mogwai- thou has finally failed me!

dammit, the new mogwai album is sublimely disappointing. the only track that even compares to anything else they've done is the last track (which also has the best title) 'you're lionel richie.' such a shame as i'd just launched back into a mogwai love-fest after hearing 'special moves' and 'the hawk is howling' (which is a fantastic album). i'm so bummed with it that i'm not even sure i'm going to bother to buy the album on vinyl. my friend at work gave me a copy of a promo copy he got in the mail. i knew something was up when the 'rano pano' 7" didn't really grab me. i bought three or four 7"es a week or so ago and that was the only one that i wasn't that impressed with.
so there was a blizzard on tuesday evening/night and i haven't excavated my car yet- there is a nice two-foot pile of snow boxing it in (which is the same situation a majority of chicago motorists are stuck in). i didn't need to drive anywhere on wednesday or thursday, so there's been no reason to bother with it. tonight i'm going to the disappears show at the empty bottle and i simply have no option but to drive as i have to work tomorrow morning bright and early. that and since it is an old car and hasn't been started in a few days it'd probably be a good idea to drive it. the gas tank also needs some love. all in all the blizzard wasn't that bad- people have been quite good about clearing the sidewalks and roads in our neighborhood. on wednesday morning a ton of people from the neighborhood went around using their snowblowers to clear the sidewalks, which i thought was awfully nice of them. the height of the snowdrifts is gradually falling. gradually, of course and i suppose that it might be another week or so before the streets are all cleared and everything is pretty much back to normal. what was hilarious was that since the blizzard happened over groundhog day the groundhog supposedly saw its shadow, so there's supposed to be an early spring. as if such a thing exists here. HA!
listening to low right now, which is the perfect wintertime music. they have a new record coming out that looks to be quite fantastic. i'm actually planning on pre-ordering it so that i can listen to the whole thing as the first track was really great. reports are that it's more of a return to form, which is fantastic news. i didn't even bother with 'drums and guns' because everything i heard off of it i really didn't like at all. we saw them live and the songs fared much better that way, but truthfully it just didn't seem like it was worth plunking down the cash for. i blame dave fridmann- not a good choice for a producer of a band like low. he's about as subtle as a crowd of drunk teenagers. that said i've always loved what he did on 'come on die young' and pretty much everything flaming lips album he's done. not to mention 'it's a wonderful life'- the best of all sparklehorse records.
i might go on a murderous pre-ordering rampage when i get home because there are too many great records coming out in april. i'd rather just not worry about getting my hands on them at the moment. i didn't even know that the vivian girls had a new album in the works and all of a sudden i see postings about it and i figured i should pre-order the bundle that's offered for that with the 7" and it'll ship on april 1st. it's nice to see some record labels figuring out a good way to make pre-ordering more worthwhile. yay.
because there are all of these great records coming out there are also tons of great shows coming to town- disappears is tonight, wild nothing is two weeks from today, dum dum girls are coming through a week after that, godspeed in march and then an obscene amount of great shows are coming through in april- moon duo, low, black lips and vivian girls, mogwai... and then a ton that i'm forgetting. dammit, my wallet needs a break folks! we're renting a car and driving to kansas city in may!
i'm still searching for a new job- the search seems interminable and endless at this point. i must find a new job- the situation at beans is definitely coming to a close. i often suspect that they're going to fire me (it would just be typical) because as usual, for some reason, i'm not allowed to move an eyebrow without someone getting all pre-emptive and going 'what's wrong?! you're mad! don't be mad! what's with you?! you're always so pissed off!!!' plus my boss was asking me questions about how my job search is going and was surprised to hear i don't have any interviews lined up. i figured that was a bit of an alarm bell- if someone's got to go i suspect that my head will be the first on the chopping block, just because that's how those things go and they can rationalize it easily by believing that they're doing me a favor since i (to them anyway) hate the job so much. i actually don't hate the job, just a few aspects of it and most of them have to do with what a slackery environment it is and that i'm the one who ends up taking up a majority of the slack, but no one really agrees with me on that one so i suppose i'm mistaken. i also don't like making sandwiches but am frequently willing to put my hatred of this aside in order to do my part even if it is something i don't enjoy. again, all things that no one notices or sees. about 90% of what annoys me at that place i can't even begin to get into so no one really knows what i'm thinking or feeling but all thinks that they do. how am i continually getting myself into these types of situations?