Picked up the new Manics album on the weekend, and have been listening to it almost non-stop since. I’m not sure how much any of you care, but it’s good hearing James singing Richey’s words again, even knowing it’ll never happen again. It’s a grower of a record, only the first couple of songs (Peeled Apples and Jackie Collins Existential Question Time) really stand out on first listen, but the rest soon show themselves - I’d have to say apart from those two, This Joke Sport Severed, All Is Vanity and Marlon JD would be my favourites. Steve Albini’s production is nice and heavy, but it’s been given a proper shiny mix so it’s not unlistenable. Rating at 83/100 on Metacritic at the moment, which is impressive for any major label album there. Nice artwork too, and all the lyrics printed out, which made the first listen (on my big headphones after a couple of drinks) all the much more enjoyable and eye-opening.

Anyway… that morning I was trying to catch a bus to town so I could pick up the CD before work, but didn’t have enough credit on my card. I figured I might have time to get some money and race onto the next bus stop, so hoofed it to the ATM and began navigating the long-winded menu.

I then heard this woman yelling, and turned around to see she was yelling at and approaching yours truly. WTF? I thought maybe I was being robbed - checked she wasn’t holding a knife - then listened to what she was actually saying: “GET OUT OF MY BODY! I TOLD YOU TO STAY OUT OF MY BODY!” Err, okay… she was shouting this whilst wearing a bum bag and rocking a boy’s haircut, waving her woollen-gloved hands in my face.

Then she attacked me - it wasn’t hard to block her blows, but it felt faintly ridiculous - I was being attacked by an insane lesbian. She then stormed off, much to the amusement of everyone standing around watching. The bus went past, and I thought shit, my bus to town, and ran off after it. I caught up, and for once the bus driver was accommodating, and pulled over for me.

All I wanted was to get my Manics album before work…

TOP TEN ALBUMS OF THE LAST… MONTH!

1. Sounds of the Universe - Depeche Mode
2. Journal for Plague Lovers - Manic Street Preachers
3. The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers
4. Doves - Kingdom of Rust
5. Screens - Mint Chicks
6. Day & Age - Killers
7. Years of Refusal - Morrissey
8. Modern Life Is Rubbish - Blur
9. Cardinology - Ryan Adams
10. Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future - The Bird and the Bee

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

Bought a new guitar today - from the reviews/retail prices I’ve seen, I think I got a major bargain… $300 including the case, and it’s pretty much new, hardly been used. Apparently the mum bought it for her kid, but he didn’t take to it, preferring the Epiphone his uncle or someone got him. Ah well - my gain! 

It’s a Karina Les Paul copy, looks pretty much like the classic white Les Paul James Dean Bradfield plays.

Watching the season finale of Lost tonight… treading carefully on the interwebs till then… 

In other news… Melissa Lee continues to entertain. We’re no longer in the Mt Albert electorate, just outside of it really, but I can still confidently say she never had a chance before this week, but well and truly doesn’t now. I doubt she’ll ever be able to stand for Waitakare either, considering her support for the motorway through Mt Albert is predicated around bypassing criminals west.

Assembled my cross trainer yesterday - if only that was the hard part. Now I have to convince myself to use it. I think I’ll find a way to set the computer never to display the calories burned, as it’s a little depressing. It’s a minute of running/walking/whatever it is you call what you do on a cross trainer to hurn off a Diet Coke. That’s not encouraging!

New Manics album next week. Freakin’ excited.

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

‘Peeled Apples’ - from the new album, Journal for Plague Lovers. Produced by Steve Albini, all the lyrics by Richey, and you can tell. I’m not sure about the song itself, but the sound is immense and just what they needed after a couple of nicely polished records.

You can find it on YouTube - no music video, cause apparently there aren’t going to be any singles.

I’m fucking excited now! New Depeche Mode in a few days, then this. Awesome.

EDIT: Another song: Jackie Collins Existential Question Time.

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

The Manics' new album went into the UK charts at #2, just behind the Arctic Monkeys, which is pretty awesome. I knew it would do better than Lifeblood (which peaked at #13), based on Your Love Alone Is Not Enough... alone, itself a #2 single. How many #2 singles is that the Manics have had now? Wikipedia tells me four. Okay, I thought it was more. But it does make 31 top 40 singles, which is a lot by anyone's standards.

Anyway, enough geeking over that. Okay, one little bit more. We played the album instore, and it sounds so much better cranked up on a proper stereo than on headphones! Can't wait till after uni on Friday when I have the house to myself and I can crank it alone.

That came out wrong.

Anyway, I'm probably way behind with this band but I just discovered them and their new album - Blonde Redhead. They're like a Sonic Youth/shoegazer kind of thing you can go to sleep to. Are their previous records any good? Petra?

Hurricane Scully, the 'kitten', is getting harder to handle by the day. He's acting like a hyperactive crazy thing, but he's too big for that now, and destroys things as a result. And he's learned to pick things up in his mouth, which has markedly increased the number of leaves being brought inside and pens going missing. And I'm not sure exactly what it is we feed him that makes his number twos stink like, well, shit. Phoebe's cat had nothing on Scully, I'm sure.

Sucks Discovery Channel's Mythbusters are repeats now. Grrr.

It's the 11th anniversary of Richey James Edwards' disappearance, so I'm doing the obligatory listen to Manics thing I do each year... except today I'm at work, so the Forever Delayed greatest hits collection will have to suffice, even if it largely misses out The Holy Bible. Which in the context of being at work, is probably a good thing.

I've had my sister over for the past couple of days. Watched King Kong and Napoleon Dynamite, went to the museum and saw what a volcano emerging from Mission Bay would look like, and unsuccessfully tried to get her to watch Star Wars. Dangit.

So that basically took up my weekend (Mon/Tues). What else exciting? Off the top of my head, nothing. Haha, there was no pun intended there, but as I shaved my head yesterday, I suppose it's surprisingly appropriate. Having hair and a beard sucks in summer. Funnily enough, I can now feel the sun stronger than ever, but at least it's not storing up sweat and heat like a greenhouse. Yep, my hair was like a layer of carbon dioxide. Only less breathable.

Ooh look. Marilyn Manson is going to play Lewis Carroll in a movie.