New Single from J Mascis featuring Cat Power

CoolDad Music mascot Little J Mascis admires my J Mascis Jazzmaster as I listen to J Mascis.

"Wide Awake"

Have I mentioned that I am a J Mascis superfan? No. Hmmm.... I thought, maybe, I had. Oh, well.

Anyway, he's got a new solo record, Tied to a Star, coming out on August 29th with Sub Pop. He already gave us a taste with "Every Morning." Just a few days ago, J released "Wide Awake," a duet with Cat Power, aka Chan Marshall. Lots of finger-picking and kind of a worn out, forlorn feel to it. It reminds me a lot of J's excellent debut solo effort from 2011, Several Shades of Why.

J will be touring this fall in support of the new record and stops at Bowery Ballroom in New York on Friday, October 17th. I already have tickets.

Sub Pop "25" Edition

Silver Jubilee Friday

Founded in 1986 (yes, 1986) by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman, Seattle's Sub Pop Records are celebrating their 25th anniversary this weekend. It wasn't until 1988 that the company moved into their first office and began the famous Sub Pop Singles Club.

From Michael Azerrad's fantastic must-read Our Band Could Be Your Life:

For $35 a year, subscribers got a single a month -- but the brilliant part was that Singles Club subscribers paid before they got their records, which gave the label a significant financial boost. "On a limited budget, if you have the desire to sell a lot of records," says Pavitt, "you have to figure out a way to scam and manipulate the public." With typical Sub Pop irony, the teaser line was "We're ripping you off big time."

The first single that those early subscribers got in 1988 was a cover of Shocking Blue's 1969 single "Love Buzz" by a little band out of Aberdeen, WA.

Happy birthday, Losers.

Rock on.