Music is my sex

It's really not, I just like that iPod Touch commercial.

So I'm batting .500 on my musical purchases this week. The Color Fred's Bend to Break, is superb, while The Killers' Sawdust left something to be desired. Both were non-essential additions to my iTunes, but I like to splurge once in a while.

Okay, so I got Bend to Break because the frontman used to be in Taking Back Sunday who is a perennial favorite of mine. I have to say, it's pretty rad. It's a good mix of heartfelt acoustic and pseudo-pop break-up ballads without being completely fucking emo. I can't say I'm excited at the prospect of Taking Back Sunday without Fred, since he was great with Adam, but this is definately a much better side project than Tom DeLonge's failed experiment Angels and Airwaves.

Now on to Sawdust. I know, I know, it's essentially a filler disc until their new album comes out. I'm not a rabid fan, and I really only got it for sentimental value. My ex was obsessed with becoming the next Mrs. Flowers. (There's a story for my therapist.) But, yeah I knew it was B-sides and unreleased stuff, but I'm just feeling kind of 'meh' about it. It does have some strong tracks. Shadowplay, Tranquilize, and their cover of Dire Straights' Romeo and Juliet are performed excellently and I find myself constantly replaying those tracks. Where the White Boys Dance if nothing else, has a great title that makes me laugh, while the song as a whole isn't bad.

The real downfall for this album, for me at least, are the abysmal productions of Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll, Under the Gun, and The Ballad of Michael Valentine. They're just...fucking bad. There's always the possibility that they were the first recordings they did or maybe they just had a deaf producer, but those should have stayed locked in the studio under "Don't quit your casino jobs..." It's definitely not the worst twelve bucks I've ever spent (see: last week's poker re-buy, I'm a fucking retard sometimes). Hopefully a few more of the tracks will grow on me as I continue to listen to it more. I wasn't totally sold on Sam's Town initially, so there is still hope.