Things are being spruced up here at ginandtacos. I've updated the blogroll and links. If you are a blogger who reads ginandtacos regularly, please email me (my contact info has also been updated, above the blogroll) or post something in the comments to this entry. I'll be happy to add you.
As for the left side content, I'm working on re-organizing all of it into monthly archives and a single category for all the non-blogging stuff. Most of that stuff is quite old and has probably long since ceased to amuse any regular readers.
Next week I'll be participating in the Blog Against Theocracy blogswarm. Keep an eye peeled for that while you're enjoying your fireworks and tubular meat products.
And since I haven't done album reviews in ages, let me try to cram five of them into one No Politics Friday ™:
Shellac, Excellent Italian Greyhound – Surprisingly mediocre. The album is 50% throwaway, background music-type tracks. The other 50% is some of the best work they've ever done. Half amazing, half boring = a C+ album. But the good tracks ("Be Prepared", "Paco", "End of Radio") are amazing.
NIN, Year Zero – Surprisingly incredible. I've played this daily for about 6 weeks. I'm really at a loss to explain why it doesn't blow, but it's really Trent's version of The Argument – two inexplicable cases of a band putting out its finest album past age 40.
Battles, Mirrored – Surprisingly indescribable. This album is like reading a math textbook, if only math textbooks could be interesting. I'll still take B EP over this as the best Battles album, but this is nothing to sneeze at.
Marilyn Manson, Eat Me, Drink Me – Unsurprisingly good. I've come to expect good things and I am no longer surprised when he delivers.
Dinosaur Jr, Beyond – Surprisingly you've-gotta-be-kidding-me good. This album gets special mention because it had all the makings of a complete and utter train wreck. It's a bad idea executed by a bunch of people who have not aged well. At all. Had it been merely "decent" I would have been shocked, but it's legitimately good. I have no words to express my surprise.
Tomahawk, Anonymous – I've taken shits more interesting than this record. I've tried for years to force myself to like this band. People continually throw phrases like "ex-Jesus Lizard!" and "ex-Helmet!" at me, and then I feel like I should like them. They're boring. Mike Patton should maybe focus on one band rather than being in 11 and having most of what they do sound like cutting-room-floor material.