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Did we ever tell you our college pal Brandon has a record store in Ventura, California? Truth be told, it's his dad's store, a store with a very strong history. But Brando is firmly ensconced in the family business, too. We were chuffed to receive today this tasteful T so we can represent Salzer's here on the (sweltering) east coast. We've never been to Ventura, but you can bet Salzer's will be stop numero uno if and when we ever make it that way. In the meantime, one can interface with them in an extracorporeal fashion via the Fakebooks right here. On the bizarre off-chance you have no independent record store to support, you go ahead and support Salzer's. Tell them we sent you, and perhaps Brandon will complain about me making everyone listen to Silkworm's In The West over and over for an entire semester back in the '90s.

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Behold! The long-awaited, ridiculously deluxe Wilderness Days LP by Lubec finally arrived on our doorstep yesterday, and it is a monster. The LP itself is blinding white and about as thick as the filling in an Oreo. The t-shirt, which we are presently wearing, is understated cool. There's notated lyric sheets, inexplicable vintage photos and negatives, a hand-written poem, and something like a hand-crafted spiral scorebook/notebook thingy made partially from Uno cards that has the lyrics to the chorus of the title track arrayed in one-word bites across the pages of the book. And while there is a notation in the package that we were fortunate enough to receive copy 1 of the limited edition of 300 LPs, the coolest thing about it all is the most self-evident thing: when we put this thing on our turntable, it plays the awesome music from the album! We reviewed Wilderness Days here in November. Get your copy -- with all the extra fixin's -- right here, right now, while they last.

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Well, this is from Tuesday's mail bag truth be told, but we are still quite excited. We purchased this via the band's PledgeMusic campaign so very long ago, and had been enjoying the MP3s of same so much already, that we completely had no idea what this was when the 12 inch-square box arrived. But yes, it is the autographed vinyl of the mighty Ringo Deathstarr's Mauve, certainly one of the best records of 2012. The dust sleeve's seams were split when the record arrived and the plastic outer sleeve a little wrinkled, but the vinyl plays like a dream to our delight and our children's befuddlement. Ringo Deathstarr have been out touring the record since late August, and word came down via Twitter in the last 24 hours or so that the Austin-based shoegaze titans will have to postpone a scheduled European leg. But we expect that is but a temporary set-back. By all accounts the band's headlining set at Deep Heaven Now 6 here in Boston last week was terrific, and we are disappointed not to have seen it. But having this LP is certainly some small consolation, and we plan to blast this on the turntable all weekend long. Our own Edward Charlton reviewed Mauve for us here last month. Haven't heard the record? We've embedded below the psychosexyslowjam "Brightest Star." Purchase the entire thing from Sonic Unyon right here.

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Boston indie rock fans familiar with what exactly "it" is know that Chandeliers has been bringing "it" regularly since the trio popped onto the scene a year-and-a-half ago. And just last week the fearsome threesome released the rather handsome cassette pictured above, the Bigshot Weekend EP. The cassette itself touts dazzling gold foil the likes of which you have not seen since the last time you laid eyes upon your dawg C3P0. But the important things here are the tunes: the recently issued demo "Age Sex Location," which we wrote about here, is joined by four cracking new additions to the Chandeliers catalogue: the barely-able-to-be-contained basher "Creepwolf;" the stuttering and slippery bummer "First Thing/Teeth Out;" the steady chugger "Bigshot Weekend;" and the deliciously melodic tangle of "You're The Dream Team."

The collection -- capably self-recorded in Chandeliers' Brighton practice space -- is a big step forward for the band whose desperate and busy nightmare music is long on ideas and continues to impress with a singular combination of precise guitar leads and a storming rhythm section. Chandeliers play in Boston at O'Brien's tomorrow night, and appears to have monthly gigs in Chicago starting next week and going through July; we expect more local dates will pop up. But in the meantime, you should get over to the act's Bandcamp yert and try on for size Bigshot Weekend, we think it will suit your liking. We've embedded the entire thing below if you. Just. Can't. Bring. Yourself. To. Etc. And, of course, it is worth noting that Chandeliers turned in a shattering version of RIDE's "Here And Now" for Clicky Clicky's recent NOFUCKINGWHERE compilation, which is still available for free download right here.

