breakfast every hour--it could save the world

Last week, I bought Radiohead's new album, Hail to the Thief, and the new White Stripes album, Elephant. I must say that they are both simply excellent finds. The Radiohead album is a sort of continuation of the style in Amnesiac, but more soothing, more delicate, more emotional, more vulnerable. I think I needed this after listening to Manson's The Golden Age of Grotesque for several weeks. The two albums are diametrically opposed. Listening to them one after the other makes for an interesting evening.

Elephant is the first White Stripes album I buy, and I've fallen for their purist approach. In fact, the cd sleeve says, "No computers were used during the writing, recording, mixing or mastering of this record." Compare that to the cd sleeve of Radiohead's Thief, which lists "laptop" as one of Thom Yorke's instruments. Ha! But it's true--there is virtue in simplicity. The White Stripes know this, and they have capitalized on it. Give a listen to the intoxicating "Seven Nation Army." It's as if the Rolling Stones of the late 60s (think "Paint it Black") were transplanted into the present, with completely new material. They're also coming to Austin on Wednesday. I should have gotten tickets.