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?

Frontman and singer of Joy Division, Ian Curtis, had his memorial stone stolen. Curtis committed suicide in 1980 and the epitaph on the stone read “Love Will Tear Us Apart” - the British bands most popular and famous song.

The stone was taken from Macclesfield Crematorium in northern England earlier this week. The stone brought many fans and tourists from around the world to pay respects and leave messages behind.

Curtis had a dark life; reflected in his painful lyrics. He struggled with balancing the band with his home life, having epilepsy and falling in love with another woman. Local officials are hoping it will be returned soon.

My desk is looking pretty retarded right now. I know, I know, you can’t say “retarded” any more, it’s insensitive, but honestly, my desk looks a bit slow…like it occasionally tries to eat its own shoulder when it gets excited. In its bloated stupor, my desk is currently keeping the location of Tim Fite’s new album, “Fair Ain’t Fair” a secret from me.

It’s kinda pissing me off, but much like a child with autism, you can’t get mad at the desk; it’s not it’s fault it’s being difficult. I still want to track the album down, though, because it’s being released tomorrow, and we were one of the sites that premiered a video clip from the album (in our case, the song “Rats & Rags”). I know I’ve been blogging about it incessantly, but honestly, if I didn’t have a good impression of this piece of folk-y, hip-hop-informed pop I wouldn’t be so enthusiastic. If only I could locate my copy…

Check out the Pop Matters Blog, they posted a cool write up about Fite and “Fair Ain’t Fair.” The album’s out tomorrow, 5/6 on Anti-.

…is pretty sweet, I must say. Now if you’ve already heard of them/been listening to them then you are ahead of me, so kudos to you. BUT did you know that they are releasing a 3rd album?? And did you know it’s going to be released on Epitaph and not on Equalvision?

…well they are, and now you know. So that’s pretty exciting, yes? YES. They have yet to announce when the album will actually be released, but they just announced this label switch last month, so I would predict the next album to drop in early to mid 2008 and I have high hopes of some summer tour dates*.

*Please note, I really have no inside info on any of this and it’s just my personal prediction–but the release on Epitaph says the record will be released sometime in ‘08.

BACKGROUND INFO: For those of you out of the loop, as I am, and haven’t heard of TSOAF, they’re quite a talented bunch. It’s basically a super-band made up of members of other popular indie bands. If you visit their website or their MySpace you’ll see their members are listed as various animals, the four most prominent of which are the walrus, the lynx, the nightingale, and the skunk–which translates to (according to Wikipedia, so who knows how accurate this actually is, but) Matt Embree  (of the RX Bandits), Chris Tsagakis (also of the RX Bandits), Rich Balling (formerly of the RX Bandits) and Anthony Green (of Circa Survive). But there are tons of other animals making guest appearances on multiple tracks which includes members of Atreyu, The Autumns, Chiodos, Days Away, Finch, The Hippos, Sunn O))) and possibly Portugal the Man. It’s definitely something to check out if your a fan of any of the aforementioned bands.