Got a new Mia Doi Todd record in the mail last week. "Mia" means "one" in Greek, so if I were one of those critics who relies on boring-ass intro paragraphs to ease him smoothly into the review, I'd probably spend a long time yammering about oneness or something. Really, though: can't we please grow past that stuff yet? Are we trying to impress our creative writing teachers or something?

Just so everybody knows: the new Krisiun album, Bloodshed, is surprisingly excellent. The going line on Krisiun is that they're not very interesting once you get past their Paganini-esque technical abilities. The Yngwie Malsteens of death metal, maybe. And, sure enough, their last album dazzled with chops but left the listener starving for substance.