Here's to August

I don't know about you, but I'm loving this month. Love is in the air, and it's singing some sweet tunes. Actually, the love and music I speak of are nearly entirely separate, paired only in a temporal sense. The love? My friends Adam and Christine got married this past weekend after dating since their sophomore year of high school (if I'm not mistaken), and my friends Sara and JJ are getting married this coming weekend. Both of the weddings are/were in Dayton, Ohio, and as I'm in Columbia, Missouri for the summer, I have a lot of driving back and forth to do. In fact, including moving back to Miami for the fall semester, I will have three consecutive weekends of Missouri-Ohio cruising.

Now, the music? Well, for starters, I finally broke down and bought an iPod, which replaced money as the chief content of my pocket. My primary intention behind the mention of music, however, is all the new music that has been gracing my tympanic membranes as of late. It started with a new album from TV on the Radio, entitled Return to Cookie Mountain. Then I discovered a few new tracks from Happy Hollow, an upcoming album from Cursive. Finally, I stumbled upon some new songs from Amputechture, a yet to be released album from the guys of The Mars Volta. Look for Happy Hollow on August 22nd, and Amputechture on September 12th. From what I've heard of the latter two albums thus far, both bands are on the top of their game, which actually puts them at the top of modern rock. As for the new material from TV on the Radio, if you've liked their previous work, you'll certainly like this (though they still haven't produced a song to match their early release, Young Liars, which is just brilliant). The only sad news in all of this is that The Mars Volta's drummer has apparently left the band. Listen closely to their music and you will hear some amazing drum work; his leaving is a tragedy.

As a note for future postings, I may often include mp3 downloads to my blog updates. Feel free to download them. The only thing to note is that the links will expire after seven days, so get it while it's hot! Be sure to visit frequently so as to not miss any tunes. Here are a few samplers from the albums mentioned above:

"A Method" by TV on the Radio
"Dorothy Dreams of Tornadoes" by Cursive
"Viscera Eyes" by The Mars Volta

Currently listening to: "Dorothy Dreams of Tornadoes" by Cursive
Previous activity: Setting up this blog
Next thing on the agenda: Reading Dostoevsky's The Idiot