i bet you didn’t know i had a little doohickey for music, did you? that’s cause i was a little dry in the cd-buying department for a while, but then with the excitement of Super Fucking Rock Month i just had too much music to process. so having had a little time to reflect, here are some cds i’ve picked up in conjunction with all those great concerts:

spoon – a series of sneaks (mp3) – ?? stars

i know this is an awful way to start off this post, but it’s the most honest one: i only listened to this cd once, and that was on the way home from the concert in my car while i was also having a conversation with joe, so i really have no opinion on this. it was just the worst time to try to get into a new cd, with packing and moving and all. i have always really liked the song ‘metal detektor’ though and i can only assume i will feel the same way about this cd as the other spoon cd’s — it’s good but not favorite-good. time will tell.

rilo kiley – take offs and landings (mp3s) – 3 stars

jenny lewis single-handedly broke my aversion to girl-fronted bands by simply writing some fantastic songs. her voice is such a pleasure to listen to and the lyrics are genuinely good. the live show convinced me more than anything to buy their newer album the execution of all things a few months ago — which is even better than this disc — because they are just so good in person, but a second show prompted me to buy this older album. sure, i had to go to amoeba to get it because they didn’t have any at the merch table (why not, i will never know), but there are enough great tracks on this cd, especially ‘wires and waves’, to make it worth grabbing. all the charm of the band that attracts me so much with just slightly less rock than execution, is all.

piebald – rock revolution ep (mp3s) – 3 stars

i looooove piebald. i adore piebald live sets. they’re just a really fun band to see and hear. so the piebald/ozma show at the troubadour last week was about as good as they come (see below for more), topped only by last year’s hey mercedes/piebald shows with koufax opening. although their set didn’t contain a single song off this ep and was instead chock full of all their greats (‘location is everything’! ‘just a simple plan’!) and at least 5 new songs which were all really great, i bought this because i like buying things from my favorite bands, and this was the only cd i wanted i didn’t already have. for five bucks it’s not bad: you get a version of ‘american hearts’ where he sings bostonian for “you’re part of it…” which is more like “you’re PAAHT of it…”, and you get a few other decent b-sides, even if one of them is a sort of corny one about van halen. but if you’re stingy and not a collector, you can just save the cash for a new bright eyes shirt and download the definite best song off the release, ‘they don’t understand us at the academy’, from mp3.com (link above). not doing at least that would be plain foolish.

ozma – spending time on the borderline (mp3s, sweet ass video) – 4 stars

up there on the ‘bands that are probably better live than recorded’ list is ozma, for sure. i like almost all of their songs, but on a stage they tend to rock a lot more than they do on a cd. not to say i don’t like listening to them that way either — cause it’s still solid stuff. it’s poppy and full of sing-a-long choruses and great riffs with some keyboards thrown in to increase the bounce factor. i probably have listened to this several times daily since i bought it with no signs of slowing. you might want to check out the song of the week for a demonstration, or watch their cool video. the real ticket is seeing them play though, because the lyrics get belted out and the guitars get shredded on in ways i guess they just couldn’t capture in a recording, and it’s all a great, clean sound. maybe they’re really picky with sound guys, but somehow their tunes always seem really crisp and well put together, and seeing their little guitar player jose jump around doesn’t hurt either.

ted leo – a notably absent tyranny of distance review

who plays a show and sells absolutely no merchandise? not a single scrap? i go to this show fully intending to give up 10 or 12 bucks for some of the great tunes i just heard, and i CAN’T, cause there’s no one selling anything. i don’t think that’s ever happened to me before. so twice now i will have had to go to a record store post-show because i couldn’t do what i wanted to do most, and buy cd’s right from the bands so i know they’re getting my money. ah well, i dig checking out record shoppers anyway.