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April 21, 2005

So Much New Music

Sometimes it seems it comes all at once.

Totten has a good take on the new Of Montreal album, "Sunlandic Twins". I've never been that big of a fan of Of Montreal, the whole toronto-pop meets Willy Wonka. I mean, its a good idea and all that, plus "Will You Come and Fetch Me"+"My British Tour Diary" is a dang fine song combo off of one of the coolest album titles ever: "Satanic Panic in the Attic". That's the sorta brilliant name that only comes along once in a lifetime.

Anyways, like Totten says, the new album feels more dense, thicker, but more of the Of Montreal same. So if its your thing, thumbs up.

Also, via the iTunes pre-release phenomenom, there's a number of new singles to be ingested. Ryan Adam's has come out of no-where to not suck for the first time in awhile with "Let it Ride". Feels like the sorta track that would have come in-between Heartbreaker and Gold, and should have. Its good, with some Southern-gothic flavor that I really enjoy.

Of course, Jack White/The White Stripes goes and gets all falsetto on "Blue Orchid". It seems like Jack is getting more focused in his riffs, less of the flamboyant, flailing elements of White Blood Cells & De Stijl. Still, it rocks, and we need a little rock to pass the hours.

And I dunno why I got sucked into these two songs: I heard them first in my early morning channel surfing, leaving it on MTV2 while I made breakfast. The first is .50 Cent & The Game's "Hate it or Love It". Frankly, I don't enjoy much hip-hop, especially of the "gangsta" variety. Just feels like the same old themes with the same old beats. Something about this one, maybe it was the actual presence of a melody, I found immensely appealing. Its smooth, like a ridiculously hot california afternoon.

The other is Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl". I don't much care for Gwen Stefani in general, call it a throwback to the swarm of kids I saw in highschool wearing "No Doubt" and "Bush" patches on their backpacks talking about the amazing matrimonial union 'tween their bands Front-persons. If Gwen and Gavin could find love, didn't that mean we should too? Anyways, I have no idea what exactly a "Hollaback" girl is, I think it has something to do with a woman not just yelling, but actually bothering to physically attack her protaganist. I can respect that. I can also respect, even somewhat ironically, that Gwen bothers to work the spelling of "B-A-N-A-N-A-S" into the bridge of her song; something not even the veggie-folkies like Devendra Barnhardt or Joanna Newsom could accomplish.

Anyways, I'm feeling a little better overall in terms of my allergies. It rained today, though it needs to rain more.