MAY BE, MAY BE NOT
We sent the groundhog up to the surface a while back and we haven’t seen him since! That must mean that Spring has returned to the world. Which for us, means that we’ve now got to make good on all the promises we made about new releases coming out in May and June and beyond. Drat! This always happens. Talking a good game isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, folks. All we can hope is to come as close to what we said earlier. TO WIT — LPs and CDs from David Grubbs and The Fucking Champs arrived in stores a week later than our April boast claimed. They hit the shops on May 20th, as opposed to May 13th, which isn’t the worst thing in the world, but — it wasn’t what we wanted. Plus, people were a little shook up...but once the date had come and gone, so had the confusion. Now we can concentrate on what really matters. Because motherfuckers have been going fucking APE-SHIT over when these two releases were set to be hitting the fans. Peoples just can’t seem to wait to get their new David Grubbs and The Fucking Champs releases. Yeah, we know how they feel. We couldn’t wait, either. Until we had to. And so, on with the show.

THE FUCKING CHAMPS TAKE AMERICA
Boy, The Fucking Champs sure know how to do things right. As their madly anticipated new LP/CD, V, hits the racks, they hit the road. The result: massive sales and sold-out shows in every little burg on their list of targets. You know — little burgs like Los Angeles and San Diego? They’re falling head over fucking heels for The Fucking Champs. And we dig it. Plus, we know why as well — the sounds of The Fucking Champs are some of the hottest around. If you haven’t checked either of their two Drag City epics (IV and V), you’d do well to. It’s what the young people are listening to. It’s OUT NOW. And that's only the beginning — just check their tour page, would you? The Fucking Champs have got, like, a month of dates coming up on their fully comprehensive US tour. Don’t fucking miss it.

RICKETS & SCURVY ACROSS THE NATION
Released at the same moment as The Fucking Champs V, David Grubbs’s brand-new pop album has more than held it’s own with its own brand of rabid supporters and surprised newcomers. It’s probably because Rickets & Scurvy presents fun-loving David, doing what comes naturally to him in his natural habitat — rocking out, with his homegrown blues, folk and experimental edges all cutting across each other to create whole new shapes of things all over again in the world of David Grubbs. Deeper down where Rickets & Scurvy really lives, we find a simultaneous paean to both youth and maturity for you the listener to play with and puzzle over — all in all, a very enjoyable set of elements to make a new record with. Now, David’s not out there in the clubs of America making the people pay — not yet. But in the meantime, let us remind you, you’ve got Rickets & Scurvy — a dimensional and fully realized statement featuring his finest songs and singing and featuring also several appearances from several new collaborateurs. The first names you might notice belong to those electronics heads Matmos — they’ve got an instrumental bit or two on Rickets & Scurvy. But mostly, there’s a bunch of great lyrical songs, several of which feature lyrics from Rick Moody (author of celebrated novels The Ice Storm and Demonology, don’t you know). Backing the whole thing is a fistful of further appearances from seasoned Grubbs company players — such as guitarist Noël Akchoté, percussionist (and recordist) John McEntire, and bassist Dan Brown. And fronting it is David and his contemporary rock and roll. You the avid listener to modern sounds deserve the experience — get Rickets & Scurvy.

JUNE SWOON
Let’s see...what did we say back in April? We talked about the coming of The Suntanama, right? And the coming of Phill Niblock on Moikai and the prospect of Weird War, all before the dying of the June moon. Well, allow us to take all that back. It seems very unlikely at this point that these exciting new releases will be happening before the dawn of July. We’ll keep you posted, but at this point, the earliest day we’ll be getting The Suntanama LP/CD and the Phill Niblock CD (on Moikai) down on the street would probably be July 1st — a date which you can’t quote me on because it’s subject to change. And the Weird War is coming out sometime in July now. Don’t know when. In short, I’ll let you know when it’s going to rain when the clouds get closer.

But in the meantime — have you checked out the mp3s on our front page? The Suntanama offer up their funky acoustic sorcery in a little bite called “Sunset Samagain.” It’s a tight little number with a mannish boy presence to it — and the more where that comes from is also delightful in it’s similarly medieval values. The Suntanama are from New York City but the pastoral vibes that pulse from their heart come from other places in space and time. That said, The Suntanama possess a piece of the New York groove that calls up all the greats from that town — as well as others. Oh hell, there’s just no getting around it — these NYC boys are truly children of the world. And we’re anxious to share them with you. Their album art alone will start you tripping. It's produced by Neil Michael Hagerty, architect of more trippy records than you can shake your magical stick at. But that’s down the road apiece. Check out the mp3 for starters. Then keep an eye out for shows coming soon — in New York town and other eastern seaboard states.

