"YESVEMBER"
Catchy, eh? And relevant, too — fuck this November shit. There’s been too much negative campaigning this year  so we’re crusading for positive change! Drag City ain’t about No — we’re about Yes!

And while we’re saying no to no, let us also speechify the good news all together — music! Chant along, kids — new music, live music, different music, freaky music, experimental music, downloadable music, more music in the pipeline and best of all, music for sale!

What in the world are we talking about? If you’ve been a good kid, there’ll be something under the tree for you, come "Musictember"…

Meantime, as the new month/new era dawns, we’re slinging three new CDs for your holidaze shopping — a pair of enhanced CD singles and a CD that was never meant to be! Perhaps you’ve heard of these respective three releases — Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s “No More Workhorse Blues” enhanced CD5, Joanna Newsom’s “Sprout and the Bean” enhanced CD5 and Plush’s Underfed CD.

We’ll hip you to the singles scene first. Bonny’s “No More Workhorse Blues” is a deep album cut from Greatest Palace Music. In the style of “Agnes, Queen of Sorrow,” it’s been plucked from the album and issued as a single with a pair of bonus tracks and the video for the title track, designed to bring pleasure to you via your computer’s CD-Rom portal. That’s right, you can get pleasure from it that way too. The exciting news about this for you fucking freaks out there is that the video for “No More Workhorse Blues” is directed by Harmony Korine — a video just as creepy (and hilarious!) as you might imagine that weirdo coming up with on any given Sunday. Meanwhile, the bonus tracks are pure Bonny. For those of you who dug the “Happy Child” collaboration with Tweaker, part fucking two is track fucking two on this single. It’s called “Ruby,” and it finds Bonny and Tweaky settling into a comfortable groove that who knows? could actually yield a whole album of similarly outrageous material. If it happens, you heard it here first — if it’s a problem, we didn’t say shit! The CD single concludes with Judee Sill’s transcendent ballad “The Kiss.” We’re not the Judee Sill Newsletter here, so we can’t really go into how amazing a singer and songwriter she was (and is), but suffice to say Bonny’s loving take on the song is just the tip of an incredible iceberg of amazingness. And the end of a really cool CD single, to boot.

Joanna’s “Sprout and the Bean” features as a bonus track the epic “What We Have Known” as a companion piece. Wherever Joanna’s performed this song, tears have been shed and minds have been blown (and vice versa!) — now you can sing and sob along in the privacy of your own office cubicle. Be sure and have your Viking helmet at the ready so that the quasi-medieval lyric utterances will arc towards the sky even more righteously. This song excites us muchly, as it represents Joanna’s first Next Recording since the world-and-life changing The Milk-Eyed Mender came out earlier this year. We can hardly wait for Joanna to complete all her touring — not just to please all the fans from here to Germany dying to witness it — but mostly so that she can sit down for five minutes, disconnect the phone (and electricity) and write a few more instant classics for us all to bawl over. Until then, we’ll have “All We Have Known” to succor us.

Our only entry on the AOR tip for November is fortunately, a ding-dong-dandy! And by that, we can only mean Plush, can't we? Last heard from here in these United States on the 1997 LP/CD More You Becomes You, Plush have finally returned with Underfed. For those of you who've followed the story, Plush's insistence on the existence of perfection in music has left this long-running outfit with a skimpy discography of one single and two albums in over a decade's-worth of time. Why, even Boston are more prolific more than that, aren't they?

