The long night ahead promises music, movies, scripture and laughs -- who will wait with us here in the garden of Drag City? Peter...John...Paul? George or Ringo, even? There’s so much awesomeness to talk about!

Today we fly the freak flag of Six Organs of Admittance over our fair city and — dare we say it? The whole country! Over the past couple years, we’ve seen Six Organs of Admittance go from a cult-band to...a much better-known cult band! That’s just where Mr. 6OOA, Ben Chasny wants to be — on the dark side of the globe, plying his lights-out, white-hot crafts in the shadows of the public guise, for the chosen and pleasured few. But when he makes records as challenging-yet-friendly on the ear as School of the Flower (last year’s classic) and The Sun Awakens (the brand-new classic), why shouldn’t everyone have a chance at knowing the sonic truth? His intriguing mix of electric and acoustic guitars, ancient rhythms and melodies and something nameless is in full force on The Sun Awakens, where ageless noise and howling is woven into the music, forming a pattern most pleasing to the ear’s eye. Daubed with the mud of past civilizations (and the alliances that came before them), The Sun Awakens is fresh new sound for long-time listeners and a revolution blast on the rest of the world! Which is as it should be — Six Organs of Admittance belongs to the whole world (and the cosmos too), so you know what? Fuck America...Six Organs of Admittance for president of the Earth!

When you’re picking up your new Six Organs of Admittance album (in both LP and CD formats, natch), remember — if your friendly counter-person doesn’t ask you if you want the new Smog CD single with your order, you get one free! Tell ‘em that’s Drag City’s way of keeping them honest. And if they don’t comply with this directive... well, truth be told, you’re just out of luck. We’re not the boss of all these stores.

Seriously though, the new Smog CD single costs so little for so much payoff that it’s almost like getting something free! Add it up: a CD single with two favorites from A River Ain’t Too Much to Love plus two non-LP songs that were played in concert (and in perfect consort) with the rest of the songs during last year’s epic world tour. In fact, the two non-LP songs were created to be a part of A River Ain’t Too Much To Love. As a bonus, the videos for both “Rock Bottom Riser” and “I Feel Like the Mother of the World” are available for your viewing pleasure via special CD-Rom-style enhancement. Isn’t that not too much to love? Or to pay for?

It’s finally time for The Psychic Soviet to hit! Ian Svenonius’ ultimate examination of contemporary culture and rock and roll is ready to roll into the bookshops of the free world (and into the enclaves of restistance elsewhere) on July 25, 2006. The penetrating wit of such pieces as “Rock’n’Rolligion,” “Scion-tology,” “Mordor Dearest,” and “Rock’n’Roll as Real Estate” will soon be informing rockers and intellectuals alike. Packaged in a weather-resistant plastic jacket (for who knows which way the wind blows?), The Psychic Soviet is designed for use in action scenarios from the street to the ivory towers of academia. It can only make the world a better place — and that place is set to arrive in late July. Ask your local book merchant to order copies for you and your peer group — you'll want to separate the wheat from the chaff as soon as possible, and make the future work for you before it turns into the present again. Because The Psychic Soviet lends itself to concerns of self-hood and the place of society within our personal ideology — and as such, it’s the one book you shouldn't be without this year! And strangely, the only book Drag City has for sale this year. Don’t let that deter you from the truth! Sign up for The Psychic Soviet.

Where were you when you heard that a new album of later-70s Bill Fay recordings were set for release, joining his super-rare early-70s recordings in vital, visionary singer-songwriter territory that few have traversed? Yeah, we don’t remember, either — we probably blocked it out from sheer delight. And envy, people pure green envy! It isn’t every day that an enterprising independent concern (such as ourselves) gets a shot at releasing the works of a musician the likes of Bill Fay! Lightning struck once for us back in the early 90s when we released Mayo Thompson’s 1970 solo album, Corky’s Debt to His Father and twice when we reissued Scott Walker’s Tilt later in the decade. A bit of that good old black-magic struck again last year when we did Gary Higgins’ Red Hash. And that’s not to mention bIG fLAME, Nig-Heist, Half Japanese, and all those Red Crayola reissues we’ve so proudly presented over the years. Or the Xhol Caravan vinyl on Streamline (good copies still available!). But Bill Fay... boy, some people have all the luck.

