Aloha’s three-years-in-the-making Home Acres is out 3/9 on Polyvinyl. The 11-song collection finds the multi-city band weaving marimba, vibraphone, and keyboards through driving guitar, bass, and drums. We asked vocalist/guitarist Tony Cavallario about “Moonless March,” an infectious standout that premiered in this morning’s ‘Gum Drop. He went into detail about the outdoorsy ghosts of Norman Rockwell that seem to haunt the song and album: Read about that and “waiting for the cold to break and the sun to come out for good” while you take a listen.

In our first newsletter of the New Year we also offered the chance to win a $100 Guitar Center gift certificate.

One winner gets a $100 gift certificate valid at Guitar Center, offered to celebrate the launch of Guitar Center’s “Wish List Poster Creator” application. It’s a project that lets musicians/consumers share their gift ideas via posters incorporating a number of classic styles including an indie, ’60s, psych, garage, metal, new wave, etc. As Guitar Center puts it:

Creating and sharing a Wish List Poster is engaging and simple. Musicians simply log on to guitarcenter.com/wishlist, choose an overall design, drag & drop items from Guitar Center’s vast selection of merchandise onto their poster, and, if desired, add a personal message and upload their own photograph. The finished poster can then be taken “on tour” by uploading to Facebook, Twitter and MySpace or emailed directly to friends and family, who can then make their guaranteed-to-please purchases. Musicians that create a wish list will also be sent a coupon worth ten percent off a single item at Guitar Center.

The artists commissioned to design templates are Gregg Gordon, who’s made posters for Ween and Yeah Yeah Yeahs; Chunklet’s Henry Owings, who’s worked with the Fiery Furnaces, Ted Leo, and Mogwai; and Andrew McCraken, who’s collaborated with Broken Social Scene, Jay Reatard, and Modest Mouse. Three sample Wish Lists…

Psych:

Metal:

Owl City Indie:

ENTER TO WIN.

CONTEST ENDS 01/20/10 AT 12PM EST.

[Aloha photo by Shawn Brackbill]