Non-Hostile Takeover

So, as Michaela is so smitten with posting to her knitting blog that she has horribly neglected The Salt Water Chronicles it has been decided that I must take up the torch. (Yup, had to get one last guilt trip in, Kla!) Of course, this means that gone are the days of highly literate postings about museums and such. Welcome to the days of childish rants about Franz Ferdinand and wild record buying sprees, and perhaps the occasional rapture about the outdoors.

So let's start with the sprees-- the latest took place just before the heavy rains and winds hit this weekend. Most people stock up on canned goods and water when there is threat of a bad storm. I head straight for BullMoose Records. The latest insanity:

Arcade Fire... album:Funeral... Gotta love those Canadians.

Neil Finn... album: One All... I'm on a little Neil Finn kick right now. It started when I went back and listened to Try Whistling This, which I never really listened to when I first bought it numerous years ago for reasons I can only now guess at. I vaguely recall some "bad time" being associated with the album, but since I can't even remember what the "bad time" was now, decided to give it another try. Fell head over heels in love and pretty much listened to it non-stop all the way down to NJ a few weekends back. We'll see how this newer purchase ranks-- hopefully it won't take me 10 yrs to decide to like it as it did with Try Whistling!

Franz Ferdinand... album:You Could Have It So Much Better... The initial excuse for the spree. After the amazing, amazing NYC show which had me exhilarated for days afterwards, how could I not buy the new one? I was so-so on the single when it first came out, but now I think I almost like this album better than the first... except for Matinee, of course.

Frausdots... album:Couture Couture Couture... Europop by Americans. Needs further listening before a decision on its' merits.

The Get Up Kids... album:On a Wire... Really not sure of this one yet. It's not terrible, but might be the most mediocre of the bunch. Oh well, 1 out of 7 ain't bad.

Of Montreal... album:Sunlandic Twins... The best thing since sliced bread and Franz Ferdinand. The Shins took a happy pill, went disco-rific, and added some Alan Parsons Project harmonies-- delicious.

Josh Ritter... album:Golden Age of Radio... overdue purchase of gratitude for a great opening act in front of Keane. After witnessing the TRAGEDIES that passed for opening acts at Franz, I felt obligated to this one.

Off now to see if I can muscle the air-conditioners out of my windows on my own. Yes, they're STILL installed, in spite of the fact that I've had to have the heat on the last few days. But it was only a few weeks ago that I actually used them-- OK, granted, by the end of one particular Saturday I WAS afraid that the air conditioner I left on when I departed in the morning might be competing with the heat that may have come on by the time I arrived home since the temperature dropped SO drastically that day, but...