At work today, I put on the new Radiohead disc ("Hail To The Thief") and listened to it as I went about my internesque duties.

All of a sudden, Jason (Universal A&R guy) walks out of his office and barks "what the hell is that?"

I explain its Radiohead's new CD, and how I'm not a particularly rabid fan, but I think the band makes interesting music. "They're just weird, dude. I know a lot of people like them, but I just don't get it."

That basically captures the essence of Radiohead. Some people "get it", and hail the "genius" group as a modern-day Pink Floyd. The others just scratch their heads at both the music and the viciousness of the "holier-than-thou" indie rock mentality that the band represents.

To quickly review the band's recent history, they released a widely acclaimed concept album called Kid A, which depicted a lonely story of the beginning of human cloning. I loved the album.

Then they released Amnesiac, and unless you like a bunch of random noises in no particular order, you'd hate it just like I did. Much of the album is unlistenable, at least to me.

Which brings us to this latest work, Hail to the Thief, which witnesses the band merging some tried-and-true songwriting elements with the best of what Amnesiac had to offer, yielding a "pretty good" album. Lead singer Thom Yorke is still as hard to understand as ever, but the music this band makes is still interesting and should prove to be influential within the rock genre.

If Kid A gets a 9/10, then Hail To The Thief would get a 7/10 on Bradley's Completely and Totally Objective Scale (tm). Amnesiac would've received a 3. Some great moments, some weak ones, and overall a pretty good disc.

Some of the stronger tracks include the very cool "Backdrifts", the vintage Radiohead sounds of "2 + 2 = 5" and "Go To Sleep", as well the creepy "We Suck Young Blood".

Weaker tracks include Yorke's ode to parenting "Where I End And You Begin" and the flashback-to-Amnesiac "The Gloaming".

Maybe I'll see these guys play a show one of these days. Pick up the album if you have liked any of their previous work, cause you'll probably enjoy it.

I've been playing a good bit of Age of Mythology lately...this game is an absolute must-have if you enjoy the lusciousness that is modern computer gaming. We've been playing it frequently on our little apartment LAN we have set up...its well worth your while, so check that out too.

Seattle takes on the Braves this weekend after losing the previous series against the Expos, which are playing like a great team so far this year. Hopefully Seattle will win the final game tonight and not get swept, but even so, I want the Mariners to push the Braves around this weekend, since they are the more probable World Series opponent, should Seattle be so lucky to make it that far this October.

No work tomorrow means the weekend starts early. See you later!