A demonstrative tale. Now, I'm not saying that if you send really nice email (gramatically correct, generally coherent text) you'll win our hearts or anything, but when you send a submission query email as nice as Jenn Leathers from Stihl did, you certainly have a better shot of finding your way into our listening queue. And of course, if you send your CD promptly and enclose a lovely personal message on band stationary, as Jenn of Stihl did -- well! You've practically guaranteed we'll at least write something nice about you. And of course, if you send us a CD that sounds nothing like the rest of the stuff in the inbox -- that being smart, bass-heavy electronica full of bleeps and blomps and strings running under silky, confident vocals reminiscent of Everything But the Girl (ETA: actually, live, they're more reminiscent of Adult. or very early Metric...) -- as, um, Jenn from Stihl did, you'd better believe we're gonna write you up and post two of the best tracks and exhort our fellow Austinites to pop down to catch your show tonight. [It also helps, naturally, if you kind of name your band after people who make chainsaws and other nifty power tools.] (Myspace) (Buy beyond the reach of satellites at cdbaby)

Stihl -- Love Is Like Cancer.
Stihl -- Drizzle Dazzle.

Stihl play tonight at the Chain Drive @ 9:00, and it's free -- as always. Sadly, we're not djing this night anymore -- but our replacement, John Gomi, promises to deliver. Also on the bill: Mistress Stephanie and Her Melodic Cat and Drop Dead Steady.

In HIGH DEMAND (and possibly C&D territory...) today:

Jarvis Cocker -- The Lion and Albert. Jarv has cautionary tale for you for you, children. Do pay attention. (info)

Architecture in Helsinki -- Do the Whirlwind (YACHT Remix)/Architecture in Helsinki -- Do the Whirlwind (Hot Chip Remix). Because, clearly, you need these both. (info) (remixer/remixer)

Spoon -- The Book I Write. Pssst, kid -- you did NOT get this from me. Dear Spoon: I <3 YOU! (info) (site) [ps -- Britt Daniel plays a solo show tomorrow night @ the Parish.]

The Hold Steady -- Teenage Liberation. Ditto -- capiche? But first, tell me again why this didn't make the cut for Boys and Girls in America? It's better than most of the songs on that record -- an skewed update of "It Was A Very Good Year," as only Craig Finn & Co. could present it. Perhaps because it's the only song that's vaguely sympathetic to those boys and girls in America. (site)

Irene -- Little Things (Mike Downey Remix). Oh, land's sakes, I think this is exactly what remixes of dour, deadpan Swedish surf pop are supposted to sound like. No, I'm not kidding! (RIYL Jens Lekman, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names.) (site)

BONUS: It behooves you to fall in love with Sally Shapiro. NOW!

That's all for today. Lately, I'm slogging through Rip It Up and Paste It Back Together With A Really Bad Over-Ambitious, Over-Arching Theme -- er, I mean, Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-84, which takes a really, really interesting subject, and makes it completely dull and dry. I'm sticking with it, only because I waited so long to get it out of the library. But really -- it feels like a school assignment, as the only thing I've really taken away from the thing is a slightly better understanding of punk's six months of validity and the rise of Thatcherism. The rave reviews really puzzle me -- is it because Reynolds got there first? Or because he attempts to legitimize the music by burying it in history? Are there better books on the same subject that lie somewhere between this kind of flaccid "social history" and the incoherent "oral history" that came before? Please let me know. And maybe I'm so peeved because even the too-short music documentary Made In Sheffield, which I watched the day I started reading Rip It Up, was more enriching and satisfying. (Totally worth it to see Jarvis and Saskia Cocker being adorable in the bonus bits. And to remember that Phil Oakey is still HOTT!) Perhaps the history of post-punk is best left to the documentary filmmakers? Thoughts?