This isn’t about me. It never has been, it shouldn’t be and I dislike it when people make anything all about themselves. But of the 97 sessions we’ve recorded to-date I’ve only not been present at six of them. It’s never been on purpose. The absences have all be unavoidable and aggravating. Friends’ weddings, covering Lollapalooza for the site, being held at gunpoint by a track meet…I missed Koufax, Track A Tiger, The Changes, P.O.S., Elvis Perkins and Manishevitz. The session by the latter – the almost hermetic band over the course of the last year and a half – was the very first session that I was not present for and the trepidation that I felt – the pure white guiltiness I felt – for not being there was overwhelming. It must be what parents feel when they leave their newborn baby with a babysitter for the first time. Though this was a much different situation, as the babysitter was actually one of the parents and everything was in the best possible hands, not seeing Manishevitz do their thing live with us left a pang of grief in the pit of my stomach. You miss a lot when you’re not in that room. The humanness and the interactivity between the band members is the frosting to these sessions that always translate partially, but never wholly onto that sweet tape. It’s being right inside the lair with the wild animals, though they aren’t all that wild, they drink more beer, and ask for more of themselves in the PA wedges. The band, when it came into our studio, was in the middle of a lazy summer of playing out as they were handcuffed by Lollapalooza. The massive Chicago festival has a stipulation that Chicago bands picked to play at Grant Park the first week in August for them cannot place anywhere within a 100-mile radius of Chicago three months before and three months following their appearance at Lollapalooza, all to assure that their friends and associates must buy a ticket if they miss seeing their friends and associates in the various bands play live more than once in a half year. So, they came here – a couple of hours down the road – and played at the new club in town (not off-limits), lured in by the tantalizing offer of two free hotel rooms and a guarantee for their troubles. And I missed all of it, every last herky-jerky note and motion of it. – Sean Moeller

First song
Bluebird You Were (Manishevitz) [3.40MB] [1315 downloads]


– unreleased
One of the first songs written after our last CD City Life. Obviously, another nod from us to Roxy Music. We’ve played it live so many times, it keeps changing. Probably the most straight ahead tune on the new record.

Second song
Dead Birds (Manishevitz) [2.33MB] [1220 downloads]


— unreleased
I think this song is about ghosts, but I’m still not sure.

Third song
Beretta (Manishevitz) [2.39MB] [1232 downloads]


– original version appears on City Life
The single from City Life, about 30 seconds of it was used in an episode of the “O.C,” which completely funded our new record.

Fourth song
King's Lead Hat (Manishevitz) [3.41MB] [1219 downloads]


— unreleased
A favorite live cover of ours a few years back. We’ve never recorded it in any other format.