Catbirdseat make me happy with news that Saturday Looks Good To Me’s All Your Summer Songs will be reissued in vinyl form this December. I actually just tried to buy a copy and was denied by non-up-to-date dealer inventory listings – I should have known that it’d be too good to be true, since the original pressing was a limited edition of 1000 pieces. I can’t find any other info about this reissue, but I have faith in the Catbirdseat and his sources.

SLGTM are good about making their vinyl must-haves in addition to the CD issues. Summer Songs contains two bonus tracks while the LP edition of last year’s Every Night featured several different mixes of songs from the digital version. This album pre-dates the Betty Marie Barnes hotness of the current lineup, but it’s still a great record. If you’ve never heard it, check out “Underwater Heartbeat”, and then go out and buy it. Because you know you’ll want to.

MP3: Saturday Looks Good To Me – “Underwater Heartbeat”

Not too much news in SLGTM land, otherwise. I think this Home Recording Series compilation featuring three SLGTM songs is pretty new, and hopefully plans for a new double-album next year are still on. I dug up this interview with How Does It Feel To Be Loved? where Fred Thomas talks about indiepop, but besides that? Not much. But any excuse to post a pic of Ms Barnes is, to me, a good one.

Beth Orton slipped off my radar some time ago with the lacklustre Daybreaker, and her case wasn’t helped that her next two releases were compilations (of Daybreaker b-sides and a best-of). So I wasn’t really initially interested when I saw this Billboard piece about her new album Comfort Of Strangers, out February 7, but when I reached the bit about the record being produced by Jim O’Rourke, then I paid attention. Loved by many, hated by many, I count myself as one who definitely likes the angles he can bring to a project, like the last two Wilco records. Orton is at her best when she’s not just being a folkie (her electronic-inflected debut Trailer Park, for example), and O’Rourke could be just the guy to get her out of her rut. I won’t out Comfort Of Strangers on my “to buy” list just yet, but I will definitely be paying attention when it comes out. And I’m going to put Trailer Park on my iPod.

Glide talks to My Morning Jacket drummer Patrick Hallahan about the long and winding road from It Still Moves to Z.

Each Note Secure has got an interview with Grandaddy’s Jason Lyttle/ They talk about the new EP Excerpts From The Diary Of Toddzilla, and a bit about what to expect from the next full-length, which could be due around April of next year.

Rob Dickimson says “thanks” to everyone who came out to see him on his recent mini-tour via MySpace blog. Via Bradley’s Almanac. If you missed them the first time around, here’s my pics and review of Rob’s show in Toronto last month.

So iPod question of the day – I’ve already loaded scads of albums onto mine, but not album art. Is there a way to get the artwork onto the iPod without having to re-up the whole record again (after downloading the artwork and associating it locally via iTunes)? I tried dragging the art directly onto the album on the iPod when it was hooked up, but while it seemed to be doing someting, it doesn’t seem to have worked. This thing looks like it could be helpful locally, but not with the iPod tracks. And, uh, I have no idea how to install it. It’s a widget? What’s a widget?

And I’ve come to the conclusion that my inbox is a frickin’ mess. If I owe you a reply, I apologize, it’s been one of those “barely keeping head above water” sort of weeks. I’ll try to get to them, um, soon. Ish.

np – Okkervil River / Down The River Of Golden Dreams