Future Very Us Artist* Jeff LaSala’s first novel, The Darkwood Mask, commissioned by Wizards of the Coast for their Eberron “The Inquisitives” series, will be officially released on March 4th. As that date approaches, you can bet we’ll be abusing…stretching the definition of this forum to talk about it some more. But here’s the book cover for starts:

*At some point in the future, somehow or other, Jeff will likely become a Very Us Artist. As gazing into the future is speculative at best, it’s hard to say just how this may come to pass. But being John LaSala’s kid brother, a little bullying and arm-twisting shouldn’t be ruled out. So, taking advantage of the time machine we’re using to produce The Future Is Now, let’s just say that in the future, Jeff is a Very Us Artist. Thanks for playing along. :)

Very Us Artist Joshua Wentz has been interviewed by independent music distributors INDISTR, discussing improvised music, regurgitation, skirts, Mike Oldfield, and even us! You can read it right here.

One of our original Very Us Artists, Nick Parton of Mr. Glide fame, leads a double life. When he’s not producing perhaps the most professional-sounding VUA music, he’s producing a whole other thing called Fine Excuses. And today, Fine Excuses released their second fine excuse for an EP, Mild Peril. (If you missed it, their just-as-fine début EP is Hail to the Harmless Grudge.) They’re both free, so check ‘em out!

The hardest working man involved with The Very Us Artists (not counting all the other hardest working men involved with The Very Us Artists) is Joshua Wentz.

Josh has contributed in multiple ways to each of our albums, in ways both musical and visual. Oh, and he designed and administrates veryusartists.com. Oh, and he does the layout and graphic design for the parallelogram jackets.

All that and he still finds time to crank out his own full-scale projects under the banner Sidedown. And today several of these things (words, pictures, paper, music, stickers, etc.) are being unleashed, each one including contributions from a few Very Us Artists, namely John LaSala, Jeremy Simmons, and Mr. Wentz himself.

There’s Monograph #2: Polylemma
(containing decidedly random content, also goes great with Monograph #1: An Enemy’s Friend)

There’s Parallel/Serial Port
(includes a supercool serial story by author Jeff LaSala, plus ranting, raving, and a dolphin)

And then there’s “HEY Convenience,” the latest issue of his lo-fi ’zine, HEY Quarterly
(all proceeds go to charity!)

Do check ‘em out. Consider the gift of art—of mental stimulation—for your year-end gift-giving plans. Quick, before it’s too late!

In the future, the second Very Us Artists album will have been graced with the artwork of the absurdly multitalented Michael John Keegan. At this point, we have only the slightest notion of what it may look like, but in the future we’ll know that it was awesome.

Our next album, due to be released in the distant future-year of two thousand and eight, will be a curious thing, indeed. Very Us Artists will be channeling sights and sounds from the future and serving them up in the form of the next VUA offering, The Future Is Now. If you’d like to be among these daring artists willing to peer into realms beyond the now, get in touch.

Nascence and Child is now on sale. Read all about it, listen to samples, or buy it now!

In one week, Nascence and Child (Opus 1 No.1) will be released. If you’d like to get your hands on the goods as soon as possible, you can pre-order your copy at any time between today and Sunday the 28th by making sure you’re our mailing list: Missive VUA. If you don’t already get these, sign up!

In less than two very busy weeks, Nascence and Child will “drop,” as the kids say. And the official artist list is out.  Check it right here.  Among the musicians can be found a girl who played “Walk This Way” for DMC, singers who toured extensively with Blackmore’s Night, a man whose son demands to be addressed as “Spiderman” (while in costume, anyway), a pair of mysterious Nordics who we suspect to be cyborgs, a composer as comfortable with hip-hop as Dvořák (and ain’t afraid to mix ‘em up!), a one-woman orchestra for an Anglo-American pantomime company, an amateur plate-spinner (considering going pro), and an honest-to-goodness Brit!  Yes, this is going to be an interesting album.

A few weeks ago we put out the word that we would be taking suggestions from you folks to Name Our Album! Forty-four suggestions later, we have picked our favorite. Although we chose something different (see today’s other announcement), it was Brian Kiser’s “Provenance” that hit the mark best. He’s won himself and a friend each a copy of the album! Congrats, Brian!