Obligatory Music Post

I don’t get many opportunities to agree with Matt Yglesias, so I’ll take this one and run: Rainer Maria’s new record Catastrophe Keeps Us Together is an endearing, pleasant album—not a grand slam, or even a home run, but a genuine, solid triple. I don’t know about what Matt says about them not being cool anymore; I don’t think they were ever cool to begin with. I used to make fun of mid 20s stoners who loved them back in high school (even though I secretly found them quite listenable), and now that I’m in my mid 20s (though not a stoner), I suppose it’s time I started acting like the old fogy* I am (and an old conservative fogy too—how sad is that?) and got around to liking some wimpy, uncool music myself.

But not all at once. For those lucky kids that scored tickets a month ago, The Wolf Parade show at The Black Cat on Wednesday night promises to be utterly stellar. I know, I know… they’re a pure product of the Pitchfork/indie blog hype machine. But they also rock in that gangly, scruffy, electrified-genius way that I find inexplicably compelling. Late comers should definitely hit up Craig’s List, though I, as a totally stoked ticket-holder have to say: I told you so.

*I am 100% in favor of spelling the word "fogey," with that "e" where it ought to be, but Microsoft Word insists otherwise, and I am too much of a wuss to stand up to the squiggly red line.