We can’t predict the future and all we ever do is gas about the past — but Drag City today is a thing we can all be sure of. For today, there’s a quartet of new releases in shops that say Drag City 2006 in the myriad of ways that Drag City 2006 can be said for those who’re down to hear for themselves. But if not, then try a capsule of descriptive information…

Lately, The Howling Hex have been challenging Drag City world records for release frequency including the longstanding Palace mark of ’94–’95 (two albums, two singles and one EP in one calendar year). The Howling Hex almost pulled it off too, with three albums, a DVD and a compilation CD in the last nineteen months! But since when did quantity take precedence over quality? Since always, dipshit — that’s the way of the world. An avalanche of shit always beats a teaspoon-full, wouldn’t you agree? Besides, The Howling Hex are experts in the alchemy of quantity and quality. The brave- and big-eared listeners of All-Night Fox, You Can’t Beat Tomorrow and 1–2–3 will all tell you so, if you let ‘em close enough to listen to their bizarre whisperings. On this day in Drag City history, they have something else to buzz about all-new adventures in New Border Sound under the all-new title Nightclub Version of the Eternal. Deploying a rhythm team to groove onward while the pertinent verbal messages are carefully unfurled, The Howling Hex are on more of an acoustic bent than the electro-funked Howling Hex of All-Night Fox. That doesn’t mean that you’ll hear an acoustic guitar within a mile of Nightclub Version of the Eternal (as a matter of fact, the battle between electric guitar and baritone guitar, both of whom get plenty of space to solo on NVotE, is one of the subtexts of this all-new recording). The robot rhythm of All-Night Fox has been softened somewhat this time out with conga and tambourine beats, leading to a quasi-front-porch sound like you’ve never heard in all your couch-surfing days. These subterranean calibrations combine and explode song after song, making anthems out of offerings with titles like “Lips Begin to Move” and “This Planet Sweet.” And how appropriate! Thinking through these angles so you don’t have to, The Howling Hex are America in its truest form — both red states and blue. Nightclub Version of the Eternal will break it down for you — but you have to let it into your home first. Take that necessary step — today is the first day of the rest of time.

White Magic know no conventional time. Since the “Through the Sun Door” release of 2004, the white masses have clamored for more…but White Magic does not come into being so easily. Their rejuvenatative process has been a deliberate yet deeply satisfying one. Their album is now and finally set for release in November of this year…with first, a single to whet appetites. And thusly, across the continents traces of their new sound have been released into discrete corners, all the better to season the room for the return of White Magic. If you visit with a dealer in fine musiks in the near future, you may find a slipcase of grey with the tracery that says:

W	M
H	A
I	G
T	I
E	C

Inside are two songs that are guaranteed to prefigure a November enchantment. How to describe them? With description, I’m afraid…

Though there are only a pair of guitars and a voice, the vibe is deep and the air thick with intent on the traditional “Katie Cruel.” The voice is that of Mira Billotte, and hers is a voice that conveys much even in great simplicity. “Hold Your Hand in the Dark” by contrast, is a construction of many movements and great complexity, delivering an epic emotional image in stages.

And now you know what lies in store, as a cold feeling of greatness overcomes you. The day of White Magic is coming…the day of White Magic is here.

What a day today is! All these talk and only now are we arriving at the topic that is Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. Since 1999 he’s been feeding his beef to the people and people like it muchly. Whether the album was called I See a Darkness, Ease Down the Road, Master and Everyone, Greatest Palace Music, Superwolf or Summer In the Southeast, people grabbed at it hungrily and ate of it deep. Each one provided a repast of greater complexity for the people too; Bonny is no man to stand in one place or tell the same story over and over again. Each record is colored in the tones of the season it was written, whether a season in the sun or one in hell. The same is true of his latest new album, the first all-new Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy album since 2003’s Master and Everyone, an album quickly becoming known around the world as The Letting Go.

Spending 2004 and 2005 renewing past compositions with Greatest Palace Music (in the studio) and Summer in the Southeast (live!), while putting words to the music of Matt Sweeney (Superwolf), Bonny has been past due in the album-of-new-songs-written-just-by-him department. The Letting Go brings it all up to date with newness to the extreme. Never before has Bonny woven together the strands of things with such patience as on The Letting Go. Never before have the contributions of such divergent parties fallen together with such streamlined operatic joy. Drawing from the talents of Emmett Kelly, Dawn McCarthy, Paul Oldham and Jim White, not to mention recordist Valgier Sigurdsson, arrangers Ryder McNair and Nico Muhly and a host of string and brass players, Bonny crafted The Letting Go to contour itself erratically to the listeners’ eye. And a sure fit it is. Sure enough to score Bonnie a spot on Conan O'Brien's show on the very day of the release! Is that real enough for you? If not, good! Grab a copy of The Letting Go — this reality's on you.

Completing our quartet of new titles on this season-shifting date is Luc Ferrari’s Far-West News (Episodes 2 and 3) on the Blue Chopsticks label. As with much of his finest work, the basis for this disc is a set of field recordings. Taken in 1999 during travels in the American southwest, the audio-verite of the proceedings gives way frequently to overlays that alter the perspective. The big skies of the west, open spaces and the seemingly endless road are evoked, along with the sudden intrusions of company, be it sought, invited or otherwise. It’s a work much like life, just what one might expect from a master in the late phase of his career. A year after the untimely passing of Luc Ferrari, his work is still bounding freshly from the speakers.

Joining September’s avalanche are another six releases that will challenge the status quo and redefine the zeitgeist in the months to come. How, you ask, will a handful of albums/CDs do this? Why sirrah, with their thoughts and worlds, their sounds and fictions, their depth, their span, their very magnificence! Shit, just putting the album jackets cover-to-cover might just stop the world as we know it.

