Straight from Jason Hjort: "The first ever brick.city.media compilation is in the works and scheduled for a September release. Six local producers have contributed two tracks each. The album promises to be an electra-licious journey through flavors of deep house, techno, IDM, progressive house, and funky house. All locally homegrown (except for one crazy dude from Scotland). Check out our Web site for more details." Uh, that would be www.brickcitymedia.com. Whew, the "Sibilance" staff is working hard this week!

Information we collected sort of by ourselves: Supersoul Challenger has added Hall of Justice frontman Sean Slaughter as their full-time singer/guy-who-wears-a-cowbody-hat-and-dances-around-a-lot-in-leather-pants.

More laziness: "Maine singer-songwriter Dave Rowe’s got a brand-new CD called Rolling Home and the release of this maritime-flavored recording will be at Deertrees Theatre on Saturday August 15." From a Deertrees promo email. Ah, but only "Sibilance" staffers can supply such information as the bassist’s name (Kevin O’Reilly) and the fiddler’s name (Ed Howe), and tell you interesting facts like: Rowe’s fiddler, Ed Howe, used to sit in with Jerks of Grass quite a bit and was once thought to be a candidate for fill their long-time fiddler vacancy.

Local workaholics Station 85 have plans to enter the studio with Jon Wyman over at Big Sound as of August 15. You can check them out before then by going to Bull Feeney’s on this Thursday or next, or by checking out this Sunday’s all-ages gig at the Big Easy.

Same general idea for Sidecar Radio. They’ll be hitting the Studio with Jim Begley at the end of the month. They have "hopes of a mid-October release," reports drummer Ryan O’Connell. "It’s going to be a doozy of a big rock album with fun surprises and special guests."

New bands we’ve heard about lately: the Travis Cyr Band, featuring Frank Hopkins and members of Dominic and the Lucid; Acoustic Blowout (which strikes some members of the staff as kind of dirty, for unknown reasons), fronted by singer-songwriter Paul Mollomo; Slant 6 and Splittin’ Hairs, an alt-country outfit and fiddle duo, respectively, both featuring Mill City Rambler Matt Shipman.

Speaking of Matt Shipman, he’ll be releasing a solo album, Highway Shoes, August 28 at the Stone Church in Portsmouth. Currently, he’s taking two weeks to trek across Alaska, but he promises he’ll be back to hot and steamy Maine in time for the show, and also promises to have a Portland release gig in the near future.

Finally, "Sibilance" staffers want you to pay close attention: Abi Tapia is coming back to town for a couple of local appearances before yet again climbing in her car for more cross-country trekking. Make the girl feel at home, will ya? Go see her at Acoustic Coffee on August 13 (Jason Spooner will be there, too, and he can show you why he’s winning all these songwriting awards all over the place). While there, buy her new album, One Foot out the Door. It’s full of sweet-but-confident tunes, sounds kind of like Kathleen Edwards, and gives us the chills from time to time.