Is there any hope for us, or are the rumors true?

This post at Dave's Long Box pretty much covers why I like the Mighty Thor as a character.

"Yea verily, I swear by all that mine father Odin hath wrought upon this goodly earth, I, Thor, shall claim vengeance on thee! Mjolnir, to me!"

(SMASH, BITCHES)

"By Soggoth's horns, this deed is done!"

Yeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, thats the good stuff.

So yeah, I've not been writing in here for a good bit, have I? It's not for lack of writing, you can be sure. I've just not been writing anything worthwhile enough to unleash upon you, my blog-reading enthusiasts. See, I have only YOUR best interests at heart.

I do have a quick CD review for you, though, as I know you've been starved for my attention and crave the fix that only my unique brand of self-deprecation and overblown ego provide. Sic Semper Bea Arthur.

The Lawrence Arms - Oh! Calcutta!


If you know anything about this amazing Chicago punk band, you don't need me to explain how good they are. But seeing as how the only Chicago punk bands most seem to know about are the Alkaline Trio (good) and Fall Out Boy (astoundingly bad), maybe a primer is in order: The last official release from the band was The Greatest Story Ever Told, a concept album based around a circus theme, which also revolved around the comparison between music/entertainment and the conformity of the masses, using massive amounts of both low and high culture references (for instance, in one short chorus, Nabakov, Simon & Garfunkel, Paradise Lost, and the Simpsons are all referenced). Themes both lyrical and musical were repeated and cross-referenced throughout the album, until the final song actually has pieces of every other song contained in it in some way. (Sidenote: interesting comparisons can be made to the "fractal" nature of Grant Morrison's magnum opus The Invisibles here. But that's way too much work for me.)

So, how do they follow that up?

By making what is most definitely one the most aggresively old-school sounding record they've ever done, which, while not as overtly theme-based as the last, is nontheless held together by a thread of discontent and dissatisfaction with the current state of culture in this country. Songs like "The Devil's Takin' Names" and "Are You There, Margaret? It's me, God" do the usual random references the Larry Arms boys regularly make, but there is a palpable anger behind every song, almost tactile in its fierceness. Nowhere is this more evident than on the track "Recovering the Opposable Thumb" (lyrics), which is a scathing indictment of the Intelligent Design theory, and indeed, the concept of using religion as a weapon against thoughtful intelligent discussion in general. All in all, this is an amazing record, and my early vote for album of the year.

Two tracks, and a video for "The Devil's Takin' Names" are on the band's Myspace page.

order the CD from Amazon.

SO yeah.
Great album.

ps. I promise I'll write more in here. As long as someone's reading, I'll be writing.