explodo

Maybe the fact that I don't like Jim James and had no expectations for his contributions is helping me to overlook their relative weakness.

This sounds so creepy and amazing. Awesome.

This record starts out extremely strong but, on my first listen, I was tired of it about halfway through (I wish that Colbert applet named and numbered the tracks as they played). It's nice to see them make something like this, especially after their last record, but as is always the case with double albums, you have to wonder if it couldn't have been condensed into a really great single disc.

I don't really think any of them mailed it in. Magic Marker and Man Named Truth (which sounds a lot worse here than it did when Bright Eyes was playing it...that vocal when he says Diablo makes me cry) are easily the worst tracks on the record, and I don't have the urge to, say, skip over them. I'm at the point where any record dominated by Oberst and M. Ward is going to be good, and this obviously falls into that category. I have to wonder how many, if any, of these songs date back to the Ward & Oberst recording session that was supposed to result in an album but has so far only result

He'll be forgotten. Replaced by AJ Hawk or some other underachiver.

Didn't mean to start a war here. What I meant by my comment, given the preceding context ("defenses will be good"), was that the Bears D is not Urlacher and Urlacher alone as it is often made out to be. He is overrated in general, too, now that the subject has been broached. No way he goes first ballot.

I would like to blame one of Jay Cutler's interceptions on an awesome play by Johnny Jolly. Dude is huge and makes a one handed/diving catch. Otherwise I have to assume we just saw the worst of both offenses. Defenses should be good all the way through, Urlacher or not. That guy has been overrated his entire career.

I only listened once, but I thought this was their worst, along with Riot Act, by a mile. The lyrics sound like they were written by a teenager. I'm going to give it a couple more chances (it's short), but I don't know about this thing. If the lyrics bother me on a record, I'm very liable to not come around on it.

Man Named Truth aside, the Oberst & M. Ward stuff is miles better than the rest or the junk on here. Overall I like it a lot.

Pryor, thus far, has not impressed. I'm notorious for hating Ohio State, so maybe it's just me, but the guy looks pretty average out there.

If you like Noise Floor, you're going to like anything he's done. Go for Lifted, Fevers & Mirrors, and Digital Ash first. Then go for the first record and the EPs, most of which are very solid and worth the money.

I started DeLillo's Underworld for the millionth time. We'll see how it goes.

This was good, but I think, for me, a little something was lost from his previous works. I still liked it quite a bit, but I felt it lacked the usual sense of magic. Still beautiful and well-worth seeing. And I noticed only one awkward line of dialogue, so that's a win as far as I'm concerned. I was mortified when I saw the voice-acting lineup.

I didn't know he had one or that it had leaked until now. I saw him on that Holiday Surprise tour and liked what I heard, so I'll go check it out. My favorite new E6 thing of late is an album called Love It Love It by Nana Grizol. Not sure why exactly, but I like that record a lot.

Nesey Gallons could be real good. That Circulatory System record is good, too. Probably not as good (to me) as their first one. And sort of a stretch to call it Jeff Mangum's new project. He is much less involved this go 'round than he was the last time, where he toured with them and everything.

Whoa! And I thought those Wilco prices were ridiculous.

$40!? Yowza.

That whole diatribe up there seems par for the course from Palin supporters. I have a Palin-lovin' cousin, and she sends me emails sometimes with all sorts of bizarre misspellings and capitalization issues. And ignorance. Plenty of ignorance.

Maybe I'm Barack Obama.

They're really great. Imagine if Obama posed with a flag draped across a chair like that. Rush Limbaugh's head would explode.

Such a great idea and the first track sounds great. I love Beck. Now finish what you started and do an entire Nick Drake album.

I don't see any reason why they wouldn't play the single.

Actually, I don't think Obama's response could have been much better. We simply don't know what happened, so it doesn't make sense to pick sides. And like he said, from an American perspective, whatever the outcome, the repercussions will be similar. Iran is still Iran, racing towards nuclear weapons and harboring a general distrust of all things American. If he sides with Moussavi, everybody loses. Ahmadinejad and the gang are going to be in control (though I hope I am wrong). We don't need to do something meaningless and stupid to piss them off further. And if this turns into a revolution, w