Is and Always Was arrives today, and along with it we thought we’d bring you some links to things of Daniel origin, such as (in addition to the above LP cover): Worried Shoes, off of the new Where the Wild Things Are film soundtrack (Karen O and the Kids), the Dr. Fun Fun Hi How Are You iPhone game, and the entire WFMU 1990 radio show during which Daniel Johnston performed “Speeding Motorcycle” with Yo La Tengo, among many, many other things.

Catching up with one of our recent Artist of the Month poll winners, Golden Bear, in what will be the final installment of this particular model of the five questions. For our upcoming questions with White Rhino, we’ll put together something entirely new…right now I’m thinking feats of strength, although that may be difficult to translate to the magical internets. But that’s for another time. For now, five questions with Golden Bear:

1. What food item best describes your music?

Greasy cheese enchiladas.

2. What instrument have you wanted to include but have yet to find a way to fit into

your sound?

Live childbirth.

3. Embarrassing childhood memory?

Sea World ‘89 — Shamu splashed the hell out of me

4. What musical artist would you like to grab a beer with?

Paul Shaffer.

5. Time travel or space travel?

Space…

Golden Bear will play a benefit for CASA this December 5th; more details on that as it approaches…

So, there’s some sort of a music festival in town this weekend, the name escapes me. But just to be contrary, we’re choosing today to look ahead toLocal Music Is Sexy, happening in about a month…and featuring: TV Torso,The Low Lows, International Waters, Watch Out for Rockets, Beautiful Supermachines, Air Traffic Controllers, Distant Seconds, Silent Land Time Machine, Black Before Red, Manikin, The Authors, My Milky Way Arms, and, according to the organizing force Austinist, “the Minor Mishap Marching Band will be performing between the Mohawk’s indoor and outdoor stage and Club Deville.” This goes down in conjunction with the Fun Fun Fun Fest, November 6th, 8pm to midnight, in the bermuda triangle of Mohawk indoor, Mohawk outdoor, and Club De Ville. We’ll remind you.

You might catch some decent local bands this weekend, too, otherwise it’s just no names like, you know, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Mos Def, Pearl Jam, Ben Harper, Thievery Corp…

Our current Artist of the Month poll will be wrapping up soon (midnight tonight), and this one has been a scorcher! Sad Accordions, New Roman Times, and SuperLiteBike have brought out the fans by the truckload; it’s good to see Austin showing love for these hardworkin’ locals. You’ve got about 12 hours remaining to get your vote in…

…and here, for your edification, is a quick summary of our nominees’ whereabouts for the immediate future: Low Line Caller will be on the Fun Fun Fun Fest Yellow Stage on November 7th; New Roman Times (pictured above) are in the Ghost Room (where you once found the Ginger Man) October 17th;Sad Accordions will hit the Mohawk along with Peoplefood on October 21st;SuperLiteBike will be at Momo’s on October 9th; and The Black and White Years – whose album Nursery Myths dropped 9/15 – are sitting in your apartment RIGHT NOW. No, not really: but they’ll be at the Mohawk 10/28.

…just popping in here to say that Bob Schneider (pictured above doing his best Billy Crudup) will be releasing his new album Lovely Creatures now-ish. Today.

Not to get too meta on you, but we spent the morning having a quick look around at some of Austin’s finer music blogs, and here’s what we found:

First of all, several sharp people are letting you know about ACL afterparties, among them the incomparable Austin Eavesdropper, The Peen Scene(extensive!), and Mr. Michael Barnes at Austin 360. Check ‘em out.

Covert Curiosity picked up our considerable slack and reported recently on the local Austin bands headed to CMJ: “Local bands who will make the trip to represent Austin include The Frontier Brothers, Pompeii, Reckless Kelly,Ringo Deathstarr, Suzanna Choffel, My Education, Bird Peterson, The Great Nostalgic, Moth!Fight!, Corto Maltese, Billy Harvey, Wolfgang Gartner,Loxsly, Alpha Rev, The Story Of, Ume, VEGA, and The Black & White Years.” (You’ll have to link to CC and scroll down for the full post.)

Ultra8201 posted up the full upcoming ACL TV schedule, which will include local luminaries like Okkervil River, Band of Heathens, Steve Earle, and some singer/songwriter dude named ‘Willie Nelson’.

Mr. TwoGroove was busy this past week putting together the Rob Dickinson show at Mixx, but also found time to post about the Texas band Johnny’s Body.

Side One Track One put up music from the new Monument to No One(released 9/23) and also from The White White Lights.

There is more! There is more! But we have to generate our own, too! Have a look around; link link; the rivers run high.

Every once in a while a couple of things slip through the cracks here…Monday morning seems a good time to rectify that situation.

So: Peek-A-Boo is reissuing the first two Octopus Project records,Identification Parade and One Ten Hundred Thousand Million; those guys are studio-ensconced at the moment and working on the next one. Up above (below our favorite sleeping German punk) is the Mercers’ live set from KUT. And your hometown big game band Lions will in the upcoming issue of Spin…and speaking of Spin, more to come soon on the Local Music is Sexy show.

Every once in a while a couple of things slip through the cracks here…Monday morning seems a good time to rectify that situation.

So: Peek-A-Boo is reissuing the first two Octopus Project records,Identification Parade and One Ten Hundred Thousand Million; those guys are studio-ensconced at the moment and working on the next one. Up above (below our favorite sleeping German punk) is the Mercers’ live set from KUT. And your hometown big game band Lions will in the upcoming issue of Spin…and speaking of Spin, more to come soon on the Local Music is Sexy show.

Monument to No One offers a piercing, psychedelic space rock counterbalanced with ambient mysticism and gritty grunge chops. Heavily influenced by the mid-90’s space rock of Hum and Failure, Monument To No One combines the psychedelic guitar arrangements reminiscent of the early Smashing Pumpkins with the edgy melodic grooves of grunge-era arena rock. Self-titled CD is now available. CD release show is Saturday 9/26/09 @ Trailer Space Records in Austin, TX. Knights (7pm), Falcon Buddies (8pm), MTNO (9pm). Free. BYOB.

(This post came ambling over from The Deli Austin’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here.)

It’s HAAM Benefit Day today, which means shows all over town featuring some of the best Austin has to offer…Pinetop Perkins, Suzanna Choffel, Charanga Cakewalk, Bob Schneider, Toni Price, and many, many more…in fact, it all started already (6 AM at Whole Foods with Kevin Welch) and it goes until midnight. So get out, see some excellent music, and support the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. Full schedule here.

It’s�HAAM�Benefit Day today, which means shows all over town featuring some of the best Austin has to offer…Pinetop Perkins, Suzanna Choffel, Charanga Cakewalk, Bob Schneider, Toni Price, and many, many more…in fact, it all started already (6 AM at Whole Foods with Kevin Welch) and it goes until midnight. So get out, see some excellent music, and support the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. Full schedule�here.

Big congrats are due to White Rhino, our reigning Artist of the Month, and now, if you please, take note of your new nominees: Low Line Caller, New Roman Times, Sad Accordions, SuperLiteBike, and The Black and White Years (the elegantly mustachioed fellows pictured above) are assembled in alphabetical order in the small box up yonder to the right. That’s a strong field, a mighty field, an impressive array of Austin talent. Check ‘em out. It is yours to decide.