Most people have the day off and are too busy enjoying life and the outside world to care about the Internet. So why not post a few half-formed thoughts on recent music?

 -New Beck record? OWNS. Beck is one of those artists that I love, but not in a fawning slash embarassing slash if he were my man i'd PDA his ass all the time sort of way. But then I sit down and listen to one of his records and i'm like OHMAN. Aside from Midnite Vultures (which kind of creeped me out), every new album gets me excited. The Information is great for any situation: late-night Myspace stalking, small gatherings in the living room, whatever.

 And it comes with stickers. Possibly the most professional-looking and artsy stickers I've ever seen. And I KNOW my stickers-me and the Garbage Pail Kids are like blood brothers. His website is all sleek and nice too.

-Built To Spill at Avalon on October The Second? Pretty kickass. If you were at the show, I was next to the guy who was yelling lots of things. It's funny to go to an indie show with someone who's loud and obnoxious, and I'll briefly explain why. EVERYONE wanted to beat this guy's ass, and in pretty much any other situation, ass would have been pummeled and packaged in time to sell at Shaw's the next morning. But because the audience was a bunch of stoned skinny kids, all this guy got were a few passive aggressive eye rolls from the braver members of the crowd. The guy was still hell of obnoxious, and I was the one who had to punch him and calm him down a bit, but that observation gave the situation a silver lining.

 The show itself, right. Doug Martsch and friends came out with guns BLAZING. They capital-R Rocked a set that featured songs from every album AND a few Halo Benders tracks AND a cover or two (a less-half-assed post would provide you with names). They closed the set with one of my favorite songs in the entire world, "Carry The Zero" (from WHYDOYOUNOTOWNTHIS Keep It Like A Secret). The encore was a smidge anti-climactic-the epic "Randy Described Eternity" (from YOUREALLYSHOULDOWNTHISTOO Perfect From Now On) spun out into a lengthy experimental jam that gradually died out as Doug unplugged everything on the stage. We were hoping for one last song-but I don't think complaining about a band's enormous catalogue and the inability to hear EVERY song you like at one show is, you know, a BAD problem to have. Go see them if you get a chance, and if you were too young for the glory days of Built To Spill, find a mid-twenties hipster and check out their back catalogue.

-Badly Drawn Boy is at the Paradise tomorrow. I'm not too familiar with the newer songs (a new record, Born In The U.K., drops later this month, and Beardhat's got a single to check out on his site), but making The Hour Of Bewilderbeast gives him a bit of a free pass in my book, and I've been talked into checking him out. I'm not bringing the obnoxious guy this time, so just look for the really good-looking guy if you're at the show and want to say hi. I believe our fearless leader is a big BDB fan, but I may have my wires crossed this morn...afternoon. Christ it takes long to write these things. 

-While we're on the subject of Bruce Springsteen devotees...yes, bands like The Killers and The Hold Steady and about a million other people want to write the kind of stuff that The Boss made his life's work, and they are blatantly and publicly in awe of the Man.. Let's be clear here: THIS IS NOT A BAD THING. In the wrong hands, sure it could be awful, but you shouldn't let people start using this observation as an insult.

And as a Public Service Announcement, I would like to remind all that people who don't like Bruce Springsteen are dead inside and dead to me.