Toronto’s Ryan Kamstra has been making music as Tomboyfriend for, well, a while now (StG wrote about Tomboyfriend back in January of ‘07), and I think the band’s long-player Don’t Go To School has been in the pipeline for nearly as long. But the wait is nearly over. The record is currently in the able mixing hands of Matt Smith (Nifty, Les Mouches) and now has a solid release date of: soon.

Ryan recently posted a some preview tracks from Don’t Go To School, and I’ve been meaning to check them out ever since Carl started tweetin‘ about them. But now I can do one better, as this morning Ryan sent this one over for to share:

MP3: Tomboyfriend – “Almost/Always”

Check out the other tracks over at CBC and stay tuned to the Tomboyfriend Myspace for updates on Don’t Go To School.

I’ve mentioned about a bazillion times how I spent a really exorbitant amount of cash on my copy of Destroyer’s Streethawk vinyl. I mention it again now only to point out that you don’t need to do the same as I did– Merge has just announced a vinyl reissue of this perfect-10-of-an-album, and it’s due out on 4/20. You can, and should, stream Streethawk, unquestionably one of my favorite records of all time, in its entirety at Merge.

MP3: Destroyer – “The Sublimation Hour”

They’re doing a CD reissue of the album too, along with CD reissues of 2 other early Destroyer classics, Thief and City of Daughters. Of course, if you want those of vinyl, you should definitely pick up the double-LP reissue containing both that Nominal out last year.

MP3: Apollo Ghosts – “Library Card Amulet”

Aching for new Apollo Ghosts material, I think I’m finally going to get some relief. The band has a brand new 7-inch out on Geographing Records later this month; it’s a split with Vancouver’s Role Mach, and you can get it through the Geographing Records Myspace.

That should get me through the next two months, while waiting for AG’s new LP, Mount Benson, which is due out in early April. Stay tuned to the Apollo Ghosts Myspace for updates, and for god’s sake, help them book their tour for July/Aug (they’re due here in NYC on 7/23, fwiw).

MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “Love More”

A new song from the incomparable Sharon Van Etten, via the wonderful Philly-based non-profit Weathervane Music. You can watch video of the recording process for this song here, and you should.

MP3: Sonny & the Sunsets – “Heart of Sadness”

I mentioned San Francisco’s most-excellent Sonny & the Sunsets back in October (mind-bogglingly, there are still copies of the vinyl available (& CD coming on 3/9)). And here’s another track to enjoy, this one from the fantastic new In A Cloud SF compilation from Secret Seven. It’s a vinyl-only comp, and sports tracks from Fresh & Onlys, Sandwitches, Thee Oh Sees (of course), Ty Segall and many more. The record’s out in March, but you can pre-order it now right here.

Grab the tracks and don’t forget that the new Dios full-length, appropriately titled We Are Dios, is due out on 2/16 (pre-order here). And note too that, along with the album’s release also comes a big FREE release show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood.

Through a gross oversight, I somehow neglected to mention last month that our ol’ pal Prairie Cat (aka Cary Pratt) just recently released his brand new album, It Began/Ended With Sparks, and you should absolutely, positively go buy it at once from the Fuzzy Logic shop.

MP3: Prairie Cat – “Given Up”

It is my true pleasure to inform y’all of the general internet population that Catbird’s Unbunny – Black Strawberries Kickstarter project finally manifested itself as a tangible real-world product a few short weeks ago. And I must say it turned out beautifully, both sonically and objet d’art-ily. But then, it’s hard to wrong with a nice, heavy-duty slab of 180-gram white vinyl…

The Kickstarter process itself was wonderful, and I offer huge thanks to them as well as all the great people who pledged to help make the project a reality.

All is not lost if you missed the pledge window, by the way! There are still some copies of this amazing LP remaining, and you can pick one up right here at Catbird Records. This was a pressing of only 300, so don’t dawdle if you want one.

I should probably note that the one thing you *can’t* still get is the Deluxe edition of the album that the $40+ level Kickstarter pledgers got. I won’t go into detail (just yet) about all the extras in their package, but I will say that I’m exceedingly proud of the results, and am honored by all the compliments that have come in, including “incredibly awesome,” “you’ve outdone yourself,” and of course “Just got the Deluxe Edition. Fuck… Me…”

MP3: Unbunny – “In A Way”

Buy the Unbunny Black Strawberries Ltd. Ed. LP @ Catbird Records →

• Apollo Ghosts – “Dobermans”
• Apollo Ghosts – “Land of the Morning Calm”
• Micachu – “Lips”
• Micachu – “Golden Phone”
• Fergus & Geronimo – “Harder Than It’s Ever Been”
• Woods – “The Dark”
• Girls – “Lust For Life”
• Benjy Ferree – “Fear”
• Dirty Projectors – “Two Doves”
• Richard Swift – “The Atlantic Ocean”
• Richard Swift – “Lady Luck”

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This is an addendum to my post of earlier this week, wherein I mentioned five 2009 albums I enjoyed, including my #1 favorite of the year, Apollo Ghosts‘ Hastings Sunrise. I said there were 3 copies of the vinyl left. That is no longer true: it’s now in fact sold out.

This bit of info gets its own post simply because I think that selling nearly 500 copies of an LP is not too damn shabby for a band that has:

• NO PR
• NO publicity
• NO advertising
• NO (real*) label
• ALMOST NO coverage from the media or blogosphere
• and who have played barely a handful of shows outside of their hometown of Vancouver.

Well done, guys.

MP3: Apollo Ghosts – “Little Yokohama”

(*Catbird hardly counts as “real,” ha!)