It's gonna get weird in here......

I am feeling a little sick today. Stuffy head and nose annoy me. Short sentences occur in this condition. Due to the rythem of my breathing. I will stop doing that, however.
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I wonder if the hour of 10pm is ever going to pass without me wanting to have junk food? I rarely act on it, usually only once every 2 months or so, but 10pm is when my dinner wears off and I am still awake, watching TV and definitly hungry. Ice cream, cookies, candy, you name it, but its gotta be sweet. This happens every....single.....night. Did I say every night? Cause I mean, every night
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NUMBER 13: Of Montreal "Hissing Fauna, Are you the Destroyer?" - I am not sure if starting a band name with a preposition is allowed by my 5th grade teacher, but "Of Montreal" has never been a band that follows rules. Like when you name your band after a city, that usually means you are from it, but Of Montreal is actually based out of Athens, Georgia.
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Kevin Barnes is the lead creator of what can only be described by me as psychadelic electronic indie cartoon rock band. Their style is jarring, and all over the map of styles mixed in a sharp blend that bounces from sound to sound. In person, he looks like he sounds, delicate face tatoos made with makeup, a mix of mens and womens clothes, and funky hair create some sort of extra-terrestrial cartoon man.

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When I orginally read the review to this album, it said that Kevin Barnes had gone through a breakup with his current girlfriend before writing this album. I immediately begin to think of my pleasant memories of Beck's Sea Change album. I was startled out of that impression immediately by a mix of crazy sounds. Upset at first, this album sat on my shelf for about 2 months till I read that Pitchfork had put it in its top 20 albums of the year. I felt rededicated to give it another try. I quickly quietly respected the album as an elegant mix of sounds that I wouldn't understand, and stuck it at number 20. But the more times I listened to it, the more it grew on me, as these complex albums usually do. Every day that passed, it moved up. There is another album that I picked up just before making the list that I didn't even plan on putting on the list, but has stormed it's way to the top 10. I dislike the middle song "The Past is a Grotesque Animal", which is long and repetitive electonica that usually irks me, but there are all good songs stacked around it, with crazy crazy titles....of course.
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Thanks to Pans Labrynth, I knew that a Fauna was in no relation to a baby dear, but to a mythical creature that is responsible for all forest spirits. I would not want to meet a hissing one, thats for sure. So I love the name of this album for one thing. The word "destroyer" is also one of my top 10 favorite words. Not sure what the other 9 would be, but destroyer would definitly be in there.
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The lyrics laid down on this album are fantastic crazy stammerings. Things like "physics makes us all it's bitches" and "Chemicals, don't strangle my pen. Chemicals don't make me sick again. I'm always so dubious of your intent" along with many other gems that reveal themselves the more you listen. It's the lyrics which convey the dark thoughts of the depressed state that Kevin Barnes is in, not the music. However, this is a statement album in the life of Of Montreal. Definitly the best album of their career, and probably their life. Using all kinds of crazy samples and moving all over the vocal range like a slightly more unraveled David Bowie. This album eventually charms you into a smile. The songs get stuck in my head for hours at a time. They are almost the perfect mix of silly and sad and interesting. And I want nothing to do with knowing what kind of bill a psychiatrist would charge to fix whatever wires are wrong in Barnes' head, but I don't think he wants them fixed and neither does anyone else.

Samples: heimdalsgate like a promethian curse, gronlandic edit
Amazon Page
MySpace Page

Her moon, Her man.

