Real Life (“Send Me An Angel”) have just set up an online mp3 store, where the bulk of their back catalog can be purchased at $.99 track. On the official Real Life site (reallifemusic.net) frontman David Sterry wrote:

Call me old fashioned, but it seems like yesterday when my German record company handed me my first CD (Send Me an Angel). I thought no one would give up vinyl for this new format, but it did make a good frisbee. I was wrong!! Then came the Internet that put us in direct touch with people who wanted more music from us. These days we can record on our computers without spending $3000 a day in a studio.

Now below you see our moveable Jukebox/Music Shop. We’ve uploaded Heartland, Flame. Lifetime, Happy/Happier, Imperfection, Re mixes and Demo’s. there are over 70 tracks. You can listen to all of it (suggest with a bottle of Champagne in a hot bath) and if you like it you can buy most of it if you want (some things we don’t have rights to). And if you buy stuff, something very very strange happens……. We actually get paid.

We will also upload all our videos when we can find them..

If you want you can copy this to your Myspace site or any webpage by clicking the share button and pasting the code. Lots of people put years of their lives ito the following songs. Hope you find something you like…

• Click here to sample and purchase tracks from Real Life!

The The have released a new song, “Mrs Mac,” exclusively as a download purchase from their website. It’s their second release in this format, the first being a re-issue of the instrumental “GunSluts“ (a limited edition single for the last world tour.) Sonically, the vocal-driven “Mrs Mac” is pretty bright sounding by The The standards, but the subject matter itself is on the dark side. On the official The The website, Matt Johnson explained how the song is based on an old Victorian school he attended as a child.

“…Mrs Mac was a ferocious dinner lady/enforcer who worked there. Actually I’m not really quite sure what she did except terrify the living daylights out of children. When you’re 5 or 6 years old it’s hard to work out why some adults are so spiteful to you. Maybe she thought she was somehow doing the right thing by forcing us to eat those awful school meals and shouting at us? Maybe she was just a deranged sadist? I’ll never know.

Although life could be quite miserable there at times the atmosphere of that old school building has long lingered within me and may explain my fondness for Victorian glazed brickwork, polished wooden floors, huge windows, high ceilinged rooms and yes, even the smell of carbolic soap!”

For more info, and the purchase the single “Mrs Mac” visit the official The The website at thethe.com.

Note: Songs sold on thethe.com have no DRM (Digital Rights Management) so they can be played on any mp3-capable device.

The Young Gods have returned with a new cd, “Super Ready/Fragmenté” and recently did a special acoustic show at the Swiss Institute in New York. Since sampling and sound manipulation are such a big part of the Young Gods style, the idea of them performing on acoustic instruments may seem surprising. But it really does come across well. Prior to the performance, I interviewed frontman Franz Treichler and he had this to say about playing without electronics.

“We started doing these last November, for very special occasions,” he says. “Like when a book came out about the Young Gods, for the release of that we did an acoustic show for the very first time. It turned out really well, so we thought we’d keep on doing a few of those shows. We did only Switzerland, not that many shows, maybe 20 or so. Once in a while, people ask us to do something different than the in-your-face wall of electric guitars and samples. It’s something that we discovered we appreciate while doing it, so that’s also why we’re going to carry on doing it when possible. We’re probably going to do a recording on this, either live or in the studio. It made us aware that some of the Young Gods music can be interpreted very differently, and it works.. It’s great. And as a singer, it’s great because it leaves me more room.”

• Click here to read the full interview

Ever wonder what you, or someone close to you, might look like as a zombie? Zombieportraits.com is a website that can provide the answer. For $80, artist Rob Sacchetto will work from a supplied photo to create an original, hand illustrated portrait depicting the subject as a brain-eating member of the undead. We emailed Sacchetto a few questions about the service, and here’s what he had to say.

What made you decide to pursue zombie portraits as a business?

Well, i’ve been a freelance illustrator for quite some time, and before the zombie portrait thing, I really did a lot of technical heavy jobs and straight portrait work. Now, this stuff is great and all, but being a horror fan, and comic book geek, I really wanted to find a way to mesh the two and have a lot more freedom and fun drawing. It was the suggestion of my friend and webmaster, Joel Pednaud and support of my wife Andrea that really got the whole thing going.

Have you found any trends among purchasers?

Mostly, the zombie portraits are gifts, but some horror lovers or art lovers or both just get them done for the fun of it. As far as who and types, it is virtually everyone from every walk of life, from ministers to musicians, couples in their wedding garb, to tattoo enthusiasts.

Any particularly strange requests so far?

I’d like to think that any request to be turned into a zombie is kinda strange, but yeah, there have been some especially strange ones - there was a guy pulling a cocktail umbrella out of his nose, which I turned into brain matter covered in maggots - there was a couple with their newborn which I also zombified - one couple unknowingly got each other zombified for Valentine’s day. I just recently had a wrestler biting his championship belt… To me, the weirder, the better!

Have you considered doing any other customized products?

We aren’t offering specific ‘customized’ cards for each person, but on our website, we do have a variety of products available. We have four greeting cards for different occasions (get well soon, valentine, Christmas, and birthday), which are just the grossest things you’ll ever see… and offer three different zombie posters!

Are there particular characteristics you look at when trying to find a person’s inner zombie?

Yeah, some people are just naturally inclined to look like zombies, like myself, so it’s a lot easier to zombify them. Others need a little extra ‘umph’, so I’ll concentrate on maybe the eyes or jaw, teeth or nose and really open up these areas with an excessive mangling!

• Go to zombieportraits.com

Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls has put her 1992 Volvo station wagon up for sale on ebay. It needs work, but IS a big part of Dresden Dolls history. The car has appeared in several videos, and was used for transport on early regional tours. Bidding ends on May 6, and half of the proceeds will be donated to moveon.org.

UPDATE: The auction is now over, with a winning bid of $3,600.00.