apologies for the recent downtime (did anyone even notice? probably not). anyway, i was forced to switch servers and i am still trying to fix some of the things that are f’d up because of the move. i will fix it though! i am a fix-it man! i promise! i swear :(

here are some things for you to read:

• i have found the greatest video ever created. this is the reason the internet was invented:

yeah.

• also, here is a video of tony romo and mr. belding singing “don’t stop believin’” with metal skool. seriously. mr. belding and tony romo covering the greatest bar song of all time? the world just imploded.

• things have been quiet on the new music front recently, but there are gems that i will be posting shortly. (e.g.: mgmt, foals, we barbarians, girls in hawaii).

• for some reason i have been salivating on old school modest mouse recently. i kind of forgot how great and raw their earlier stuff was. do yourself a favor and listen to “neverending math equation” again.

brilliance!!

also, the lemonheads. was there ever a song about drugs that made you more relaxed than “drug buddy”? (the answer is no)

• should i start making more lists? perhaps. i think i will.

• the wire is like, the greatest tv show ever. and i just finished season 4 and now i am :(

• also, dexter is the greatest tv show ever. don’t watch it on cbs, though — that is bound to be horrible.

As much of a holy omfgical year in music it was for me, there were also some huge disappointments. Here were the biggest:

	:’(	Smashing Pumpkins Zeitgeist [Reprise/Jul 10]
	The first new Pumpkins album in 7 years was a horribly-produced, steaming pile of shit with Corgan’s vocals turned up 5,313 decibals louder than anything else. Even the album cover is laughable. The only thing remotely decent was Jimmy Chamberlin’s drumming, which is barely audible anyway.

	:’(	Interpol Our Love to Admire [Capitol/Jul 10]
	This album was way better the first two times they wrote it. The third time around, it’s a boring, uninteresting eulogy of a band who once had a world of hype and promise. To add insult to injury, it (terrible cover and all) was released the same day as The Smashing Pumpkins’ Zeitgeist.

	:’(	Against me! New Wave [Sire/Jul 10]
	Perhaps not coincidentally also released on July 10, these folk punks’ fourth studio album showcases the final steps of a band moving completely into the spectrum of mainstream, polished production that does nothing but ruin their sound. RIP

	:’(	Tiger Army Music From Regions Beyond [Hellcat/Jun 5]
	Like Against Me!, these psychobilly’s latest offering suffers from a polished production that does not fit their sound and style at all. Though not a terrible record, their track record has proven capable of much better, making this all the more disappointing.

	:’(	65daysofstatic The Destruction of Small Ideas [Monotreme/Apr 30]
	These UK post-rockers have done nothing but gone downhill since their stunning 2004 debut. The most recent entry to the band’s catalogue furthers a descent into generic instrumental post-rock that lacks the tumultuous electronic drums and pulsating beats that made their debut so incredible.

	:’(	Portugal. The Man Church Mouth [Fearless/Jul 24]
	Despite an amazing EP at the beginning of this very same year, these Alaskans’ second full-length is hardly daring and fails to deliver on the experimental promises of their previous work. Hardly a worthy adversary to a debut that was one of 2006’s best releases.

	:’(	The New Pornographers Challengers [Matador/Aug 21]
	Though this album was one of the top 75 of the year, it was nonetheless a weak offering from a band who’s previous releases were nothing short of amazing. Challengers is by far the worst from The New Pornographers to date.

	:’(	I Heart Hiroshima Tuff Teef [Valve/Aug 13]
	I had been excitedly awaiting the debut full-length from this band after several excellent EPs. Tuff Teef however, is a bland record filled with unmemorable moments that all run together like a freight train of boring.

	:’(	She Wants Revenge This is Forever [Perfect Kiss/Oct 9]
	She Wants Revenge’s second album is an uninspired set of 80s synth-pop homages that don’t bring anything original to the table. The band’s previous penchant for intensely disconnected darkwave melodies is sorely lacking, leaving behind a lifeless collection of uninspired neo-goth.

	:’(	Hard-Fi Once Upon a Time in the West [Warner/Sep 18]
	Hot off the success of a surprisingly solid debut, these Europeans returned with a second album of trite, semi-indie rock wrapped in a terriblely gimmicky “no cover art” ploy. It doesn’t much matter, as there isn’t anything worth listening to underneath the obvious White Album imitation.

	:’(	Foo Fighters Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace [RCA/Sep 25]
	Dave Grohl continues his journey towards adult contemporary with this latest forgettable entry into mediocrity. Foo Fighters have been steadily declining since Pat Smear’s departure a decade ago, and this album is no exception.