And now we can number ourselves among the lucky! Coming hard on Durtro/Jnana’s 2005 release of the Bill Fay Group’s Tomorrow Tomorrow and Tomorrow on CD, Drag City will be selling a vinyl version starting in July. This is big news for Bill Fay fans, Bill Fay Group fans, vinyl fans and fans of new music (they aren’t all the same people, are they?) — for even though these recordings were finished about 25 years ago, they have a ripeness even today due to the songs of Bill Fay and the playing of the Group. Elusive by early 80s standards, the music of the Bill Fay Group seems perfectly in step with these crazy times. But that’s not all that makes the vinyl of Tomorrow Tomorrow and Tomorrow new — the presence of songs not included on the CD will provide an all-new listening experience for fans of this music. If that’s not enough, new artwork is featured on the jacket and new notes from Bill Fay are inscribed on a fat slice of cardboard inserted in each and every copy.

On sale July 25, 2006 — the LP version of Tomorrow Tomorrow and Tomorrow by the Bill Fay Group, a record nearly thirty years in the making! And by all accounts, still growing.

God bless people and their crazy habits! If weirdos didn’t get strange impulses in their heads, our catalog would be half-empty instead of full of life. For us, life goes on as long as people continue on their inexplicable, inevitable path. Consider the case of Tiffany Anders and her cousin Mark Fosson. Tiffany was a searching, collecting music-fan of twentysomething when she made a shocking discovery: cousin Mark, who’d she’d known all her life, had once played with John Fahey. John Fahey, whose records she’d been collecting and loving for years! A bit of research led to the equally shocking discovery: Mark was in possession of the tapes that he’d made for John Fahey’s Takoma record label in the late 70s. They’d never been released; nobody had wanted them after Takoma imploded and Fahey returned the tapes to Mark. And so they were just sitting around. After a few stunned listens to what was on the tapes, Tiffany started looking for someone to put them out. And well, we’re someone. We were as impressed as she was by the Mark Fosson sound — his approach to solo acoustic guitar has a personality all its own, open and clean and innocent, quite distinct from the well-known sounds of Fahey, Kotke and Sete.

Now it’s time for the weirdo in you to do your funny, fancy hop — run down the shop and find The Lost Takoma Sessions by Mark Fosson. Available on CD everywhere that crazy listening habits are fostered, starting July 25, 2006.

(at left) Mark Fosson playing for the new-millenium crowd 25 years early!

For many of you out there, we’ve saved the biggest news of our July release date for last — but if you’re reading this on our website, then you’ve got an inkling of what’s up — Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy has a new release called “Cursed Sleep.” This record is a single, a trailer for his new full-length album The Letting Go, scheduled for release on September 19th. There’ll be bells, whistles, videos and tour dates when that happens — but in the meantime, you can choose between a 12”single or a CD5 for your listening pleasure (or voice our favorite choice and buy both). “Cursed Sleep” is a lovely opening glance at a record that’s going to obsess your life over the next couple years — cascades of strings, slick guitar leads and a moaning lead from Bonny, twinned with harmonies from the ineffable Dawn the Faun McCarthy, achingly melodic and pure. The bonus material takes off an another direction, bumping butts with a bobbing motion and screaming frightfully in total exhilaration. Then there’s “God’s Small Song,” a wash of beauty that takes us back to The Letting Go. That’s your preview in a nutshell — now, you’ll need to own in vinyl or CD as well!

Bonny will be celebrating this first new solo release in a couple years with an Ice Cream Social at Grimey’s in Nashville on Friday July 21st — well, a Paletas Social, to be precise. That’s the cool delight they love to consume on melting days in Nashville, and Bonny’s coming by the store to share a few with the staff and friends and toast the good fortunes involved in releasing great new music. Wanna be there too? Check the Grimey’s website here http://www.grimeys.com/ for more details.