NUMBER 14: Feist "The Reminder" Usually a full blown advertising campaign is bad for an artists whose songs are featured in conjunction with a product. Especially when you are dealing with a mega-company who has the money and desire to put their name everywhere like Apple Computers. Bad for everyone but an artist as talented as Feist.
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Achieving notoriety as one of the founding members of the juggernaut Broken Social Scene and with a mildy succesfull previous album of half covers/half original songs called "Let it Die", Feist commanded at least a sample listen on her latest 2007 album. Fully written by her this time around, Feist opened up a Joni Mitchell-esque heart felt powerhouse album. It also doesn't hurt that her voice is as good as anyone's out there too. Norah Jones and Alicia Keys wish they had her musical chops.
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The best I can describe it is a jazzy-folk album that heavily features her voice and what I think must be a marraca or brush stick on a cymbal on nearly every track. Why this hiss-shake noise works so well in conjunction with her voice, I don't know. There is also plenty of simplistic acuoustic guitar melodies and piano that provide a solid path for Feist to flit and fly her voice over, along with a hearty dose of soft clapping rythems. The marraca and clapping makes this perfect travelling music as these noises sound kind of like a train that happily chugs through country side. There is also surprising brass jazz thrown in that gives a happy sense of life. I always picture a smiling louis armstrong on the hit "1-2-3-4"
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Unlike the Voxtrot album that sits at number 15 that I wish I had put at number 19, I think I wish I had put this album a little closer to number 1 and definitly ahead of the next album I am going to talk about. With its mix of happy songs, sad songs, and break the mold songs, this album is good the whole way through and is diverse in its sound. I could probably be easily talked into a top 5 for it as a matter of fact . But then again, if I put this years Joni Mitchell up too high on my personal list, people will start to ask what I do with my spare time when no one is looking. So....my manliness puts it at number 14. But for all the girls out there with an appreciation for real music, this album could be one of the best albums you have ever bought.
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Unfourtunatly, you always feel a sense of betrayel when an album gets discovered by the public when you are in on the ground floor. Those Apple and Verizon bastards. But in fairness to Feist, her music is not the type to be exposed for its sugar-pop that soon goes sour after a lot of listens. This is a hearty album full of great songs that are diverse and feel fresh with each listien. Lyrics that are insightful into Feist's journey's as a travelling artist and the love and issues involved with always being on the move and the lessons she has learned. "My Moon, My Man" is a song about how the man in the moon is the only man she can seem to keep. A very depressing song that seems so personal to you when you hear it.
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"Take it slow. Take it easy on me. And shed some light, shed some light on me. please. Take it slow, and shed some light. Shed some light on me, please"

Samples: My Moon, My Man, I feel it all, 1-2-3-4,
Amazon Page
MySpace Page

Wimbledon Arm

I have never played a serious game of tennis before. I have tried, but the fact that there are in/out lines that I have to direct the ball around makes my head explode. However, despite my lack of experience, I managed to succomb to pretty serious case of tennis elbow. It started out as, "my arm hurts, ow" to "MY ARM HURTS........RIGHT.......HERE OWWWWW!" So after a month of saying that, I decided to investigate the issue using the fabulous interweb.
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As soon as I saw the picture, I knew I nailed the diagnosis, cause the pain is right where it shows. If I close my eyes I can see the tendons being frayed and torn like that. And kind of red and aggravated too. The only difference that picture and my actual is that my muscle are 5x bigger than the ones in the picture. Oh.....and I have skin too. Sexy, chocolatey skin
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Apparently, its a pretty serious thing according to the interweb, but knowing a few tennis players in my day, I am convinced that its not. I think that aristocratic tennis players need something to whine about when they miss a shot. So it's lots of ice, advil, and a freddie kruegar colored arm sleeve to keep it warm while I work out.
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NUMBER 15: Voxtrot - Pitchfork would roll over in its cyber-grave if they saw me put this album ahead of both Burial and Panda Bear, but I am doing it. I am a little tentative myself about it, now that I really think about it. This is kind of a puff-pop type album and is slightly disappointing considering the quality of their EP's, and it is not soaked with musical genius. However, this got slightly kicked around considering they didn't live up to thier own hype, and it also has a lot more for real people to identify with, in that you are not left deciphering every pop hiss and layer. It is enjoyable to listien to and has an easy british indie sound to it. They remind me of a faster moving Travis.
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Straight outta of the former Beamer habitat of Austin, Texas; Voxtrot released some fantastic EP's all over the internet and scoured the stage and YouTube to get thier name out, which got them the money to do this full length album. Faced with the challenge of over 12 songs, some of them are a little weak, but certain songs shine with an eased down and crystal clear punk sound. Quick snare and cymbal taps, rolling violins and guitar riffs, and light on the bass drum and guitar make this album feel energetic. Combined with the snappy angsty lyrics that drive lines like "I had to lose my idols to find my voice" and "dead weight alright, I know your no good for me" the first half of this album shows plenty of potential, but it loses inspiration after the Every Day track, which sounds very similar to the Kid Gloves track. There's a nice slow track in "Real live version" where lead singer Ramesh Srivastava slows himself down to sing a meloncholoy jam.
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If I could do this list over again, I would probably put this album at number 19, but its here for now. Out of the 15-20 list, this is probably the album that will appeal to the most people cause it's comfy and doesn't throw too many indie snob sounds at you. So if you need an album from this list to hang your hat on and play with your friends in the car and not get weird looks and questions about your sexuality, then this one is it. Their EP's are definitly worth a listien if you like Voxtrot's sound

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Samples: steven, firecracker,
amazon page
myspace page

Endangered Asian Animals

I don't have much to talk about today, so lets cut right to the punch shall we?