	:’(	Hot Hot Heat Happiness Ltd. [Sire/Sep 11]
	The fourth album by these formerly danceable Canadians sounds like The Strokes on Vicodin playing arena rock. All of the band’s prior strengths have been covered up by overproduction and radio-whore subterfuge. So long :(

pretty much cannot stop listening to the bonus ep from junior senior’s hey hey my my yo yo. it is better than the album, omg? “together for one last dance” is like the greatest f’ing danceable + sad/crying + jump up and down/boozed up song ever. “u and me” is like “WHAT!! GOING TO ISLAND!@? PARTY??! PARTY ALL NITE?? <3?? NO SRSLY, LUV LUV ??? 4EVER OKAY!!!!!!" <-- seriously that is exactly what it's like. “stranded on an island alone” is pretty intense — a sort of slowspeed car chase through various historic districts in a town of music thugz and disco mobsters. also, the rest of the songs are good too.

sersly wtf, this song came on earlier today (yes it’s yellowcard. deal.) and i was like whoa omg this is so creepy and so incredibly sad :’( then i listened to it like, 8 times in a row.

natasha thirsk (left) is hott and an awesome singer/musicianfor some reason or another, some bands/singers/babez do not get the attention they deserve (even in the selfishly obscured indie prick circles). i am going to try to correct that every now and then.

natasha thirsk
not only is natasha a super hott canadian babe but she is also the singer of two incredibly underrated bands (both of which she lends her deliciously sexy voice to). thirsk’s first band, the dirtmitts, has released just two albums: 2001’s the dirtmitts (from which came the omfgically brilliant “fix & destroy”), and 2002’s slightly more introspective get on (see the stunning melodic energy of “bank card” or the artsy minimalism of “get the minus gone”). her most recent project is catlow, which takes some of the dirtmitts’ mild abstractions and adds some neo-discotheque moodswings and soundscapes to create a vibe as unpredictable as it is succulent. <3

basically no other acoustic musician can hold a candle to the brilliance of sexton blake. his album plays the hits is loaded with

80s covers done all acoustic style and omfg they are SOGOOD. seriously straight up double style OMFG @ milli vanilli’s “girl you know it’s true”. for realz though, this whole album is like sufjan, sam beam, sean lennon, elliott smith and sebadoh all rolled up into one FUCKING AWESOME TASTING CAKE THAT HAS A FEW CANDLES ON IT AND YOU ARE BLOWING THEM OUT AFTER YOU JUST GOT BACK FROM ROLLERSKATING AT YOUR BIRTHDAY PARTY AND NOW FOR SOME REASON YOUR BIRTHDAY IS NOW TURNING INTO A MONTAGE. are you kidding me with that cover??? so awesome.

zomg hello my lovelies. here are some recent happenings that you should know about:

• the new against me! album (new wave) is leaked. it is pretty good.. so far i don’t think i like it as well as the eternal cowboy but it is still good nonetheless. also, it is produced by butch vig. also, there is (OMFG!@!@!!) a track featuring tegan quin (“borne on the fm waves of the heart”).

• eagle vs. shark is completely hilarious. don’t listen to the reviews saying it ripped napoleon dynamite (it didn’t). the only similarities they share are awkward characters and lots of neo-retro products. watch this movie.

• the blogz0r is celebrating its 1-year anniversary this week!!! hoorah~! honestly i am somewhat surprised i managed to keep posting for an entire year. but you, the reader(s?), have provided the support i needed to continue writing. yes, it’s been sporadic at times (like a nice case of herpes, with breakouts and dormancies, i know). BUT, i have found my stride, and the blogz0r will continue to roll on. the blogz0r’s very first article (on how much pitchfork sucks) can be found right here.

• walking six blocks to work in 115-degree heat really, really sucks :’(

• my fantasy baseball team is destroying so far this season. which rules, since yahoo! screwed me over in the first round by autopicking jimmy rollins as the #3 overall pick (wtf).

• i hate 4th of July

• superbad apparently still exists. awesome.

• kanye west’s new song “stronger” is so effing good omfg. kanye + daft punk ftw!!

okay, so unlike certain people (*cough*sebastian*cough*) i actually loves me some vintage smashing pumpkins action. siamese dream remains one of my favorite albums of all time, i DO still
love mellon collie and the infinite sadness, i LOVE adore and machina: the machines of god had some awesome (and also some crappy) songs.

but then, something happened. i don’t even know what. i think basically what happened is that billy corgan started thinking he was better than he was. yeah that is pretty much it. while billy may have been the posterchild of 90s alternative rock, he has never evolved into the 21st century like everyone else. OH, and also he became a megalomaniac who thinks his vocals deserve to be a million times louder than the rest of the instruments. ARE THERE EVEN ANY OTHER INSTRUMENTS BESIDES BILLY’S WHINY VOICE ON THIS ALBUM BECAUSE I SURE DON’T HEAR ANY!!!!@!@@?? this record is seriously really crappy. like lamez-style crappy. it would be like 400x better if billy would just turn the vocals volume down from 23 to at least 9 or something. and another thing: this is probably the WORST album cover art i have EVEr seen in my entire life. billy: when did you turn into such a huge douchcicle ?? you need to stfu and get bent. stop making music. you are no longer good at it, and this album will (un??)fortunately completely destroy your reputation as one of the greatest songwriters of the 90s.

and lastly: jimmy chamberlin is still one of the greatest drummers in rock ‘n’ roll history.

ummm… wtf? my roommate just put on wired all wrong’s 2006 debut album (break out the battle tapes), and by the second song i was like dude this sounds like the dude from self. wellll, apparently matt mahaffey (of self) and jeff turzo (of god lives underwater) formed this band ???? and no one told me??? basically, this album takes all the good parts from self and all the good parts from god lives underwater and mixes them into one radical industrialized bag of pure awesomeness. matt’s vocals are totally rock’d out and he sounds more like a rockstar than ever. “you’re freakin me out girl” sounds exactly like what i wish justin timberlake sounded like. basically what he would sound like if he was totally cool. the whole album just rocks out with its cock out.

oh, i am such a lonely lonely blog

*drinks some rum*