Geez, Blogger is being a pain today. Maybe it's time to really seriously consider moving over to Word Press or something. Suggestions?

This weekend was weird; Saturday's productivity plans went askew and I got nothing of note done until the appearance, on my doorstep at 5:30 pm, of the wonderfully sweet Todd, Jonathan, and Jim (Books on Tape and Captain Ahab, respectively) Saturday afternoon. Their show in San Antonio was cancelled, so Pinkie and I took them to Nuevo Leon, where we had margs as big as swimming pools and rocked out the mariachis and ate way, way too much Tex Mex. They're on tour for the next three weeks or so, so you'd best go see them, hear? (And of course, I didn't bring their latest CDs with me today, but you can hear new tracks at the Books on Tape and Captain Ahab MySpace pages, naturally...)

In other news, my turntable died last week, and I wasn't happy with the one I bought to replace it, so I returned that this weekend and picked up a vintage solid state Zenith affair at Thrift Town, but it needs lots of work before it will be in usable condition. In the interim, thank goodness, my co-worker is lending me one of her spare Geminis, which is a relief.

Well, I finally got my hands on the new Tilly and the Wall album, Bottoms of Barrels, and was not disappointed. I was already enamored with aggressive joy/pain combo on "Rainbow in the Dark" and "Sing Songs Along," but I was really happy to see the appearance of legendary TatW favorite "Lost Girls," which is possibly my second favorite song inspired by the work of Henry Darger; current blogger faves Mazarin's track "Henry Darger," from their album Watch It Happen, is another great Darger-inspired number. (Isn't there a Decemberists song in this category yet? If there's not, I bet there will be eventually.) If you don't know about the amazing art of Henry Darger, you can read more here; there was an interesting documentary (In The Realms of the Unreal) about him released a few years ago, but I have to say that I didn't find it to be very good, even though it was nominated for an Oscar -- it was a little pedantic and had more than a handful of awkward moments.

Tilly and the Wall -- Lost Girls
Mazarin -- Henry Darger (BTW, does anyone know if the name of this track changed? My rather ancient mp3 had the title of "Vivian Girls.")

(That reminds me -- anyone know of any songs inspired by the work of Joseph Cornell? Just wondering -- surely there must be!)

And for no other reason than it's utterly charming, amusing, heavy on the rhythm-section -- and reminds me of a very handsome boy rocking out in a most charming fashion to "Terrible Lie" -- here's the Interpol's (which is to say Sam & Carlos') remix of Nine Inch Nails' "Every Day Is Exactly The Same."

Nine Inch Nails -- Every Day Is Exactly The Same (Sam Fog Vs Carlos D Of Interpol Remix)

And because we love The Wrens way, way too much (and because we found these tracks whilst cleaning off our too-full hard drive), here's a few ancient versions of songs from The Meadowlands that appeared on a Drive Thru Records sampler (You'll Never Eat Fast Food Again) in 1999; live set favorite "Broken" appeared on another Drive Thru sampler (Where's the Beef? ) from 1997 that was the label's second official release.

The Wrens -- Broken
The Wrens -- Miss Me (early version of "Boys You Won't")
The Wrens -- This Boy Is Exhausted (early, not-so-crunchy and distorted version)

And finally, a brilliant Pixies cover from new secret favorite, experimental Norwegian popstress Hanne Hukkelberg. (What's not to love about jazzy slinkiness and flawless musicianship with a dash of tastefully executed electronica?) She's at work on a new album (a follow up to her lovely 2004 debut Little Things) and is hitting the Euro festival circuit this summer; see her site for more details.

Hanne Hukkelberg -- Break My Body (live)
Pixies -- Break My Body

And so, on the agenda for this week: TV on the Radio and Celebration (and The Cocker Spaniels!) tonight; Steve Arceri's CD release Wednesday -- it's a great bill that includes Pompeii, Cue side project A Featherweight Burden; as well as touring acts Kind of Like Spitting and Lemuria. Plus, there's all kinds of other things going on later in the week (Chamillionare! Ranier Maria!) that I haven't decided on as of yet...