I don’t get what all the hubbub was today about Morrissey’s new album cover. Seems pretty dull if you ask me.

You’re likely to see a number of Insound giveaways across a bunch of sites this week– we’ve got one here at Catbirdseat too. Carefully selected from Insound’s extensive Holiday Gift Guide, we’ve got a drawing for Sonic Youth’s Corporate Ghost DVD collection AND a copy of Thurston Moore and Byron Coley’s fantastic NO WAVE book.

Which reminds me, you should go rent/download/Netflix Scott Crary’s 2004 No Wave documentary, Kill Your Idols. It’s great, and will remind you that there was a time when bands didn’t set out to hustle up Myspace friends, land songs on Grey’s Anatomy, and jockey for, uh, well, blog coverage.

Hopefully, you heard last month’s mix and caught the track I put in there from NYC songstress Adron. It just popped back into my head this morning– probably because it’s just a really good song. She reminds me a lot of Juana Molina. I’m talking strictly sonically here, but it’s probably reinforced by the fact that Adron also often sings not in English, but rather in Portuguese.

(Adron’s s/t debut is available at Amazon)

Almost forgot, there’s this:

Wha??? The new Mix / Podcast is up a day early? How often does that happen? Never, that’s how often. What’s more, I also brought the Archive of Old Mixes Which You Can No Longer Listen To up-to-date. Anyway, here’s the mix for those of you too lazy to click on the mix link over there:

• The Shedding Path - The Lord Dog Bird
• The Furnace - Meursault
• Strange Overtones - Byrne/Eno
• Fear - Benjy Ferree (Register @ benjyferree.com to d/l)
• I Won’t Lie To You - Let’s Wrestle
• New Hollywood Babylon - Don Cavalli
• Inside The Cinema - Culture Reject
• The Sound - Human Highway
• Mockingbird Diet - Karl Blau
• Go For The Exit - Boston Spaceships
• The Gift of Song… - The Lord Dog Bird

Or just grab the podcast.

Constantines‘ new 7-inch, “Our Age” b/w “Fuckin’ Up” (Neil Young), is out tomorrow. You can grab the single from the AC Shop, or better yet, get it from the band when they kick off their super short US tour next week:

12/4 - Big Orbit’s Soundlab, Buffalo, NY
12/5 - T.T. The Bear’s, Cambridge, MA
12/6 - Heirloom Arts Theatre, Danbury, CT
12/7 - Music Hall Of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
12/9 - Bedrock, Baltimore, MD
12/12 - The Summit, Columbus, OH
12/13 - Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL
12/14 - The Crofoot, Pontiac, MI

You may also be interested in checking out the unique CON | LADY book by photographer Jeremy Jansen, which documents the 9-day Cons/Ladyhawk (not Ladyhawke) tour from June of this year.

And while you’re over there sniffing around the Arts & Crafts site, don’t forget to note that Gentleman Reg Vermue is back on the scene these days, with a new single, “You Can’t Get It Back” b/w “City of Eros,” just out, along with a modest “Greatest Hits” disc, Little Buildings, as well. Reg’s brand-new full length, Jet Black, is due later in ‘09.

The swelling, souled out, retro quasi-retro pop croon of Benjy Ferree’s “Fear,” from the forthcoming album, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Bobby Dee, Bobby Dee. The reason there’s no mp3 here is because Domino asks that you go here and submit your email address first. So go do that, like, immediately.

I am VERY much enjoying the François Virot tracks that Sean posted over at Said the Gramophone today.

Francois Virot - “Cascade Kisses”

Chad VanGaalen’s Soft Airplane came out back in September, but I haven’t seen much online action for it, which is a shame, since it’s just as good as his previous efforts, Skelliconnection and Infiniheart.

Sally Crewe, recipient of my fawning praise for 2003’s Drive It Like You Stole It has a new record coming out in January, called Your Nearest Exit May Be Behind You (check out some tracks at Myspace). Oh, and also? Crewe has recruited Tommy Keene to handle bass duites when she and the Sudden Moves play a string of dates opening for The Wedding Present in the UK next month.

Attention music nerds old like me: I’m reminding you that Merge’s reissue of Polvo’s Celebrate the New Dark Age is now out (on 180g vinyl, no less). Those memories of ‘94 are flooding back.

I know you’re skeptical, but ace stroker Fab Moretti’s new Little Joy project is not half-bad. Check out the vid just posted over at Pissfork:

Dean (who I’m going to pretend to be on a first-name basis with), aka the oh-so-often-mentioned-here Capstan Shafts, just sent over a link to his 9,686th release, which is free for immediate download over at Archive.Org. This one’s titled Cretin Flowers (which in my head makes me sing “ ♫ When you were dumb, you were the king of Cretin Flowers ♫ ”) and features 6 tracks of totally perfect lo-fi pop.