Last week and out of the blue, "Kenton Shelley":http://mog.com/Kenton_Shelley received a text message that read something like this, “I was barely holding on when they were playing Avril. But Fergie made me leave the room.” The response was a mixture of laughter and apology. My next text message informed Kenton that I had snuck off for a cigarette break, much preferring cancer to the mind-numbing corporate pop that was being spun on repeat by the local Clear Channel/Satan station. Death before the Nelly Furtado; death before the Nickelback. Very close to death to the cubicle next to me.It was later last week when I discovered that the corporate firewall at my morning job also did not block Napster. Yes, I know it’s not the same Napster that we all grew up with back in the late 90s, when music was suddenly free and wonderful and we would all leave our dialup modems connected all night long just to snag a dozen free songs, but Napster is once again free. And when faced with the horror that is music that is over-producing-to-over-compensate (I’m extra-bitter before the coffee sets in), the ability to suddenly stream a few million songs without laying a dime down on the line, well, it’s like walking out of Plato’s cave. And when Plato’s cave is pumped full of Fall Out Boy, walking out turns to running.Last week, my office got to hear me comb through a small collection of music that they’d never been exposed to. I started with the new Stars remix album, “Do You Trust Your Friends?” (an emphatic ‘yes!’…especially if I was friends with the same people that Stars are) gave way to some Spoon. A text-message from Kenton lead to Pocketful of Kryptonite by the Spin Doctors. I threw in Asbury Park because it was necessary, and like most weeks, ended up crushing on Candie Payne. But Bradley, you say, it’s Monday now. Why are you telling us all of this? Because I figured a music post would be rather apt. And if you’ve managed to stick it out through my bitterness and ego and made it this far, you might just want to hear about the band I’m listening to at this very moment. Ladies and gentlemen and Puff-people, I would like you to listen to Scissors for Lefty. Mind you, I am not in the most ideal listening environment – computer speakers in a noisy office turned down to Office Space appropriate volume, an intercom that is constantly buzzing, and Avril bleeding from the desk next to mine – but from what I hear, I like. Scissors sound at times like Franz Ferdinand and others like Hot Hot Heat and still others (vaguely) like Grandaddy – which means there are a great deal of influences here that are all filtered through a Bay Area twist (not too heavy on the psychotropics, but there’s more intellect in their smarm than LA could account for…less smog, more fog.)All you Bay Area moggers who aren’t too cool to attend a radio station festival can see them this summer at the BFD2007 festival where they’ll be playing with Bloc Party, Social D, QotSA, Interpol, and the Kaiser Chiefs. Despite their relative youth, they should fit right in."Dig ‘em free on Napster.":http://free.napster.com/view/album/?id=12499120