[the] caseworker is Conor Jonathan (guitars, vocals) and Eimer Devlin (bass, vocals) and they're loosely based in San Francisco. Conor and Eimer were formerly in Half Film, who put out a handful of nice mellow records a couple of years ago. They also toured around the world, got written up and all the usual stuff. When that band broke up they asked their good friend Monte Vallier (ex-Swell) to record and produce some new songs they'd written. They also asked him to ask Sean Kirkpatrick - the old Swell drummer - if he'd be interested in coming out of his retirement in Santa Barbara to play drums with them. Sean agreed, and the [the] caseworker was born. The resulting album is called these weeks should be remembered, and took over a year to put together. The ten songs are lush, spacious, colorful and atmospheric; sometimes it sounds like a doze under the palm trees, and other times it sounds like a highway at night. Either way, mood is everything. Imagine a darker Yo La Tengo or Radar Bros. Think of time, distance, movement, water, sky and music. Released by Manifesto Records on September 2nd 2003.

Rykarda Parasol has an authentic storyteller's voice--an eerie, expansive, lost highway kind of voice, with undercurrents of bourbon and swagger. Her sexy EP has been in regular rotation at my place for a couple of weeks, making bedroom eyes while it tells noirish tales of a dangerous South. Given how confidently it seduces, I was a little suprised by how stoic Rykarda's life performance was. She played guitar almost solemnly--a stylish American Gothic, and although it added to her mystique, I admit wanting to see some of the warmth and raciness I could hear in that bluesy Siouxsie voice. Rykarda's cover of "She's Like Heroin" deserves special mention for the cascading, falling leaf motions it makes along the lines of the Gun Club's urban shanty. - Shannon Coulter, Playing in Fog

The band, which includes Colleen Browne (White Hotel/Pale Saints-4AD), Chris Sipe (Joe Buck), and Greg Benitz (Jean Paul Special), has recently released a 6-song EP on The Blood of the Young Records (Bright Eyes/Har Mar Superstar), a Minneapolis based indie. Rykarda and band are currently recording a full length album.