The Album of the Day

OK, lets talk about Animal Collective for a second.

I'll occasionally visit MetaCritic and peruse the top music lists (and sometimes the bottom ones, for laughs... I think as of today K-Fed is sitting on the bottom as worse of the 21st century). Right as the top was this band I had never heard of called Animal Collective. As I looked over the review synopses, I was impressed - I had never seen that many 100's before. I am a curious kind of dude, so I fired up my favorite torrent software (don't judge me) and gave their latest release, Merriweather Post Pavilion, a listen.

What genre are they? I don't know. All I know is, they're downright infectious. I still haven't "gotten" them yet, and I don't know if I ever will, but maybe that's the point. It's not intended to be analyzed or dissected like "traditional" music is these days... it's just primal, fundamental booty-shakin' body movin' stuff. I envision myself dancing around a fire at Burning Man when I listen to this album. This isn't the sort of record you play at a party with acquaintances. It's one you listen to at 3 am passing blunts between friends while dancing barefoot on the grass looking at stars, or on your roof looking over, say, New York City.

1. In the Flowers
2. My Girls
3. Also Frightened
4. Summertime Clothes
5. Daily Routine
6. Bluish
7. Guys Eyes
8. Taste
9. Lion in a Coma
10. No More Runnin
11. Brother Sport
 

Below is the video for My Girls. Don't listen to it unless you plan to hum it for the rest of the day.

In other news, I've been invited by the Piedmont Triad .NET Users Group to speak on a panel next week about Microsoft certifications. I don't know how I feel about this. I have 6 of them, so there's no doubt in my mind I think they have value, but MS is watering them down so much its hard to justify their cost these days... I suppose I need to spill to the MS folks what my opinions are before they let me open my big mouth in a room full of people looking for career guidance. But I relish the opportunity to speak... it will be a good marketing and networking opportunity. We'll see how that plays out.

I need to get up from my desk for 5 minutes every hour. My wrists are starting to hurt!

Oh yeah, one last thing - it's almost time for ordinarygeek.com to do its best Phoenix impression. I figure another week or so.