So, the result of skipping Bikram tonight is that I didn't pass out in a heap at 11:30, but am still up, working, at 2:54 AM. That's good, I reckon. I know I've said this a million times...but the new Mercury Rev album is shimmering, ecstatic, a veritable Fantasia o' sound. To amend my first judgment, it isn't really more of the same (Deserter's Songs) but a step forward in scope and vision. Clearly, my two favorite albums this year have been this and the GbV, and they resemble each other only in their vastness. In a sense, MR is the yin to GbV's yang.