Somehow, I missed this one. I love and look forward to their Christmas songs but this one escaped me for some reason. I have no idea when it was released. I just found it in the new (RED) EP. What I want for Christmas is another brash, trippy, elated Killers album. Come on, fellow high desert friends, give me something I want. You guys are amazing, especially because nothing is ever so ponderous. Life is too short.

No, no. Thank YOU. I had been listening to them again for the first time in probably years after a long Killers kick. And now, here they are. Thank YOU. I hope it’s not too weird.

1. Achtung Baby– U2
2. Hot Fuss– The Killers
3. Free All Angels– Ash
4. A Rush of Blood To The Head– Coldplay
5. The Bends– Radiohead
6. OK Computer– Radiohead (…uh, yeah, I hardly listen to them because they’re depressing but these guys are that good)

I pick and choose with the rest depending on my mood, need, the state of the world, etc. But skipping through a track on one of these is like drowning a baby.

John, Paul, George, and Ringo... on iTunes where they belong.

Now on iTunes.

Thanks for the triumph of style over substance. Our anxious state of being and a world in chaos lends witness to the grave of all good intentions. This is *fun* and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, Heart on Sleeve Psychotics.

Antonio Banderas as Che

I saw it last weekend as part of my pre-Argentine education (I know it’s a movie and not accurate blah blah blah so save your breath). Wow. I missed out. It’s actually extremely good for being a musical and was sadly overshadowed by all the hoopla around Madonna being cast as the title role. She’s fine in it and I’ve always liked her, but the revelation is the searing, swaggering, smoldering Antonio Banderas. I loved this movie in spite of hating musicals and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

That’s it.

I don’t even know what to make of it yet. It’s glanced off my grey matter like a pebble. My grey matter is currently too exhausted and occupied to absorb another drop of new information in order to form any kind of any opinion. But I like the album cover. A lot.

The only thing that stuck out at me in a rememberable way is the word “shush”. U2 just said “shush”. How very weird.

I listened to it yesterday and made a discovery: it’s a great album. It’s much better than it has any right to be. Granted it does have some overlong remixes of their popular songs and versions of already-released songs like “Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll” but there are gems on it, visions, songs that qualify as non-filler, all-new material and they’re awesome. The favorites: “Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf”, “Sweet Talk”, “Under the Gun”, “Show You How”, “Move Away”, “Daddy’s Eyes”, and “Romeo and Juliet”. Some reviews I’ve read make reference to the originals of some songs like “Shadowplay” are better but I’ve never heard them and probably never will. The Killers’ versions sound alright to me.They’re my favorite band working right now while I still admit Radiohead is still the best.

Radiohead dropped their latest In Rainbows on their own website as a download and for sale as a CD to be shipped in December. You can pay whatever you want for the download but I gave them a fair iTunesque £5. I won’t buy the boxed version since it seems to cost a ridiculous £40. That’s $80. No way.

The best part of this news is they bypassed their label altogether. With the internet, there’s no need for record labels. I love how RIAA reps always try to say they’re after grandmothers and college kids everywhere for downloading because poor artists are unemployed because of illegal downloads. No, idiots. The world’s changed. Whenever the world changes, species die. You’re next on the list, dinosaurs. You’ll be following Tower Records next. People are starting to get it.

As for the album itself, I’ve downloaded it but that’s as far as I’ve gotten. I’m going to put it on my iPod and listen to it tonight or tomorrow. Q says it’s good. Was there really any doubt, though. They’re one of the most depressing, bizarre, and adventurous bands around and I’m glad they did this in spite of people already complaining about it.

As for the students getting threatening letters from the RIAA, ignore them. They have no right to do this. Downloading music is almost a work of charity towards mankind and small artists who just can’t get a contract. The RIAA is actually working against the artists they claim to be helping. Ignore them. Don’t buy CDs. Download from iTunes or elsewhere.

I had never seen at show at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan’s Midtown, and I hadn’t seen a rock show at all in over two years. I rectified both wrongs Saturday night. As the ghost of a great LV once said, “What a night. What a show.”

There are reasons why the Killers, who are all from near where I grew up, are fast becoming my favorite band. They’re young, earnest, and yet somehow unaware of how good they really are. They sound happy to be there and like they’re having fun and not begruding you a good time by hitting you over the head with Important Crap. And yet, they want to be good and important, they really do. “Mr. Brightside” is becoming an arena rock show-stopper, much bigger a number live than it ever was on the radio. “Bling (Confessions of a King)” elicted a “They’re good” comment from a guy behind me. The critic maligned Sam’s Town rang true on the stage, every bit as good as Hot Fuss.

They have a way to go, but they’re getting there and it’s all there for the taking. The best part about them, though, is how they don’t have it all quite worked out yet. It’s bittersweet to see a baby band grow up.

The opening act, the Silver Beats, were a Japanese Beatles cover band. It was uncanny and a bit bizarre to see four mop-headed Japanese on stage sounding just like the Fab Four. But they were great and it was an homage to songs and songwriters who will never age or die. Unfortunately for the band, they can never make money from selling music, because they’re just copying someone else’s work and hair and clothes and look…

Picture Credit: The Killers website. I took no camera or phone.

You heard right. All the generic music icons in the Coverflow mode have bugged me for a while, as well as the messy info on downloaded music. I cleaned up metadata and inserted album artwork in practically everything yesterday and today. One of the last things still thwarting me are all the soundtracks since apparently those are harder to find after they’ve made money for their movie. I’ve started using Amazon to fill in the blanks but have a lot of work to do still. The other culprit is live music that was never “released”. I haven’t touched that yet.

Another thing I did was rip more of my CDs in. I don’t use them anymore and if they haven’t been ripped in their entirety, chances are I haven’t heard that music in ages. I’ve discovered some gems such as Idlewild’s Remote Part, Radiohead’s Amnesiac, Rachael Yamagata’s Happenstance, and JJ72′s eponymous debut album. See what happens when you look? I also deleted all music files on my iPod and refilled it with a new lineup.

It was high time. Have a happy New Year’s Eve if you’re celebrating.