• The wonderful Austin band Voxtrot (whom I fondly call Spoon Lite) has released a new single titled “Your Biggest Fan”. It’s pretty similar in sound to their first two EPs, though not quite as catchy. Still, it’s an oustanding little gem that everyone should own.

• A new Yeah Yeah Yeahs remix cd is out (Show Your Remixes). It’s got Diplo’s genius mix of “Gold Lion” plus Nick Zinner’s gorgeous, Grandaddy-esque undertaking of “Turn Into”. Also, a rather boring attempt at “Cheated Hearts” by the overly masculine, disgustingly transexual Peaches.

• The Shins‘ latest album, Wincing The Night Away, has leaked. And it’s damn good, if I must say so myself. Much better and more focused than 2003’s somewhat forgettable Chutes Too Narrow. The standout track is the opener, “Sleeping Lessons” — a subdued and catchy introduction that will surely stir up memories of Garden State. I can already imagine Zach Braff salivating over its soundtrack capabilities.

• I won the Super Bowl in my first season of Madden ‘07. As I’ve already mentioned, this game is ridiculously easy. I think my QB finished with a rating of around 140.

• I had my doubts before this season of Prison Break, but I can safely say each and every one of them has been squashed, smashed and destroyed by the incredible intensity of Season 2. Just watching a single episode is enough to give me an adrenaline hangover when finished.

• Dennis Green’s post-traumatic tirade last week Monday after his Cardinals‘ unbelievable meltdown and subsequent loss to the Bears is my new ringtone.

• Game 3 of the World Series is tonight. Personally I can’t even believe the Cardinals even made it, much less won a game. Hopefully the Tigers will take the next 3. Also this Dirtgate/Smudgegate/Whatevergate thing needs to stop. Now.

• William Shatner is the funniest man on this planet right now. Boston Legal’s 3rd season is head and shoulders above previous years (which were still hilarious, by the way), and Shatner is the reason. He just keeps getting funnier. The man’s a genius.

• The Draft’s In A Million Pieces has been playing almost non-stop since I first listened to it two weeks ago. The former members of Hot Water Music (minus frontman Chuck Ragan) have recorded a stunning album packed with folksy pop punk. Imagine a more poppy Tiger Army or Against Me!. The highlight of the record is undoubtedly the swaggering “Wired”, which brings to mind the aforementioned folk-punk/hillbilly-punk bands but adds a delicate pop sensibility.

My Chemical Romance
The Black Parade
[2006; Reprise]
Here I go listening to the new My Chemical Romance album The Black Parade. My hopes are high, I liked their previous album, and no matter what any indie snob says, “Helena” is a hell of a good song. music doesn’t have to be unknown to be good.

track 1- “the end”

dear holy mother of all things this is awful. sweet mary it’s like the new killers mixed with garth brooks or some shit

:’(

many kittens are being tortured

track 2 - “dead”

omg it’s guns ‘n roses! when did axl start playing with this band.

omg the vocals are disgusting. wtf is this

track 3 - “this is how i disappear”

the intro is pretty good. i am definitely digging these guitars.

the guitars still going, i am digging.

chilled vocals, reminding me a little of avenged sevenfold or something.

this song isn’t bad at all. it seems to be excellent drinking music.

track 4 - “sharpest lives”

these beginning vocals are gross.. and what’s with the whispered secondary vocals. is this marilyn manson? what’s the deal with the new queen vibe, i feel like i’m listening to the wayne’s world soundtrack.

track 5 - “welcome to the black parade”

the piano intro is so sad.

this song reminds me of november rain or bohemian rhapsody or something.

the vocals are totally shitty. wtf @ the my chemical romance meets axl rose sound of this album

track 6 - “i don’t love you”

i am definitely down with the intro.

the intro stopped to make room for crappy vocals and weird start/stop action.

this song is moderately boring but not awful

track 7 - “house of wolves”

wtf@ the nofx meets pennywise intro

i think our lady peace is singing now.

track 8 - “cancer”

uhhh. this is pretty weird. more piano wannabe bohemian rhapsody style balladry.

