I’ve been off from work for a few days because of the blizzard, so now seems like a decent opportunity to let you know that I am still alive. I still can’t see the pavement on my street though. Below is a small update and hopefully I’ll check back soon with more.

Kill Rock Stars are taking pre-orders for the new Quasi album, American Gong (in stores 2/23/10). This is their first album since 2006’s When The Going Gets Dark and I am very impressed. I am a big Sam Coomes fan and have always felt that Quasi are sadly underrated. If you pre-order the album, you will receive a live DVD of the band performing an entire set of Who covers. Don’t forget to purchase the Repulsion EP off of iTunes. It was released last month and contains two non-album tracks. Fans in D.C. can catch Quasi at the Black Cat on April 24th.

I first told you about Bell Gardens in July 2008. This is the project that features Stars Of The Lid’s Brian McBride. It looks like they are finally ready to reveal their debut in the form of a six-track EP titled Hangups Need Company. It will be released on April 6th in vinyl and digital formats. If the Beach Boys-esque samples are any indication, this is going to be really, really good. They will make their live debut on March 26th at Spaceland in Los Angeles.

Photo by Angela Goodman

Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie have been crafting ambient symphonies under the Stars Of The Lid banner for well over a decade now. Stars Of The Lid’s latest album for Kranky, And Their Refinement Of The Decline, continues to develop the classical tendencies of 2001’s acclaimed The Tired Sounds Of. I recently had the opportunity to field questions to Brian McBride, who performed a solo set in New York City last month to close out the 2006 – 2007 Wordless Music Series.

McBride has lived in Los Angeles for several years now while Wiltzie resides in Belgium. They pieced together their new album by sending each other ideas by way of computer. I wanted to know how SOTL makes this work. McBride explains, “I can say that it helps if each of the artists are motivated. You have to send stuff back and forth on a regular basis. You often need deadlines. You gotta talk about what you like and don’t like no matter how abstract and obtuse it is. Talking about the minutiae of music is real difficult from far away especially with our music. The most comical thing in the world is for us to try to describe certain sounds that we like to the other person.”

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Stars Of The Lid’s Brian McBride has joined forces with producer Kenneth James Gibson to form Bell Gardens. The duo are working on an album that Gibson describes as “a new heady, classical, pop record” that contains “lots of vocals, strings, horns.” I know that isn’t much information, but I’ll try to dig up more. Until then, you can visit their MySpace page to listen to five rough mixes and form your own opinion. Listen to “To Land.” The strings sound great. It is wonderful to hear McBride tackle more straightforward material while retaining his classical influences.