Time to air out the Vegetable drawers and reacquaint myself with the world. Back on Monday the 22nd with music to slap your hamhocks to.

Hey there, stonecutters! What would make you happy? Shout it out!

…                    …                    …                    …

Those are some good answers, but I didn’t hear anybody say “A free copy of Midlake’s The Courage Of Others on vinyl,” probably because you thought that might be too much to ask. Or because you read the subject line and were waiting for me to get to the point.

(Either way, you’re safe with me, and you can always ask me anything.)

And yes, I do have a vinyl copy of one of my favorite records of the year to send out, courtesy of the fine folks at Filter Magazine. Get your flutes-n-maidens on!

To enter, send an e-mail to HVcontests@gmail.com with “I only want to be left to my own ways” in the subject line. Please include your first and last name. Including a picture of baby animals will be appreciated but will have no bearing on the outcome of the contest.

Entries will be accepted until Sunday, March 21 at 11:59 PM. The winner will be chosen at random and notified via e-mail. Good luck, pepples!

Last week I promised you some Honeycomb, so here it is for yer assured enjoyment: a lovely local gang of crackpots who know exactly what they’re doing and sound like they can take it wherever they like. I sense the opportunity to see them in small venues slipping away…

Five stars and two thumbs up, go see them play.

Honeycomb – Flesh And Bone Machine from Honeycomb (available soon on CDBaby & itunes, or pick one up at a show, or maybe if you ask nicely you can mail-order)

http://www.myspace.com/honeycombmusic

… and here’s “Milky,” from a five-song session they did for One Night Music in December. You can find the other videos and download the mp3s over there.

Well, I do. There’s something simple, true, and friendly about two dudes getting out there and giving some poptunes the blowout treatment.

You’ve got your No Age holding things down in Los Angeles, your Japandroids covering the Great White North, and now you’ve got your Bonjour Afrique, bravely manning the overseas anchor in Paris.

Bonjour Afrique – To My Place

http://www.myspace.com/bonjourafrique

“Megalove”

I’m back in an “all hail pop” mood, the kind of mood that had me posting The Jam and Joe Jackson and Squeeze back whenever that was. I owe this mood to Field Music, whose latest, Measure, is 20 songs du pop in various stages of normalcy.

The point is, when you listen to Measure (especially the first five songs), it’s hard to believe it’s the first time you’ve heard it — in a really good way, like as in “sounds classic”: like a lost, impeccably-produced British pop gem from 1979/1980 that was slightly ahead of its time.

I dare you not to like this song:

Field Music – Them That Do Nothing from Measure

They’ll be at du Nord on March 26 (which is a Friday, and also $12, so no excuses).

http://www.field-music.co.uk

http://www.myspace.com/fieldmusic

The Veg hopper’s overfilled, so let’s relieve a little of the pressure.

Freelance Whales are a band from some city on the East Coast, but don’t hold that against them. They’re from one of the other boroughs, anyways. The point is, though, that they make really nice music.

Freelance Whales – Generator^Second Floor from Weathervanes (out April 13 on Frenchkiss)

http://www.freelancewhales.com

Their live show is rumored to be pretty special, and they’ll be coming through town on March 25 (Bottom of the Hill), opening for Cymbals Eat Guitars and Bear In Heaven. (Both of those bands’ albums were picked as Best New Music by Pitchfork, so if you’ve never seen a herd of indie-rock bloggers in the wild, here’s your chance.)

Here’s a streamy of Why There Are Mountains by Cymbals Eat Guitars:

Hooray! I’m stoked to post this one today. You might remember Javelin from such posts as “They Buy Cassettes At Community Thrift And Tweak Them Into A Song.”

Weeell, their debut album No Más comes out April 20 on Luaka Bop, and with any luck, this won’t be the only Salt-N-Pepa-referencing track with a munchkin rapping like Mannie Fresh about a kangaroo.

Javelin – Oh! Centra from No Más

http://www.myspace.com/hotjamzofjavelin

Sorry to see you go.

Sparklehorse: “It’s A Wonderful Life”

directed by Guy Maddin (as if I had to tell you that)

Putting two more up on the Big Board today!

Citay’s super-Californian twin-guitar adventure Dream Get Together is a sweet leap.

Citay – Mirror Kisses (feat. Merrill Garbus from Tune-Yards)

http://www.citay.net

and Joanna Newsom’s latest, a triple-LP of unbelievable goodness (if y’all don’t know, ya better ax somebody). I might as well just put four Have One On Mes over there under “Listening To” because it’s all I am.

Here’s leadoff track “Easy”:

http://www.dragcity.com/artists/joanna-newsom

I miss the time when metal bands tried to play music that was pretty. I haven’t been able to get this one out of my head, but it’s entirely welcome to stay. In fact, let’s just bring 1986 back to stay, with its Peace Sells, Master Of Puppets, and Reign In Blood.

Megadeth – Good Mourning/Black Friday from Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? (I promise to stop making fun of you for playing Rock Band if you download this album for it and invite me over)

“Holy Wars… The Punishment Due” (Live @ Hammersmith, 1992)