Congratulations to Graham and Willow on the birth of their first child. It's a girl!

AMAZON has launched their Digital Music Store with a sale. And of course we worked it out so that you can pick up the debut from GRAHAM TRAVIS, WHY DON'T YOU KNOW ME YET?, for just $5.99. Can you believe that?

Did you read about GRAHAM TRAVIS on MSNBC? If so, we are glad you dropped by. Thanks to Helen A.S. Popkin for including Graham in her article on young songwriters. We do agree that Graham deserves the company of SUFJAN and CAT POWER.

If you are looking for HEIR STATION #1 it was a limited run and is now out-of-print. Sorry. This EP featured two new songs from GRAHAM TRAVIS as well as two new songs from AIRPORT CATHEDRAL's ANDY FITTS. This is a must have for GRAHAM TRAVIS fans as his two offerings are honestly some of his best yet. but don't worry, these songs are going to reappear on the next GRAHAM TRAVIS full-length. In the meantime, you can listen to the songs over at GRAHAM's MYSPACE site.

So as soon as we add FOR THE FIELDS to the Poptek family, they break up. I guess that fits into our quirky Poptek tradition. JASON TRYGSTAD is moving to New York. TIM THOMAS is focusing on school and his scientist wife. But in the short existance of the band they made a nice debut record. Hopefully we can still arrange a release because the songs are worth the effort. So that you don't miss out on this album, we are offering two free MP3s.

In conjunction with AMAZON's launch of their Digital Music Store, you can pick up RUETSCHLE PLAYS EXOTIC DESTINATIONS as well as LESSER THAN OPAQUE there for the sale price of $5.99 each. These are DRM-free downloads if you are the geeky type who cares. More importantly, who can resist cheap music that is also good? Remember that you can still nab bricks-and-mortar copies here in the POPTEK SHOP.

While we are still working to get RUETSCHLE PLAYS EXOTIC DESTINATIONS to the attention of melody lovers around the world, the band are taking a little break from playing live shows to write songs for the next record. If you have seen RUETSCHLE live lately, you have heard two of the new songs, WOULD YOU PURSUE and SOME TITLE I CAN'T REMEMBER. After a few months, Mike, Shawn, Andy, and Cooper hope to have a lot more ideas to unveil.

You can now hear RUETSCHLE on your local radio station. That is thanks to Boston's PLANETARY GROUP who will be lobbying for us to be played on 350 CMJ and NPR radio stations across the United States. So if you have that unquenchable desire to hear a good pop song amidst all the usual wanking that fills up corporate and independent radio, dial up your favorite DJ and ask to hear DON'T TURN AROUND and CAN YOU REMEMBER?. We will greatly appreciate the support. We just hope that the pop songs will fill the air and make everyone's day sweeter.

Our favorite MP3 blog 3HIVE ran a recent feature on RUETSCHLE. They are a great source to find out about new or unheard of artists and to grab a few free songs while you are their.

We hope you can here cheerleaders everywhere screaming about the debut of KRIS N. THE BURNING DOWN BELMONT EP is six catchy, lo-fi pop songs of high school love. We aim to deliver song that stick in your head and KRIS N writes thos as well as anyone. We will have some limited hand-made copies of THE BURNING DOWN BELMONT EP in the Poptek Shop soon and it is available from digital retailers everywhere. The track list goes like this: BURNING DOWN BELMONT, HOT GIRL LIST, MY ODE TO GLOBAL WARMING, BEETHOVEN MISSPELLED, OSCAR WILDE, and SMOKESTACK HEART ATTACK.

While XL427 is still finishing up YESTERDAYS FOREVER, they have been playing some shows recently. Coming up are two more performances at the DAYTON MUSIC FEST and then a couple of weeks later at CANAL STREET TAVERN. If you are a fan of RUETSCHLE and simple pop music, you should enjoy XL427 as it is just a re-arranged RUETSCHLE playing weird folk songs. XL427 will still get stuck in your head, we hope.

Yes, that was XL427 frontman and RUETSCHLE drummer Andy Ingram you heard on NPR's WORLD CAFE. He's opinionated when it comes to pop and his list of 5 Perfect Pop Songs was selected for the Listeners Submit portion of the May 4 show. He didn't sound as awkward as we expected.

Recording is still ongoing at The Corona. Andy, Cooper, and Mike Ruetschle are about half way through recording all the instruments. All that is left are two guitar lines, two bass lines, synth, and vocals. Then we have to find someone who plays piano. This album may have taken five years to make but the songs are coming together really well. And that's all that really matters now, isn't it?