2. The other day at rehearsal, David lent me 6 XTC albums, which I ripped onto the ol' iPod last night - Go 2, English Settlement, Black Sea, White Music, Drums & Wires, and Wasp Star. Now I'm all XTC-d out. XTC is a band that I probably would have loved even more when I was 14 or 15; as it is, they're simply great.
3. Also at rehearsal, Mike lent me a copy of the new and as-yet-unreleased Blonde Redhead album, "Misery is a Butterfly", which is absolutely fantastic.
4. Mike also told us about "The Grey Album", which is pretty much the coolest thing I've ever heard of. For those of you who don't know, The Grey Album is all the vocals from Jay-Z's "The Black Album" set over music and beats that are 100% taken from The Beatles "White Album", albeit severely manipulated and tweaked out. We heard 3 or 4 snippets of it and it's mind-boggling. I wish I knew the Black Album better (well, at all), but in terms of what DJ DangerMouse has done to the White Album, it's revelatory. This is not a mash-up, this is a complete re-interpretation. Supposedly it's coming out in March, but, as you can imagine, there are certain parties who are shitting bricks about its impending release. (Although, considering how broke Michael Jackson is, it might be in his best interests to work something out.)
5. 3-day weekends are the best.
