It’s a Saddle Creek kinda morning. Bright Eyes and Rilo Kiley to get the day off on the right foot. I think I’ve seen the Saddle Creek 50 comp around town used – is this worth picking up?

The day actually started with the mp3 of Velocity Girl covering New Order’s “Your Silent Face” that 517 generously gave me. Soooo good. Look for that one as mp3 of the week very soon. Like, Saturday, probably.

The long long long awaited (by me, anyway) and oft-postponed new record from Wheat, Per Second Per Second Per Second Every Second FINALLY has a release date in the first week of October, which by my calendar puts it at October 7. While based on past history I wouldn’t make plans to camp out in front of a record store yet, that’s a far firmer street date than the album has had in its long history. While I still have some fears about what effect label machinations have had on the finished product, advance reviews from some trusted sources have been overwhelmingly positive. They’re hoping to do some touring in late summer – Here’s hoping.

And finally, congratulations to Joe Pernice and Laura Stein on their upcoming wedding. They will be tying the knot here in Toronto right around the date of the July 22 Pernice Brothers show. Ain’t nothing more romantic than SARS.

np – Rilo Kiley / The Execution Of All Things

What does two weeks of rust sound like? Pretty bad, to be honest. Sloppy, uninspired and just not altogether there… and that was just me! I had some trouble adjusting to hearing everything again, and it showed. I’m not too worried though, we always suck ass through a straw the first rehearsal after a long layoff. We should be much more on the ball on Thursday. And if not, well… there’s still most of a mickey of rye in the space. That’ll make us sound better.

Radiohead tickets are $48.75 and $58.75? I’m sorry? That can’t possible include lawns, because $50 for LAWNS is a fucking crime.

Today’s Bitchfork column is ‘post-breakup debacles’, and for talking smack about Mojave 3 and to a lesser extent, Cracker, Chris Ott needs a size-12 Doc Marten up the ass.

np – Wilco / The Complete Singles

Out of curiousity, I just checked out my site in Netscape 4.79.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Sorry to any visitors still using it, but there’s not much I can/will do to make things less traumatic for you. The great irony of this is, YOU CAN’T EVEN READ THIS APOLOGY!!!

Oh, that’s rich.

np – Steve Earle / Jerusalem

Did you know the male platypus has venomous spurs on its ankles? You learn something new every day.

Some fun little site upgrades – I’ve added a nifty little favicon to this site that Netscape/Mozilla users should see in the location bar and IE users will see if they bookmark me… So go on. Bookmark me. It’s for the best, really. I’ve also added a Sitemeter counter so I can keep better track of all you lovely people poking around my site. Don’t worry, I’m a benign Big Brother.

This is turning out to be a very slow, lazy Monday, soundtracked by some very slow, lazy music (Red House Painters, Mojave 3, Slowdive). At least the morning is over – just gotta make it through the afternoon. First band rehearsal in two weeks tonight, my fingers are all tingly in anticipation. No, wait. I just hit my funny bone.

np – Red House Painters / Retrospective Disc 2

As my apartment hunt continues, I’m realizing I’m probably overly-restriced by issues of location. Today I went to see a place right by the Christie Pits (which was *okay*, but not quite enough to get me to pull the trigger), which previously was simply too far to consider but now that I think about it, it’s perfectly close to everything – even moreso than where I am now – but with one exception. The rehearsal space is way out on the east end of town, and every subway stop further west just seems more and more light years away. But there might be a solution to that, but not a quick one. The Rehearsal Factory also runs a space down at Bloor and Richmond, which would be a helluva lot closer to everyone involved. It’s also the most popular and toughest to get a space in, though. When we initially started looking for a space last year, the management company said that spaces rarely opened up there, but that current Rehearsal Factory tenants got first dibs. In fact, that was the original game plan, to get into the Front-Sherbourne space and move to the other space at first opportunity. It’s a little selfish that I didn’t bother inquiring about switching spaces for the past year since it was convenient for me (less so for the others), but now that I am planning to move west, it makes sense to try and take the space with me. I have no idea how long it’ll take to get a new space, if at all, but I believe I will get that particular ball in motion tomorrow. After clearing it with the others, of course. If I take this attitude, then the western limit of my house search can stretch out a few more crucial blocks. I think this is a plan.

I really liked the Christie Pits area, though. I think living very near a great big park (the Pits or Trinity Bellwoods, for example) would suit me just fine.

The Decemberists are a five-piece hailing from Portland who channel the spirit of the Neutral Milk Hotel into some wonderfully creaky and fantastical songs. Their debut album from last year, Castaways and Cutouts, was re-released on Kill Rock Stars last month and their sophomore record Her Majesty The Decemberists is out on September 9th with a tour to follow in October. These guys are great, check em out.

Ang Lee talks about making Hulk.

This is cool for guitar geeks – a pretty exhaustive archive of Husker Du guitar tabs. If you don’t have a small shrine erected to Bob Mould in the corner of your room… well why the hell not?

np – Ted Leo & The Pharmacists / The Tyranny Of Distance