Teenbeat Records is celebrating its 20th Anniversary next week. With any luck, my tickets will be purchased tomorrow night. (Thanks, ES.) I'm aiming to go to both nights. This will be the third Teenbeat anniversary show I've attended, though, I haven't been to one in many moons. Should be a couple of great nights of classic indie pop, fuelled equally by good tunes and nostalgia, as indie big timers Unrest, along with Tuscadero, Versus, and Eggs, are all reuniting for the occasion. I never caught Unrest before they broke up, so I'm definitely most interested in seeing them, as I'm sure many in attendance will be.

I recently picked up the most recent Blonde Redhead LP, Misery is a Butterfly. Overall, I like it. They've moved away from the abstraction they were employing on their last couple of albums, which serves the songs well. Unfortunately, they've also dulled some of the music's power. There's almost too much restraint. The songs lack a sense of urgency that I've always found an enjoyable aspect of music, giving it a dark-hued, nearly paranoid quality. Tension! That's what's missing. Still, it's still a decent listen, though not where I'd start in their discography.

I also picked up Gorguts' Obscura, which I've only listened to once. It is...different. Avant metal. The music, ostensibly death metal, looms much larger than that genre tag would indicate. I'm going to need a few more listens before I can get my head around it. I think this album will need a more in-depth write-up once I've let the music sink in. Or, a defeated shrug if I can't penetrate the album further.

And finally, today's funny musician name: Bing Wang. (...no offense.)