I forgot I needed it

There's nothing quite like the feeling of coming upon a new album that grabs you by the collar, slaps you around a little, and then won't let you put it down. The new Thermals CD The Body, the Blood, the Machine is doing that to me right now. I'd heard a song of theirs on WOXY and I remember seeing Pitchfork wet themselves over it a few weeks back, but didn't peg it as my thing. Julie picked up the CD the other day and I didn't give it much thought, but after hearing the song on the radio a little more, I thought it would be worth checking out. And boy is it ever. I think 2 things about it really grab me. First is the vocals - the singer has a really unique voice/style, almost like he's talking instead of singing, but just talking really loud and really insistently. The other is the energy - the album is suffused with a kind of joie de vivre and and has this crackling electricity about it. A kind of Ramones-ish, buzzsaw, push-you-along kind of energy that doesn't let you sit still and makes you want to sing along at the top of your lungs. So I'm excited about it. I'm not so good with the descriptive, flowery reviews, but you can check out the nice things that Pitchfork and Cokemachineglow have to say about it. Other CDs that I've been digging on lately are The Lemonheads new s/t album, and Mastodon's Blood Mountain.

Also, on the way home from work last night, traffic came to a sudden halt because there was a homeless man in the middle of the street lighting a cigarette, who then proceeded to unzip his fly and start peeing. Right in the middle of the street. In broad daylight. Awesome.