The records I’m referring to are from a diverse group of artists, namely Bert Jansch, Imitation Electric Piano, White Magic, Joanna Newsom, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and The Red Krayola. Their formats include LP, CD, 2xLP, 12”single, CD single and the venerable old CDEP! Ready for a little preview? Fall forward then!

Let’s face it, Imitation Electric Piano have garnered a reputation for being a good-time, devil-may-care party band composed of fashion-forward playboys with time on their hands. Over the course of five years and several releases (a self-titled EP and the Trinity Neon album), they’ve churned out instrumental ditties with the odd vocal (“Theme for an Imitation Electric Piano,” anyone?) and in the process creating a handful of dancefloor-ready tracks that sound particular good when bouncing bigly through speakers at a party of any kind, though the kicking kind of party is most recommended.

Now comes a new album with a new singer and a new focus; songs to remember, celebrate and help forget those they’ve lost. This is kind of an amazing turnaround for IEP, but they do with class and style, as well as excellent vocalese from Mary Hampton. Lots of catchy numbers that go deep when scratched at. On October 17, 2006, Blow It Up, Burn It Down, Kick It ‘Til It Bleeds by Imitation Electric Piano will enter this world. Look it up!

The next ten weeks are crucial, goddamit! These are the days the industry has marked as a sales-friendly zone. In case you didn’t know it, that’s how fucked-up this industry really is. They give you a window and you gotta fling your whatever-you’ve-got through it. We don’t play that way of course — July is just as good as October in our book — but hey, if they say it’s go time, our people can go with the best of them. And so, here’s the folks on the road for the next bit of foreseeable time Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Faun Fables, David Grubbs, Neil Hamburger (in Canada!), Gary Higgins, The Howling Hex, Joanna Newsom, Pearls and Brass, PG Six, Alasdair Roberts and Smog! All this is available in greater detail on the Tour Page, but in case you don’t have the time to dig all the details, here’s the biggest news. No it’s not Six Organs of Admittance in Moscow (really!). That was the craziest date of the month until the Ghost show in Yokohama we just heard about. It starts at sunset and at that time, all doors are locked. No one will be allowed in or — ! — out until Ghost are finished playing. And according to Ghost, this is an old and filthy room in a huge shipbuilding garage; clearly, not for the faint of heart. But that’s who Ghost fans are anyway.

And don’t forget the veritable half-roster we’ve got at Arthur Nights in late October: Bert Jansch, Espers, White Magic, The Howling Hex and Six Organs of Admittance.

And for those of you wondering where our Hardest Working Artist of the Month designation is, we refer you to the list above. It’s a tie! Everybody wins.

As described above, the schedule of September and October almost merits an early retirement from the field of 2006. If this were all we were about, we’d go to the seasonal break (call it what you will) with no worries. But you know what? Drag City doesn’t play like that! The holiday season always requires something new and exciting — like the year we put out Ghost’s Lama Rabi Rabi and The Red Krayola’s Hazel in the second week of December. With gifts to the senses such as those, why wait until January? This tendency has led us to overload November with such riches as you may not tend to believe on first blush.

White Magic, as mentioned above, have toiled many nights over new recordings that make a formidable new album and on November 14, 2006, entitled Dat Rosa Mel Apibus. How are we ever going to say that title without first saying ‘entitled’? That Latin shit doesn’t roll out casual-like — not yet anyway! If anyone can tame it, it ought to be us. And by the time White Magic is taking the world by storm (around November 14th or 15th, we imagine), we’ll have it woven into our everyday lingo, we promise! Anyway, Dat Rosa Mel Apibus is an epic work, spread over two LP discs and cased in a truly marvelous gatefold jacket that dazzles inside and out. Mira Billotte’s new songs are a far-reaching bunch that evoke glittering opal depths with a luminescence all their own. The preview single “Katie Cruel” is already out there, for an advance taste. Partake, Magic fans!

Also out there in greater numbers than we might wish is the new Joanna Newsom album. Also epic, it’s entitled Ys. And yes, we’ll get the ‘entitled’ separated out from the Ys before too long also. By the way, it’s pronounced ‘eees’, so get your puns properly sorted. There out there for you, believe me. Anyway, people are so excited about this record that advance copies are being pirated faster than they can be infected with virii (just kidding! Joanna would never let us do that — damn her eyes!). The great news is, the record is worth all the excitement. It’s truly the equal and perfect sister to the White Magic record and we’re glad to have them both out there on the same day with their incredible gatefold jackets and the music and everything. November 14th, it’s gonna be awesome!

Also on November 14th is The Red Krayola’s return to the land of Introduction, the “Red Gold” EP. Happy with the methodology that produced the beguiling classic of earlier this year, Mayo Thompson reconvened the crew for a half-dozen songs that take the atmospheric pop tunes of Introduction further into orbit. You know, earth looks so magical from above — and The Red Krayola’s satellite-eye’s view provides unexpected and intimate detail.

And also also on November 14th is a slight return from Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy the second of a trio of singles from the now-classic The Letting Go album. “Cold & Wet” features a couple bonus songs not found anywhere plus (in CD format only) enhancement to allow the casual listener to become a casual viewer with an eye towards Bonnie’s bizarre video adventures. Can’t miss!

The seasons come and go and change again and it seems like your life has always been the same. But all it takes is one visitor walking in the door and suddenly, you’re young again and falling in love like the same lost child you thought you’d never be again.

This is the scam we’ve been running for years! New records floating into your head create old sensations. You want to love again, to be loved in the way you thought possible back when you didn’t know what love or sex or music really was. As 2007 rears its as-yet unknowable head, look for releases that gently spread your primal self open to allow and to think and feel and love as a child again.

We can’t wait, either —