MGMT: Oracular Spectacular

Great electro-indie-pop band MGMT killer album from last year - Oracular Spectacular:

 

 

How did I miss these guys all year?

http://www.amazon.com/Oracular-Spectacular-MGMT/dp/B0010VD7EO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1230669760&sr=8-1

Aurora Barrel Aged

Good stuff. A gentle smoke, but rich. Smell is almost chocolate.

Brand: La Aurora Barrel Aged
Vitola: #4
Ring Gauge: 43
Length: 5.75
Wrapper: Dominican Corojo
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican and Nicaraguan
Origin: Dominican Republic

Brand:
The Barrel Aged by La Aurora is a creation of one Jose Blanco. The Corojo Oscuro wrapper of this cigar is sealed within an oak barrel, which once contained Dominican rum. Wanting to try something different Jose first placed the wrapper leaves in barrels and allowed them to age for one year. Upon opening, the aroma was heavenly and the decision was made to let them rest once again.

There is some confusion on the total age on these cigars. Some sources say four years while other say five. In either case these leaves have undergone some serious aging and are ready to be smoked.

While the barrel aging process isn’t something new for La Aurora, from what I understand the 1495 and Cien Anos both utilize barrel aged tobaccos. The aging of the wrapper is uncharted territory for the company, but it seems to have developed a bit of a following.

 

http://www.stogiereview.com/2008/08/29/la-aurora-barrel-aged/

Joy Division

 

 

I've been watching this great documentary on Joy Division (simply called "Joy Division") on the PVR.

My intro to Joy Division was of course New Order, the band that the remaining members formed after Ian Curtis committed suicide in 1980. I have most of their music and always thought they were perhaps the most interesting post-punk sound to come out of the UK in the late '70s. What I'm most fascinated by now is how their kind of post-industrial sound and striking minimalistic design and writing style have held up.

To the centre of the city where all roads
meet looking for you
To the depths of the ocean
where all hopes sank searching for you
Moving through the silence without motion
waiting for you
In a room with no window in the corner,
I found truth

The band helped form the melancholy of The Cure, The Smiths, The Sisters of Mercy and went on to create a niche for the "intelligent electronica" bands like Depeche Mode.

And their design ethic still inspires. Check out the cover to "Unknown Pleasures" released in 1979:

 

 

And the later precursur to the seminal New Order's "Substance":

 

 

You can see this ethos reflected in the writing style and cover art of bands like Coldplay even today, 30 years later.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_division