Yes, we know it's been a while since the last update... El Nino's been kicking our Northern California asses. Okay, so that's a lame excuse. Anyway, we wanted to let you all know that, over the course of the next month or so, we're going to be dismantling our direct mail order operation due to general incompetence. (If you've ever tried to get stuff from us direct you'll know.)

Instead, we're going to let our man Mercer at Sandbox Automatic take care of mail orders for us, since he's a cool guy who looks out for independents like us and also knows what the hell he's doing. Mercer will gladly take international orders, and can also do credit card interactions over the web or over the phone. So check him out... we'll try to make sure that he's got everything that we have available.

Latyrx [Lateef and Lyrics Born] will be performing at South By Southwest in Austin TX on March 20.

Latyrx will be touring later this year in support of the Muzapper's Mixes EP. People who are interested in setting up shows with us should e-mail us (actually, Winston the internet guy).

The Muzapper's Mixes EP from Latyrx (SS009) was released on September 17. The EP features three remixes of "The Muzappers Mix," two new songs, and the instrumentals. "Lady Don't Tek No," produced by DJ Shadow, is currently blowing up clubs from L.A. to London... we've got a mess of soundclips on the HOME page, as usual. Look out for a Muzappers tour later this year (see above).

Mo Wax has recently released the DJ Shadow album Pre-emptive Strike, a collection of pre-Endtroducing Mo Wax releases, including "In/Flux," "What Does Your Soul Look Like," and the new single "High Noon." Shadow's track "Untitled Heavy Beat" is available on the soundtrack to the movie The End Of Violence.

Look out for surprise tracks from Lateef and Blackalicious on an underground compilation later this year.

Also, check for a six-page feature on Latyrx in an upcoming issue of the British mag Trace.

Blackalicious just finished recording their forthcoming full-length album, Nia; though there's still some more tweaking left to be done. The first single is titled "Do You Love It Enough?" with "Trouble" on the b-side. Look for the single and the album to be out later this year, and stay tuned to the website for song previews and more details.

Work has begun on the long-awaited Radio Sole 2 project, a follow-up to the coveted Radio Sole 1 mixtape of rare early recordings and live performances by SoleSides artists. Check back later for more details.

What's up, Orthadox...