Then when you’re done doing that, join the Weird War that’s going on — the band, not the war. We’ve all had enough of that, I think. No, I’m talking about Weird War — an a-holy assemblage of like-minded rebels from the hills of Washington DC. This is a band that features the wild talents of Ian Svenonius and Michelle Mae (from The Make Up), as well as our very own Neil Michael Hagerty, plus a couple other bonus talents as well. The outcome of their particular union is a twisting, shaking dash through the garden of rock and roll with tuneful, outrageous highlights every step of the way, all delivered with an excess of panache. Weird War will be playing some kinds of gigs in support of their forthcoming statement — we’ll let you know where and when — when we know where and when. Stick with it! And deal with the mp3 of “Grass” that’s up there right now for your consideration. Weird War — coming in July.

Though it’s not on Drag City, the Phill Niblock CD on Moikai is still a part of the happy family we purport to have here in our fireproof bunker (yes, our new home has several features and innovations that were sadly not available in the original underground DC fortress). Yeah, Phill Niblock's forthcoming CD on Moikai is a real favorite, and we like to play it loud. Oh, so soothing. It’s just great long guitar tones that roll by — in two different versions featuring a number of hot guitar players (like Rafael Toral, Alan Licht, Thurston Moore, Lee Renaldo and Kevin Drumm), all of whose heat on this record comes from just hanging around and making imperceptible changes based on god knows what kind of musical science. But the outcome is this dreamy, monumental sound. If this sound sounds like your kind of sound, then be sure to get Phill Niblock’s G2, 44+ / x2 CD when it comes out in either June or July!

WE ARE A MAIL-ORDER WAR BRIDE
Hold the phone! We can’t get caught up here! What’s the culprit this time? The mail-order legions — finally! Yes it's their turn at last. We’ve recently added a number of hot items to the catalog and the response has been unpredictably predictable. Which is to say, the orders have been pouring in through every order-hole we have around this place. Envelopes from all over the world are arriving at a hitherto unthinkable rate. They’re filled with checks, money orders, cash (naughty kids!), and of course, carefully filled-out DC order forms detailing all kinds of product — thank you, friends. And occasionally, alternates are being listed (mail-order kids, PLEASE, always list alternates). Meanwhile, we make another handful of new PayPal pals every week. It’s beautiful, really. We’d like to take this opportunity to also ask that people stay cool for four to six weeks after they send their order — the US Mail is a bitch from hell, and you all would do well to remember it. Especially those of you in the far-flung corners of the world. Like Florida. Also to please remember — we’re payable only in US funds!

So what, you may be asking, is keeping us so busy here with the mailorder and all? Well, in addition to our never-ending stream of new titles (the last four months alone have added new things from Neil Michael Hagerty (LP/CD), Brother JT3 (LP/CD), Papa M (CD3), King Kong (LP/CD), Xhol Caravan (2xLP+12”EP), Alan Licht (paperback book), Royal Trux (comic book), various titles on Blue Chopsticks and Streamline (all CDs) AND the aforementioned David Grubbs and The Fucking Champs releases, which you already know about and own) — have you checked our Special Orders page lately? Man, it’s just too much. I mean, we put up a split 7” single from Bonny Billy and Rainywood (leftovers from their West Coast tour of a month or so back) on the Special Orders page and it was like our whole world exploded! People just calling and emailing and sending PayPal orders. And there’s plenty more where them split singles came from — so keep the explosive outburst of those orders a-comin’. Then there was the Silver Jews T-shirt crisis — we brought the damn thing back into existence and everybody and their mother wanted one! And everybody and their mother are wearing an XL this year, let me tell you...It’s true — Americans are fatter than ever. And Silver Jews fans are among the fattest of all, it seems. But don’t worry, you burly bunch you — we’re getting more XLs in — along with all the other sizes, too. And a new size for us — the XXL size. The larger man need stand down no longer! And just for good measure, we’re going to have another Silver Jews T-shirt design posted up there in the next couple weeks, for those of you who’ve just about busted the seams on their old one. It’s the only way we know, folks!

Yeah, so if you haven’t checked out the T-shirt page, what with the rumors of summer and all, you’re begging to be unclad in something fresh and new when the hot weather finally comes down. We’ve got size options in shirts for Neil Michael Hagerty, Edith Frost, High Llamas, U.S. Maple, Mick Turner, Silver Jews (must we remind you?)...even a shirt commemorating that memorable Murphy/Oldham release, “All Most Heaven” that is most hilarious. You can’t get these things in stores, you know. So get thee hither, wouldja? We don’t want to have to tell you again.

