Hey Jon - when I was the music store just now I saw that Young People CD w/the song on your 2003 mix on it used. I know that song is a cover, but I like it and am wondering how good the whole album is? Worth $9?

And yes, soon I will have just about every album from that mix.

SXSW provided a convenient opportunity for me to pass on meara and Anne's mixes to Hayden

Ooh, foxy. (Though both of them pretty much could have just HANDED me the CDs directly. But that wouldn't do much for Hec or Tina way over yonder in those other time zones.)

Why am I so hyper today?

No need to poke Hec by proxy, I will poke him directly: Wedding shmedding, book shmook. We want mix CDs!

Woot! LJ has given me the strength to pester. Get to the post office Hecubus!!

(tina, I hate to bug you about the mix trade, but do you have Jon's CD yet? I'm sure SXSW has slowed things down a bit upstream from me.)

I'm sending today actually. I wanted to throw in an extra CD for tina.

Which I am! I'm sending you Teenster a compilation put out by my friend Judith Beeman who put out the Big Star zine Back of a Car.

Teenster has a bunch of US and Canadian bands doing music in the style of seventies pop - so kind of a glam/gum/powerpop thang. But really fun and cool, plus stickers. It's got Mitch Easter, Shame Idols, Yuji Oniki, Anton Barbeau and a bunch of other bands you never heard. I found it super cheap at Mod Lang, and I already have a copy but I thought you'd like it. It's good music for the roller rink (almost exactly what our book launch party at the roller rink for the Bubblegum Book sounded like).

But really fun and cool, plus stickers.

Stickers! Shiny!

Thanks Hec. Sounds great.

wonders if there is a roller rink in KC

It's got a great glam cover of "Roxy Roller" (written by Nick Gilder when he was in a Canadian glamish band named Sweeney Todd). Mitch covers "Gimme Gimme Good Loving" - a bgum classic. And the originals include titles like "Ono Box," "Skating Rink," "alt.sex.trouserpress" and "cosmic planet rock."

Jon would like it since he's a fan of Velvet Tinmine.

I haven't even had time to listen to meara & Anne's mixes yet, and still have the previous two to mail, also.

Tina, I like that Young People cd, but I think you'll find it a bit skronky and directionless. Also, there is a Mac client for Soulseek out there somewhere.

Also, I saw Big Star play "Back of a Car" live just a few short days ago. And now I'm toiling through the 2nd day of a 3-day hearing.

Yeah, the Night of the Hunter song is not typical of the CD. I think it's cool, but it's hard to say if you'd like it.

Jon would like it since he's a fan of Velvet Tinmine.

And I actually own the Ono box.

If you happen to stumble on another copy, maybe you could send it my way?

If you happen to stumble on another copy, maybe you could send it my way?

Of course. It turns up from time to time, and I think way undervalued. Lord knows I've heard berjillions of Not Lame pop comps that weren't half as tuneful or fun.

This is interesting...Jon, are you familiar with Yuji Oniki?

On Orange, his Future Farmer debut, Yuji Oniki is backed by members of his band — including Beulah drummer Steve St. Cin — and ex-Guided by Voices/Cobra Verde guitarist Doug Gillard, who reportedly became a fan of the Oakland, CA-based multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter/arranger after hearing his self-released Shonen Blue album. Oniki's songs reveal he's been absorbing a mix of styles and influences over the years, including sunny, '70s soft pop (Bread), jangly '80s indie rock (Matthew Sweet, R.E.M., etc.), and the polished chamber pop of groups like Apples in Stereo, Cloud Eleven, or Elliott Smith. Like each of the aforementioned artists, Oniki seems to favor dreamy and often slightly too charming melodies drenched in ringing guitars and backing harmonies that lean toward the simplistic, occasionally accented by a "Penny Lane"-ish trumpet (courtesy of Beulah's Bill Swan, another longtime associate) braying away sadly in the distance. Oniki's pleasant voice (whose vocal timbre, at times, recalls Elliott Smith) falls just this side of being too twee, though he gets extra bonus points for bilingually alternating between English and Japanese; on the opening track and its closing refrain, "Tokyo Clover," Oniki alternates between both languages. Overall, the production here is fairly sparse, with just a hint of reverb, but it seems to be the perfect formula for Oniki's winsome and oft-bittersweet paens, which seem generally reflective of a kindler, gentler world. — Bryan Thomas

I actually met Yuji (through Judith Beeman) and got his Shonen Blue LP. I didn't know Doug Gillard was a fan - we could've talked about that.