track 9 - “mama”

wtf is the beginning of this song. it’s like if the decemberists were having a bonfire with satan and sacrificing babies wearing black lipstick instead of jousting the midieval black knight at the renaissance fair.

and what the holy hell @ the creepy david lynch midget character talking during the middle????

what an awful song.

track 10 - “sleep”

a weird warped tape recorderish intro that has no purpose being there at all.. leading into some boring our lady peace meets guns ‘n roses style vocals and marilyn mansony guitars.

boring

track 11 - “teenagers”

holy omfg this intro is gross. it’s like buckcherry if buckcherry really really really really sucked.

wow, the chorus is even worse than the verse.

this might be one of the worst songs i’ve heard this year.

track 12 - “disenchanted”

a strange nick drakian intro with the vocals of newish filter. not bad.

eww the chorus just kicked in.

the middle is not so horrible. it reminds me of lots of decent radio rock. not bad, but not good either.

probably one of the better songs on the album, though

track 13 - “famous last words”

what in the shit is up with his disgusting accentuation of words on this album???? the vocals on this song are totally gross.

i dig the chorus, reminds me of avenged sevenfold.

now we’re back into some sweet def leppardish action

not bad in a drunk at a bar sort of way

track 14 - “hidden track”

sweet it’s like early pink floyd back when syd barrett was still with them.

except barrett pretty much already made this song like 40 years ago.

this song definitely should have remained hidden

In closing: holy shitballs, this is almost as bad as the new paris hilton or killers’ albums.

totally disgusting. i seriously did not expect it to be anywhere near this bad.

this is seriously gross and i think i am going to throw up in my mouth a little

Raise your hand if you think the Deftones are one of the most frustrating bands making music these days.

You can’t see it, but I’m raising my hand.

Seriously though. Let’s take a brief look back at the Deftones repertoire. They started things off with 1995’s Adrenaline — a near perfect blend of skater punk meets metal that only

hinted at the possibilities of Chino Moreno’s ridiculous vocal ability. The fact that Adrenaline didn’t even come close to their later recordings was of no concern, because the album flowed effortlessly and was brilliant in its own way. The reponse to Adrenaline was 1997’s uncontended masterpiece Around the Fur — an incredibly beautiful (erotic, even), antagonistic fuck you to love and life in general. With the intoxicating moments of “My Own Summer (Shove It)”, “Mascara”, “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)”, “Lotion”, “Dai the Flu”, “MX” and “Damone”, Chino & co. rocketed themselves above the rest of the nu-metal crowd and displayed a sexual, melodic side that perfectly countered their angst.

Then came White Pony — an epic overture that exhibited their newfound willingness to experiment. Though White Pony was undoubtedly a success, it hinted at the Deftones’ downfall. In short, it was slightly inconsistent and obediently forced. Tracks such as “Digital Bath”, “Knife Party”, “Change (In the House of the Flies)” and “The Boy’s Republic” displayed their obvious talent, but those moments were (almost) nullified by the less than stellar “Elite”, “Street Carp”, and “Korea”, all of which seemed out of place and forced. Where Adrenaline and Around the Fur effortlessly flowed from start to finish, White Pony was somewhat awkward when listened to as a whole — as if balancing genius with mediocrity. Still, the band’s willingness to experiment (in addition to the album’s stunning breakout tracks) resulted in success.

Which led to 2003’s self-titled album, which was a rather obvious attempt at recreating Around the Fur. This album showcases a band even more at odds with itself — with boring, generic screaming on one side (“Hexagram”, “When Girls Telephone Boys”), and slices of genius on the other (“Minerva”, “Battle Axe” and “Bloody Cape”). Simply listening to the record was a schizophrenic experience. Where it was once commonplace for Moreno to mix his deathly screams with beautiful, moaning melodies, it now seemed as if the band thought it was easier to just split the tracks equally (screaming song, melodic song, screaming song, melodic song).

