Trying to save money sucks...

Especially when you buy music like I did this week. I don't normally go crazy like I did this week, but I ended up with 3 eps, 4 full lengths & one 7". Here's a quick run-down of what I picked up.

Arcade Fire - "Neon Bible" This is a winner. I got the "deluxe edition" which came with a couple of flip books to play around with. Because I hate the annoying contrived "behind the scenes" DVD's that usually come with "deluxe editions" the flip books really impressed me. And the music blew me away. Too many excellent tracks to listed 'em all.

Air - "Pocket Symphony" I'm not crazy about this album. It's not as pop oriented as their last few albums. It feels like a throw back to earlier Air albums. One thing I can't fault them for is having Jarvis Cocker sing on a track. If I could have any singers voice it would be his.

Darkel - "Darkel" This is Jean Benoit Dunkel's (of Air) solo project. This did sound like the last 3 Air albums. If given a choice or this album or the new Air album, pick this one instead. If I had bought it when it came out last year, I probably would have dropped it into my 10 Favorite List.

New Order - "BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert" a lala trade, but worth it. You really can't go wrong with New Order.

Pelican - "March into the Sea" It may only be a two song ep, but it is so good I can understand why someone would want to name their blog after it. It's like post-rock meets metal; Post-Metal?

Mum - "Dusk Log" I accidentally bought this. I thought it was something else. But, it is still excellent. Only complaint is that the disc is a 3" disc, not a 5", which means I can't play it in my car or on my PowerBook. I'll have to copy it in another computer, and then put the copy on my PB.

The Flaming Lips - "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell" I love this. There are 3 really good remixes on here, as well as 4 new tracks. Being "Yoshimi" era Flaming Lips, the best remix is the T.P.S. remix of "Do You Realize???"

Mogwai/ Magoo - Split 7" : The 45's from 1998, and features Mogwai performing Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf," my all time favorite Sabbath track. I've never heard of Magoo, but their cover of "Black Sabbath" is pretty bad ass as well. My only complaint is the boys in Mogwai don't seem to take the singing very seriously.

Hopefully that'll hold me over for the time being. I don't think any new music comes out for at least a week or so. At which point I'll spend more money, and try and justify one way or another.

Thank You Hollywood!

I really don't care about the Academy Awards. I don't need someone to tell what is a good movie and what isn't a good movie. Just like I don't need the Grammys, well actually I might as well use the Grammys as a way to know what to avoid. God knows how bad the Grammys are at picking decent music. I digress. The Oscars were a total farce for one reason to me this year. Best Original Score went to Babel??? I hope someone that reads this blog has seen Babel, and will agree with me that it was a terrible film. Ok, maybe not as bad as The Fountain, but still pretty awful. The Fountain might be the worst movie I've actually paid to see, but it had the greatest Original Score I've ever heard. I'm sure there are other scores that are equally compelling, such as Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle, or Hlemmur, but I've yet to hear the first of those two.

Back to Babel. The part of the movie in So Cal and Mexico was good, but probably only because my favorite Mexican actor was featured, Gael Garcia Bernal. The rest of the movie was almost as pretentious as The Fountain. It was as if Brad Pitt wanted nothing more than to make the worst movie of his career. I know he's a great actor, but he should stick to what he does best...Kicking Ass. Come ON. How about another Fight Club, or another Guy Ritchie film, even a sequel to Mr. & Mrs. Smith would've been better than Babel.

The score to The Fountain, wasn't even nominated. Clint Mansel did an amazing job composing the score, and Mogwai with The Kronos Quartet did an even amazinger job of performing the score. I was really tempted to put the score on "My 10 Favorite Albums of 2006" list, but it missed the cut by one spot. However, if I were to make the list today I think it would make the top ten.