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NUMBER 16: Panda Bear "Person Pitch" Noah Lennox is the drummer of Animal Collective (get it? he calls himself panda bear and plays in a band with other animal named artists) and the sole artist behind this critical success. Named the number one album by many artist and critics, especially the omnipotent Pitch Fork, Panda Bear can rest on his laurels and eat bamboo for a little while without being disturbed.

Is this album a peice of mastery? Probably. You don't get wide spread acclaim like this without doing something right, but it loses the feeble minded S.Vincent from time to time. The harmonies are fantastic and the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" inspiration is never a bad idea. But the repitition is what kills me on some of this 7 song album. The critics love this about "Person Pitch", and they probably are very experienced as to why this is fantastic, but it drives me nuts. The songs "comfy in nautica" "Bros" and "take pills" are all great tracks to start off the album. Noah sounds a lot like Brian Wilson, and the train noises at the beginning of "comfy in nautica" have to be a tribute to the inspiration behind this album. But "I'm not" annoys me with its rolling arabian style whines over and over and over again and the Good girl section of "Good girl/carrots" is the same repetitive african drums trance over and over again. Noah rounds it off with 2 great efforts in "search for delicious" and "pony tail", but that hole in the middle makes the album almost unlistienable straight through for me. When this album is good, it's good. Smooth electronic transitions of sound mixed with noah's enhanced beach voice make it you feel as though you are wandering through a sea of both water and sunshine. Maybe on a empty board walk, bare foot, or plunging into a pleasantly cool pool. Not so much fun and surfing as the beach boys are, but reflective on your time spent vacationing in stress free rest. It's definitly a headphones type album, if only to absorb all the intricate sounds, but also because you will likely be distracted from it if you can't only hear the music. It's a meditation type album and requires your sole attention.

I feel like I need to have reasons to bash this album because I am putting it so low on my list despite the wide spread acclaim, but honestly this a great album with songs that annoy, what appears to be, me only. So if you consider yourself a music snob, I suggest giving this album, out of all the albums on my list, a hearty listien. The Panda Bear has earned it.

Samples: bros, take pills (both videos are bad, close your eyes)

Amazon link

Astro.....but not the turf

I don't know much about astrology or astronomy for that matter, but its the best title I can come up with regarding the album that is going to sit at number 17 on the list. But before we get there........

A trip to NYC this weekend. Promises of blood and luxurious workout facilities are like the crack to my ____________ .(insert your favorite drug abusing celebrity, perhaps Steven Baldwin?)

"There will be Blood" was not showing in any local theatres yet, and I could just feel that this is movie that I will love and was getting very anxious at all the days going by without me seeing it. That said, it was all I thought it would be. Great story of obsession, loneliness, and greed and the psychosis that comes from it. Daniel Day Lewis lays the smack down and definitly has oscar written all over him, but he's always been great and recieved nothing for it....so i wouldn't be surprised if he again finds himself on the outside looking in. I think Hollywood doesn't like him cause he doesn't have veneer quality teeth.

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I also got to workout in a facility that didn't smell like sewage and wasn't so packed that I could actually move 5 feet without running into a douche. Although there was an unprecidented act of douchery that I had not seen before. A guy reading the newspaper as he was doing weight exercises. He would put the paper down on the floor and read as he lifted. Despite this act of d-baggery, I wish I could train there all the time though, but at 6 times the rate for what I am paying at a gym now, I am quite sure that I couldn't afford it.

NUMBER 17: Stars "In Our Bedroom After the War" The album that follows a critical success like "Set Yourself on Fire" is always going to be a tough sell. It also doesn't help when your lead singer gets in a fight with one of the most successful online music review pages and calls them responsible for the death of art.

