The Scrabbled: Making Fun of Each Other since '99

Perhaps the most notable thing about Bad As Me is simply that it’s any good at all. For all intents and purposes, this album should suck. Waits is a 61 year old songwriter who relies heavily on well-worn formulas with twenty-three previous albums under his belt. If rock history has taught us anything, it’s that he should be well into his stagnant-and-trying-to-recapture-what-made-him-popular phase, churning out shitty albums that only Rolling Stone magazine is clueless enough to give a shit about. But when the albums that made you popular are collections of expertly crafted songs that sound timeless and ancient, getting old can only help.

When it comes down to it, it’s another great Tom Waits album in a long line of great Tom Waits albums. If you like his stuff, you’ll love Bad As Me. And while it’s perhaps it’s his most accessible, rock-and-rolly album in a while, if you’re one of those stupid jerks who doesn’t like him cause of his voice or or cause he’s weird, then this album isn’t going to change your mind. And also I hate you. Either way, if you want to listen, you know where to find it.

Tonight was a catch-up-on-music night. Run through all the blogs, check some relevant labels, read through reddit’s listentothis and music subreddits, download anything that sounds interesting. And oh my god did I find something interesting.

Read more for a few short reviews on some albums I’ve been listening to. What have you guys been into?

he makes me laugh out loud a lot

I haven’t like a Flaming Lips album since the Soft Bulletin. Both Yoshimi and At War with the Mystics were unbelievably grating; the melodies too saccharine, the production too over the top and compressed. I love a band that sounds like they’re just teetering on the edge of chaos and noise, but the Flaming Lips seem to have lost their balance several times now. Mostly, they trigger my gag reflex and they give me a headache.

So imagine my surprise when I found myself loving almost every single track on their new album, The Embryonic.

It’s everything I wanted it to be and more. Still very much the same band — if you liked their last few, you’ll like this one, too — but they seem to have incorporated a bit more song-writing, a few more dynamics, some tempos other than balls-out fast, letting a few songs build to their violent and coked-up climaxes rather than jumping in headfirst.

From an acquaintance on Banned Bill’s board.

I went on a bit of a downloading spree tonight. Some short reviews after the jump.

Partially in an effort to separate pre and post Spore release date posts, and partially in a cheap and underhanded bid for more page hits, I’ve decided to post a semi-full review of the new Wil Wright game Spore. I say semi-full because the game is so unbelievably boring I couldn’t bring myself to actually play through the entire thing. But read on, if you like, to save yourself the trouble of forming your own opinions.

Well, more like campfire tea. But it definitely could be described as “bacony” as Beth the Vegan did earlier today. But she’s vegan, so what does she know from bacon? A friend at work hereafter known as Cool Tim (to differentiate from the other Tim) recommended I try this tea and found a pound bag of it on amazon for $15. It was a steal (the 6 pack of 3.5oz Twinings tin was $25). I highly recommend it cause not only does it taste and smell amazingly smokey (and my entire cube reeks of bacon/campfire. Seriously. You can smell it two cubes over.), but it’s gotten me far more wired than a cup of coffee, to the point where my face feels a bit funny from being so tense.

I give this product four out of five stars. It loses a star because it’s so pungent, I really can’t see myself drinking this several times a day like I do green tea. It’s really kind of overwhelming.

Once I’m done with this tea, it’s on to monkey tea which Justin just showed me. Because I trust monkeys. And Justin. But mostly monkeys.

Ever since my salmonella poisoning my stomach’s been… a bit off. So I’ve been trying to restore it’s natural microbial balance with yogurt, which has been difficult because I hate yogurt. So I went to whole foods and picked up four all-natural, no HFCS, pro-biotic yogurts and have been eating them all week. Read on for reviews and results.