Here's a bit more backstory: Many people's best-of lists in 1994 were graced by Plush's debut single, a double-A sided gem entitled "Three-Quarters Blind Eyes" b/w "Found a Little Baby." Then, before anyone knew it, four years had passed by in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, it was 1998 — and late 1998 saw the release of the piano-with-vocals masterpiece More You Becomes You. Fans and friends were alternately delighted and confused — because while More You... was (and is) a heartbreakingly beautiful collection of melodic balladation most singular in its appeal, the promise of Plush's debut finding fruit in a full-length setting glittering with slices of orchestrated guitar-pop was almost unbearable! The good news was, work was already underway to realize this promise — the bad news is, six years later, the result of this work is still not domestically released! Oh, you can find it — if you've got a good lead on Japanese import CDs. That's how the second-ever Plush album was released — on CD only, in Japan. It's called Fed, and it's real head(phones)-trip of an album — not the least of which is it's almost-impossible-to-find status! 

The good guys at Sea Note have taken steps, if not to remedy that, then at least to fill the gap with Underfed. See, the work on Fed took so long and resulted in such a radical Plush makeover that of course there would be a really great alternate version to the record, right? Underfed is no cheap remix record, though — it's a genuinely bare-bones early version of Fed, mixed and compiled half-way through the recording process way back in the Spring of 2000. With rough rock edges and loads of the mellotron and Chamberlin sounds that are almost a part of Plush's trademark sound, Underfed may just delight your old-school fantasies of Plush's long-promised full-length album. Even more essential is that lost-day vibe that screamed silently out from the first couple of Plush releases. It's all there, in vibrant, almost-bootleg format, but with a delightful booklet and informative liner-notes. Buy it now — and watch for Plush coming to your town soon. He's ba-aack...

That’s what we’ve got in No—whoops!—Yesvember. Run to quality stores everywhere! These titles are on sale now.

OVER YOUR SHOULDER
Shit — it’s a wonder we can spit all this out atcha. We’ve had a senses-shattering year with some of the most seismic of releases exploding in the immediate near past — to wit:

In the waning shades of September, Jennifer Herrema’s all-new RTX shot back into the public’s eye with a brutal blast of rock and/or roll called Transmaniacon. Raining metal down from the skies, RTX’s Transmaniacon is a fresh solution for almost all modern ailments. It deals with what you got and adds an x-factor element that takes you right over the top.Jennifer’s trademark vocals ride herd over a roiling stampede of rawk n role — drums pounding, guitars riffin’ and screamin’ and the dust rising up in the ripples of heat, creating shadows and reflections all around the racing mass.

At the moment, RTX is only available in LP/CD form, but worry you not — should a portable solution be needed, they’re working with an agent (at The Agency, natch) to put RTX in a variety of locales for live demonstrations in the latter half of November. Cancel those Thanksgiving Day plans! And go east-west, young fan. Some dates are already posted — we’ll have more of the details when The Agency informs us of them.

At the same time, in commemoration of Ghost’s “Hypnotic Overworld” US Tour (and the eternal appeal of great music, too of course), we engineered the reissue of a pair of lost Ghost-related classics, both of them featuring Ghost’s leader Masaki Batoh.

The first is his Collected Works release of 1997. This combines a pair of records done on The Now Sound label around the time Ghost were composing their breakthrough album Lama Rabi Rabi. The sounds of A Ghost from the Darkened Sea were earthy, folky songs and tunes, exemplified by an organic reworking of Can’s “Yoo Doo Right.” The sounds of Kikaokubeshi were astral, otherworldly, spacious non-songs. Combining the two created an epic harmony of earth and sky. This record’s been out of print for a few years, but since the time was so very right (Ghost tour + Hypnotic Underworld-inspired feeding frenzy + when isn’t it time for great music?), we’ve brought the CD back and added, just for the sheer thrill, a limited vinyl edition (featuring a Batoh poster inside!). What a record! If you didn’t purchase it at one of Ghost’s tour dates, we suggest getting it from your local retailer. Think local! Or order it from our mailorder service. We deliver!

