Heavy Rotation:

Ian McEwen: "Saturday," and "On Chesil Beach"
Swervedriver "99th Dream"
Effigies "Reside"
Avec "Lines"
John Vanderslice "Emerald City"
frogs and cicadas in the Mississippi night
Nicholson Baker "The Fermata"
Ken Andrews/On/Failure (I found a copy of "Comfort" for $1 at the Palmer Home Thrift Store)
The Lives of Others DVD

Time off in MIssissippi means time to recap a couple of whirlwind months in the studio.
After the Days mix, I thoroughly enjoyed some vocal recording with the inimitable Neil Fallon - it was a last-minute call for an upcoming collaboration he's doing with some folks from CA.
Then finally finished tracking and mixing the new RSA album, which I am totally thrilled about - it's way more eclectic than the first album and it really sounds like a band now, with some lead vocals from Erik Denno, a song or two that I wrote, some of Vic's best acoustic songs ever, and of course a healthy dose of the ol' Bondi aggro. I am really proud of the recording too.
Rahim was a whirlwind. What a great band. There is actually going to be a piece in EQ magazine about this session. I love those guys and it was awesome to work with the new lineup too - Chris the bassist is great and his dad even came in to do some backups. There's never enough time though ... the days got loooong and we ended up in overtime ... oh wait that's what always happens. But what a cool record and a very interesting step forward from their first one.
Then in August Paint It Black was here for 6 days and did about 95% of the tracking for their upcoming full-length. Some of the best sounds and performances I've ever got to record on a HC album, and a really great time to boot. This I am really excited about - they left here with the drive and went up to NJ to carry on, working with Alap Momin of Dalek, who was called upon not only to mix the record, but to contribute atmospherics and a general "new territory" kind of production for the album. With a Dalek influence brought to bear on Paint it Black's sound, I can't wait to hear the results.
Knot Feeder is a great instrumental band from Pittsburgh, featuring Andrew & Rob from Tabula Rasa and Mike Banfield, late of Don Cab. I love this band. LOVE it. Also the first band to BBQ in the parking lot! Another quick session for a full-length. We didn't get everything done, so I am hoping they'll be back to finish up sooner rather than later.
Which brings us to the pride of Saskatchewan, Sylvie, who came all the way from Regina for 2 weeks of tracking and totally took over the studio (Jeff, the drummer, even went on to take over the city of Baltimore when his tracks were finished)- by the time we were done, we had used every drum and piece of drum hardware in the place (even the marching tympani that Darren Z turned into a mutant kick drum back in the Oswego days - it sounds amazing), every mic setup I could think of, and guitarist Chris had turned the office into Studio B with his Digi 003 & Roland V-Synth, working on loops and overdubs when he wasn't on call for guitar or vocs. Yes I have been guilty of hyperbole before, but this band is flat-out great and I hope they'll find the audience they deserve in the US because we need them.
Luckily NE Mississippi is a great place to take a nap, because I've needed one for about 2 months.