NW music happiness

Portland is home to a little record label called Magic Marker that puts out records by bands that in general are very poppy and sweet and 60's-sounding. Stuff I like. =) I only have albums by two Magic Marker bands, but I like them quite a lot (and I recommend you checking them out): Lines and Color by Kissing Book, and Foreign Words by Boycrazy. I'm subscribed to the label's mailing list and they recently announced the release of a double CD complilation of bands that have played over the years in the house where the two label owners live. The comp is called, appropriately enough, A House Full of Friends and includes many (mostly NW) bands, from the obscure to the getting-famous. We've got The Thermals, The Decemberists, The Shins, All Girl Summer Fun Band, The Minders, Boycrazy, the lead singer of Kissing Book.... Those are just the ones I know well, there are a ton more that I've heard of but not actually heard, so this was a great chance to hear something from them. Considering that even with overseas shipping the CD was still many euros less than your average CD here, I promptly ordered it online. It arrived hardly a week later, along with a little Magic Marker button and a handwritten note from Curt, one of the label guys, that said "Thanks for the order. You rule!" He had even mailed it off himself, from the University Station post office downtown. The package set me off into a haze of Portland happiness. As for the CD, I've only listened to CD 1 so far, but so far it's lived up to expectations.