i really love it when something that i have been waiting/looking for comes into the store as a promo. this has only happened with the John Vanderslice record, and now with the new album by the Presets. i had heard a few tracks from the Presets from various online blogs and was intrigued to hear more, so i was very pleasantly surprised to see it in the promo bin the other day when i arrived for work.

overall the album is good, not amazing, because it fails to deliver on the potential of its best tracks. "the girl and the sea" is my current addiction and will most likely feature prominently in the Rock It! playlist this coming sunday. another track that might see the light of day (or night?) at Rock It! is the newest song by the band Pony Up!, the song is called "the truth about cats and dogs (is that they die)" and aptly demonstrates their talent for writing the cutest pop songs about disturbing subjects. Pony Up! is an all-female band that writes cute, but oftimes sexually provocative songs with simple beats and nice harmonies. i actually worked their first album during the summer i spent in LA working at Dim Mak and they were one of the only bands outside of Bloc Party that i thought had a legitimate chance at blowing up. i think this new album might be their ticket if this first song is any indication, that song plus the fact that steve aoki is currently some sort of indie-hipster demigod is certainly a good starting point.

i watched the Goblet of Fire the other day, and thought it did a decent job of re-telling the book, but it has been awhile since i read it, so i don't know for sure. i also think that the Harry Potter books have kinda been written like movie scripts since the beginning, sure they were books first but they were books that were written for a market.