Ten activities to make this week a fun one…

1. Head to the Urban Outfitters website to get a sneak preview of the debut album Crazy for You from Best Coast, before the official release date on July 27.

2. Contemplate booking a last minute trip to New York to see the final live performance by blissed-out rockers Spiritualized of their classic record Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space on July 30 at Radio City Music Hall. If you cant afford the price of a summer air ticket, plan B may be to search out the vinyl reissue of the album, recently released by SF’s Plain Recordings.

3. Head to the LA show by Phosphorescent at the Troubadour, Tuesday July 27. The latest album, Here’s to Taking it Easy from the NY group seems to be a tastemaker favorite. The band have had a rollercoaster time recently, having their van and gear stolen recently in Brooklyn on the eve of a national tour, before (thankfully) getting it recovered by the police a week later.

4. Buy Admiral Radley’s album I Heart California. AdRad are, of course, the veritable indie rock supergroup featuring Jason Lytle and Aaron Burch of Grandaddy, paired with Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray of Earlimart.

5. Pre-order your copy of Mines, the fourth full-length from much beloved Portland combo Menomena (due out on Barsuk Records July 27… a busy day for indie rock it seems!) Listen to it here

6. Watch the trailer for Upside Down, the forthcoming documentary on Creation Records – quite possibly Britain’s greatest independent label. The film is scheduled for release in the UK in September.

7. Check out the latest in the ever growing list in the 33 1/3 series. If you haven’t yet discovered these wonderful music books, each tome is a marvelous and individual treatise on a classic album – everything from the Beastie Boys Paul’s Boutique to Nick Drake’s Pink Moon and My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. Just try to stop at reading only one…

8. Early evening on July 27? Plan a visit to the Hotel Cafe in LA at 8pm as Ireland’s Villagers finally hit the west coast.

9. If you happen to be in Kansas City (or Leawood, KS to be exact) – head to the Apple Store on Thursday July 22 for the free instore by locals The Belles, supporting their S-Curve album Time Flies When You’re Losing Your Mind.

10. Fire up an iTunes pass for the 4th season of Mad Men, which premieres Sunday July 25. Well, it can’t all be about music can it?

-Cool Hand Luke

Sick of Sarah @ The Roxy, Friday 4/23

As quickly as it came, the annual rock n’ roll oasis in the desert known as Coachella is over. So while you tend to that lingering sunburn and exercise the last of those acid-demons, let’s play catch-up on some new signings and stories we’ve been following… Los Angeles indie-label Dangerbird Records, who has been on a recent signing-spree stocking their coffers with a wide spectrum of artists, has put paper to Fitz & the Tantrums and we hear negotiations are in motion. FATT opened for The Specials last week at Club Nokia and will be joining Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings on tour in May… We hear Epic Records is finalizing a deal with Denver’s Joel Jorgenson. The singer is managed by Michael Goldberg and Isaac Hayes for 108 Management (we’ve also confirmed that 108 does not stand for their combined IQs)… Momentum continues to build for Las Vegas-act Imagine Dragons, who played to a sold-out room last Wednesday for the BMI/KROQ-presented show at The Viper Room. Having only played a handful of L.A. dates, it was impressive to see industry take a literal back seat to a sweaty crowd of fans singing along to the band’s late-night set. With a growing regional fan base and an impressive live show, labels seem to be closing in – we hear an East Coast major is looking to shut it down early, while publishers and booking agents have joined the scrimmage too… Radio continues to build for L.A. locals Dead Country with adds at Santa Barbara’s KJEE and KROX in Austin, as well as spikes at Live 105, KNRK in Portland and Denver’s modern rock KTCL; spins are also continuing in their hometown on KROQ. Could there be outside forces at work here? The band just finished a tour with The Bronx and will be supporting Far on a series of upcoming dates. Their self-titled EP is out now… And if you slept on the radio action on South Carolina’s Villanova, it looks like the band is now off the market. We hear an East Coast major is finalizing paperwork to close the act who are getting serious spins on influential modern rock station WARQ… Look for Steve Greenberg’s S-Curve Records to release new albums from Seinking Ships and The Belles on June 8th. Eric Matthews, formerly on Sub Pop, collaborated with Ohio musician Christopher Seink to record the new full-length Museum Quality Capture, while Lawrence, KS combo The Belles will release their sophomore album Times Flies When You’re Losing Your Mind… It certainly does… Finally, catch Minneapolis’ Sick of Sarah tomorrow night in L.A. for the early show at The Roxy. The band, who has been compared to Sleater-Kinney and The Breeders, is building a big following in the mid-west and is one of two artists featured during the month of April in Journeys stores nation-wide…

IN THE MIX: Jay Lewis, Purevolume, Ben Roethlisberger