Gasp! “July – October edition”? It’s been that long. Oops. I suck. I’m hoping to get with it and start posting on a regular basis again (although I say that every time). We’ll see… I’ve been getting heaps of great new records (even on my “budget”). Here’s some that I’ve been listening to quite a bit.

Sail A Whale – Find Me A Boy 7″ – Fastcut Records
www.myspace.com/sailawhale
I’ve been super curious about Sail A Whale ever since I saw one of their strange videos. They’ve been described as M83 meets Air France and that’s pretty accurate. Although they did a remix of Memory Cassette’s “Surfin” that I actually thought was Moscow Olympics when I first heard it. So who knows… I was happy to see Fastcut have released their debut single and if these two songs are a glimpse of what’s to come, I’m very excited!

The Golden Dawn – No Reason Why 7″ – Heaven Records
www.myspace.com/thespirophonegoldendawn
Thankfully Heaven Records has re-opened their mailorder and we can all finally own a copy of this lost Golden Dawn single! I think it’s been about 10 years that I’ve been after it. Yes, I can finally sleep at night… Get a copy here.

V/A – The Garage Pop EP cd-r – Please Rain Fall Records
pleaserainfallrecords.blogspot.com
Stephen’s second release featuring songs by Andus (The Cudgels and Oporto), The Proctors, Spencer Roberts (Steamtown and Oporto), and Oddsocks (who are from Sweden). All and all another excellent cd-r compilation.

Epic45 – In All The Empty Houses cd – Make Mine Music
www.myspace.com/epic45
I’ve really fallen in love with this release and I’d be shocked if it didn’t make my top 10 of ’09. It’s like if members of Hood and The Sugargliders got together and started a super pop group.

Lake Heartbeat – Trust In Numbers cd – Service
www.myspace.com/lakeheartbeat
“Golden Chain” might be one of the songs of the year for me.

Maribel – Aesthetics cd – Quince Records
www.myspace.com/maribelband
After being in love with their “Taste The Trash” 7″, the “Aesthetics” album is equally great. I usually tend to not like shoegaze bands who sound anything like MBV “Loveless” era stuff, but somehow this one works for me. (For those who read my older posts, I did end up with the Quince version after convincing myself not to spend $27 on the Norwegian import.)

The Depreciation Guild – In Her Gentle Jaws lp/cd – Kanine Records / Fastcut Records
www.myspace.com/thedepreciationguild
My infatuation with The Depreciation Guild continues. I’m so happy “In Her Gentle Jaws” was properly released on both lp (US) and cd (Japan) and of course I had to have both. Somehow it just sounds like an entirely new record even though I’ve listened to the free mp3 version a million times. Oh and the artwork is also beautifully done.

Sally Shapiro – My Guilty Pleasure lp/cd – Paperbag Records
www.myspace.com/shapirosally
I had such super high expectations for this Sally Shapiro LP and it’s more than surpassed them. It’s easily ahead of the pack for album of the year for me. “Looking At The Stars” is INSANE! Perfect in every way. So Cloetta Paris last year, Sally Shapiro this year. Makes perfect sense.