Sounders aquire Eddie Johnson from Montreal, at the cost of Fucito and Neagle

It was announced tonight that the Sounders have aquired US international and World Cup veteran Eddie Johnson, who had recently signed with the league and entered the allocation process for placement, from the Montreal Impact at the cost of Mike Fucito and Lamar Neagle.

In the release Schmid and Henderson voiced confidence in Johnson's abilities, stating:

“Eddie is a high quality striker who is a very good finisher,” said Sounders FC technical director Chris Henderson, who coached Johnson at Kansas City. “We are very excited to have him join Sounders FC in our quest for another successful season.”

“It’s always difficult to part ways with two quality individuals who have contributed greatly to the success of our first three years,” said Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid. “We saw this as a unique opportunity to bring a player in with World Cup experience who can help us in our quest to win the MLS Cup.”

My initial reaction towards this trade is one of complete shock. While having not scored many goals, Fucito has proven an asset up front putting in the hard work hold up the ball and badgering away at the defense. He has been surrounded by something of a cult following as well, as proven by the Church of Fucito hash tag on Twitter. Even more shocking, however, is the loss of Neagle. His Federal Way origins gave him a strong connection to the city, and he has proven himself a that from the midfield scoring the game winning goal against RSL at Rio Tinto as well as the game winner in stoppage time against Sporting Kansas City at Lovestrong Sporting Park. Despite the immense sense of loss I feel for those two, I ultimately understand the motives behind the move. Not only can Johnson offer what the Sounders have sorely been missing up top to pair with Montero (size, finishing ability, as well as international experience to boot) it's known fact that the Sounders roster contains incredible depth especially with the other acquisitions made in pre-season/off-season. These losses may be jarring, but they do not cripple the team and they bring in a quality striker. As fans we must simply suppress out emotions and think logically. In the front office I trust.

Notes

• Notably, the Montreal Impact now have 5 former Sounders after today's trade (Fucito, Neagle, Nyassi, Wahl, and Montano)

Apple Announces Next OS X Iteration, Mountain Lion

Seemingly out of nowhere, at least for me for which this announcement jumped out me as I was browsing Cult of Mac, Apple has announced today the next version of OS X, to be dubbed Mountain Lion.

Delving into the details of the upgrade, Apple is continuing the process of migrating iOS applications and features back to the Mac. Most notable is the new Messaging app, Notification Center, operating system wide Twitter integration, and GameCenter. Messaging completely replaces iChat, much like Facetime allowing communication between your Mac and any iOS device. In fact, Apple has made the beta version of the application available here. Notifications Center finally provides a native notifications application/system, apparently almost identical to how it appears and operates on iOS. It will definitely be interesting to see how quickly developers get on board, as well as how the system competes with the current notifications solution for Mac users Growl. iOS 5 introduced full Twitter integration to the mobile operating system, and now that integration has found it's way to the Mac. Finally, there isn't too much to say on GameCenter past the unification it allows between desktop and mobile iOS gaming.

While I'm giddy at the thought of a new iteration of OS X, that feeling get's spoiled by the feeling that this upgrade feels, at least to me, to be coming far too soon. The current version of OS X, Lion, has only been publicly available for less than a year. It will be closer to a year by Mountain Lion's release, but that is a ridiculously short amount of time before essentially making it obsolete.

Album Review - Odd Soul

Review

Mutemath's third effort, Odd Soul, sees them take a fairly significant, although seemingly natural, departure in sound and overall style over their first two albums. Rather than continue down the path of electronica infused indie and alt rock, though those elements of their music are still present every now and then, they've instead opted to assume a pre-dominantly blues influenced sound that is incredibly groovy and classic evoking thoughts of music from the sixties and seventies.

A genre shift can be a tricky proposition, but Mutemath make that transition flawlessly creating music at an equal or even higher level than of their past albums Armistice and Mutemath. For that excellence you have to look no farther than tracks like the title track and album opener "Odd Soul" and "Prytania", as well as first single "Blood Pressure". "Odd Soul" in particular is perhaps exudes plenty of swagger and groove, serving to open the album in a big way. "Prytania" follows, offering an infectious groove and an incredibly catchy chorus to tie it all together.

As noted earlier, the bands indie/alt rock/electronica roots are not completely left behind. In particular, the songs "All or Nothing" and "In No Time" sound as if they could be right at home in Armistice, slowing things down with their incredibly chill and relaxing mood and sound. Both tracks are nothing short of absolutely fantastic, both tracks prove to be standouts on the album with their dominant and beautiful usage of electronics accentuated with drums and guitar. While "All or Nothing" sounds akin to what's found on The Dear Hunter's Violet EP of The Color Spectrum "In No Time", takes a much more atmospheric approach that, paired with the beautiful lyrics and beautiful vocals of Paul Meany, accomplishes musical bliss.

Verdict

Despite the genre shift Odd Soul proves to be Mutemath's best effort to date, exuding excellence from beginning to end. I highly suggest anyone with a remote interest for music check this album out.

Score

[5/5]

Top Picks 

Odd Soul, Prytania, All or Nothing, Allies, Equals, In No Time