before we get into the meat of it, i have a quick question. is it appropriate to pass people on 2 lane roads? like if they are going 30 and its a 40... i think i'm becoming an overly-aggressive driver. and no, i didn't pass anyone, but only because i was pretty sure it was wrong, no matter how badly i wanted to do it.

a quick look over my audioscrobbler shows miles davis back in the rotation, thanks to zach's (eventual) recommendation. a few new albums dropped in the last week and i now have over 180 gigs of music at my fingertips when i am at home, so i reacquainted myself with an old favorite. let's get right to it.

sparta - wiretap scars
sparta - porcelain
wiretap scars, my old friend from sophomore year, finally made a return to my rotation this week when i copied it off an old mp3 cd. more about my music archive in a moment. anyways, i've been switching between wiretap scars and porcelain in anticipation of my return to the boston concert scene. jen and i are going to see sparta on april 14th over at the axis or avalon or something. anyways, wiretap scars is so much better than porcelain in my mind. it's really hard for me to deal with follow-up albums, because if i don't like it one or two listens through, i revert to the first album. the problem with this is that sparta is not the most... approachable band. they are with a few other bands in my mind in the 'needs at least 5 listens' group, in that their songs or albums need 5 listens before i can finally dismiss or embrace. anyways, track 6 on wiretap scars, 'light burns clear', is one of my favorite songs of the last 3 years, and i can't recommend this band enough. once i finally embrace porcelain, as i am sure i will, i will post about it. wiretap scars can walk away with 8.5 tamales, but that half tamale has the husk of a full tamale, so its almost like 9 tamales, but its not.

queens of the stone age - lullabies to paralyze
qotsa is one of the '5 listens' bands for geoff, but for me, i started liking their new single as soon as it hit the radio. it's called 'little sister', and i'm pretty sure its another qotsa love-hate deal, either you love the percussive, rhythmic guitar... or you don't at all. the thing i didn't expect was for 'little sister' to be track 7 on this cd. and, you know, for tracks one and two to both be quick hitters. and track 6 to be as good as track 7. and the cd to rock. it just straight out rocks. it don't let up. i dunno what else to say - it's good. try it out. i'm hesitant to flat-out recommend it because a lot of people don't dig qotsa's sound. well, you should dig it. and if you do dig it, then you're set. 8 tamales.

beck - guero
i save the best for last. on my drive in to work, i was considering how to talk about this album. there are just so many things to talk about. this cd was heralded was the return of old skool beck, mellow gold-beck. crazy, off the friggin' wall beck. the thing is, something happened in between 'where it's at' and guero - that crazy sea change album that critics loved and i ignored. beck's heart broke! so sad! yeah i ignored the cd. the thing is, the maturity stuck around. the non-absurdist lyrics are around too, barely. instead of the series of self-deprecating one-liners that made up 'loser', and unlike what i can only imagine the folk-rock stylings of sea change contained lyrically, guero is a series of huge, amazing jokes. not one-liners, and not super-sad. just great, bouncy tracks. this leads to my next main point - beck has arranged/composed (choose your verb) an amazing set of tracks. his skill as a mc, as a rapper, as a dj, as an electronic music jack of all trades makes me so friggin jealous.

ok i'm rambling. these are the key points:
1a) real real fun songs
2b) amazing samples and beats
3c) lyrics that can considered, without qualification, fairly good.
4d) did i mention the fun songs? this cd was released for the summer, it seems. just listen to track 3.

for some reason, the songs all remind me of the mid-to-late 90s, probably because beck is singing and all. this is only a good thing. it just feels so retro and so new. so fun and yet not a complete absurdist's wet dream. i'm a pretty big fan. 9 tamales.

miles davis - kind of blue
uh

35 tamales. seriously.

ok music took over this post, so i'll write about my amazing setup at home later.