Will’s Weekend Wrap-Up and other not-to-be-missed features!

Howdy, howdy, howdy, my friends! Congratulations on making it through another week and let me be the first to welcome you to this lovely business we call the weekend. This week, I shockingly experienced my first ever accusation of "sporting a southern accent" since moving to the Windy City, so please excuse me while I remove the hay stalk from my teeth, detune my banjo, and pour out a 40 oz. of sweet tea to my hoedown homies. However, as I continue to tip my hat to the lovely people of Chicago's ability to dig me out (Sleater-Kinney, y'all!) from our most recent blizzard, please allow this new batch of musical recommendations to keep you all warm and toasty (if only on the inside, where it counts). Turn it up!  – WILL HODGE, NoiseTrade Music Editor Butch Walker NoiseTrade Sampler Growing up under the Atlanta airwaves of 99X, Butch Walker's voice is kinda ingrained in my teenage DNA. My ears latched onto his certifiable songwriting genius during his days fronting Marvelous 3 (the Hey! Album is a late-90s post-grunge classic) and I've loved the cavalcade of solo material he's released since the early 2000s. Oh yeah, he's also produced an album or two by some folks you may have heard of like Pink, Taylor Swift, Weezer, Dashboard Confessional, and Katy Perry. This 4-track sampler opens with "Afraid of Ghosts", the gorgeous title track from his brand new Ryan Adams-produced album released earlier this week. Walker rounds out this special release with two tracks from his Peachtree Battle EP as well as the B-side "Battle vs. The War" featuring the always welcome harmonies of Nikki Lane. My Brightest Diamond Until Now Under the My Brightest Diamond moniker, Shara Worden's hauntingly evocative vocals are an unexpected thrill-ride for the ears. In awesome Bjork-like fashion, you don't exactly know where she's going to take you, which makes the ride all that much more special and enjoyable each time you hop on. Sample the otherworldy soul of "Golden Star" or the shoulda-been-a-Bond-song slink of "From the Top of the World" for perfect examples of Worden's unique spot on the musical spectrum. Until Now compiles six mystical meanderings from My Brightest Diamond's first three albums: Bring Me the Workhorse, A Thousand Shark's Teeth, and All Things Will Unwind. After being brought up to speed or falling in love all over again, be sure to also check out My Brightest Diamond's most recent album, This is My Hand, released last fall from our friends over at Asthmatic Kitty Records. The Sandblasters Defenders of the Twang When an album boasts "instrumental surf rock and twang with space, spy and spaghetti western influence," you've got to be at least a tad intrigued, right? Defenders of the Twang, a 6-track sampler culled from the new 78-track anthology from The Sandblasters, is one of the most eclectically tasty (and downright fun) pieces we've ever had on NoiseTrade. The rockabilly romp of "Water Gunn" and the tremolo-tinged blues of "Snake Shake" are fantastic places to start with this twangy trio. Charlie Close The Art of the Very Short Story While I've always loved the packed-in prose of the short story format, the very short story format has been unbelievably fascinating to me in recent years. The ability to actually create a story in just a couple of sentences (or, in the case of Twitter short stories, 140 characters) is truly an art form that deserves attention and merit. Charlie Close's The Art of the Very Short Story takes an engaging look at a variety of techniques and approaches to what makes the format work (and not work) so well. When writer Will Hodge isn't getting the door, Mrs. Jackson, you can find him running off at the keyboard about music, concerts, and vinyl at My So-Called Soundtrack . Top Downloads of the Week MUSIC 1. James Vincent McMorrow Live at the Theatre and the Ace Hotel 2. William Wild William Wild 3. American Scarecrows Yesteryear Sampler BOOKS 1. Jeff Goins The Surprises of Success 2. Ashleigh Slater Five Simple Marriage Tools You Should Know 3. L.T. Quartermaine Before We Die Young

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