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The items above were waiting on our desk when we got back from vacation Friday (yeah, that's how we roll). What you're looking at is Alcopop! Records' excellent comp We Grew Up On A Diet Of Jurassic Park And Sensible Soccer (And All We Have Left Is This Lousy Record Label), which comp was the venerable label's 50th release and was sold in a number of different bundles, such as one that included the radical Alcopop! jacket, also pictured, because, again, that is how we roll. Also above: images of the wonderful reissue of Archers Of Loaf's seminal debut full-length Icky Mettle, which came on BLUE VINYL, FOOL in a marvelous gatefold package with a poster, sticker, and download code for a bunch of digital extras including a remastered version of the greatest EP of all time, Archers Of Loaf's Archers Of Loaf vs. The Greatest Of All Time. Money well spent. We buy records. And we listen to them. And sometimes we play them for you. Like, for example, this coming Thursday, when we co-host New Music Night with Brad Almanac at the fabulous River Gods drinkery in Cambridge, Mass. We can assure you that we are going to play at least two tracks from the Alcopop! compilation. You'll want to hear that, so come out. More info at the Facebook event pagina.

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This is technically two separate packages, but they came on consecutive days and we think you'll agree there is a theme. So first, we have Alcopop! and Johnny Foreigner's hopefully trend-setting and ridiculously great frisbee EP, Certain Songs Are Cursed. We were wondering exactly how the disc was affixed to the frisbee, as boring as that sounds, and for those of you not fortunate to get this item (it sold out in fewer than 24 hours), here is the answer: there is a spindle off-center on the underside. Fascinating, right? The music on the CD, of course, is the bigger attraction here, and hopefully you've already heeded our review and acquired the music; while the physical item is long gone, the MP3s can be purchased via Alcopop! right here. The last frame of our graphic contains pics of the Birmingham, England-based noise pop demigods' two latest tour shirts, which the band was kind enough to send across the pond in exchange for our American currency. Need some JoFo gear? We thought you might. Check out the tour shirts and et cetera at the trio's BigCartel dojo right here.

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We've been so busy at the day job lately that we have hardly a recollection of ordering this, which we think we did at 11PM Central Time some night six weeks ago, which night was the umpteenth 15-hour day in a row. Good times. What we have here is the vinyl re-issue of Owls' blindingly brilliant self-titled set originally released July 31, 2001. Jade Tree re-pressed the set in an edition of 550 pieces, 150 white platters and 400 black ones. What stock did not move in pre-orders was available in finer retail stores as of Tuesday. Owls, in case you did not know, featured much of the fabled original lineup of late second-wave emo standard bearers Cap'n Jazz. If you aren't familiar, enjoy this MP3 of the wonder "Everyone Is My Friend," courtesy of the fine folks at Jade Tree.

Owls -- "Everyone Is My Friend" -- Owls
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[buy Owls from Jade Tree right here]

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Chicago-based, fourth-wave (count on your fingers and start with Embrace or Rites Of Spring...) emo superheroes Castevet finally released its The Echo & The Light EP on 12" in mid-August. The set was originally set to see release on Big Scary Monsters early in 2010, but the quartet and label parted ways before the set hit racks, which created an opportunity for Tiny Engines to step in and deliver an expanded, re-recorded version of the goods (the iteration contemplated for release by BSM only had six tracks). You remember Tiny Engines, right? They released that amazing Everyone Everywhere full length earlier this year? Good times. Anyway, we had forgotten about the Castevet record until a very promising box arrived on our doorstep about a week ago. As you might have guessed, said box contained Castevet's fiery opus, which sounds wonderful on vinyl. It sounds wonderfuller on thick white vinyl, we might add. Approximate the joy we've been getting listening to the band's melodic, screamy and intricate jams by hitting the stream of the sparkling opening anthem "Six Parts Summer" below. Buy the EP from Tiny Engines right here. We first wrote about the band in February here.

