Fire ants consume a gnome

Fire ants consume a gnome.

Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Paul McCartney, Ram
Pink Floyd, Meddle
Eleanor Friedberger, Last Summer
Love, False Start
Hüsker Dü, Zen Arcade
Chapstik, Barnburner
Brandon White, Everything Is a Weapon

• I finally joined LinkedIn. Welcome, fellow architects of destiny, to a partnership in progress! The first thing I offer is this picture of fire ants consuming a gnome. Are you an ant or are you a gnome? Let's get a coffee and strategize! Your treat!
  
  
• I'm not a Paul fan, really more of a George guy as things pass, but have always liked "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey".  It's where he lets his slobbering dogs off the leash to terrorize the nice people who picnic in the verdant landscaping of his usual songcraft. But I appreciate how much Robert Christgau hates it:
  
  "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" is a major annoyance. I tolerated McCartney's crotchets with the Beatles because his mates balanced them out; I enjoyed them mildly on McCartney because their scale was so modest; I enjoy them actively on "Monkberry Moon Delight" because it rocks and on "Smile Away" because it's vulgar and funny. But though nothing else here approaches the willful rhythm shifts and above-it-all silliness of the single, most of the songs are so lightweight they float away even as Paulie layers them down with caprices. If you're going to be eccentric, for goodness sake don't be pretentious about it. (Grade - C+)
  - © R. Christgau/Village Voice
  
  Y'all have seen The Ultimate Negative Christgau Review, right? I particularlu like "Expert on tenderoni".
  
  
• Is the first half of "Uncle Albert" a Pink Floyd parody? Probably not, given the timeline, but it sounds like one. I couldn't tell you the last time I listened to a Pink Floyd album, even part-way through. Not out of any particular bias against them. I went through my Floyd phase right after my Beatles one, and didn't as much burn myself on them as move onto Eno and then the rest of my life.
  
  
• To all who recoil at the Alan Parsonry of Bon Iver's "Beth/Rest" - shoo... it's a lone tapestry of sound on an album otherwise stitched together from carpet samples. I'm not offering that as a token of redemption for the record, Bon Iver is a windchime in a doldrum. Maybe he just blew his artistic wad on that Emma chick. I'm just saying that in complaining that "Beth/Rest" is too too, you are addressing the wrong problems with this record.
  
  
• I feel compelled to explain that there was a coffee break between Love and Hüsker Dü, just in case you new LinkedIn readers are concerned over continuity issues that do crop up here from time to time. If I had a crest it would have I feel compelled to explain writ in gold leaf across the bottom and you would defreind me or whatever the term is in LinkedIn. You'd link out. So good thing I don't have one! Welcome aboard!
  
  
  Hüsker Dü, "Never Talking To You Again"