After two weeks of impatient thumb-twiddling, my package from Relapse Records finally arrived this morning: a package containing a limited edition copy (with bonus DVD) of Miss Machine, the long-awaited new album by The Dillinger Escape Plan.
(Cue sound of ripping paper and frantic limb flailing.)
It went straight into the CD player — as if I could wait any longer — and let me tell you, it is a joy to behold! That is, if buzzsaw guitars, screaming vocals, and sudden time changes are your thing.
The record impressed me so much, in fact, that I logged into Amazon.com soon afterwards and posted a short review to show my enthusiasm. It’s a little something for you to read if you’re not doing anything else.
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I haven’t been very productive here lately, have I? It’s a far cry from last summer, that’s for sure. I wrote some of my best stuff this time last year. Then again, I did have a lot of time on my hands.
Speaking of time, I’ve been spending much of it at work. I’ve been back there just over a month now, and I’m pleased to say I won’t be tearing my hair out any day soon. It definitely helps that I’m only a part-timer; I can work full-time hours here and there without the job (which, although I whinge and moan about it sometimes, is a great job to have) becoming this big black cloud over my head. Heck, even the customers are less annoying now! (That’s not to say that they’re not annoying, because they most certainly are — only slightly less than I remembered.)
The rest of my time, save for my quasi-religious music devotion, has been taken up by reading: plenty of books, magazines, newspapers, other people’s weblogs, and pretty much anything with text written or printed on it. Unfortunately, this activity, while personally beneficial, has been at the expense of providing fresh content for, well, whoever reads this thing. I do expect, however, that this situation will change sooner rather than later. Just consider the current state of affairs a _pause in proceedings_.
In the interim, of course, there’s still the Linklog to keep you lot happy. After all, it’s far easier to dash out a quick link on its own rather than cooking up paragraphs of waffle to go with it.
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Mission Of Burma played a blinder of a show last night at the Temple Bar Music Centre, despite technical problems that threatened to end things before they started (to be specific, during openers Seachange‘s set the PA blew up).
I made sure I was close enough to the stage, both to actually _see_ the show (I’m not the tallest fellow you’d ever meet) and to take many, many photos with the trusty Didge, just like the one you can see above.
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