The other Ghost-related item is Live at Your Cosmic Mind by the long-lost 80s Japanese jam band Sweet & Honey. Led by sometimes-Ghost bassist Junichi Yamamoto, Sweet & Honey expanded from a power trio to a power quartet that included sometimes-Ghost headman Masaki Batoh. This was when Ghost was mostly a concept that mainly created happenings and had only one record to show for six years of quasi-(meta)existence, so Batoh had a little time on his hands. And, after a little time, Sweet & Honey had recorded the three tracks that comprise Live at Your Cosmic Mind. It’s a display of stoned psychedelic power, and it freaks us out. If you want to get freaky too, get Live at Your Cosmic Mind.

AS THE HAWK FLIES
Winter’s comin’ on — time to pickle the harvest, shutter the windows and oil up the snowshoes. That’s what we’re doing around here at the bunker. Oh, and preparing the new releases for next year. With the releases discussed above creating satisfactory commerce for the time being, we’re focusing on trips to the Bahamas, inventory and a Drag City party event or two in the merry month of December (or Musictember, if you believe the hype). Then we get back to sales and sales-slinging in the great new year of 2005. So there’s not much to talk about for the remainder of 2004 — although we did mention a little party, didn't we? That would be the "It’s a Wonderful Afterlife (A Drag City Christmas Party)" event to be held in New York on December 18th and 19th. Check this out — to help create a festive mood, (Smog), Joanna Newsom and Weird War will share the stage, playing round-robin style for several hours, thus pleasing fans of all three bands simultaneously. Also for strictly for festive feelings will be the dress code imposed on all comers — a sweater plus a knit cap/scarf for all attendees! It’s going to be FUN, you hear! Either that, or we’ll start a riot — that’ll be a good way to end the year, right?

Anyway, January’s already the home of a memorable sales date. On Tuesday January 25th, two mind-melters are on the sonic burner — one the long-awaited Drag City debut of Six Organs of Admittance, the other a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between Bonnie “Prince” Billy and bonnie Matt Sweeney! Plus, we’ve got something for your eyes too — Neil Hagerty’s return to the printed page, Public Works.

Let’s admit it — Six Organs of Admittance is one man — one Ben Chasny, who’s so intense that he has to be the only regular (and we use the term loosely) in his own band. But he’s even more intense than that! He’s also an axe-wielder in Comets on Fire, who are pretty crazy all on their own. Plus, he’s been known of late to collaborate with David Tibet, of Current 93 infamy. Anyway, when not involved in other people’s insanity, Ben IS Six Organs of Admittance, living and touring with his trusty, non-rusty acoustic guitar, playing and singing a voodoo of hypnotized psycho-blues and ballads. A listen to Dark Noontide or Compathia (his two most recent long-players) will draw you into the circle, staring and swaying (and swearing). But if you’ve already worn those records out, we’re sending you to School of the Flower. That’s Six Organs of Admittance’s Drag City debut, available at the end of January 2005 in LP and CD format. Get ready for what’s left of your mind to get
b-l-o-w-n.

But before that happens, you’ll want to grab you a Superwolf or two for the road. That’s the vaunted collaboration between singer Bonnie “Prince” Billy and guitar-slinger Matt Sweeney. It all started when Bonny challenged Matt to write some songs. When Matt did so with relative ease, then it was Bonny’s turn to be challenged to write. Which he did with aplomb, in various glamorous locations around the globe (these two birds are nothing if not jet-setters). Once they’d worked it all out, they took it to Rove Studios in Kentucky, where Paul Oldham rendered it all with a crafty hand. The results are Superwolf, a record decidedly in the “Fool to Cry” vein of heart-weary but soul-lifting blue (and black) ballads. Stripped down and strapped on, Superwolf will fuck you up and down.

