I’m deeply sadden by the death of power-pop icon, songwriter and producer Alex Chilton, who died this week at the age of 59 from a heart attack.

Like many people my age, I first found out about Chilton from The Replacements and their loving tribute “Alex Chilton” off Pleased To Meet Me. It wasn’t until later that I started to discover the music that inspired one of my favorite bands.

There are songs like “September Gurls,” “Thirteen,” “The Ballad of El Goodo” – all youthful but wise pop treasures. Cheap Trick (who covered Big Star’s “On The Street” for That ’70s Show’s opening credits), R.E.M., Yo La Tengo, Wilco and Teenage Fanclub are just some of the many bands that have cited the band as an influence.

As I grow older, I’ve grown to appreciate the band more and more. #1 Record and Radio City are absolutely essential albums in my mind. The band had the power to give you goosebumps one minute, make you miss a girl the next, then bring you up from the floor with a fist-pumping anthem.

RIP Alex. You will be missed.

The Loyal We are Kate Sikora and Lindsay Lueders, two gifted twenty-somethings from America who met in Japan and formed a magical and musical friendship. While both Kate and Lindsay have solo albums, they recently released their debut as a duo in Japan on January 20. It’s called Homes and it’s a rare combination of catchy and earthy. With minimal instrumentation, these resourceful girls produce noteworthy rock ‘n’ roll. Their musical styles are different, but disjointed The Loyal We is not. Where Kate is edgy, Lindsay is refined, and they happily combined their strengths to create tracks that range from airy and somber to fast and melodic. Though no song is overly optimistic, they reveal the often overlooked possibilities that exist when you’ve got your feet are on the ground. In short, The Loyal We are royally awesome!

You can listen to their songs on their label’s website.

You can also check them out on MySpace.

Track listing for Homes
01. Accordion Song
02. Stars
03. Still Quiet
04. Synecdoche
05. Ichabod
06. Fresh Crop
07. Counting Song
08. Super Hero Theme
09. Mister Burgundy
10. Box Is A Rocket

After more than a month traveling across the U.S., Brooklyn’s own Goes Cube will celebrate their return to the East Coast with an in-store at Generation Records. East of the Wall and Descender will also join them on the bill. The free in-store is set for Tuesday, March 30th at 6:30 pm. See you there.

As I’m sure anyone who was there will tell you, Frank Turner’s in-store performance at Generation Records was fucking spot on. If you weren’t there (or if you want to relive it), here is a video of Mr. Turner performing “Long Live The Queen” at the in-store.

Anyone that reads this site knows we lovely we love purrrty pictures. That being said, we’ve got another photographer joining the crew today; Eric V aka Lobo Jones. Eric is a kick ass individual who loves Glen E. Friedman and fancy hats. He always is a skilled videographer who shot this amazing video of The Bouncing Souls at Generation Records on Record Store Day 2009.

Check out some photos Eric took at Eerie Von and Crime In Stereo in-store performances at Generation. Photos are after the jump.

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