From Canada, to NYC, then back to Canada; Stars is made up of 2 members of the Canadian Indie superpower Broken Social Scene (Torquill Campbell and Amy Millan) and a keyboardist named Chris Seligman.

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Their sound is very similar to Broken Social Scene without the dense and thick instumentation that is BSS's signature. Stars uses more vocals and capitalizes on the focused vocal abilities of Millan and Campbell Their voices which are great, are the highlight of the albums much more so than BSS does on their albums. Torquill definitly sings like a wannabe crooner of indie emotion. Maybe thats where the animosity comes towards him and why he is so defensive of his work. He tries too hard.

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This album is not as musically creative as Set Yourself on Fire was, but it's lyrics cry with more passion than the previous. They are probably running out of musical inspiration after a years cranking out creativity across both BSS and Stars, but their ability to create great lyrics and sing them well and more importantly match them well with the music is what makes this album a triumph for Stars. This 8 out of 10 album and it does not dissappoint the Stars' fans, but it's tracks are similar in style to Set Yourself on Fire, and if you were looking for some sort of break the mold album, this was not it. In Our Bedrooms is simply a continuation of the format of Set Yourself on fire with a little more lyracissim and a little less ground breaking harmonies.

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Well, this review sucks and I can't really come up with great things to say about this album, probably cause its simply just a good album and theres not much else to say. The music is sweeping and rolling pianos,violins, and vocals and the lyrics are good. So....number 17 everybody, woo hoo.

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Samples: The night starts here

Amazon Page:

Anonymous U.K. electronica

As I was brushing my teeth this morning, I began to think that toothpaste may be the most over marketed item in personal hygiene. Gotta give to those marketing guru's for coming up with some great idea's on how to take soap for your teeth and create all kinds of ways to encourage buying it with new vigor. Toothpaste is still the same as it was a hundred years ago. I think it used to be just a powder, so now they add a little water and mint flavor and stick it in a tube for you. But you wouldn't know that due to marketing genius' at Colgate, Crest, Aquafresh, etc.... If you believe what they say, toothpaste is as sophisticated as a BMW 5-series instead of basically edible/pleasant tasting soap

Now Toothpaste "whitens!" oh really? Cause usually when I clean something I don't expect it to be the color it started out as. "Tarter Control" fantastic! I am glad that the extra tough dirt on my teeth will be cleaned off too. "Fresh Burst!" Great! the product that looks and tastes like mint, actually smells like mint too! Thank you so much! "Plaque Formula" Get out of here! you mean that using this actually gets rid of the old stuck on dirt as well?

Back to the reviews......



NUMBER 18: Burial "Untrue"-- It figures that the day I have to write about this album is the day when it is lightly raining, dark, cloudy and 35 degrees. It must be fate that it belongs here. Burial is an electronic artist that chooses to remain anonymous in the U.K. Very mysterious, Dr. Watson if I do say so. Mystery aside, this is Burial's second smash album and he is finding his anonymity harder to keep, but still keeps up. His first self titled album was just as much of a success as this one using his electronic styling of "UK two step".

I am new to the electronic music. I always considered most of it to be the awful techno that I see "feminine cleaning product" type individuals dancing to with lots of gel and oil and pedophilia. However, since getting more involved in music, electronic might be the ultimate music format with its no rules style. Unfortunately, when I read reviews on electronic music, most of its description requires a knowledge with the vocabulary as to how its produced by the artist. I know nothing outside of guitars, drums, and keyboards, so electronic vocab is like an alien language to me, but I am quickly falling for it thanks to the likes of Daft Punk, Goldfrapp, LCD Soundsystem, and now Burial.

Now let me see, what can I tell you about this album? I love the album artwork and it's soft and understated sounds. The music makes you feel as though you are watching a movie about a lonely man wandering in a tunnel or dark abandoned building. There's lots of noises that sound like rain or wetness and most of the beats sound like soft footbeats of boots on metal or hard granite. There's also what sounds to me like bullet shell casings on concrete and clinking chains. The vocals are far off voices which describe despair and need. Like a narration of the lonely mans thoughts or perhaps the voices of the people he left behind. It's solid from start to finish too, which is rare, and the songs almost seemingly pass from one to the other, but don't sound repetitive, like a LOT of electronic can.