It’s been almost seven years since Neil Hagerty’s sci-fi detective novel Victory Chimp was released (inaugurating, by the way, the era of Drag City Press — which continues to grow and expend with releases such as the Galactic Zoo Dossier Compendium and the Bill Callahan Sketchbooks series) — seven years, and a lifetime of changes and phases for us all, eh? Neil's kept to the true path since then — leaving Royal Trux in 2000 for a solo career and pursuing it with tenacity and total success since then. He never stopped writing though — penning the script for the comic book The Adventures of Royal Trux in 2001 (which also featured the further adventures of Victory Chimp) and writing articles on a variety of subjects for a variety of periodicals. These and more are collected in Public Works, which features short fiction and essays alike. Ranging from the poignant to the thrilling, Public Works ranges across the United States in pursuit of its subjects — and finds them in the middle of nowhere, in the thick of things, lost in the past, and elsewhere. Our Top 10 for next year is almost full (see below) — but Public Works is up there. Way up there.

ON BEYOND ZEBRA
It’s almost too far away to talk about, but we have to at least mention the February releases — The Howling Hex All-Night Fox, Ghost Metamorphosis: Ghost Chronicles 1984-2004, Bastro Sing The Troubled Beast/Bastro Diablo Guapo and Bastro Antlers: Live 1991. Then new ones from Alasdair Roberts and Weird War in March! With newies from (Smog) and White Magic later this Spring! 2005 — YEAH!!!

GOINGS FAUN DOWN UNDER
Would you believe it's been a year of firsts for us? Fifteen years on and we've still got something new to look towards. It's sweet, y'all. Among the many firsts was the first Faun Fables CD we ever put out.Yeah, and we dug it so much, we immediately reissued the two previous Faun Fables CDs. Working with Dawn the Faun is a real pleasure — she's a friendly type who likes to laugh, which puts us in good company. Musically, she's a siren and as a looker, she's a fox!  Plus (and perhaps most importantly from a business perspective), she's a hands-on artist who's willing to tour the world all year long in order to bring her music to the people wherever they are.  She and faithful sideman Nils Frykdal are the living personification of latter-day troubadours, touring countries across the globe whether the apparatus is in place or not. There's always somewhere to play, isn't there?

Hey, speaking of Faun Fables...if you're in the place we call Down Under, stay right where you are! Or go to one of the locations listed below. This November Faun Fables are coming to Australia and progressing from there to New Zealand in December. What a great opportunity for fans of music and entertainment to witness the organic pleasures that Dawn and Nils offer in the name of Faun Fables.

Be there —

Sat 13th The Kirk, Sydney 
Thu 18th Jade Monkey, Adelaide
Sat 20th 610 Anne St, Brisbane
Tue 23rd Rebublic Bar, Hobart
Fri 26th Ceres Farm, Melbourne
Sat 27th Qdos Gallery, Lorne
Sun 28th Literary Latte, Woodend
Tue 30th Wesley Anne, Melbourne
Fri Dec 3 Arc Cafe, Dunedin NZ
Sat Dec 4 Penguin Club, Oamaru NZ
Thu Dec 9 Wunderbar, Christchurch NZ
Sat Dec 11 Bodega, Wellington NZ
Sun Dec 12 The Odeon Lounge, Auckland NZ

A LONG-PROMISED FROST
Speaking of Faun Fables touring for the first time in Australia...if you're in America, and west of midwest, the Edith Frost sighting you've been waiting for is about to go down! Frost-fans are used to the litany — Edith hasn't graced with a new record in three-and-a-half years, Edith hasn't toured America in two-and-a-half years, Edith doesn't return my calls, Edith is a web nazi...well, we can't address all these so-called shortcomings, but we can tell you this — Ms. Frost is back on the road! Her dates are almost all confirmed and in a few short weeks, she'll be playing in front of crowds in St. Louis, Omaha, Denver, Tucson, LA, SF, and all the rest of the best that the west has to offer.

If you can't wait that long to hear her voice again, Edith still has that free downloadable Demos record here: http://www.comfortstand.com/. And if it's just pure visceral pleasure, go to her website, where she recently posted a nice, steamy photo of herself with just one word to describe it: 'sexbomb'. We're not sure if it's tongue-in-cheek — we're not sure if it's a self-portrait — and we're not asking, either! We're just trying to stay as quiet as possible with our noses pressed up against the window. It's Frost time again — and that's hot stuff.

