Things I've purchased recently (now with my patented Null ratings):

• Viva Voce - Get Yr Blood Sucked Out. Live, these two came across like a stripped-down stoner-rock band. On record, that heavy stomp is almost nowhere to be found. I still like it, it's just not what I was expecting. 3 Nulls ∅∅∅.
• Blonde Redhead - 23. Continuing to distance themselves from the raw guitar attack of their first three records, they make another electronics-heavy record. Highlights include some MBV-ish guitar wash on one of the songs. 2 Nulls ∅∅.
• Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall. This is an acoustic set from '71. It's good. I like it. It's a nice contrast to the all-electric live record from the same period that he put out last year. ∅∅∅∅.
• The Oxford Collapse - Remember the Night Parties. In the same vein as, oh I dunno, the louder bits of British Sea Power and The Good, The Bad and The Queen - but tighter, more direct, more rocking, heavy on the The Archers Of Loaf. And they're not British, they're from Brooklyn - and that surprised me. Sometimes it sounds like they keep playing that one song I really like over and over. ∅∅∅
• Yo La Tengo - Painful. Don't know why I waited so long to get this one. It's YLT right in the sweet spot of their guitar-centered years. Love it. ∅∅∅∅.
• Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha. It's not as immediately catchy as his last one, so it's taking me a while to get into. But, it's looking good so far. ∅∅∅