Lately I’ve found it frustratingly difficult to churn up news worthy information from local artists regarding recordings, upcoming albums, show date confirmations, etc. I mean, finding a tracklist or album art for a recently released disc shouldn’t be that hard, should it? That being said, the following artists have contacted us recently and I have to give them credit for doing the one thing a band should be doing – announcing their plans to anyone who will listen in an attempt to spread the word.

Tony Youngblood writes in to let us know that his album, Let’s Play Havoc, is ready to go and features Rich Gilbert from Frank Black and The Catholics on the recordings. He may even show up to their record release on April 3rd at fooBar. Preview the album on MySpace and look for a track on the next podcast.

Millionaire Magicians have posted a number of new recordings up on their Myspace page. The tracks were recorded by Andy Willhite at Safe and Sound Studios, mastered by J Ferguson at Battletapes. The band has plans to release a full-length album (18 tracks or so) based on these recording sessions; though there is no scheduled release date at this time. If “Snap Out Of It” is any indication of the goodness to expect, I look forward to it.

Telephant are making the rounds for promotion of their album Asleep in Green. The music is sweeping, languid, orchestral and would fit right in with some adult contemporary playlists on Lightning 100. That’s not a slag in the slightest, just an observation of where you’d likely hear them. Check the track “Botswana” for the stand-out upbeat number.

The next performance in the Lake Fever Sessions series will be from Roman Candle. The bands new album, Oh Tall Tree in the Ear, will be out on May 12th and the Lake Fever Session should be just the right thing to whet your whistle. We’ll be sure to remind you when the session officially launches but you can go ahead and mark your calendars for February 13th.

We’ve started using Twitter to supplement the content around these parts. Granted, you can already subscribe to our Events feed in iCal and keep up with the news via RSS but Twitter gives you a bit more flexibility in the immediacy of updates. We plan on using it for the following:

• Reminders of highlighted upcoming events
• Reminders of We Own This Town Radio being on the air!
• Announcing new podcasts
• Announcing ticket sales for shows way off in the future (i.e. that recent Flight of the Conchords Internet presale).
• Etc. Etc.

We’re still learning the ropes of the whole thing but seems like it could be a viable option for informing those that are interested.. and if enough people are into it, we’ll get the feed added here in the site. If not, we’ll keep using it anyway just in case! So, please, go forth and follow us.

This video shows some strings being recorded during the latest Kindercastle sessions. While it’s not exactly revealing as to what will come of it you gotta give them some credit for hitting the studio so quickly after the release of In A Tizzy. From the looks of their official site it looks like there is an EP slated for release in late February and a side project of ‘abstract works’ entitled Kinderskidz that could hit the Internets any day now.