By the way...

My "on deck" CD's have been ordered, and Unknown Pleasures arrived this past week. Being intriqued by what I saw and heard in 24 Hour Party People, I was really excited to get some Joy Division. I haven't stopped listening to it. The atmosphere is claustrophobic but utterly addictive. I find myself seeing with new eyes the looped, buzzing aesthetic of 80's New Wave. Punk had failed to kill Rock n' Roll, as it had promised, but it had (and has) utterly left it's mark upon pop music. The only place to go was inward, to the individual hell of the postmodern age. And if we can have some bouncy riffs and pavement-cool melodies along the way, then rock on.