THE HAMBURGER UPDATE
The last couple of years have been revolutionary for Neil Hamburger. First, there was all the touring, that helped a lot. Then, he put out a new record back in 2002. Laugh Out Lord not only appealed to the religious sect, but was also his first major release in a few years. So that helped too. Then the Kimmel appearances started.  That really launched old Neil. He even got Yoko Ono’s autograph — that may prove to be worth something on eBay! The exposure that this gave him was capitalized on by last summer’s hottest DVD release, Neil Hamburger Live at the Phoenix Greyhound Park. This excellent concert appearance was filmed comedy-verite style, bringing not only the humor of the situation but also the real-life drama that comes with being Neil Hamburger. Released by the acclaimed DVD-concert-film people at Kung Fu Records, Live at the Phoenix Greyhound Park sold enormous numbers for a Neil Hamburger release. And it could probably do well as a rental too.

So now that Neil’s in the mainstream, his shows are bigger than ever. Neil’s making it into the everyday lives of Americans and other types all around the world — even Canada, where he just finished a triumphant tour of a number of different cities. Why he was even introduced to the throng in Ottowa by none other than funny man Tom Green, who also took the opportunity to call Neil “world’s greatest comedian.” Consumate showman that he is, Neil didn’t blink — he just took the mic and delivered the jokes he’s spread all across the globe for years now.

The point is, we can’t think of another artist on the label who’d be invited up for that many shows in the so-called “Great Above.” This is because Neil is “people” to people all around whatever great land you may live in. So bug your local club — have them get Neil to come around soon. It can only benefit everyone, including Neil!

THE VIDEO BEAT-DOWN
All of a sudden, it seems everybody’s making videos again! This year, Bonnie “Prince” Billy has made three, (Smog)’s made two and Joanna Newsom and Weird War have made one apiece. What’s next, AZITA? I wouldn’t be surprised — that chick’s everywhere! Anyway…we’re still working on getting the latest ones out there (that would be Weird War, whose video for “Grand Fraud” arrived in our office exactly seven months after the release of If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Bite ‘Em), but the ones that are out there are kicking asses out there! Case in point? The Joanna Newsom video for “Sprout and the Bean.” Why just this month, it was added in fourteen diverse markets, including the all-important NYC airwaves, and shows in Central California (SF/Sacramento) — with access to over a million west-coast watchers!

We’re shooting to translate this action into greater exposure for the Drag City roster on both the big and small screens. Keep your eyes glued to late-night television for appearances in the near and far future. And who knows, maybe a movie appearance for comely Joanna, woo-woo! Or some soundtrack work — that shit pays big time, you know?

SHE’S A WOMAN
It’s time for your AZITA update! So, what’s she up to this time? Is she live? Is she fully clothed — or totally wired? Did she cuss you out in the bar last night? Did you see her latest photo spread in the hip new alterna-journal? It might be all of the above, we know — but mainly your AZITA update is here to remind you that in the midst of all the shticky hype that guides the industry around by its nose, we’re offering you iron-clad musical entertainments from a 100% original, grown-up woman. That’s what she is. She’s not some little neo-hippie blow-up doll designed to trigger your inner weirdo — she’s a real thing, with the kinds of complex thoughts, feelings and observations that pepper the best lyric sheets in pop history. AZITA’s records Enantiodromia and Life On the Fly are up there in the firmament — and if you can’t get that, then you’re a fucking moron.

THE ROAD TO HELL
…depends on who you talk to, but the way we see it, the road to hell is lined with sex and death. And since we’re only human, we’re headed south with the rest of you! Where does that leave music? It makes the path to hell that much more enjoyable. So tune in!

Back 'atcha soon --

Rian Murphy
Drag City Inc
November 2004