The same attitude is prevalent on 2006’s Saturday Night Wrist. “Rapture”, and “Rats, Rats, Rats!” continue the unlikable nu-metal panache, while “U,U,D,D,L,R,L,R,A,B,SELCT,START” and “Pink Cellphone” act as (very boring) artsy Team Sleep-eque segues. “Cherry Waves”, “Mein” and “Tilde” provide slight glimpses of past success but don’t end up delivering. And then there’s “Combat” and “Kimdracula” — both of which bring to mind vintage Deftones. In other words, the same effortlessly heaven-scented music the band is so famous for. While the rest of the album feels incredibly forced and smothered in mediocrity, these two tracks stand out as a brilliant fusion of Adrenaline style skate-punk and Around the Fur’s breathtaking melodies — all while sounding original and new.

It’s this promise that makes Deftones so frustrating. Knowing that they are capable of making such incredible records yet seeing them continue to fall back on this filler material (boring nu-metal screaming and strange, electronic segues) when they are able to make music so much better is maddening to say the least.

• Madden ‘07 is too easy. Ridiculously easy. The graphics keep getting prettier and the features more intense, but the gameplay is still stuck in the same unrealistic tecmo bowl style malaise. With the difficulty setting on Pro (which isn’t even the easiest, I should add), I started my first season 9-0. I just lost my first game, and even that was lame. I was down by 12 with less than two minutes to go; managed to score two touchdowns (70 and 39 yard receptions) and a two-point conversion to take a three point lead, which I reliquished to a field goal and eventually lost in overtime. Still, take these stats into consideration: My kick returner is averaging almost 40 yards per return with 5 (yes, 5) TDs in 10 games. My QB has a rating of 145.4 with 3,000 yards, 26 TDs and 3 interceptions. His touchdown to interception ratio is 26:3. My top receiver (who is a rookie, by the way) has over 400 yards more than the next best in the league, and my top two receivers each have 10 TDs which is one more than next best in the league. In one game my QB easily threw for 499 yards with 5 TDs. I’m averaging over 35 points per game, which is 11 more than anyone else. Meanwhile, running is damn near impossible. My team is averaging about 80 yards per game rushing, which is ridiculous considering I run about 70% of the time. While I applaud the incredible evolution of graphics in the Madden franchise, I would prefer to play a realistic game. Even ten years after the first release in this series, you can still easily win a game using one or two main plays the entire game. EA Sports needs to change the game from 5 minute quarters to the real NFL time of 15 minutes. They then need to adjust for the user speed of the game and come up with a realistic speed for the clock so it lasts just as long as the 5 minute games. I mean, the 2 minute warning is completely worthless in a 5 minute game. Basically, it’s like the NFL having a 7 minute warning. So, EA Sports, I beg you: please care a little less about the graphics and useless features like “Create-A-Fan” and try to make these games a bit more realistic. Mmmkay??

• The top 500 list is not dead. I’ve just been struggling to find time to add vignettes at the moment. Don’t give up on it just yet.

• Trail of Dead’s (personally I liked the band’s …And You Will Know Us By The prefix much better) new album has leaked. This thing is worlds better than Worlds Apart. I’ll try to post a review of it in the coming days. But I will leave you with this: It’s weird as hell; it’s awkward; it’s addicting; it’s damn good.

• Sophia. Ever heard of this band? I can tell you one thing: I hadn’t either until I randomly checked out their new album, Technology Won’t Save Us a few nights ago. And it’s one of the better releases I’ve heard this year. Think Notwist style chill rock without the electronic lap-pop backdrop. Seriously, this is at the top of my list right now. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

• The Killers - Sam’s Town. If you know me, you know that i’m not an indie prick and that I will readily admit to liking such don’t-mention-them-to-indie-fans bands such as Linkin Park and even Avril. I can tell you right now that I loved The Killers‘ debut. But this? This might be the worst album I’ve heard since Courtney Love’s solo album. Or even Paris Hilton’s horribly pathetic attempt at making music making money. Seriously, this record is just embarrassing to listen to. The lyrics are nauseating, Brandon Flowers‘ voice has devolved and every song is disgustingly unoriginal and awful. Stay far, far away from it.

• -1’s to: Santana Moss, Marques Colston and Jerricho Cotchery for sucking balls this week and helping my fantasy football team get its ass kicked. Oh, and Ahman Green for not playing even though the Packers said “he will”. And also to Yahoo for changing the post-game scores and providing me with a 0.06 point loss in my other league. Yes you read that right, I lost by 0.06 points.