Gonna be honest here. I’ve been listening to a band i have no idea what to do with. Like, at all. It was suggested by a friend, and so far outside of my normal scope of interest that i just got nothing.

I guess this is to expected when i’m suddenly tossed a French Pop CD. Phoenix, Alphabetical. When it first kicked on, i scoffed. It sounded like a boy band. While Savage Garden may forever hold a place in my heart, all in all Boy Bands leave me running for the hills.
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Operation alleviate boredom through music is in full swing here at the Anderson abode. My most recent musical refuge has been a band i’ve heard about for what seems decades. Despite this fact, up until about three weeks ago, i had never actually listened to any of their music. At all. The band? Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

The album i’ve been listening to is their debut: Fever to Tell. In the first listen through Tick really grabbed my attention and refused to let go, such that i found myself skipping forwards and backwards, ignoring other perfectly fine tracks in favor of the sheer insanity of Tick. With much will power i was able to break this tendency and listen to the rest of the album.
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Meet the newest incarnation of Leslie: unemployed Leslie. Prior to, oh, today, i had a Job. And prior to that i had school. But i graduated (thank congress), and with that lost my on campus job. While in the search of gainful employment (or, you know, ungainful employment. Whichever presents itself first), i’m filling the 8+ hours a day i normally spent working, going to class, and procrastinating homework via Plants Vs. Zombies, with music.

I reached a musical road block some weeks ago, but thankfully i have at least one friend with a high rate of musical overlap who recommended some music my way.

Currently i’m investigating Noisettes, a three piece Indie/Rock outfit from Great Britain.
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The holiday season is long over. thankfully. over so much so that my normal routines are falling back into place, and all the playing catch-up has come to a close.

which is awesome, because for me, Holiday Hi-jinks come with a cost (other than themselves, mind you).

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Crash Love. It’s the newest album by AFI. I’d like to say it was long anticipated, but the truth is I kind of forgot it was coming. I knew after the Blaqk Audio album that a new AFI album was coming eventually, but I didn’t keep tabs on it.

I will go ahead and admit, at the risk of losing any street-punk cred I had left from my 15 year old days, that I like decemberunderground. I like it a lot, even.

Which brings us, somehow, to Crash Love. Most people, it seems, disliked decemberunderground. Vehemently. I know they weren’t the old school die-hard AFI fans, because most of those decided AFI sold out after songs like I Wanna Mohawk (But Mom Won’t Let Me Get One) went out the window.

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As may be noticed, we have slowed down our posting a bit as life’s many onslaughts take more than their fair share of our time. The hope is to have a good article or two written weekly (if you have a suggested listen, do tell), but since Leslie’s semester is winding down, my work schedule is booked rather solid and with the inevitable approach of year-end festivities I wouldn’t hold my breath for a regular second.

Someday we both may be able to sit on a beach with margaritas and netbooks and blog the week away, but not quite yet.

We are working towards it though.

Things have been stressful lately. The little things. Worrying about graduation and my future employment (or lack thereof). Trying to finish off my super late senior project. Washing dishes. Eating regularly. Trying to save abandoned kittens. Worrying over whether my office-mate’s boyfriend having swine flu means I should panic every time she sneezes.

It’s not so much that any one thing is particularly difficult, it’s just that between classes and work I’m normally really tired and have very little free time during which I’m not sleeping.

Enter, The Apples in Stereo. They make my life happier. To me they sound like The Beatles meet modern indie pop. I like it so much. “The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone [sic]” has particularly caught my fancy. It’s just such a charming mix of musical styles and lyrics. So much fun. There are also about 18 different little things that catch my attention and make me really happy:

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In sophomore year of college I discovered Rancid randomly. I had listed to the album “Rancid 2000” before, but thought it was mediocre at best and moved on. Sophomore year I found songs like “Bloodclot” and “Red Hot Moon‘. I fell in love instantly, and saw Rancid rocket up into my top ten with lightening speed.

…and then it just fizzled right out.

I don’t know why, but my love for Rancid did not last very long at all. Which is why I probably should have just skipped this album. I haven’t been in a Rancid mood for 2 years now. I’m probably not going to be very fair.

Rancid came out with their first new album in 6 years: Let the Dominoes Fall. I really don’t think I like it very much. I was hoping for a song or two like Bloodclot to energize me, but the whole album has this campy feel.

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I kind of sucked out last week with content updates due in part to three days of working from home (thank you G-20), and a general case of malaise.

I was so ridiculously tired – the change of seasons does this to me every spring and every autumn, and I unfortunately kind of fall into a slump until temperatures normalize.

Leslie is still on the ball and has a review sitting in the queue… I’ll post later today as soon as possible and hopefully get back into the swing of things here.

Hopefully.

I have mentioned my deep and abiding (if not a little creepy) love for Third Eye Blind at least twice now on Sound and Tonic.

Here comes round three.

Ursa Major was released not so long ago, and I’ve been mulling it around for a few weeks now. I know that it often takes a reasonable amount of time for me to move from music being ‘okay’ to ‘pure genius’. The Abrasive Wheels took 3 years before they worked into my larger and more accepted music library.

So I kept listening to Ursa Major, but I noticed a pattern. I rocked out through the initial tracks. I danced and sung along and had a good ole time. As the album progressed I found myself not paying attention to the music, or unthinkingly turning the album off in favor of something else. The album starts out quite strong, but unfortunately I don’t feel Third Eye Blind does a very good job of carrying that momentum through the rest of the album.

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