Summer ends with a bang when we drop a pair of the world’s favorite formats on the world and a couple artists the world isn’t exactly allergic to either. The date will be August 19th — the formats will be CD and DVD. Let's see, what else... oh, yeah, the artists!

Dead set for August and with a new CD is PAJO. His sophomore effort isn’t sophomoric in the least, so that’s probably the last time you’ll hear us say that. The CD is called 1968 and deals with lots of contemporary problems, concerns and reveries from the point of view of a really sharp singer/songwriter/guitarist born in the year 1968 — that’s our take, anyway. What would a PAJO release be if it weren’t shrouded in mystery? This new release is a little beefier than the first PAJO release — mostly due to drums in the mix instead of drum machines (or no drums at all) the first time ‘round — and a fun record overall, especially when you consider what all the songs are about! Oh, PAJO, you make us laugh so!

Also in August is the return of America’s fastest-growing comedian, Neil Hamburger! Whoops, we forgot — this time, he’s the World’s fastest-growing comedian. What better way to introduce his latest DVD project, The World’s Funnyman. This isn’t just talk, people — this DVD includes a Canadian documentary, an Australian concert-film, a video made in the USA and a dramatization of Neil’s classic album Left For Dead in Malaysia. That’s most of the world, anyway...ah, whether it is or not, we’re sure that you’ll agree with us that there’s a world of laughs to be found on this quality video presentation, as well as a lot of bonuses and insights into the life and mind of Neil Hamburger as only the producers of this video could show. Coming soon to your Netflix queue (we know how cheap you Hamburger fans are) — The World’s Funnyman!

We opened the paper up the other day and discovered, much to our delight, that we’re going to be releasing the new Bert Jansch album! Damn this fast-paced contemporary press corps — and the publicists who slavishly feed them! Ah, well — now that that’s over, we can focus on being part of the first new release in half a decade from one of the giants of music over the last half a century. More news on this exciting development once we actually hear the record...

So many bands — so little time. We have to salute these kids for going out and touring like there’s no tomorrow. Or like there is a tomorrow — and they’ve got a gig in another town! And ain’t it just like ‘em to all get out there at once, creating a dense, barely navigable criss-cross of roads — this summer, keep your eyes out all around the world for one or all of the following: Espers, David Grubbs, Neil Hamburger, The Howling Hex, Joanna Newsom, PAJO, Pearls and Brass, The Red Krayola, Silver Jews and Smog! Need details? You know where to go. Don’t know where to go? Go here.

We took a break from awarding a winner in our Drag City band sweepstakes last month — perhaps that means we were the hardest-working last month! Either that, or we were the least inspired. This month, we’re inspired...to award a Drag City act the Hardest Working crown for the second time! It’s Faun Fables again! We were just so impressed with the hard work that went into the touring version of The Transit Rider (out now!). With the crucial addition of two omni-talented actor-musicians (Jenya Chernoff and Matt Lebofsky), Dawn and Nils rode the country in their wild, wooly Winnebago, bringing an evening of heartfelt entertainment everywhere they went. They did all their tech themselves as they acted and sang their butts off. And the show was wonderful. Faun Fables are DIY all the way, and it freaks us out. Dawn and Nils, we know you kids won’t admit it, so take it from us — you’re the hardest working again!

…would you believe, another rainbow? That’s what we’ve been chasing since 1989, one rainbow after another. After August a whole new season of excellence starts, with the Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy album The Letting Go hitting (and hitting hard) in September. It’ll be joined by The Howling Hex’s next new CD (and first new album of 2006), Nightclub Version of the Eternal, the new Imitation Electric Piano album (title TBA!!!) and a Blue Chopsticks special from the late Luc Ferrari, Far-West News (Episodes 2 and 3). The remainder of this great season may or may not include new releases from White Magic, Alasdair Roberts and Joanna Newsom! And many others!

And after that’s another season — and another rainbow to chase.

See you there,
Rian Murphy
Drag City Inc.