The End

The trentaffair.com is going away at the end of this month. Download while you can, and thank you.

For now this blog will be archived at thetrentaffair.blogspot.com but no further updates are planned.

Wash it down

Sniff-sniff, what's that smell? Why it's a buttload of frozen water on Mars. Pee-yew. Why does it smell a posteriori like a locker room laundry bag? En realidad it does not. The experience is psychosomatic, O'Grady. All this water means we the species are a dance step closer to finding microbial life on another planet. This will be the most signficante discovery of the new century, Shirley (O'Grady). Begorrah the blarney, science destroys the irrational again. Haps to the Pats, my wee 'un.

"The deposits, up to 2.3 miles thick, are under a polar cap of white frozen carbon dioxide and water, and appear to be composed of at least 90 percent frozen water, with dust mixed in, according to findings published in the journal Science."

First thoughts on Neon Bible

On the Neon Bible's most anthemic track, the drums may as well have been looped for all their verve, and the track ends with a cliched double snare hit followed by a crash. It almost negates the otherworldly pipe organ, which delivers an unbelievable emotional lift. And I miss the group chorus. I want those seven or eight voices together. While his more controlled vocals are employed to great effect, it was the singer's desperate top-of-the-range yelp on the last album that was its emotional hook.

Despite these comments, I cheer the Arcade Fire for releasing a great album that manages not to repeat its great predessor. The songwriting and arrangements shine like the memory of your first kiss. There is the country kick of (antichrist television blues), the celtic folk-influenced Keep the Car Running, which reproduces the Arcade Fire march on uncommon acoustic instruments, the 80s shot through an orchestral swamp of Black Wave/Bad Vibrations, and the early morning dirge of the title track sounds like it was recorded so as not to wake children asleep in the next room.

If there was doubt or caution before, it's now apparent we can anoint them as the next great band.

No iridium either

Through the winter haze the island of Molokai is barely visible. It's new to this part of the ocean, just as is the one I stand upon. There is a reason no dinosaur bones have been found here. The Hawaiian islands are only a million years old. That is 65 times younger than the dinosaurs.

Beach elf

Y'all know if any hotties be beachin theyselves soon? I ain't gonna front -- I'm all about gettin my whiskers wet.

Shit, I'm hungry.