1. Set up a browser (or browser profile) to delete all cookies on exit
   I like to configure Opera up for visiting unsafe sites, that way I can leave Firefox open with all the tabs I need for work.
2. Make sure it has all the latest security updates to prevent drive-by downloads
3. Close and relaunch the browser
4. Turn the speakers down!
5. Visit MySpace
6. Close the browser

I’ve been impatiently wondering when the first releases of 2008 from The Capstan Shafts would arrive, and just learned of all the goodies at http://www.myspace.com/capstanshafts. There are previews from both the new self-released EP Miles Per Famine and the upcoming Rainbow Quartz release Fixation Protocol. Also, there’s ordering info on getting gobs of the earlier and out-of-print Capstan Shafts releases directly from Dean. Big ups to Dan for giving me the heads-up.

You can also preview tracks from Ho-Ag’s imminent Doctor Cowboy at http://www.myspace.com/hoagsobject. I’m so pysched for this album. I’ve been wishing for a while that Ho-Ag would work with recording professionals who could capture the band better, and it sounds like I’ve gotten my wish. The samples from Doctor Cowboy are more vibrant than anything Ho-Ag has yet committed to plastic.

Slightly old news at this point, but Hallelujah the Hills have also raised their recording-quality bar with the Prepare to Qualify EP. It compiles the songs that have been trickling out from Stereogum and the like with some additional goodies; they’ve been re-mastered and sound super-fab.

And finally, I just stumbled on the Dirt Merchants site, from which you can download everything the band ever did, including the never-released The Speed At Which You Speak and several live sets. The only thing missing is a tip jar.

There are plenty of legendary names scattered through this set, like ? and the Mysterians, Big Star, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Ramones, Doug Sahm, and Link Wray. But even the familiar names offer some surprises. The versions of Big Star’s “September Gurls?” and Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”? Completely different recording from those on Radio City and Ramones. Better yet, there’s tons of artists and songs you’ve probably never heard unless you’re already an obsessive devotee of Norton.

I usually feel kind of itchy if I spend too much time listening to music that’s not new, but I made it all the way through this set with ease. The sequencing could be based on Norton’s release dates (not sure), but it’s not at all related to recording dates, so the discs skip around in time. It was cool that I couldn’t always tell if I was listening to an obscure vintage classic (Yo La Tengo really should tackle Shades of Night’s “Fluctuation” if they haven’t already) or a more recent act (The Hentchmen don’t sound very 90’s).

This collection is only available as a digital download. I wish I could pore over extensive liner notes on the sessions and reproductions of the original sleeves and such, but good golly, it’s cheap. You can get it from eMusic, Amazon, or iTunes Music Store (I can’t figure out how to link directly to ITMS).

I can hardly wait for Volume II. I can’t wait … hardly wa-it. I can’t wait, hardly wait.

The upshot of all this is that The Dollyrots’ Because I’m Awesome has gotten lots of play this year, and I keep upgrading the ratings of individual tracks. First I crushed on the title song, which I think exemplifies the band’s core strength, Kelly Ogden’s nuanced vocals. Uptop she’s all bluster and bravado, but there’s a subtext of vulnerability. It’s as if somewhere inside this strong, confident personality there’s an element of the nervous gas-masked rabbit from the slightly creepy cover art, and that provides the depth that I think separates The Dollyrots from the rest of the pop-punk pack. Of course, there’s also the slamming production team of John Fields, Jacques Wait and Kenny Laguna, who collectively pull off an everything louder than everything else hat-trick: massive drums, huge guitars, and powerful vocals.

“On Our Way Out of L.A.” also caught my ear early on, not least because it mentions “the Abbey Lounge in Boston,” a locale dear to my heart. Then “My Best Friend’s Hot” and “Cat Calling” took their turn. Together they’re the flip side of the title tune; the insecurity expressed by their lyrics is belied by the exuberance of the performances. Most recently, the lion’s share of spins have been going to “A Desparate S.O.S.” a super-kinetic, paranoiac rant that’s a bit like R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” on speedballs.

So basically, nearly half the disc consists of year’s-best list candidates. And the year isn’t over yet, either.

I usually take “garage” to be short-hand for concepts like “sloppy,” “raw,” and “uncomplicated.” Pristine’s tough guitar sound is plenty raw, but they’re nohow sloppy nor uncomplicated. Hands Up! Hands Up!’s songs are full of rhythmic and chromatic shifts, and the band is plenty tight.

There’s an unwritten rule of music journalism that bands with female singers shall only be compared to other bands with female singers; I’m not interested in perpetuating it. The gender makeup of the band and the yelpy, often overlapping, and high-pitched vocals are probably going to ensure that this band draws comparisons to that band that Corrin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein were in.

But my primary point of reference is mathy latter-day punkers like Hot Snakes. The choppy and key-hopping riffs of “Daddy Told Me” and ‘Mr. Sandstill” even remind me of weird heavy metallers Voivoid (minus the solos and sci-fi concepts). Like Hot Snakes, Pristine isn’t big on stylistic variation. “Fuckin Indie” is the biggest departure; there’s a wee bit of keyboard, and it flirts with a surf-punk vibe before diving back into rip-your-face-off crunch. But what they lack in versatility, they make up in consistency; the disc has plenty of high points — all of the aforementioned tunes, “Hobson’s Choice,” and “Lost ‘n’ Loyal” among them — but it doesn’t have any weak spots.