Two quick items: Go NOW and listen to the Bellmer Dolls guesting on East Village Radio's Dead Beat Radio until 2pm EDT -- I can't because I'm firewalled here at the day job. Happy Birthday, Peter!

When you're done with that, it's imperative that you head over to OI OI OI, the new blog of the Bang Gang kids. (via Big Stereo...) YOU ARE COMPELLED TO DANCE. Do not fight it. Nope. Don't.

(Also, big ups to Song, By Toad -- because we hadn't seen his new banner, and we lurve it.)

Randomly, because I love you and I love this -- Lo-Fi-Fnk smooshes all the squeaky clean popitude out of this track and turns it into a rhythm-happy and perky-dirty floor-thumper:


The Feeling -- Love It When You Call (Lo-Fi-Fnk remix) / (myspace) (remixer)

Favorite current subway commute track, from what's really shaping up to be the best album of 07 so far:

Mark Ronson w/ Amy Winehouse -- Valerie

BONUS: Our old friend Rachel Rhodes (old-skool Austinites may remember her gorgeous, smoky voice from back in the day when she was the vocalist with Rubinchik's Orkestyr) is living in Paris now and is in the process of self-releasing a covers album on her Virb page titled A Tribe Called Request -- the content's directed by specific requests from her pals from around the world via her Vox page. I've missed hearing her sing; perhaps we can compel her to record "Psycho Killer" with ukelele next! (hint, hint)

Rachel Rhodes -- Just What I Needed (and there's more to be had on RR's Virb site)

EXTRA BONUS: Via 14icedbear, The Believer interviews Okkvervil River's Will Sheff. Well, it's Sean from Said the Gramophone, actually doing the interviewing. Best part: knives and being pro-murder. That's what Okkervil River is all about, people. Seriously.

So, even if we couldn't pull enough strings to get into the grand opening of the Highline Ballroom tonight with Lou Reed and Overkill (um, Okkervil) River (that mutual admiration society is a bizzaro complement to the Iggy Pop/At The Drive-In pairing back in the day, isn't it?), we were super-stoked to find out today that one of our favorite Austinites, the always wonderful DJ Mel, is rolling with the Yo Majesty & CSS party barge for a few dates in June. Though we aren't the biggest CSS fans ever (or at all, even), the idea of darling Mel with the ladies of Yo Majesty is very pleasing to us indeed. (Grab one of his dj sets from November on East Village Radio con Nick Catchdubs over yonder.)

DATES:
april 30th - nasty's / austin, tx
may 30th - nasty's / austin, tx
june 1st - irving plaza w/ yo majesty & CSS / new york city
june 2nd - the middle east w/ yo majesty & CSS / cambridge, mass.
june 6th - dagobert w/ yo majesty & thunderheist / quebec city, quebec
june 7th - academy club w/ yo majesty & thunderheist / montreal, quebec
june 8th - babylon w/ yo majesty & thunderheist / ottawa, quebec
june 11th - casbah w/ yo majesty, diplo & bonde do role / san diego, ca.
june 12th - cinespace w/ yo majesty / los angeles, ca.
june 14th - beauty bar w/ yo majesty / austin, tx.
july 7th - milk bar/san francisco

Speaking wonderful things, I can't get enough of DC's Da Committee -- as they put it, they really are the perfect blend of Dirty South and East Coast Hip Hop. Thanks (again) to AgentLovelette for the tip. (And check out the "DC Clap" on their MySpace page...)

Da Committee -- Bruce Wayne (sorry for the zshare action, I was having trouble uploading it to the Rich Girls server...)

Also: Prince covering Joni Mitchell is indeed the best thing ever. Don't even attempt to disagree with me here. Or wait, or is it John Cale covering LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends"? (Which, btw, is totally the "All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down)" of 2007, I think. Too bad I didn't have that to post, too.) I just don't know.

John Cale -- All My Friends (DFA cover). [I don't need to tell you this is mad limited, get it before Murphy and Sweeney nail my ass for this one. FASTER!]

Prince -- Case of You (Joni Mitchell cover).

And, hey! Congrats to our new pals The Muggabears for making the grade on the L Magazine's Class of 2007: 8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear list. Rock on, y'all! We don't envy anyone the task of winnowing down the gobs of bands sprawled across our lovely metropolis to a list of just eight to watch, and The Mugs totally deserve the shout-out.

The Muggabears -- Dead Kid Kicks.

Needless to say we weren't at Coachella. AS IF -- it was totally the weekend to clean the Castle, duh! However, this Friday we'll yet again voluntarily subject ourselves to the FUN! gathering at Studio B in Greenpoint. Oh, the things we go through for the Bellmer Dolls, I tell ya. (They'd best play that cover of "Jump into the Fire" if'n they know what's good for them.)

And, dear NYC'ers -- don't miss the adorable Yellow Fever, who will be in town this weekend too -- featuring Jen (aka 'remember when there was a girl in Voxtrot?') and Isobel, one of Pinkie's former coworkers! It's gonna be positively Austin-tastic up here for the next few weeks, and that's totally fine with us!

ps -- Are you a writer with a strong background in financial journalism (3+yrs) in the NYC area? Are you looking for a new gig? Are you a nerd for business news, operations, and history? Let me know. Seriously.

pss -- One of our favorite show-going pals, the magnificent photographer Kathryn Yu, is selling prints of her work. Show the love -- and someone buy me this one, okay?