WMMF's Drew Patrizi, with his brother and two friends from Austin, recently took part in the 2008 Drambuie Pursuit, a 100-mile race across the Scottish Highlands comprised of archery, speedboat racing, white-water rafting, dirt buggy racing, hill climbing and other feats of endurance. Drew's team ("On The Rocks") finished in an impressive 3rd place against 9 other teams, which included actors/brothers Jerry and Charlie O'Connell, and the 2007 Penthouse Pet of the Year, Heather Vandeven. The competition retraces the voyage of Bonnie Prince Charlie, who fled British capture in 1745 and left to his aides his secret recipe for the scotch-whiskey liqueur, Drambuie. Congratulations Drew!

New video from Mates of State for the song get better (off their upcoming May 20th release, re-arrange us) is being featured at Paste Magazine as their video of the day.

Barsuk loves vinyl, and to prove it we'll be releasing a bunch of records on vinyl later this spring and summer, including:

• Steve Fisk & Benjamin Gibbard / kurt cobain about a son: original score : Out May 20 (limited edition hand-numbered double LP)
• Nada Surf / lucky : Out June 17
• Mates of State / re-arrange us : Out June 17
• Death Cab for Cutie / narrow stairs : Summer '08
• Lackthereof / your anchor : Summer '08
• Nada Surf retrospective vinyl box set : Late Summer '08 (details to come)

Danny Seim plays drums and sings in the band Menomena. He has also been making music under the name Lackthereof for a long time. Barsuk Records is honored to announce that we will be releasing the new Lackthereof record, entitled your anchor, this July.

A limited edition pressing of the new Nada Surf EP, myspace transmissions, featuring seven songs recorded live at the MySpace studios, is now available in the shop. Get yours while supplies last!

The upcoming record from Mates of State, re-arrange us will be available May 20, but you can get a preview of the tracks now by watching the new video, for the song get better — you can read what Pitchfork has to say, or just watch the video on YouTube and leave your own comments.

On Saturday, April 19, independent music stores across the country will be taking part in the first annual Record Store Day, celebrating those wonderful and unique places where music fans can find satisfaction. Several of Barsuk's artists will be taking part in this event — be sure to check out your local record store to find out what events they have planned.

Here's where you can find our bands:

• Aqueduct performance at Sonic Boom (Ballard) in Seattle, WA at 4pm
• Mates of State performance at Newbury Comics (on Newbury Street) in Boston, MA at noon
• Menomena foosball tournament at Jackpot Records (SW 9th) in Portland, OR from 1pm to 3pm — anyone who beats the band members at foosball will have their name put into a hat; at the end of the tournament, one lucky winner will win a special gift. The band will also be DJ'ing during the event.
• Nada Surf performance at Vintage Vinyl in Fords, NJ 2:30pm
• John Roderick (The Long Winters) DJ set at Sonic Boom (Capitol Hill) in Seattle, WA at 3pm
• Jesse Sykes performance at Easy Street (Queen Anne) in Seattle, WA at 5pm

If you've been jonesing for some Nada Surf (or just want to see an awesome concert), trek on over to the NPR website, where you can listen to Nada Surf's recent performance (nearly 90 minutes' worth) at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC, listen to a pre-show interview with Matthew Caws, or look at photos from the show. You'll be feeling lucky in no time...