Courtesy Bob Schneider

​This is Bob Schneider's dick. Or, rather, this is the dick Bob Schneider drew immediately following his appearance Thursday morning on Marty Riemer's world-famous podcast, which I selfishly co-hosted. Turns out, like Jonah Hill's character in Superbad, Schneider, an accomplished amateur artist, draws dicks all the time. He says they have a way of livening up even the most boring sketches. I tend to agree.

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​Last week, I got to hear a sneak preview of Shabazz Palaces' just mastered full-length debut* for Sub Pop. The listening party circled Greenlake in Shabazz manager Jonathan Moore's neatly appointed ride (after he had deemed the sound system at Officials Vintage in Fremont, where we'd met, not quite up to the task of showcasing the album's impressive sonics). In a way, this seemed fitting--the first time I heard Shabazz's EPs was rolling around the city at night in The Seattle Times music critic Andrew Matson's car, and where those EPs felt mysterious, raw yet sophisticated, dark, sparkling with wordplay like downtown lights on wet streets, and with bass-heavy beats just made for a good car stereo, this new one is all that but with an added level of leather-seat plushness. Not "glossy" or overproduced, and not lacking for sinister bite or disorienting aural invention--just bigger and richer.

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Tim Seely: way less clean-cut than Michael Buble.

​The saga of how Michael Buble came to record and release my brother Tim's song "End Of May" has an exciting new twist.

Last week, visitors of Buble's official website selected "End Of May" for streaming on Buble's homepage, roughly coinciding with the October 25 drop date of Buble's new EP, Hollywood, which contains the track.

And at long last, you can hear Buble's version of "End Of May." Here it is:

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Laura Musselman

​Robin Pecknold may have jumped the gun when he announced last month that Fleet Foxes finally finished recording their much-anticipated sophomore album. In a Facebook update this morning, Pecknold announced the album still has "a ways to go":

Hey, so, I guess I spoke too soon before. The record, while close to being done, still has a ways to go. Would have been nice to have realized this BEFORE flying to New York to finish it, but so it goes. This is how the first record went too - I think two songs were kept from the first batch of 12 we recorded for that album. Back into the cave. Thanks for waiting / caring, we just want it to be really great.

He's vague on details, but it sounds like a good number of the previously-recorded songs will be scrapped. I hope "Helplessness Blues"--one of the songs Pecknold debuted at his Moore Theatre performance his summer--makes the cut.

A photo from Khaela Maricich's blog, her current artistic outlet while taking a hiatus from The Blow.

​I know 2010 isn't even half over yet--which means there's plenty of time for totally mind-blowing music to reach my ears--but I find the news that Khaela Maricich is planning a new EP incredibly exciting. The former Portland and Olympia resident has officially been on hiatus from performing as The Blow for the past year, and it's been even longer since the longtime K Records artist recorded anything. She released a remix of the bubbling, darling Poor Aim: Love Songs EP in 2007 but hasn't recorded a full-length since 2006's inspired Paper Television . In the meantime, she's been living in New York and keeping a thoughtful, entertaining blog (her recent post about working for the Olympia census is cute and heartfelt, just like The Blow's songs).

But Maricich is (finally!) redirecting her energy toward music. She's got a number of international shows lined up for the summer, and (according a recent press release from her publicist) she's performing a new set of songs with a narrative stage performance. That new EP is planned for 2010 release; a full-length is also forthcoming, but there's no more details about when--or whether either album will be on K Records, for that matter.

Until then, I'll be listening to Poor Aim on repeat.

In addition to publishing The Big Takeover, one of the longest running (and one of the last remaining) independent print publications devoted to musicians working in the margins, Brooklyn-based journalist Jack Rabid hosts a radio show called "Rabid in the Kennel" every Wednesday on BreakThru Radio (BTR). Our own Visqueen stopped by recently while on their East Coast tour, and taped a version of "So Long" (from 2009's Message to Garcia), which is so beautiful and sad that I find it impossible to watch without tearing up. Apologies in advance if this one gets your keyboard soggy. Frontwoman Rachel Flotard's periodic, heavenward glances during a song clearly inspired by the internal dialog of a daughter accepting her father's impending death is a big part of the mega-heartstring pull, but it's also just a solid performance:

Visqueen will be back in Seattle to play the Hard Rock Cafe on Sunday, June 13. The show is part of the Noise For the Needy benefit series as well as functioning as the vinyl release party for Message to Garcia.

Jenny Jimenez

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Eric Elbogen of Say Hi is the latest in a long list of Barsuk-signed musicians to take part in a Daytrotter recording session. In case you're not familiar, Daytrotter is an online project from the Horseshack studio in Rock Island, Illinois. Touring musicians stop by the studio to record a handful of super lo-fi, live songs on analog tape.

This sort of atmosphere seems to fit Say Hi perfectly. What's impressive is how close to these four recordings sound to the original version on Oohs & Aahs . Daytrotter's version of "Hallie and Henry" even duplicates the same echoing, far-away quality that made the record so distinct.

You can download all four songs for free by joining Daytrotter's mailing list.

Richard J. Dalton doing what he does best.

​Be sure to tune into C89.5 at 11 a.m. tomorrow. Yours truly will be on-air with DJ Richard J. Dalton, accepting pledge drive donations.

As most of you already know, the non-profit station is run almost entirely by the students of Nathan Hale High School. They play slick dance music by Basshunter, Cascada, La Roux, and Tiësto, as well as by local acts like Blake Lewis, Go Periscope, and Oscillator X.

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​ In addition to paying impromptu nursemaid to the this weekend's birth of the Calligraphers, a new group formed by Evan Dando (in town recently for a solo stint at the Tractor), Kim-so-much-for-retirement-Warnick, and Mike Davis, the folks at Crybaby Studios have been hard at work on their first compilation CD.

Artists recorded thus far include Alicia Amiri (featuring Neumo's booking agent/owner Jason Lajuenesse on drums) and Strong Killings. Also scheduled for studio time in upcoming weeks are Gravelroad, Book of Black Earth, Hallways, the Knast, Black Breath and See Me River.

​For some reason, whenever I try to picture Grand Hallway's in-studio performance on KEXP this afternoon, I keep conjuring images of a circus clown cars. And that's no comment on Grand Hallway's lovely, pitch-perfect songs; I'm just curious how all these people will fit into one room, let alone a studio. The orchestral pop band performs today at 3 p.m., with backing from a Seattle Rock Orchestra octet. If every member of Grand Hallway shows up, that's 16 people in one studio. I'm predicting a sonic earful from that performance.