So apologies for the lack of posts. Free time has been scant of late, what with the much belated onset of summer and the pants-less jamboree that’s engulfed A2 since Memorial Day. To get back into the swing of things, I thought I’d throw up a few tracks by an artist who’s been dominating my airwaves recently, Mark Mulcahy of Miracle Legion (which you may remember from last month’s SlayMix) and Polaris (yes, the Pete & Pete band*). Mulcahy has also released four albums of solo material, all featuring that distinctive Tim Buckley meets Michael Stipe warble overtop melodies vacillating between full-bore jangle-catch and achingly pretty, stripped-down guitar work. As they seem to be exceedingly rare on the used market (read: people hold onto them once acquired), I decided to pull the trigger on new copies of 1997’s Fathering and 2001’s Smilesunset care of Mulcahy’s self-run label, Mezzotint. When the package arrived this Saturday, I was greeted by not just the two albums, but also an 8×10 glossy of Mulcahy, signed and personalized—a small gesture, sure, but one that had me downloading Music From the Adventures of Pete and Pete off Amazon at my earliest convenience and strongly considering a can of twenty-seven-year-old honey. In short, Hi back, Mark. And to the rest of you jerks, go find a way to give him some of your money. Like now….

*This is, of course, the ep in which a Polaris track, “Summerbaby” (Pavement ref, w00t), inspires Little Pete to form a band with Marshall Crenshaw on lead guitar.

“Hey Sandy” from Music From the Adventures of Pete and Pete (1999)

“Sea Hag” from Drenched (1992)

“I Woke Up In the Mayflower” from Fathering (1997)

“We’re Not in Charleston Anymore” from Smilesunset (2001)