This is great headphones music, travelling alone or for falling to sleep to. You shouldn't buy this album to share with your friends or to work with. This is music for reading or pondering far away places or perhaps places that are very close by? This album came across with great ratings for all the major music review sources, but since I am not educated enough to really appreciate its subtleties, here is where I put it. If you are person who loves ambient music, you will love this album, but as much as I like this album and listen to it, the other albums on this list gave me more to get excited about. I am an excitable person, obviously!!!!!!! (notice my exclamation points?)

Music Samples: Archangel, etched headplate
Myspace page
Amazon link

normally, I don't do this.....

I put the videos in this blog as tasty little extra's but I try not to force them down your throat because I feel that everyone has their own taste in online videos.

But this was real TV and it was GREAT. Remember when Norm McDonald used to be awesome? Watch him destroy Conan's guest, Courtney Thorne Smith for no good reason. I also think he is quite drunk.

here is the link for the big version of the video

you may resume ignoring my album list below if you choose. That is all for now, good night and good luck.

Gladiators Ready?

The return of American Gladiators premeired with a dual night showing on Sunday and Monday nights on NBC. Always loved this show, and I am very glad its back for another run. The void of this show was slightly filled with the zaney MXC and The Ninja Warrior challenge show, both of japanease origin, but featured no gladiators. Thus, the return of theatrical macho is a much appreciated and its on Monday nights when nothing else is on since football is over. Muchos Gracias NBC. Now, just find a way to end the writers strike and bring back The Office and I'll never even glance at CBS ever again, I promise. No matter how sexy Gil Grissom is.


NUMBER 19: A Place to Bury Strangers: A band out of Brooklyn, NY that is most definitly the loudest indie performers on the market today. A warning goes out that this album is not for the common music fan, it's a jet engine of noise in your face. This album deserves heavy metal discription because it can probably damage your brain, but it is certainly not metal. Terms like "face melting" "decimating" "soul-shattering" "thunderous" and "brutal" apply to the guitar work in this album and upon the first listien I was stunned in probably a poor way. I like to listien to my music loud and when it first punched me in the head through the headphones, I was a little angry. Like I had been sold some un-talented garage band seeing how much distortion they could lay down. I turned the volume down and plowed through the noise to find something truly interesting. Noise that was organized into a peice of weird beauty. It takes a few listiens, but if you can appreciate a master of the craft, you will like this album. This album reminds me of a mix of My Bloody Valentine and The Cure played with 100lbs of force. If you need a hint as to what kind of expert is behind the band, it's leader Oliver Ackermann 2nd business is making his own pedals that are hand wired and used exclusively by U2, Wilco, Spoon, and TV on the Radio. He also reads Aliester Crowley, one of the inspirations for Jimi Page.


The album artwork portrays exactly what you are about to hear, an ear grabbing guitar thrash by a 140lb guy in some Vans, Levis 501's, and a license to jump up and slam his strings. But there is a definitive control here. A master on the pedals that he named "Interstellar Overdriver" "supersonic fuzz gun" and "total sonic annihilation". He will take you to the edge and hold you over by your hair. He'll let you look down and remember how scary it is, and if you are nice and don't squirm too much, you'll survive and see some things that mere mortals will never see.


This is probably the farthest reach on the list. I am certain that no one who reads this blog will like "A Place to Bury Strangers". I am already thinking about how Animal Collective and this album should maybe switch. But I sense something here, a profit that this album went by unnoticed and unfairly so, something that I can't describe. If you like My Bloody Valentine, you have a good chance of liking this album. Their lyrics are easier to decipher than MBV, so thats working for them, but the essence of controlled noise is what makes them similar. As for the rest of you pansies out there, move back to your plinky plunky indie world. This is a high voltage area!


Song Samples: Fix the Gash in your Head, I know I'll see You
Bands Web Page
Amazon buy page with song samples

Cue the frog rain....

It's 60 degrees in January and I am a little scared. But then I remembered that I am not bored enough with life to be irrational and decided to come up with my top 20 albums of 2007 instead. My goal is to do one album a day in reverse order, review what the music is like and why I like it. I will try to do a good job, but I am not vocabularily inclined in auditory expression, so you may have to bear with me, and hopefully I won't be finding new ways to repeat "I like this album because it sounds good" over and over again. This also gives me 20 days to edit the order of the list, which I am sure I will do 50000 times. 20 posts in 20 (week)days in a row is an unheard of frequency for me, so hopefully it can be accomplished. Cross your rabbits feet and rub your fingers.

