There’s something special about a group that entirely shifts their sound from one record to another. Brooklyn-based The Men are one of those bands. With their new record, Open Your Heart, it’s apparent that it’s miles away from 2010′s Immaculada and last year’s Leave Home both in sonics and songcraft.

Tuneage instead of tonnage is the real story here. For the uninitiated, the prior two albums were variants of blue-in-the-face scuzz rock, low on songcraft and high on volume. (Stuff not for the faint at heart, but if you want to try it, “Night Landing” will surely be disorienting.) Their latest is anything but. They have have ditched that formula for something way more basic, and brawnier. There’s no better example than the album’s title track, a Let It Be-era Replacements cataclysm. Strong on hooks, pleading vocals and an earworm of a bass line, there’s no reason it’s not a song-of-the-year candidate. “Turn It Around,” the album opener, is four minutes of fist pumping heroism and an undeniable show-opener. “I wanna…” choruses and wild soloing will ignite crowds everywhere. Then there’s the oddly named “Country Song,” which sounds more like incidental music from Friday Night Lights than it’s namesake. (“Candy,” which comes later on the album would be more aptly named.)

What’s most impressive about this album may not be the songs themselves. It might be the fact that the band that created it was able to turn out a release so confident in a sound that is nothing like they’ve released before. It also leaves those to wonder what’s next for The Men. They’re a band that’s yet to peak, and every record they’ve made is a fine example of that. Open Your Heart isn’t just a clever title. It’s a request.

It’s become unpopular to rest in the margins and take this in as a casual observer. Yes, I’m aware of what’s happening in my world, but I’m choosing not to be a part of it. I don’t think that makes me like everyone else. Listening to myself more then ever is not a bad thing. It’s the unpopular thing. I like to learn. But I never like to do it from one source. I’m a firm believer that the best thing you can do is educate yourself from a variety of sources. To never be too trusting of one outlet is the best thing you can do for yourself.

We’ve hit this saturation point where opinion becomes fact when it’s wrapped up in an aesthetically pleasing package. News outlets rely on us to do their jobs for them through social media. How many times have you seen news networks encourage viewers to send in their ‘iReports’ or some other similarly-named submissions? It’s a disrespect to the profession that I went to school for.

Opinion becomes fact rather quickly when it’s wrapped up in an aesthetically pleasing package. I just wish more people paid attention to that. Everything seems to matter now, and we’re all expected to ACT NOW when something outrageous happens. Who has the time for it all? Excuse me for sounding selfish, but having my hands in everything is something I wish I had the capacity for. It’s a burden I cannot bear, at least for now.

Today I spent some time recording the Griffin Technology GuitarConnect Cable for iPhone, iPod, and iPad. I’ve always been a documentarian. If there was a way to record it, I’d do it. I have family movies far past the age that they’re cute, journals from when I was six, and songs. Songs I made with my friends when we were in high school. I’d record every practice, bum song attempt, and final product. But it’s all there. Rudimentary, because it really was just a computer microphone set up in the center of the room with Windows Sound Recorder. It’s also made me think about how things are done these days.

While software did exist, it was expensive and certainly wasn’t bundled with a home computer. I started taking guitar lessons again recently, so ideas for songs casually enter my mind. I’ve started a project as an attempt at taking power chords and finding a way to bash them together into recognition. Instead of buying a variety of amplifiers, I can plug my guitar into my computer and try out hundreds. I can take a simple sound and craft it into something else right from my bedroom. This certainly is no new thing, but it never ceases to amaze me when I sit down and tinker in GarageBand.

Lucero – Women & Work

Lucero are on a hot streak. While they’ve made dependable records with tracks that absolutely slay, it wasn’t until 2009′s 1372 Overton Park did they create an album that fully combined their rough-hewn songcraft with hooks that last for days. Punctuated by Memphis horns and Ben Nichols signature rasp, the record was nothing short of an instant classic, and this year’s Women & Work expounds on the work the last record started. “Downtown (Intro)” is a great table setter for the pulsating “On My Way Downtown”. Singer/guitarist Ben Nichols showcases his sandy croon on the drowsy balladeering of “When I Was Young”, later followed by the ragtime rave-up “Like Lightning”, this album’s best entry into their already impressive canon.

Unlike many of their roots-punk contemporaries, Lucero has had a half-decade head start in record making. With that, they’ve accomplished something rare in the genre: shaving down the rough edges of their material without actually sounding like it. It’s a tribute to the band’s decade-and-a-half together, showing that after all this time, they’re actually just getting started.

I ate here.
I received this in the mail.
I purchased these.
I helped set up one of these at a friend’s.

That was my Wednesday.

I’m back at the same place I went to from May 2001 to May 2004. I brought my folder of saved tablature, including some papers that were eleven years old from my first go around. It’s pretty funny to see Blink-182 and Nirvana tabs in there. It’s a definite snapshot of what I was into that long ago.

Anyway, so far so good. I’m starting back up from the ground level, learning chords I hadn’t grasped last time around, as well as a blues scale I vaguely remember. Hopefully with enough focus (at least more than I had as a high schooler), I’ll be a better overall player.

A few days ago I downloaded an app called The Vinyl District that uses GPS to find your nearest record stores. Thats when I was directed to Rediscover Records in Elgin, Illinois. It’s a store within another store located in the downtown area. It’s a nice little space, with plenty of new vinyl from a variety of genres (ie: the new Tom Waits next to a mint copy of “Master Of Puppets”).

What really got me though was their used selection. For $10.75, I scored the following:

Elvis Costello – “Trust”
Jackson Browne – S/T aka “Saturate Before Using”
Joni Mitchell – “Blue”
Billy Joel – “The Stranger”

That’s a pretty satisfying haul. I’m very impressed that albums of that quality were that affordable. I don’t think I would have even come close to a deal like today’s somewhere in the city.

At least there’s something here, right? It still counts!

Last night I joined Weight Watchers. My weight has always been somewhat of an issue for me, as I’ve fluctuated up and down over the years. I’m unhappy with my size right now, and despite the fact that I’m exercising, I’m really not losing any weight. What I like about the “points system” with Weight Watchers is that I essentially can eat what I want as long as I don’t go outside my daily points total. Also, it’s fun entering in items on my phone and seeing how the math works out. It’s almost like a game. I’m committed to sticking with it in hopes that it actually works.

Hey, if Charles Barkley could do it, then I most certainly can, right?

Lately I’ve been trying my hand in the kitchen, specifically with baking. Over Thanksgiving, I successfully made tuxedo bars, followed by these Cheddar Bay biscuits and then chocolate chip cookies. Above is from tonight, a yellow cake with chocolate buttercream frosting, topped with white chocolate chips. The cake was a box cake mix, and the frosting was from the back of a Ghirardelli cocoa mix box. Still, it was fun to do, and I hope to get more ambitious with each recipe I attempt.

*Yes, that is a “Breaking Bad” reference.