Sure sign you are getting old – albums you bought new are being reissued in expanded and remastered format. Pavement and Uncle Tupelo have had their kicks at the archival release can, now Liz Phair wants to rerelease Exile In Guyville with remixing, extra demo tracks, big fat liner notes, etc etc. Though how she’s going to top those original pics of herself prancing around in her underwear, I don’t know.

And of course, the new album has been re-titled and delayed. Again. Now it’s just Liz Phair, out on June 24. Full news from Pitchfork.

Jay Farrar’s new one, Terroir Blues, ships on May 20. It’s a good bet that this one will sound like the last one, which sounded like the last Son Volt album, which wasn’t too far off the second Son Volt album, which was in the same vein as the first Son Volt album. But Trace kicked ass, so that’s alright.

So in good news, my brother is no longer amongst the ranks of the unemployed. What this means for yours truly is that my rent is no longer his sole revenue stream and I can again think about moving out on my own. Unless paying off my taxes for last year ruin me, of course.

np – Jay Farrar / Sebastapol

The Postal Service are taking their dog-and-pony show on the road next month, but nothing anywhere near T.O. on a non-weekday night. And so the fallout from our refusal to particpate in the invasion of Iraq begins.

This Broken Social Scene is the first copy-protected CD I’ve ever owned. I had to install all sorts of nefarious codecs on my computer at work to listen to it. I feel vaguely violated by all this.

I have just decided I am naming my first-born “Chachi”.

np – Broken Social Scene / You Forgot it In People

I beefed up on the Can-con in my music collection tonight – got the hotly-tipped (and deservedly so) Broken Social Scene record, Kathleen Edwards’ Failer (on the glowing reviews from many sources, Kyle’s personal thumb’s up and the fact that it was only $7.50) and the new Sadies album, Stories Often Told. I haven’t had time to listen to them all yet, so impressions will be forthcoming over the next few days.

Caught Catch Me If You Can at the Bloor tonight. Spielberg should stick to making light, breezy movies like this one. It was a lot of fun, well-executed and an all-around good time. The only way he could have screwed it up the way he did Minority Report or A.I. would have been to finish it off with a pitched gun battle between Hanks and DiCaprio. Which, now that I think of it, wouldn’t have been too bad either.

The first disc of an Uncle Tupelo live show from October 15, 1993 in Chicago is up for download here. Sound quality is pretty damn good. The second disc will be up next week. They don’t have the tracklist info yet, so if you decide to save it for archival purposes – and why wouldn’t you? – I’ve dug it up myself.

Uncle Tupelo – October 15, 1993; The Vic, Chicago, IL

Fifteen Keys/ Grindstone/ Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down/ True to Life/ Chickamauga/ Watch Me Fall/ Anodyne/ Long Cut/ Slate/ Atomic Power/ New Madrid/ Sandusky/ Acuff-Rose/ Steal the Crumbs/ We’ve Been Had/ Give Back the Key to My Heart/ Looking for a Way Out/ Life Worth Livin’/ Nothing/ Truck Drivin’ Man/ Willin’/ Sin City/ Suzie Q

I have changed my blog links in the sidebar to a Blogrolling model. It’s neat, and easy to add to. Anything that lets me be a little lazier is always a good thing.

Mogwai’s new record will be titled, Happy Songs For Happy People and is modestly described by Mogwai mouthpiece Stuart Brathwaite as, “Forty one minutes fifty seconds of total unadulterated brilliance”. Out sometime this summer, probably July-ish.

The new Grandaddy album Sumday will not be a double as previously reported, but just a single disc. Release date in early June. Full details and tracklisting here.

np – Big Star / Third / Sister Lovers

So it’s just a matter of time now, I guess. I’m pleased that Canada has elected to sit this one out without a UN sanciton. Ian has some good links posted over on his site. All I can hope now is that it’s quick, relatively bloodless and long-term reprecussions are minimal. Of course, after Dubya was appointed president of the United States, I hoped that he wouldn’t actually be half as stupid as he seemed to be. Wish in one hand, shit in the other. See which fills up first.

Band practice tonight was both productive and not. Productive because we very quickly worked out some basic arrangements for a new song, which implies to me that we’re figuring out how to play with one another just by listening. There’s work to be done yet, but it was promising. Not productive because Laura did not show up and no one was feeling very ‘in the zone’ to begin with. But definitely in the positive column were the new Christmas lights adding much-needed ambience to the room. The talking Death Star and Borg cube ship Christmas ornaments are just gravy.

I’ve started reading Thomas Wharton’s Salamander, which as far as I can tell so far is a period piece. I really have no idea what it’s about – I got it free when I was working at NOW a few years ago and have only gotten around to reading it now.

My thumb hurts. Slamming a digit in a door is the gift that keeps on giving.

np – Yo La Tengo / Little Honda