It has been a very busy few months around the Goldmill Group camp. Any time a band plans to put out new music, many things must happen during the process. Songs must be written and rewritten…and rewritten again, studios and producers must be chosen, marketing plans developed, and release partners sought. While the music business sounds like a glamorous and glitzy business most of the time, the truth is that in reality it is sometimes a very administrative endeavor on many fronts. Nevertheless, the reward and satisfaction inherent in helping artists create their craft and unleash it on the world is incomparable.

I am proud to say that I work with some of the brightest and most talented artists that I have ever had the pleasure to know. They know their craft and they strive to be the best at everything they do. Amazing music has been created and so much heart and soul poured into these songs, that I can truly say that I feel blessed to know each and every artist that I work with. You make me passionate about what I do.

So, here we are. Almost a year in the making for more than one of these artists.

Flatfoot 56. What can I say? The new record by this amazing group of guys is going to knock down walls. Punk rockers won’t even know what hit them. Christians will be wishing that Armageddon could save them from the murderous barrage of world-infused-Celtic-punk rhythms on the forthcoming record from these monsters of the Midway. Trudging through briars of blackthorn, Flatfoot 56 have come to slay you, bagpipes in tow. Prepare for death in mid-March when the album comes out on Old Shoe Records in the United States, Stomp! in Canada, I Hate People Records in Europe, and Big Mouth Japan in Japan.

Chicago power-pop rockers Treaty of Paris have crafted six stellar songs that will awake you with a punch and then carry you off willingly into a sea of calm. I am so happy with how the songs came out on their new Currents EP, that I have no doubt that you will be hearing about great things happening to this band this year. The skill and craftsmanship on Currents is top notch and the boys know how to write a hit song. We’ve got some irons in the fire when it comes to negotiating these boys’ careers. This fire is spreading fast and furious. Come join me in celebrating the release of their long-awaited follow-up record at Metro on Chicago on January 9th, 2010.

When it comes to making epic music, our boys Urbanites know that nothing but the best will do. I don’t know how they do it, but every song these guys writes makes me fall in love more and more. The beauty in their music is hypnotizing and it won’t be long before these guys inherit the crown from standard torch bearers like The Fray, Coldplay, and U2. They recently completed recording some new tracks at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio studio and I can’t wait for the world to hear their enchanted melodies, so that they can fall in love with Urbanites like I have. Axl Rose move over. Indiana and the world belongs to Urbanites. Can you say #1 on the Billboard charts? I can. Bet on it and do yourself a favor and listen.

“This is a risk you don’t ever want to take,” screams Nick Blazina, on one of the newest tracks released by State And Madison. I’ll take the risk, because I think that these songs are that good. It’s time. No, it’s fucking time. Download some of their music here for free.

I recently decided to venture outside of Chicago and tripped again over a band that I had seen play before a couple of times. My journey brought me to Nashville, TN and there I found a band which I can say with absolute conviction is one of two bands (The other being The Frantic) that is going to help save rock and roll. Blacklist Royals remind me of a cross between Bruce Springsteen and Rancid. Their songs are hook-laden and raw. Their attitudes tough and even more raw. I love this band. If I were dreaming of becoming a rock star, I would want to front a band just like these guys. Since I’m not, I decided I wanted to manage their careers and live vicariously through them. My liver already hurts from the thought of it. They have a new album coming out in early 2010 with a label called Paper+Plastick. I can’t wait to help them take over the world.

So if you’ve wondered what I’ve been doing for the last few months, or what I will be doing for the next few, well, there it is. I’ll be passionately selling music that I strongly believe in. Hopefully I’ll be selling it to people that believe in it as much as I do. These bands deserve respect and the best careers that hard work can buy. Outside of my family, this is what I live my life for. It is by virtue of this amazing music that I arm myself in a personal crusade to rid the world of unbearably sub-par music and intolerable bands who whine, scream, and/or wrap themselves in neon couture death suits. Prepare to have your faces melted. It is the year of the Goldmill. You have been warned.