What I'm Listening To

Here's what's blaring out of my stereo at the moment (as though you cared):

-Beyond by Dinosaur Jr.
J Mascis got the original Dinosaur Jr back together, and they rock harder than ever. But, don't kid yourself that just because Murph and Lou Barlow are back in the band that this is a return to the "classic" Dino Jr sound. This is pure "late-model" stuff, with layer upon layer of heavy Jazzmaster noise, just like the J Mascis solo records that he passed off as Dinosaur Jr records. Great stuff, though.

-White Light, White Heat, White Trash by Social Distortion
The best Social Distortion record, IMO. Most people cite Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell, but I like my punk rock to actually rock.

-Vena Sera by Chevelle
Pretty basic Gloom Metal.

-Soul Crusher by Operator
Imagine Chris Cornell fronting a crappy metal band (much like he did in the early days of Soundgarden), and you have a good idea of what Operator sounds like. It's a shame that this record is better than the two solo records that the real Chris Cornell broke up two awesome bands to release.

-"Metalingus" by Alter Bridge
I've never been a big fan of Mark Tremonti, as all of his guitar work with Creed could have been played by a talented computer program. But this song, with the band that Creed became after Scott Stapp fell off the earth, is full of cool little licks and riffs. Maybe if Tremonti had played like this with Creed, they wouldn't have been the Gayest Band Ever.

-"Umbrella" by Rhianna
How do you not like this song?

-"Anything" by JoJo
It's nice to see Jeff Porcaro earning some songwriting royalties again. Too bad he's been dead for, like, 15 years. Oddly, The Girl loves JoJo, but hates this song. She has no appreciation of shitty '80s songs, I guess.

-Lite Rock on the Hard Rock station
I was listening to WXRX, Screw City's Home of Rock, the other day, when I heard something that I'm pretty sure was Avril Lavigne. I actually checked the radio dial to make sure I was on the right station. So, the Rock station was playing (I think) Avril Lavigne, who is sooooooo far away from rock that she may actually come all the way back around to being rock. I'm sure there's a Einstein-Rosen theory that explains it all.