Holding pattern.

Tracks are slowly leaking out from the new Hold Steady LP, Heaven is Whenever. And… they’re not great. The two I’ve heard so far, “Rock Problems” (thanks, Ed) and “Hurricane J,” sound surprisingly generic, processed, and, as Ed put it, “de-fanged.” Also, I’m not a fan of frontman Craig Finn’s attempts at crooning–his voice is pretty grating, and singing lessons are not going to hide that fact. Plus, I’m not the only one who likes his rasping tenor bellow.

I’m not optimistic about the rest of the album at this point, but I’ll withhold final judgment until May. Gotta stay positive.

Update: Ed sent me a few live versions of a few other tracks, which I liked better. This isn’t that surprising–most of my problems with the two tracks posted above are related to production. We shall see on May 4, I guess.

Five for Friday, March 26.

As part of the whole diet thing, I’m avoiding red meat and deep-fried food. As a result, five things I’m missing right now:

1. A medium-rare cheeseburger and fries. Maybe with bacon.
2. Grilled rack of lamb.
3. Ribs.
4. Sausage. I did not really consider the fact that I was giving up chorizo.
5. Samosas and falafel. Baked just isn’t the same.

On the plus side, it has made me realize what a large number of things are fried, which is definitely good to remember going forward.

IT’S ON.

Name of the Year 2010 is underway! I have Cynnamon Crabb’s Cindarella story being cut (brutally) short by X’Zavier Bloodsaw, who goes on to defeat Nohjay Nimpson to emerge from the Bulltron Regional.

If you haven’t already clicked over and added their feed, I think Furious Bradley and Pat Angerer (go Hawkeyes!) have something to say to you.

Although I think Tyquan Hammock will knock out Spontaneous Gordon in the Dragonwagon and Romulus Marino and Spartacus Bernstein will make deep runs in the Chrotchtangle, I ultimately agree with Scott: this is the year of X’Zavier Bloodsaw.

The No Fun League.

I love football, but I don’t like a lot of football fans. From the comments of a ProFootballTalk post about possible Super Bowl halftime acts (Green Day? Green Day?!):

Nickelback would be an awesome halftime show. Young enough to appeal to the kiddies and still know how to rock like the good ol’ boys from days past.

jtm1023, it is not possible for me to respect you less than I do right now.

Yo, Joe!

Health care reform flotsam and jetsam:

• Apparently, it’s a big fucking deal.
• Obama’s a lefty (about 1:21 in). I forgot that.