So our friend Harland Spinks took some pretty rad pictures of last week’s Surrogate CD release party at Cafe Coda in Chico,CA  featuring Casing the Promisedland, Brighten, The Americas, and of course, Surrogate playing cuts off their (or I guess should say, in the name of disclosure, our) new CD Love is for the Rich, which, if you’re wondering, is now available from fine record retailers everywhere.

Surrogate

The Americas

Casing the Promisedland

Justin from Brighten serenading his old lady

For the full set, check out your boy’s Flickr here 

I highly recommend checking out the e-card for the forthcoming Surrogate record here. The album art featured in the e-card is courtesy of the amazing Jordan Butcher who is definitely as cool as his web site suggests.  And while you’re having fun in e-card land, you should read the amazing biography of Surrogate, written by, ahem, yours truly. THATS WHAT WE CALL THE GRIND MAN. GET ON IT.

If you buy one record next Tuesday, August 28th, make it Surrogate’s Love is For the Rich. There are many reasons for this, but here’s the main one:

1. Outdated Memes

2. Shameless Linkz

3. YouTube

4. Late Breaking News

Synthesis Editorial Director Daniel Taylor is out on the road as part of the Tooth and Nail Acoustic Tour, and will be blogging about his travels

Four Weeks and some absurd number of miles of later (I’m thinking 8,000? 9,000?) I’m back in good ol Chico, CA, back in my wonderful chair at my wonderful job and going to Sushi tonight with my wonderful girlfriend and WOW ISN’T IT GREAT TO BE ALIVE? I’m also back to my pursuit of the meaning of life. Having spent my time on the road reading mainly meaningless fluff I’ve returned to my pseudoscientific research into shit that sucks about life like dying. I’m finally getting around to reading Raymond Moody’s infamous Life After Life, the original source of the now ubiquitous idea of the Near Death Experience: seperating from your body, traveling through a tunnel, the life review, beings of light, all that jazz. It’s kind of on some shit. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Speaking of beings of light, I have to say that the thing I miss most about being on tour was hanging out with the other bands, the amazing Emery and the equally amazing Ruth. Emery is of course getting ready to release their third record, I’m Only a Man. Not only did I have the chance to see them play a few of their new songs live every night for a few weeks, but I was also lucky enough to get a listen to the finished record. All I can say about it is, it’s not really what you’re expecting. The first track was so brutal and weird that I actually took off my headphones and asked them if it was really them. From there it got weirder: dance-y tracks, straight up pop tunes, and a closing track that’s the most epic shit I’ve heard since “Goodbye Sy Harbor.” The record hits stores October 2nd so don’t get caught slipping. The new Ruth record is already in stores, so you should really go buy it RIGHT NOW. Ruth frontman and namesake Dustin Ruth is about the sweetest man I’ve ever met in my entire life. Plus they’re about to blow the fuck up, going on tour with Relient K and Switchfoot. So scoop all your lame jocker friends and get the new shit early. Ruth is the TRUTH. Trust me.

WOW RAMBLING