THIS has got to be a God-send to all those rabid Thursday fans. Their last record, A City By The Light Divided, was good with a few stand out tracks (I’m partial to War All The Time). This is my first time listening through this new split (feat. Envy on 3 tracks), and I’m pretty impressed with the work. It seems they’ve decided to go with a little more ambiance, which is a welcome change from the scene’s dull use of the same quirky guitar melodies. The record will be available only on vinyl (180 gram), but will include a CD copy of the album as well.

In other Thursday news, the band recently signed with Epitaph Records. Check the press release out.

For the last decade, Thursday has released groundbreaking, essential albums like 2001’s fan-favorite Full Collapse and 2003’s breakthrough release War All the Time, and played riveting shows, garnering hundreds of thousands of fans worldwide. As the band approaches their tenth anniversary, Thursday has dug deep to recapture the original fervor and fire to make their most honest and sincere record to date.

Having had their share of ups and downs with record companies in the past, the band was determined to find a label that was as passionate about their artists as the band is about their music. The group signed with Epitaph Records in September based on their parallel values and the label’s reputation for its dedication to their bands.

“One of our biggest concerns was that we find a situation where we could be free to just be Thursday,” explains Thursday frontman, Geoff Rickly. “Epitaph have continually voiced their desire to help us become the band that WE have always wanted to be. It’s a great feeling to have a label encourage you to be more socially conscious and politically active. It’s a great feeling to have a label owner push you to explore the most experimental and challenging aspects of your band’s music instead of dissuading you. It’s a truly great feeling to be working with a label that all of our friends have had so many great experiences with.”

As Thursday enters the next phase with an enthusiastic group of kindred souls behind them, they are approaching their next effort with the same humility and passion that has elevated the band throughout their career. A reaffirmed socially conscious ideology and years of both experience and hindsight have found the band with their most authentic voice yet. Never ones to back down from their beliefs, Thursday is devoted to bring their fans their most thoughtful, inspiring album ever.

“We’ve always believed that music has the power to change lives and that all of us who have been lucky enough to make music for a living have a responsibility to try and make the world a more compassionate and livable place in any small way that they can” Geoff adds. “We hope that with Epitaph’s help and guidance we can do our part.”

I’m stoked for the next full length… are you?

[The following entry was written by Synthesis Weekly columnist Emilie Clark. She can be reached at emilie@synthesis.net ]

I Was Told There’d Be Cake
By Sloane Crosley
Riverhead

I, like everyone else interested in book publishing, journalism, music or theater, have always fantasized about moving to New York City. That’s where it all happens, you know, and I heard if you can make it there you can make it anywhere. I discarded that pipe dream a while back, but NYC still interests me. Which is why I read Gawker on occasion and keep up on the New York literary world though the Internet. I guess it’s inevitable to know a lot about the city and its inhabitants since most media spawns from within its confines. This is a long-winded way of saying that I had some definite preconceptions about New York publicist Sloane Crosley’s debut book.
According to The New York Observer, Sloane Crosley’s path to writing started with a mass e-mail to some friends describing a story that would later become an essay in the book. The story is about how when moving from one apartment to another (three blocks away) she locked herself out of both apartments. It’s a funny story in the book and I’m sure it was a funny e-mail, but that’s not important. What’s important is that one of her friends — and therefore e-mail recipient — was the editor at The Village Voice and offered to publish a polished-up version of the story. This is essentially how Crosley became famous. And it’s also why I’m having a hard time liking her. I can’t help but wonder how different my life and writing career would be if I were friends with the editor of The Village Voice. But I guess my envy is really neither here nor there.

Now that we’ve whetted your interest, the actual review can be found after the jump… (more…)