DARK BLUE WITH IODINE

Listen to this rad new Lissy Trullie song on the LADYGUNN MAG website.  Pretty rad magazine with good music and fashion photography .. we're sending out a box of clothes tomorrow for an upcoming shoot.

LYKKE LI

Lykke Li's amazing performance on Letterman.  Seriously check out her Made Her Think rings!  The way the chain rings move make me love the song even more somehow.  First Aid Kit sang with her in the background..  those are the girls that sang the insane Patti Smith cover that made Patti CRY!  Watch that one in the second video.

FOREST PARTY

Jonny and Kim of Family Band just had a forest party at their cabin in upstate NY. We're so bummed we couldn't make it out, but luckily Fader was smart enough to record some of the songs.
Kim wore her Lindsey Thornburg black widow dress and studded ballet slippers. Watch the video here.
Photos by Daniel Arnold.

SILVER THREADS

The lovely artist and music lover Jess Rotter made some Linda Ronstadt wood burn pieces exclusively for us! She made a series of these pieces in collaboration with Nightwood. Read more about the original sinette here.
Here's Jess surrounded by wood at her opening installation at the Nightwood pop-up shop.
Here are some photos from a 2004 Architectural Digest article I recently came across about Linda's amazing pink Mediterranean style house in Tucson.

I NEED THE DARKNESS

I didn't know how much I loved Arcade Fire until I saw this video of Regine performing the fuck out of this song! Please watch it.. it will really get you into the spirit of all the right things.
SHE IS KILLING IT WITH THOSE GLOVES! Holy crap.

FAMILY BAND

We are huge fans of Kim Krans.. She's an artist, musician, singer, cabin-maker, the lady behind The Wild Unknown, and most importantly really fun to have a drink with. Her band, called Family Band, just released a new EP today as well as a music video for each of the 5 songs. Listen and watch here. The first one is quickly becoming my new fave.
We also just added a couple different prints that Kim made especially for Bona Drag to the shop today. She hand water colored each print! A really great gift for Morrissey fans.
If you're new to the sounds of Family Band, I suggest you watch this video. It's the second song on our current free mixtape, and the video is so chilling it gives me goosebumps every time.

RE-EVALUATE THE SONGS

morrissey is re-issuing the amazing BONA DRAG in september! it will include some previously unreleased songs, which of course i like totally already have.

say you're alive

i walked into the casbah about 7 years ago to see cinerama play. me and lindsey went early cause we were real thirsty back then. there was no one there, except for the opening band who was already in mid set. five girls staring stoically into space, swaying to their own sad songs. it was love at first sound and i wasn't even drunk yet. me and lindsey just looked at each other, saying without saying "holy crap, what just happened"

it was the organ.

they've broken up since then. i think we both pretty much wished we were lesbians that night.

the lead singer, katie sketch.

but the point of my story, is this AMAZING song i found a while back. it's katie singing with a band called mermaids.. i've tried to find more stuff but it looks like they just played a couple times in 2007.

if anyone knows how to get in touch with more music or katie herself, please let me know. i'd die to get this song on our next compilation cd.

track 2 - mexico city

and back to the volume seven mix tape. this has got to be my favorite song on the whole cd. it's just beautiful.. she sings about the living and the dead and drinking booze.

she's a real sweetheart, that jolie. i'm not going to talk about every song on this mixtape. only the ones that mean a whole lot to me.

track 1 - don't throw me away

collecting songs for the bona drag mixtapes is a rewarding but very time consuming project... i have to find the perfect band, select the perfect song, email a hundred people and wait a hundred years for it to be approved, where approval rate is at about 10% since most labels have a no gratis policy. it could be a lot easier, but i don't want to settle with putting crap songs on the mix tape.
so i really love it when friends named peter mcbride help out with the initial process by emailing me lists of new bands to start listening to.
the mumlers were at the top of his list. fortunately the band and label were both super down to be a part of the compilation, cause i fell in love with this band and particularly this song. at first listen i thought for sure it was a cover written 50 years ago.. but no, it's an original, and timeless.
turns out, the talented peter designed the cd booklet. another cool thing about peter.. he made this tiny paper cut out collage of our cats, nova and pizza.
you can listen to the track "don't throw me away" on their myspage page here.
it might melt your heart.

THE BONA DRAG MIX TAPE - volume seven

the next mixtape is finally done! It will start shipping with all orders placed today. detailed track list coming up.

there never really is a good time

i got a text yesterday, asking if i wanted two tickets to see dino jr that night. and i didn't even know they were playing!! hannah and i went and i can't believe how amazing it was. the original line up, and they all looked like they were having the best time playing. they opened with THUMB!! han and i both probably drank 4 jim beam and cokes during that song.. there's some kind of thirst mechanism that triggers when really great music happens.
i had the set list, and lost the set list, but luckily i remembered to take my new favorite shirt home with me. if you are somehow unfamiliar with this band (rachel??!), please do yourself a favor and start with Green Mind.
this night also gave me a realization. if i didn't have hannah, i wouldn't have had any other person in this town that would have wanted to go to this show. thank god she's not going back to australia any time soon. oh, and she's also working on three new WITH HEARTS IN MY EYES dresses for the holidays that YOU WILL DIE FOR.

two worlds collide

john just sent me this cute video for a coconut records song (jason schartzman's band)

boy boy

lissy trullie has a new video! directly by cass bird. chloe sevigny even makes a cute little appearance.

something on your mind

karen dalton was a blues/folk singer from oklahoma. she had a rough life.. a fan of drugs and alcohol and apparently died of aids on the streets of nyc in the 90's. she had a beautiful billy holidayish voice and played the guitar and banjo. listen to my fav 'something on my mind'.

illustrator jess rotter made these karen dalton tees we currently have in the shop.
here's a cute youtube vid of "blues jumped the rabbit"

track ten (the last track)

mattson 2 - met (featuring ray barbee)

the mattson brothers are local encinitas friends. they are so timeless and amazing live. and they always wear suits when performing which makes them sound even better.

track nine

julia hummer - bowling in woodstocki found julia on myspace. she's from berlin and unsigned... and i think she sounds great.

track eight

whispertown 2000 - i think you should know

"don't worry about a thing.. cause you can't help the way you sing". i love morgan's unconventional voice in these sweet songs.


here's another newer song and video..


The Whispertown 2000 - "Old Times" Video from Whispertown 2000 on Vimeo.

track seven

no age - teen creeps

a great noisy band from los angeles. see more here.

track five

chelan - faultlinesi contacted the band waxfire for the mixtape, to find that they have broken up but reformed a new band with the same members, called chelan. turns out, the boy i was talking with happens to be the boyfriend of kime buzzelli. she painted their album cover, and they let me use elements of this beautiful cover for our mixtape cover.
summer machines available on itunes.