Well, not all things can always work out as planned. The hunt for a bus has ended with us empty handed. We had made plans with the owner of the graffiti bus discussed earlier and decided to buy it. We got a friend and contributor to the bus situation to agree to drive and pick it up. But, we ran into a major miscommunication when the person to pick up the bus found out it was in New York City. The ad on Craigslist appeared in the northern New Jersey area, which apparently has an overlapping area with NYC. Upon noticing the situation, our friend, Eric, decided it was too far of a route and couldn't pull it off within the schedule of his day. Obviously we were now on bad terms with the owner, and I can only assume it was sold to some lucky person, damn them.

That was about the zenith of our search, with only rejections and bad timing for all other possible buses. So, unless fortune shifts into our direction for one time this summer, we will be holding off the search until next year, where all contributors will be more able to use the vehicle. The other assumption is that we should have more money by summer next year, so our variety will be increased from the bottom-of-the-barrel rust buckets that we originally could barely afford.

Bonnaroo, on the other hand, has been working quite successfully for us. The lineup that was announced has many names which we want to see, and even without a bus, we will be taking either Dave's or Mike's car, albeit much more tight. Dave and I have been arguing over multiple topics from where to camp to what to bring, but I know we can get some sort of compromise, and the only reason we argue is to voice our opinion so that we will make all of us get the most out of our festival. I want to keep costs to a minimum, and avoiding getting things that I know there are readily accessible alternatives to. The festival has also showed me to new bands that I haven't heard of before, which is a very appealing factor to me. The biggest two right now are Gov't Mule and The Black Keys, which the first is a jam band formed of the backup performers of the Allman Brother's Band and the other is a blues-rock duet out of Akron, Ohio which have the same mentality of The White Stripes. Both are now on my list of bands to see in the festival, and I am already excited to see them.

Since I haven't written much on my own stupidity, I'm deciding to expand this to a more broad idea. The plan I have currently is to have a weekly album review to show what I have been listening to, or what I really believe to be "good" music, although "good" is entirely subjective, especially in music. I have thought of what album I wanted to explain first, and I think I know which one to pick. Feel free to critique my ability (or lack of), since this is my first real attempt at anything like this.

Album Review:
The Gerbils - The Battle of Electricity

Members of the Elephant 6 collective, The Gerbils fail to disappoint in this beautifully done album. I was first introduced to the recording collective when I heard about Of Montreal from a friend, and instantly loved and appreciated the music they created. I looking into the group Of Montreal was affiliated with and found The Gerbils. I could only find the first album by them, Are You Sleepy?, which I enjoyed for it's lo-fi and twee pop. About one month later, I decided to buy an album off of Amazon.com, and I saw that I could get free shipping if I paid about the price for one more album. So, after some searching, I found this album and decided to buy it, without knowing the exact contents of it, which I try to stray from doing. I am very glad I have bought it. The first song on the album, "Are You Underwater," was an instant attraction for me to listening to the rest of the album. From the beginning I see a new direction that the band moved in, away from a twee pop sound and to a more well orchestrated and composed style which really works well for them.

Then, I notice the "songs" of the album are spread between these segues of about a minute or less, which usually perform a fantastic job of transitioning from one song to the next, creating what I believe to be a much more profound listening experience from beginning to end. And where the areas occur of a more jangling guitar sound, the song has much more cohesiveness than their initial work, which sometimes almost felt completely disjointed and working against the movement and tempo of the rest of the band. The singer, Scott Spillane, has a voice which distances some people from their work, has some tonal areas which could be improved, but overall this album is much more instrumentally powerful than anything, and I happen to like his voice.

So, all in all. I believe The Gerbils made a very solid album, with transitions and layered songs which keeps you listening over and over.

Rating: 92/100

Highlights: "Are You Underwater," "Lucky Girl," "A Song of Love," and all the transitions.

If interested in hearing or buying, Amazon's got you covered. Click here to hear The Gerbils' sophomore work.