Welcome back,

As we look back on 2006, we’re astonished by the wealth of great bands we’ve been able to bring you in our features and monthly mixes. This week, we’re presenting a look back at some of our favorite bands that we interviewed this year. If you haven’t heard the episodes featuring any of these bands, we encourage you to check them out:

Starting off the set is a track from Moggs. Justin and Cara were very kind to invite us into their home in Petaluma, where we marveled at their fantastic studio and their awesome dogs. We are excited to be working with them again in the future, a collaboration which we will announce in the coming weeks. Their original episode can be found here.

Dan from Scrabbel was nice enough to not only be one of our first interviewees, but also to allow us to record him playing live in his home. You should definitely hear that track and more from the truly excellent 1909 in the episode here.

Pillows is another band we were fortunate to work with early on. Two Step is another of the year’s great releases and it was great to chat with Jessica and Julie about it. Bill Picture named this episode his “Download of the Week” a few months back. Check it out here.

Giant Haystacks is on the list of bands we drafted up the night we started the show as a “must-interview”. Their records are great but their live show is even better, a concentrated burst of energy and melody that will be hitting Annie’s Social Club on December 30th. You can find their original episode here.

Ex-Boyfriends were part of an experiment that should have been a disaster, a joint interview with Music for Animals and Deb from Playing in Fog. As it stands, it’s probably one of our favorite shows, and is certainly our longest interview to date. Check it out here for an hour of fun and great music.

Although it’s frustrating that The Lonelyhearts have a dual city existence that prevents them from performing together during the school year, it makes us eager for their return. We’re also exicted about their recent signing to Three Ring Records for an album to be released next year. Check out their interview here.

We first saw Finest Dearest play a great set at the Hemlock several months back with Elephone and Empty Rooms. By the time we interviewed them, they had a new 7″ out entitled Off Sides, which can now be purchased at Insound and on iTunes (leaving you no reason not to pick up it up). That interview can be found here.

Sholi is another of our favorite bands blending melody and complexity. The song we’ve included is from their excellent brand new 7″, just released on KDVS Recordings. We’re excited about the full length debut they’ve been working on and are looking forward to working with them again. For now, check out the original episode here.

Social Studies is another band we love both live and on their debut record This is the World’s Biggest Hammer. Every time we see them, their audience seems bigger and more energetic than before, a testament to this band’s ability to win new fans and still entertain the converted. As members of the latter group, you can be assured we’ll be at their next show, headlining this Thursday, December 21st at The Make-Out Room. To hear their interview, click here.

The Dont’s show aired to promote their record release party, which we can happily report was a ton of fun. Although Inner El Camino isn’t available yet in stores, you should pick up a copy from the band here. To hear more of their unique “Kelly Clarkson meets Can” sound (their words, not ours) and the interview that spawned that description, check out that episode here.

We’ve presented these song in the order to encourage you to check out some of our older episodes. This is a great opportunity to catch up because we’re taking our first week off since starting The Bay Bridged in February. Not to worry, though, we’ll be returning with a new episode on Tuesday, January 2nd.

We’d like to close with a big thank you to all of the bands, promoters, managers and fellow journalists we’ve had the pleasure of working with in 2006. Most importantly, though, we’d like to thank all of you for tuning in. We’re fourty-four episodes in and this still feels as fresh and exciting as when we started. We’ve got a number of great features lined up for 2007 and are going to be putting on some fantastic shows in the coming months.

Thanks again for listenting!