Oldham favorites captured on Summer in the Southeast. Judging from the lush, multitracked sound of the album, Bonnie and his six-strong backup band set positive fire to the classix — and the crowds burn happily in their glow. Join them in the conflagration on November 15th — and buy an extra copy for grandma’s stretched-out Christmas stocking — when Summer in the Southeast becomes one with you birds.

Also on November 15th is the long-awaited and latest from Edith Frost, It’s a Game. Edith has been too long without a record, but she’s fixed all of that right now with this 13-track newbie, which should keep people happy until she makes another one — which, if there is an Allah after all, won’t take another four years. But if does, we’ll still have It’s a Game, which finds Edith singing her love and love-less songs in less crowded sound-pictures than she was on Wonder Wonder. Other than that, nothing’s changed: the songs are still hypnotic, the voice still arresting, the production still pristine and spacious. It’s a Game is a lovely wander through the emotional wilderness and another great entry from Edith Frost. Edith’s gearing up to support this record like she hasn’t in — well, four years — and the first step is a show on November 19th at Chicago’s very own Hot House with a nice little band helping the songs to breathe with the life they so deserve. Don’t miss this first of chances to welcome Edith back! They’ll be lots more chances in the coming year, but you didn’t get where you are today by just waiting around, did you? When the time comes, get Frost!

Also hitting the streets with Bonny and Edith is The Howling Hex, with the mega-media release You Can’t Beat Tomorrow. Combining the aural with the visual, You Can’t Beat Tomorrow is a double-disc release — one CD plus one DVD. The sum total is the best of both worlds, Howling Hex-style. “You Can’t Beat Tomorrow” is the Howling Hex variety show pilot, featuring music, sketches, The Theatre Fire, animation and other visual post-ops from the edge. The CD features music from the pilot as well as (in best soundtrack album fashion) a few all-new Howling Hex songs not found in video. Throw in the bonus material on the DVD and you’ve got yourself nearly 90 minutes of entertainment, all priced to move at normal CD costs. Fans of the “New Border Sound” are already there — the rest of you, get organized and get going! The Howling Hex wait for no man.

Speaking of all this, take note! The Howling Hex are touring! Here's the dates: Chicago and New York! The shows are coming up soon — September 30th in Chicago and October 6th in New York — but what probably isn’t coming up soon are more shows from The Howling Hex. So make sure you get your bony ass to whichever one is closer.

We’re all about new records of new music from new artists (or new reissues from “old” artists who may nonetheless be “new” to “you”)  new everything, really — and the occasional t-shirt, too. What’s the new shirt this time, you ask? A Smog shirt! If you didn’t get a chance to buy one during the recent A River Ain’t Too Much to Love international tour, we’ve got all the sizes right here. They’re limited amounts for a limited time, though — so be quick, Smogites. Also in breaking shirt news — Joanna t’s are back! We’ve got all the sizes you Joanna Newsom fans can imagine — except for extra-medium, child-extra-large and second small, that is. Check here for our non-middle-earth sizes. Oh, and before I forget — we’ve got the Bonnie “Prince” Billy “Sketch” shirts in a new color, check ‘em out! And of course, while you’re looking, there’s them classic ol’ Silver Jews shirts for all you new Jews fans.

Checked out our webface lately? If you haven’t, you may have missed your chance to be a part of Drag City’s street team! It’s true — as omnipotent as we are, we’re not always able to manifest ourselves as physically as we’d like — particularly simultaneously! If we weren’t always needed here in the bunker (the faxes are a bitch), we’d have a chance to get out to the far-flung corners of the U.S. (and elsewhere) where the real shit is going down — like when the Howling Hex played in Austin the month before last. But what the hell, they’ll be in Chicago before long. Anyway, it’s like we were saying, we’ve got a special task in exchange for a slight reward for those of you in cities such as New York, Boston, Atlanta, Austin, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Denver, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, DC and yes, even Chicago. If you want mo’ info, email streetteams@dragcity.com. See you there!

...but sadly, Luc Ferrari passed away on August 20th at the age of 76. The many people whose lives his music touched will have that music forever — but those who knew the man himself are missing him greatly. A moment of silence, please — for the immortal Luc Ferrari.

Here are links to obituaries from Le Monde and Die Zeit.

Live events? Sure, there’s always live events! October’s got the end of the Alasdair Roberts tour, a fresh run of Faun Fables dates (opening for Dresden Dolls), a west-coast (U.S.) run from The Fucking Champs, Canadian shows from Neil Hamburger, The Howling Hex in NYC, Joanna Newsom and Smog in Australia, New Zealand and Japan, The Red Krayola opening for Black Dice in LA and SF and more dates from Six Organs of Admittance in America’s heartland. But nothing could be more exciting than The Rambler! This is a 12 Hour Composition to be performed on the Autumnal Equinox (Thursday, September 22nd). The Rambler is funded by the SF Arts Comission (and, we suspect, meth) and will feature, among many others, Tim Green and Tim Soete of The Fucking Champs and Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance. For more on this earth-friendly musical event, go to: http://therambler.org/.

Alasdair Roberts is the winner of our monthly no-prize, “Hardest Working Artist on Drag City.” This kid has done an admirable job over the last month, criss-crossing the United States to play his traditional sounds in dives high and low on a tour routing that has sometimes been known to spontaneously appear in front of his windshield. It hasn’t been the easiest tour for Alasdair — after all, he’s a near deity in his home country of Scotland, and arouses much interest all around the UK and across the channel in the old-world countries — but over here in the U.S., our collective consciousness has been strip-malled clean of the musics that originally made this country great. That plus the wacky tour route has meant a lot of quiet evenings in our hinterland. Fortunately, appreciation for great music still happens, no matter what headstone of imperialism you might happen to live under — and so Alasdair has had appreciative groups come out to the shows, whether they’re in LA or Buffalo. There's a few dates left as of this writing — citizens of Florida, gather yourselves together!

Hey, American friend — wanna buy a really rare record? If you’re near a fine Drag City direct retailer, you’ll have a chance to buy one on October 18th. See, that’s the day Drag City’s little sister label Sea Note issues a mystery single so strange and mysterious…let's see, so strange and mysterious, we can’t tell you a single thing about this single! Well, perhaps just one little note — this record is related to our big October 18th release and a rumor that’s spread for some years over a collaboration with this band and another band on Drag City. That’s all we’re telling you — put together the pieces and five dollar bills and be the first in line — and you too might have this rarest of items!

Who knows? Who can find time to care! The “now” is eating us alive — we’ll get back to you about “then” once we're closer to "it."

Later dat —

Rian Murphy,
Drag City Inc.