And while you’re at it, have we mentioned the Special Orders page? It’s chock-full of new and unusual items to buy. The Bonny Billy/Rainywood split 7” is only the beginning — we’re also offering a Champs/Tight Bros. split 7” right now, featuring the sounds of The Fucking Champs from way back when they were just Champs. And “Summer Knights” captures their rare vocal approach in full fling. It’s awesome, it’s limited, and it could be yours. What are you waiting for? To finish reading this? Oh right...thanks.

We’re also carrying a baker’s half-dozen of titles from the Mego label, home to Jim O’Rourke’s I’m Happy, and I’m Singing, and a-1,2,3,4 LP/CD. All the Mego titles are really something. People everywhere are finally getting hip to Fennesz, which means that the two CDs of his we have (Endless Summer and Hotel Paral.lel) are much in demand. But for Fennesz completists, there’s also The Magic of Fenno’Berg, which faces off Fennesz, O’Rourke and Pita Rehberg in a laptop cage match designed to blow minds! Pita is pretty popular too — but we don’t have none of that. Instead we’ve got General Magic. Their Rechenkönig CD is sweet stuff, some of the fruits of a long-standing collaboration between two of Mego’s founding fathers. They’ve been swinging at this modern electronic composition thing for nearly ten years now! And now it’s getting pretty tight. General Magic does a bit of everything, from clicks and bloops to catastrophic expulsions, samples and bits of melody that you can dance to. Catastrophic expulsions, emissions, and yes, explosions are the domain of Russell Haswell, whose Live Salvage CD delivers a dizzying amount of pure noise — sheets and sheets of it, to be precise. You’ll be convinced the end of the world is nigh when you spend a few minutes with this one, I tell you what. Which of course, it is...Around the office, we’ve taken a particular shine to the Ilpo Väisänen CD. Asuma has lots of discreet clicking and such, occasionally breaking into a compelling futuristic march or two. It’s like the backdrop for some outrageous shot at pop music. But for pure pop, you’ve got to try the Tujiko Noriko Shojo Toshi CD — a sweet little collection of electronically tinged tunes. More tunes than electronic, really, in this case. We were reminded a bit of the Aki Tsuyuko 2xLP on Moikai, with it’s sleepy, delicate flavor. Special. Don't forget to order all of it!

THE SWEETEST THING
The sweetest thing about all this amazingly special stuff going down around here is that there’s a lot more to come. We’ve got a lot of projects sitting on the fence right now and it’s the hope of everyone here at Drag City that they come to light ASAP. F’rinstance, there’s that l'il ol' Continental OP release — which is going to end up being the first official Drag City DVD (we’ve received letters from faithful who’ve “watched” previous Drag City releases, but they were usually written in crayon which is an instant out in our book) as well as a vinyl release. That’s going to be interesting. There’s that Cindy Dall LP/CD we’ve been talking about for four or five years now. It’s really going to happen, this isn’t some crazy kind of in-joke we’ve got going here. That record is really cool. In addition to hearing the strange tunes and obsessions of Ms. Dall, as a bonus, can hear how Jim O’Rourke and Tim Green made records before they got totally over-the-top famous. Then there’s Laugh Out Lord, the long-anticipated new full-length from Neil Hamburger. Those who’ve seen Neil crack all those religious jokes in his recent routines can look forward to taking all those same jokes home when they purchase the new LP. They should listen closely — they might just hear themselves laughing on this record! But if that doesn’t work out for them, they can always laugh at home. But hey, who’s this ‘them’ I keep referring to? I mean We. Or Us, whichever works. Autumn 2002 brings us the mysterious Royal Trux Hand of Glory LP/CD, which comes in a plain black package — black like the mystery that this record is. We can say nothing more about it, other than that this was the originally suggested 2nd Royal Trux LP, before they got so way out there that Twin Infinitives became that record. Hand of Glory has some things in common with the sounds we all remember from way back when — but you know, so do Veterans of Disorder, the first Neil Michael Hagerty solo album and all the rest. And anyone who doesn’t think so is a flat-out idiot. And then of course, there’s that finished but as-yet unnamed record by that as-yet unnamed group comprised of Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche (from the much-heralded Wilco) and our very own Einstein, Jim O’Rourke (also much heralded). Maybe you’ve read about this fabulous record in the pages of Rolling Stone. We did, that’s how we know it’s coming out! You don’t argue with Rolling Stone. Anyway, as soon as those damn dudes figure out a nice, clever name for their band and their record that adequately represents for all the love and hate they feel inside, we’ll go ahead and put it out — sometime in the fall, at this point. When exactly, you ask?

Stick around....

Drag City
May-June 2002