THE HIVES ARE LAW!


AND YOU ARE HOT!

I wish they'd cover "Somethin' Stupid" together.

I'm trying to figure out which album I like more. While both the Hives and Nellie McKay share the frustrated yet humorous vibe that sums up my outlook on the last year, gender and genre makes this sort of a battle between personal frustration/aggro pessimism and date bait/melodic optimism.

It's not that different from "Burn" vs. "Clarity" battle on my singles list. Sara would consider that one to be the Asshole World Series, but I am understandably more tolerant of self-involved young men. "Burn"'s torment is currently besting "Clarity"'s uplift thanks to the track's density (plus Mayer's climactic baby shrieks don't always work for me - though they often do). Get Away From Me may get the nod due to breadth, but Tyrannosaurus Hives has a BAM! UHH! KICKED YOUR ASS, DUMBASS! CASE CLOSED! effect.

Let's hear it for radical subjectivity!

While I'm not going to hold this against a band's songs, I am definitely tired of all these Special Edition CDs. Rewarding people for making your album a hit by telling them to buy the whole thing again for bonus tracks. It's bullshit. Whatever happened to stopgap EPs? Are those ONLY available at Target now?

Two albums that have no right to sound as good as they do: Frank Black Francis and RTX's Transmaniacon. Turns out the arrangements weren't THAT important with the Pixies and I prefer enthusiastic hackwork to entropic Hagerty.