"Bye, bye Franklin, it's just me and my black metal friends." - Atom and His Package.

Catbirdseat points out that Darla has some info regarding New Radiant Storm King's catalog, which Darla is reissuing. The band's 1993 record Rival Time, originally released on Homestead Records, is one of those must-have '90s records. The reissue includes the acoustic version of "Phone Call," which we first heard on the Hotel Massachusetts comp (Chunk Records) back when we wuz in skool (this comp, incidentally, has several crucial tunes on it, including Zeke Fiddler's "Half Baked" and Home's "Sunday").

We've been pointed a couple times recently to great stuff on The Pernice Brothers web site. First off, Joe's current (very Good Doctor-ish) diet. Second, Joe's envisoning of indie rock MTV Cribs, featuring his own pizznad. Chromewaves suggests Joe lives in Toronto, but we're pretty sure he lives south of Boston somewhere. Say, near Ashmont. Or Holbrook. Anyway, the video (Quicktime) is really funny, with deadpan narration by Joe as he gives a little tour of his place. You will enjoy watching this.

The M.F-R comp gets some props from Coolfer and Pfork. Oh yeah, according to Coolfer, almost 5% of the first-week sales of the new Dave Mathews Band record were digital. We think that's sort of interesting.

Gawker points to this really funny exchange of emails between the leader of a Norwegian Black Metal label and a freelance writer pretending to be a Black Metal-o-phile who also happens to still live with his mother. Funny stuff.

The buzz this month seems to be The Hold Steady, with some high-profile coverage in Big Ticket (scroll down) and Pfork (and an interview here). So we bought the record with part of our monthly EMusic allotment and gave it a proverbial spin today. It's a very solid rock and roll record, a lot of fun, a lot of hooks. A lot of songs about the drinkin' and the druggin,' some clever lyrics about same. Everyone seems to make a point of saying you have to get used to singer Craig Finn's voice, but we don't think it isn't anything people, or at least people around our age and older haven't heard before. Imagine if you will a cross between Tommy Tutone and Springsteen as he sung "Blinded By The Light," and that's pretty much what you get. Anyhoo, it is too early in our research for us to give specific song recommendations. but we are initiating coverage of The Hold Steady with an "accumulate" rating based on the strong fundamentals we encountered in our cursory review this morning.

That is all.