Castevet's "Six Parts Summer"

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No, this is not a reissue. This is original stock, apparently just sitting around in Karl Hendricks' basement, being AWESOME, for the last 15 years. We ordered this last week late last Tuesday and it was in our mail Thursday. That's service. This record is thronged with hits, but we'd never heard it on vinyl before. Having "The Dress You Bought In Cleveland" close out side one and fade into the run-out groove? Sublime. So many awesome songs on this one: "Scoffer's Reply," "Foolish Words of a Woman In Love," the cataclysmic "Your Damned Impertinence." Comedy Minus One will sell you this on vinyl for $13 post paid. You want that. No, no: AMERICA wants that.

Karl Hendricks Trio -- "Foolish Words Of A Woman In Love" -- A Gesture Of Kindness
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[purchase LP or MP3s from Comedy Minus One here, here]

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This is actually Monday's mail, but hey, we're busy. And it was only last night that we finally cracked open the thick cardboard mailer that contained these kings among indie rock records, two wonderful vinyl reissues purchased from our friends at Merge. We are sure that there are those who feel strongly about the band's debut full-length, but when we explain to people how awesome Superchunk is, we are usually thinking of these two records: 1991's Albini-produced No Pocky For Kitty [full album stream] and 1993's towering, brilliant On The Mouth [full album stream]; both were re-released Tuesday here in the U.S. We spent virtually the entire summer of 1993 listening to On The Mouth's "Package Thief" and drinking beer out of cans, and that, friends, is a hell of a way to spend a summer.

Superchunk's ninth album of original material is titled Majesty Shredding, it's the North Carolina-based quartet's first in nine years, and it will be released by Merge on Sept. 14. It is not too late to pre-order that thing right here, and we're posting the promo track "Digging For Something" below on the off-chance you have yet to hear it. But you are living a spiritually destitute life if you don't own and cherish these two reissues. You don't want to be spiritually destitute, do you?

Superchunk's "Digging For Something"

Superchunk: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

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That, friends, is a t-shirt bearing the logo and slogan of the quality indie label Audio Antihero. The label is perhaps best known for issuing the never-before-released Nosferatu D2 full-length We're Gonna Walk Around This City With Our Headphones On To Block Out The Noise, which we reviewed here last year. And because he is a totally class chap, label manager Jamie Halliday included his ticket stub to the recent epic Wichita Recordings Wichiten birthday celebration, specifically the night that Los Campesinos! and Johnny Foreigner played, when he shipped off the shirt we recently ordered. Audio Antihero sells CDs, of course, but we should point out that it also sells shirts for its acts in addition to the one pictured above. Why not throw some money at Mr. Halliday by buying some shirts?

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Yeah, we know we've shown you this art before, or at least some of you, but our copy of Johnny Foreigner's hotly anticipated, long-awaited Every Cloakroom Ever 10" finally arrived in our mail today. You may recall the art features the name of every person who pre-ordered the record, which is pretty awesome, and our name is situated right at the center in the left margin on the front cover. Aces. According to this blog post which surfaced on the Interlosers earlier this evening, there are actually some copies of the 10" left and the Birmingham, England-based noise-pop titans will likely throw what little was not pre-ordered into its online merch shop sometime soon, which merch shop is right here. So if you haven't gotten a copy of the disc yet, there is still some hope.

Johnny Foreigner played Wichita Recordings' Wichiten 10-year anniversary celebration last night with Los Campesinos! and Frankie & The Heartstrings, and according to the buzz online the night was a raving success. Johnny Foreigner has four more festival dates booked this summer, which we hope leaves them with plenty of time to work on Album No. 3 and a planned U.S. tour which we hope will occur this fall. Haven't yet heard the band's most recent, freely distributed piece of genius, "With Who, Who And What I've Got?" Catch the stream below.

