So remember that one time, about a year ago, when I said the Postal Service were finally working on a new record? Well I guess they made a liar out of me:

“It’s just not a priority for either of us,” [Postal Service frontman Ben] Gibbard tells Spinner. “So the next Postal Service record may or may never happen.” In 2006, the pair reportedly started work on a follow-up to ‘Give Up,’ which is the second best-selling album in the Sub Pop catalog behind Nirvana’s ‘Bleach,’ but things have yet to take shape.

“Jimmy and I are still throwing ideas back and forth, but as time goes on, we find ourselves busy with our own music,” Gibbard continues. “We have some stuff, but it’s been difficult to find the time and the drive to do the record. I’d love to finish it at some point and maybe even do some performances. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.”

Fuckers. If you find yourself curious as to what the other eight best selling albums in Sub Pop’s 20 year history are, as well as how many units they’ve each scanned, well it’s your lucky goddamn day. Here’s a list of the Top Selling Sub Pop releases of ALL TIME EVAR:

1. Nirvana, Bleach (1989), 1.6 million

2. Postal Service, Give Up (2003), 902,885

3. The Shins, Oh Inverted World (2001), 547,274

4. The Shins, Wincing The Night Away (2007), 500,813

5. The Shins, Chutes Too Narrow (2003), 462,574

6. Hot Hot Heat, “Make Up The Breakdown” (2002), 282,141

7. Sunny Day Real Estate, Diary (1994), 226,388

8. Iron & Wine, Our Endless Numbered Days (2004), 220,157

9. Iron & Wine, The Creek Drank The Cradle (2002), 133,752

10. Iron & Wine, The Shepherd’s Dog (2007), 133,490

Damn, Sam Beam stacking fucking chips! Further proof that South Carolina is doing it big.

Being born and raised in California, I always had kind of a skewed view of the rural South. I thought everyone in the South not living in Atlanta, Orlando, Nashville or one of the other metropolitan cities out there still flew Confederate flags, talked about Yankees and plucked banjos with thumbpicks made out of their old teeth. But once I started to get into music, I started to notice that most of the raddest, most original bands were coming out of spots like Kentucky, the Florida Panhandle, and South Carolina, the last of which is home to possibly my personal favorite out of this crop of new Southern Rockers: Emery. Besides being one of the best live bands on the planet, Emery are possibly the NICEST band ever. So nice that they took my shitty band on tour this summer and showed me how awesome the South is firsthand, making me feel like a complete douche for ever harboring my Deliverance-esque fears of the old Confederacy. Having interviewed the band a few times myself over the years, I was glad to hand over the reigns to the always agreeable Video Matt in the hopes that him and the Emery boys could have a Nice-Off while chatting about the band’s new record, I’m Only a Man which is in stores now, and their current headlining tour across the US. Watch the video interview above and see if you can see who defeated who for the crown of King of Nice (my vote goes to Devin) then check out the live footage from that same show over at our YouTube channel. Then go buy all their records, become their biggest fan and send me a thank you letter.

When Allena Ward admitted to sexual misconduct with minors last September, I never thought the former Laurens County, South Carolina, middle school teacher would actually get 6 years in the big house. She took the adult out of adultery by meeting three 14 year old and two 15 year old students at restaurants, motels and school to do various deeds.

Although Solicitor Jerry Peace from the Eighth Circuit court believes Ward will serve 85 percent of the six-year term, she’ll probably be out in a year and a half; after all she’s the daughter of a minister, married, and holds the respected position as a middle school teacher at Bell Street Middle School in Clinton, SC….whoops, done got fir’d (source).

What I don’t get is, if she was in an unhappy marriage and needed a little “extra-curricular studies,” right, was she just too lazy to embark in the time-honored tradition of adulthood adultery? To cuckold is one thing, but how good of a time are you going to have with a 14-year-old? Her “victims” apparently thought the same thing.

From WLTX:

“The court also heard written statements from her victims. They describe confusion on their part about why she wanted sex from them. Police began investigating Ward after a note containing inappropriate messages was given to school officials on February 22. According to investigators, the note was passed during class to one of the boys, then thrown in the trash.”

Check out her hand-written journal entries after the jump - it’s on some real Live Journal Epic status. (more…)

Charleston, South Carolina is…. pretty damn nice right now.  I thought I was going to leave my dreary, rainy town of Chico, CA to come to an even rainier, colder and much more depressing place, but I was completely wrong.  This town is amazing.  It’s been sunny and warm; the locals have been out walking the town, enjoying life, not too bad in my book.  When we’re not in downtown Charleston rehearsing we’ve been spending time at a vacationers dream beach house.  I am literally twenty feet from the ocean, and it’s beautiful.  The days have been long, but surprisingly stress free, despite all preparing we need to do.  Besides the flaming amplifier everything has been routine for me.  The band, on the other hand, has decided to practice songs they haven’t played in over year the day before the first show, but everything is sounding great.  I’m sure some sort of last minute detail will need to be worked out, but we’ll tackle that when it comes up.  Tomorrow I get to visit my second home, and the town where my car resides, Nashville, Tennessee.

view from our back porch.

seagull feeding

rehearsal

Fred Thompson announced today that he is dropping out of the race for President, after finishing a distant 45345th in the South Carolina primary, behind Mickey Mouse, Ron Paul, Pope John Paul, and John Paul Jones among others. Lucky for us though, his campaign will forever be remembered for leaving us possibly the most annoying YouTube video EVAR. Seriously, try to watch the whole thing. I dare you. I was gonna make a joke about “Heath Ledger tried to watch it earlier today” but then I thought that might be in bad taste, and here at Synthesis, we don’t do bad taste.

Allena Ward:

Five 14 or 15 year old male students in South Carolina must have sore hands from giving high-fives. Sure, Ms. Ward is no 10, but when you’re a 14 or 15 year old guy and you get to touch boobie — or anything else — it’s cause for celebration.

I just don’t get this kind of sentiment:

None of the victims were there to face their former teacher in person. Attornies say their lives have been forever scarred. “Their mindset has been damaged basically for the rest of their lives, and in fact, it is a life sentence on these kids.”

Wait, what? I remember back in 10th grade wanting nothing more in life than to get naked with my hot, 22-year-old government teacher. Ms. Whatsherface (who says teachers don’t leave lasting impressions?) was certainly way hotter than Allena Ward (and about a million times hotter than Karen Robbins, who is the 3rd Laurens County, SC teacher to be charged with kiddie touching in the last year), but at 16 or so, I wouldn’t have turned that down, let alone turn her in. But then again, neither Allena nor Karen were finger-pointed; they were emo enough to write letters or diaries, and keep them in their desks. That’s idiocy.

Source.
Source Source

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UPDATE here.