Tomorrow is the last day to pre-order Paper Tiger’s full-length record, Made Like Us.

As most of you already know, pre-orders are what allow little fish like Doomtree to swim in the big tank. Pre-orders help us convince decision-makers in the industry that we can, in fact, sell albums—even though our budgets don’t allow for shiny magazine ads or expensive promotional swag. With good music and hard touring (and some inexpensive promotional swag), we’ve been able to build a small business and a big network of supporters.

Most of the members of Doomtree have been involved in the collective for a considerable share of their adult lives. During many of the years we’ve all spent together, Paper Tiger has served in a crucial behind-the-scenes role. He’s designed flyers, posters, stickers, and album art on red-eye deadlines and bake-sale budgets. He’s the producer responsible for some of Doomtree’s most anthemic singles, including P.O.S’ “Low Light Low Life,” Mike Mictlan’s “Game Over” and my song “The Chaconne.” If you’ve been to our crew shows, you know that he’s also our debonair live DJ.

Now, for the first time, he’s releasing an official record. It’s a project that Doomtree is proud to present and it includes some of Paper’s best work to date. Maggie Morrison of Lookbook features on the album and I make a couple of appearances as well. Last week, we all visited The Current’s studios to promote the project and perform a couple tracks.  By now I’ve heard the songs on Made Like Us many, many times—first in Paper’s basement as he finalized the production, then in the mixing studio to tweak levels, then in Lazerbeak’s car to check the mastering, then looping in my headphones as I wrote the onesheet for the record. Even after hearing the music so many times, Maggie’s performance at The Current moved me to distraction. I was pulled out of my role as our in-house publicist and I was reinstalled into my first role with Doomtree: a fan.

It’s a strong disc and if you’re thinking about purchasing it, we always ask that you do the pre-order thing, which is where your dollars have the most impact. To those of you who’ve done so already, thank you.

Ok, end of the Earnest Appeal. See you on Saturday at Sauce. The whole Doomtree crew will be performing to celebrate the release. We’ll also be doing some Doomtree karaoke—your chance to rap to a Doomtree track backed by Paper Tiger himself.

Dessa.