CD frenzy: Someone take away my credit cards. I went out at lunch to get some comic books and ended up with FOUR CDs. Oops.

The irresistable morsels I picked up were:

Björk - Vespertine I'd heard MP3s of this a while ago and wasn't particularly impressed one way or the other. What a difference track order makes! I'm only four songs into it but it's already fantastic. Brittle, sweeping songs that float across the imagination like breezes off the steppe. Amazingly, she uses a children's choir without being HIDEOUSLY ANNOYING. I am in awe.

Orbital - The Altogether I wasn't sure I was going to buy this after my ardor for the MP3s cooled. It was a nice enough album, but lacked the substance of some of their other efforts. Sensing this, someone in the marketing department decided to throw in a second CD of remixes and B-sides. I love this album again and I haven't even played it yet.

Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! I never owned this, despite "Jocko Homo" being my second-favorite Devo song (favorite is "Snowball"; how can you deny that one?). The combination of nostalgia, a creeping desire to pay homage to my roots (I was born in Akron, you know), and the album featuring in a prominent display as I got to the cash register made me grab it. Plus, it was cheap.

Skinny Puppy - Back And Forth Vol 5: Live In Dresden How on Earth could I let a CD with live versions of "Worlock", "TinOmen", "The Choke", "Deep Down Trauma Hounds", and "Inquisition" pass me by? This is special to me, particularly since I never got to see Skinny Puppy live (unlike my BASTARD FRIENDS, you know who you are, GRR). If it sucks, I may just cry.

Okay, I just got to "Aurora". This album is the soundtrack to my imagination. I'm obviously in a much happier place than I was when the soundtrack to my imagination was Confessions Of A Knife...