Johnny Foreigner - With Who, Who And What I've Got by Wichita Recordings

Today's Hotness: Museum Mouth, Pixies

>> Museum Mouth's "Outside" is 117 seconds of indie-punk perfection. Tucked into the middle of the Southport, NC-based trio's solid, self-released full-length Tears In My Beer, the tune leads with the increasingly trendy surf guitar and throbbing drums. "Outside" distinguishes itself, however, with a sing-alongy, bouncing chorus of apologies that recalls the great sounds of the Pacific Northwest underground, circa 1995. Museum Mouth intends to spend most of this month touring, although the itinerary it has posted still looks in need of some filling out. But you can catch then Saturday in Brooklyn (or can you? the date disappeared from the band's MySpazz) and later in the month back in North Carolina; inspect the full slate of dates at Museum Mouth's MySpace dojo right here. Tears In My Beer was released in March.

Museum Mouth -- "Outside" -- Tears In My Beer
[right click and save as]
[buy Tears In My Beer from the band right here for only five bucks]

>> We highly recommend the book "Fool The World: The Oral History of a Band Called Pixies." We were wary of reading another oral history of an indie rock act after finding the Replacements oral history "The Replacements: All Over But The Shouting" very, uh, unsatisfying. But "Fool The World" succeeds remarkably, we think because the quality of the sources is so much better. Where in the 'Mats book most of the band was unwilling to give interviews (founding guitarist Bob Stinson, of course, died 15 years ago), "Fool The World," published in 2006, has all of the Pixies present and accounted for. But better still, there are label folks, tour managers and promoters -- the extremely affable Marc Geiger, in particular, with whom we used to occasionally chat during our reporting days -- who all offer valuable and interesting insights into the rise and fall and rise again of the now legendary and reformed Pixies. However, what we liked most about the book was the very thorough history it provides of Fort Apache, the studio -- actually a series of studios -- where many early Pixies recordings (not to mention recordings by Dinosaur Jr., Radiohead, Uncle Tupelo and Buffalo Tom) were made. Buy "Fool The World" from Amazon right here. And speaking of Pixies, we'd be remiss if we didn't point out that for a limited time Bradley's Almanac is giving away a recording of the quartet's Nov. 28, 2009 Boston performance of Doolittle right here.

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Okay, not a lot to look at, yeh, what with the white label and all. But this is a test pressing of the long-awaited "Every Cloakroom Ever" 10" EP from Birmingham, England-based indie goliaths Johnny Foreigner. The art you see in the third shot is a copy of the "Eyes Wide Terrified" single that mysteriously found its way into the package. But anyway, the "Every Cloakroom Ever" EP: it's is coming to your house soon.

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London-based (via Manchester) noise-pop sensations Sir Yes Sir's thrilling cassette-only debut EP Not Excited arrived today. The collection was released March 1 in the UK and remains available for purchase -- until the limited edition of 200 copies peters out -- from Rough Trade here. We first wrote about Sir Yes Sir right here in January; since then the band has shared the stage with Clicky Clicky faves Johnny Foreigner; released said EP; played the big Pavement tribute show in Brixton earlier this month; and recorded a radio session with Huw Stephens. Late word from the band is that it will appear on a forthcoming compilation put out by London-based indie concern Fierce Panda. Fierce Panda will release June 14 the Licensed To Drill six-track compilation EP, to which Sir Yes Sir have contributed the song "Your Recent Hits." Apparently a Sir Yes Sir full-length recording is in the works. These are exciting times.

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Philly-based emo heroes Everyone Everywhere's self-titled full length debut is out now on Tiny Engines. The quartet plays O'Brien's Pub this Saturday night in Boston. Read all of our Everyone Everywhere coverage at this link.