This will be my first real three-day weekend in a long, long time. You see, I used to work Tuesday - Saturday so these Monday holidays were nice because everyone else I knew was off work too, but it still wasn't the same because I always still had to work Saturdays.

F that now. No more Saturdays at work watching everyone enjoy the sunshine.

The new Hold Steady album Stay Positive leaked last night. I listened to it well after midnight while sitting on the couch downstairs because I couldn't find my good headphones in the dark and MRA was sound asleep. Eh. I don't really know what to think at this point. It's different. Some of the instrumentation is wacky and crappy (the harpsichord on "On For The Cutters" and especially the crappy synth line on "Navy Sheets." That one in particular sounds so stupid and is so high in the mix.) However, I definitely like the first track "Constructive Summer." It has that high energy that I had hoped for from this record. In fact, I wanted Stay Positive to *BE* my record for the Summer Of Awesomeness which will be Summer 2008. Now I'm not so sure.

I talked to Mitch last night about how right around now there seems to be a ton of decent (if not good) new music flooding the market. New Ratatat is out soon, there's a new Annie record on the way (this one has a nice megamix featuring songs from the album). I also noticed today that there's a new Joan Of Arc (???) record coming out? The hey?

Enough hoo-ha. Here's some songs for the weekend:

Anyways. We're off to SF for a nice dinner at Rohan Lounge. Pork lettuce wraps & pancakes await!

"In bar light, she looked alright. In daylight, she looked desperate."

New Hold Steady track for the MP3 of the week. The Hold Steady continue to kick out the jams, and I'm hoping their new album Stay Positive becomes my car ride, party in the park, getting drunk in the daylight kind of soundtrack. This song is a great start with the handclap/singalong outro, blasting horns, E Street piano, and howling organs. Good stuff.