Oh yeah, and CD Baby threw in a compilation of bands from their site titled:

Depressed? Stay Depressed. With thirteen tracks of moody melancholy bands.

Depressed? Stay Depressed. With thirteen tracks of moody melancholy bands.

That's awesome. I love CD Baby. I've got Wake Up UP UP! (just a variety of good bands) and No Words, Just Music (the title kind of says it all).

Smoke - Benjamin Smoke. Subject of documentary. Very Tom Waitsian music from Transvestite from Georgia.

Oh! He is also the subject of Kelly Hogan's great "Sugarbowl," on her recent Because It Feel Good -- they were co-workers, and good friends, back in her Jody Grind days. Is the CD good? Because I love the song -- it's one of the few in which Kelly really lets it rip vocally on the record, and it's quite moving as well.

Hey there, sugarbowl
My little Miss Solid Gold
You were always a lady just like a lady should be
I know times were bad
But looking back inside my head
The mountaintops are all that I can see.

I was actually coming here to tell Hayden and anyone else who cares:

Vic Chesnutt re-issues coming June 15th: The re-release of the first four albums of Athens, GA native, Vic Chesnutt, is serious cause for celebration. New West will re-issue Little, West of Rome, Drunk and Is The Actor Happy? on June 15th. All are bonafide cornerstones of indie music - revered by fans, critics and, especially it seems, by other musicians and writers. Folks like Michael Stipe, Lucinda Williams, Tom Waits, Van Dyke Parks and Jonathan Richman have championed Vic’s music over the years. Rolling Stone said of Vic, “[the songs] resonate with a soulful man-child insight... a gifted, willful storyteller.”

These titles were originally released in the early to mid nineties, and will be available June 15th with gorgeous expanded packages and never-before-heard bonus tracks unearthed from Vic's personal vault.

[link]

New West is also the Old 97s new label, since Elektra bounced them. Their CD is, I believe, due in July.

The reissue thing is kind of interesting, though it's making me feel old seeing My Own Personal Pantheon being reissued with the full 20th anniversary push.

Camper Van Beethoven has all been coming out in reissue as well.

Bela Report:

I cannot avoid the hypenatation thing on this band. It's Goth-power-pop-chamber-pop. Very melodic, lots of cello, mopey subject matter, "hollow" echoey production that I associate with chamber-goth groups, harmonies galore.

So...if Teenage Fanclub had a younger goth brother, and substituted cello for the chiming guitars.

I cannot avoid the hypenatation thing on this band. It's Goth-power-pop-chamber-pop. Very melodic, lots of cello, mopey subject matter, "hollow" echoey production that I associate with chamber-goth groups, harmonies galore.

So in other words, Jilli must own it?

So in other words, Jilli must own it?

Yeah, I think you'd like it a lot. It's not quite as wicked as Rasputina. It's more like gothier Eliott Smith. But they're well aware of their contrasts. The title is 'Til Summer Ends and their inner picture is staged like goth Beatles.

It's consistently very pretty though.

Oh! He is also the subject of Kelly Hogan's great "Sugarbowl," on her recent Because It Feel Good -- they were co-workers, and good friends, back in her Jody Grind days. Is the CD good? Because I love the song -- it's one of the few in which Kelly really lets it rip vocally on the record, and it's quite moving as well.

Misha, I like it. The one I got (Another Reason To Fast) sounds way more like Nick Cave than Tom Waits. Except, the southern transvestite drug abuser is doing the singing, rather than being a Cave character. Several Jody Grind alum played with Smoke, and also in Benjamin's drag band The Opal Foxx Quartet.

VAST's new album (Nude) is brilliant. That is all.