71 minutes, 40 seconds

Xorcist
Nomad

Every time I listen to this album, I'm reminded of just how good it is, and what a tremendous leap it is from Xorcist's early days. What started as a--let's face it--pretty cheesy, paint-by-numbers industrial-dance band (circa Damned Souls) had by this album become a confident artist with a knack for mixing different styles of music into his repertoire: tribal, ambient, ethnic, musique concrète. It's rare for me to like bands whose sound changes so much, but Xorcist, um, exorcised the dull parts and refined what remained to create a more interesting sound.

Speaking of dull, welcome to Monday. Another week of excruciating boredom at work, no doubt. I tell people that being able to work from home (and blog without fear of being caught, unlike this poor soul) is a worthwhile trade-off in exchange for the crushing tedium of the job itself. But it feels like I'm really just trying to convince myself. And that's not working anymore. I'm getting wise to my ruses.

I've always thought work should be at least a little boring. You should, after all, want to leave it at the end of the day and look forward to going home and spending time with your significant other, your kids, your pet, your television, your neuroses, whatever. I've always wondered whether workaholics are truly passionate about their jobs or just use that excuse not to deal with other people and issues in their lives. And maybe I say that because it's been a long time since I've been truly passionate about my job, but maybe there's some truth to it too. I mean, do we want to be defined by what we do for a living, or by who we are as people? (Cue the MLK "Content of Their Character" speech.)

Then again, who am I as a person? Some guy who has a weird and inflexible way of listening to music he probably should have outgrown long ago. That's who.

Also today:

71:39 Skinny Puppy, Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse
71:39 TH Industry, Scream
71:37 Tyske Ludder, Creutzfeldt
71:36 Current 93, Christ and the Pale Queens Mighty in Sorrow
71:35 Assemblage 23, Contempt
71:32 Mentallo and the Fixer, Revelations 23
New arrival! 73:10 FGFC820, Urban Audio Warfare
71:31 Allerseelen, Abenteuerliches Herz