January 18, 2003

BAND MENTIONS NEW ALBUM ON OWN WEBSITE

Hi everybody. We’re proud to announce our new album, Summer Sun, is all done, and will be made available for release by the good people at Matador April 8. It’s got 13 songs on it, including a few we did live over Hanukkah, a cover of Big Star’s "Take Care," surprising cover artwork, and appearances by a few special guests you’ll be familiar with if you’ve seen us these last few years (hint: it’s not Ronnie Spector or Todd Barry).

And, as a special treat for those of you with computers, we have posted a sneak preview of Summer Sun. The song is called "Don’t Have to Be So Sad" (track 9 on the forthcoming cd, side 3 cut 3 on the vinyl). Hope you like it.

Dying to know James’ top 10 list of stuff from 2002? Of course you are. Check out the news section at matadorrecords.com, or le section nouveau a la www.matadoreurope.com.

We will also be contributing a track ("Magnet") to a forthcoming tribute compilation, devoted to one of our favorite bands in the world, NRBQ. If you were awake early enough, you may have seen A&E’s recent special on them, featuring many of the other mega-celebrity acts from the tribute record. Why weren’t we on it? Fucking James Lipton. The album lineup also includes Los Lobos, R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, Bonnie Raitt, and (current Will Rigby vocalist) Steve Earle.

Also recently completed after 4 years of slothlike toil is A Grown-Ass Man, the new album by Dump. This product is on the Shrimper records hotlist for spring, right around the time the surging Knicks rocket triumphantly into the postseason.

Everybody watched "Man Versus Beast," right?

–YLT