Artist:  OK Go

OK Go's latest album

Album:  Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky

If nothing else OK Go will be know as the band that did that treadmill video.  Admittedly I downloaded the single for that song, ‘Here We Go,’ and left it at that.  Then at the end of last year Amazon listed the whole album ‘Oh No’ for five dollars and after listening to previews I decided to go ahead and download it.  I was pleasantly surprised at how catchy the album was.

When this album was released I had some download credits to burn.  Apparently ‘Oh No’ made enough of an impression on me as I downloaded this one with no hesitation and no prior information.

Review following the break.

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Mysterio! The Gauntlet! Dan Slott! Oh my!

After not reading comics for almost two months, I finally went and picked up all of the comics I hadn’t bought and in this monstrous stack was Amazing Spider-Man #618. Penned by Dan Slott with art by Marcos Martin, this was the issue I have been looking forward to for months (since I heard word of it back in August) that was apart of Spider-Man’s “The Gauntlet.”

In case you haven’t been keeping up with Amazing Spider-Man, what’s been happening is this: all of Spidey’s old villains have been coming back… with a vengeance. The thing is, they’re not coming back to get Spider-Man, but they’re coming back to do what they do best: do selfish things. So far, we’ve had Electro, Sandman, Rhino (2.0) and this weeks baddy–Mysterio.

It’s been all very good so far, but this week’s issue… I wasn’t feeling it so much, which is a huge surprise since I have an absolute love for Dan Slott’s Spider-Man. But let’s talk more after the break.

*some minor spoilery after the break*

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All snark aside: This cover is absolutely gorgeous.

What has come before: technically nothing, since this is a prequel.

The folks at Top Cow have been doing a lot to try to lure new readers and lapsed fans back into the fold. They have been tying up dangling subplots in their comics in preparation for fans jumping (back) on board. They have been offering trade paperbacks at the introductory price of $9.99.Finally, they have been releasing the occasional one-shot like this one, a tale of one of the previous bearers of the Darkness in the late 19th century.

There’s a very mild spoiler in this review, so let’s meet up again after the break.
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More info on what’s reviewed after the jump!
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Artist:  Vampire Weekend
Album:  Contra

Vampire Weekend’s self-titled first release was hailed by many as an original, ground breaking album and a fresh sound.  It was critically acclaimed by many reviewers.  It came in at number 5 on Time’s best albums of 2008 and peaked on Billboard at 17.  At decades end it came in at 56 on Rolling Stone’s top 100 albums of the decade.  Clearly the New York band was on to something.

I didn’t pickup on the album until early 2009 and the first time I heard it I found it to be underwhelming at best and outright unlistenable.  That must have been a bad day for me personally.  I revisited the album a couple of months later and immediately fell in love with it.  The sound was at once familiar and at the same time refreshing.  It stood out in the indie field where many albums seemed to be chasing the same ‘indie’ sound.

Fast forward to 2010 and Vampire Weekend’s second release ‘Contra.’  The band had released the song ‘Horchata’ for free late in 2009 and I immediately downloaded and loved it.  It had the same quirky feel and African pop beats and felt like it would blend in just fine on their first album.  Now the question was whether or not the rest of the album would live up to expectation.

Review after the break.

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More info on what’s reviewed after the jump!
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