I will also try to introduce each album with some kind of tidbits about what I find interesting that is going on here in the good ol' PoVegas community and end each post with a links to song/video samples (if there are any) and amazon.com buy page for those who want to buy instantly. You lazy f-words.

ALBUMS JUST OUTSIDE THE CUT: today I worked on the list, but most of today was spent working around the # 20 and selecting which albums were going to be left off the list. I started out with about 30 albums in mind and then removed 8 because I found out they weren't released in 2007 like I thought they were. Ooops! But that still left me with 2 that I had to leave out.

Number 22: Tegan and Sarah "The Con" I really enjoy their sound, their attitude and a number of thier songs, especially the signature track. I explored more of their work and found them very talented and their use of harmony is great and their lyrics are very very good. They use the soft electro beats very well while showcasing their great vocal work. They should be more popular than they are, and thats probably why I left them off. They are almost pop music, but not quite. Their highs didn't leave me high enough. I could be biased because I got this album early in the summer and they fell off the back burner to my latest music, but each time I listiened to it, I got less and less excited to hear it. So my gut left them off. Sorry guys.

Number 21: Animal Collective "Strawberry Jam" This is a highly regarded album by the indie music scene, most put it in the top 5 of the year. I am just starting to see why, but I have only had this album for a few weeks. Most albums like this take a few weeks to absorb, but I have to do this now. Sorry Animal Collective. This album is PACKED full of sounds and unusual rythems. Thats probably why it is so amazing to so many and maybe the reason for the title. To me it sounds over done and the lyrics are usual haphazzard indie lyrics that you have to know more about the members and band to fully understand why they write the words they do. I am a very open-minded person, raised on simple pop and rock and try hard to listien for the highly regarded beauty, and I think maybe by this summer I will understand it, but for now #21 is the best I can do.

NUMBER 20: Rogue Wave "Asleep at Heaven's Gate": It's hard to live up to past success. Ask Rogue Wave, the Cali-indie rock machine. Still mostly unknown, thier sound is very unique and carries a certain fan base, which tripled recently after the release of 2005's Descended like Vultures Album. DLV was fantastic album start to finish, taking the unique melodies of their first album and adding more intensity to a perfect balance of new perfectly smooth music. I highly suggest picking that one up as it would be one of my top 4 2005 albums. Now with more attention, Rogue Wave had to please the fans of the past and of the present which is nearly impossible . Zach Rogue, lead singer and the bands creative force, almost pulled it off. He has a great and unique voice and he layers it uniquely which creates what I think to be a very west coast sound. He sounds blonde to me, fair and soft in delivery, but is actually afro-y brown. Maybe a son of art garfunkle? HaHa This album falls off towards the end, but the first half is a fantastic direction for this band. He probably wanted to give the audience even more sound and moved out of the comfort zone with bigger and more aggressive instruments and studio work that may have been the downfall for the second half since the songs show a lack of consistency start to finish. But the first half shows promise that it wasn't a complete waste for what I feel are some of the bands best songs in its 3 full-length album history. I must say though, a good sign is that I like the last half more and more each time I listien to it, especially the last 3 songs "Fantasies" "Phonytown" and "Cheaper than therapy" which is more of a throw back to Descended..My favorite song is "Harmonium" a powerhouse of a song mixing a melody of Zach's voice in what may be the climax of the Rogue Wave sound thus far. I could not find any full length samples of it for free though, boo hoo.

Song Samples: Lake Michigan youtube video, MySpace Page

Amazon Page with song samples of each song at the bottom.

reality check

Sagittarius - January 8, 2008
November 22 - December 20

"Reward yourself for all the great things you have done for yourself and other people, dear Sagittarius. You deserve to be treated like a queen, so make sure that you treat yourself as such. There are many times when you get so critical of the things you do that you end up punishing yourself unnecessarily. Give yourself a treat for being good instead of chastising yourself for being bad. At all times, however, you must remember that you are perfect just the way you are"

So apparently, not only am I very concerned about the welfare of others, I am a massochist and a woman.

Lesson learned for today: I am the only person with a penis that reads his horoscope.

-will post again soon, here's some new tunes as a treat for hanging in there: Okkervil River "Our Life is not a Movie or Maybe"