Best news of the year so far: Merz is back on Mars Needs Guitars after a long absence, with some deeply personal posts and, as always exemplary music to accompany the themes. He knows all the shoegaze that ever was! He has been our inspiration and mentor since the beginning of Speed of Dark and before, and we are privileged to call him friend.

Sean at Battery In Your Leg mixes posts about SXSW and vampires and recaps with a helping of remixes. But don’t overlook his Spinnerette poster contest. I know the answer, but I want you to win.

New on our blogroll, Kata Rokkar, who is taking the weekend off after explaining why he’s not going to Coachella this year. Indie Mom and I are going for the opening day only–more about that later.

Brendan at Count Me Out has sitings of Modest Mouse and Vampire Weekend on television, and points to Dan Auerbach (of Black Keys) on Morning Becomes Eclectic

Agnes at It All Started With Carbon Monoxide has a post dedicated to misunderstood lyrics, and she includes the songs. Laughed out loud!

Vic at Muruch reports on a juicy new album of covers of 80s movie soundtrack hits. Nifty and nice.

Jon at Your Moment of Zen went all out on celebrating Irish rock with five installments, but he took time out to critique Chris Cornell’s new album as well.

Also, thanks to all who checked out my SXSW 2009 fantasies this week. It was fun, and I discovered some great new music.

Photo by alt-gramma: Telepathy Real Estate–You don’t have to tell us; we know what you want.

A few remixes come our way as well:

Papercuts: Future Primitve (Ruby Suns remix) via Stereogum | MySpace

Doves: Kingdom of Rust (Still Going remix) | MySpace

Shock of Pleasure: Not My Angel (Left and Right vs DJ Merrit remix) | MySpace

Grammar-challenged, and technically not a remix, but this is a fun mixture of punk, Latin, and dance genres:
BoomBox Repair Kit: I Rather Dance With a Stranger | MySpace

Filed under: blogs, finally friday, Boom Box Repair Kit, Doves, Papercuts, Ruby Suns, Shock of Pleasure

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