dowloading whore

This past week, I’ve downloaded six new albums. There’s a good chance that the number will go up to nine by the end of the weekend.

What surprises me about this is not my immoderate music consumption but the fact that, as a self-proclaimed sucker for packaging, I’ve fallen so completely for the mp3 format. Downloads are so anonymous. There is no cover art. There are no liner notes. There are no carefully chosen fonts. I have always liked these things and the tone they set when you sit down and listen to an album for the first time.

But when I started buying a lot of new music again this summer, the Lure of the Download began working its magic upon me. They provide you with instant gratification. They’re cheaper than CDs, and they’re better for the environment. And, in a way, it’s kind of nice not being primed to approach an album a certain way because of the way it looks. (That whole book and cover thing, I guess.)

And did I mention the instant gratification part?

Yeah. There’s that.

Cranky disclaimer: I am still not a fan of downloading “a” song off an album. I did it a couple times when I was making my summer mix, and it made me feel dirty. Albums–real ones made by real artists–are still meant to be listened to as such. And some of the best songs are the ones that lack the immediate appeal of a single. </rant>

my Icelandic boyfriend

With the wedding right around the corner, I feel it’s time for me to come clean about my Icelandic boyfriend.

This is Sindri Mar Sigfusson:

I love it when he pretends to be American.

Sindri is the fellow behind both Seabear and Sin Fang Bous, two of my most favorite bands of late. Seabear’s music is warm and crackly and wistful. Sin Fang Bous’s music is diaphanous and fluttery and dark. Both spatter random haunting lyrics throughout their lovely, lovely songs.

See?

Summer Muzak Mix!

I just finished a summer music mix, and it’s freaking awesome! Yarrgh! So awesome that it’s turning me into a pirate.

Let me know if’n you want a copy and I’ll stick one in the mail for ya, matey.

Tracks:

1. “Anthem,” The Incredible Moses Leroy
2. “Sleepyhead,” Passion Pit
3. “Padding Ghost,” Dan Deacon
4. “Wraith Tied to the Mist and Other Games,” Of Montreal
5. “You! Me! Dancing!” Los Campesinos
6. “We’re from Barcelona,” I’m from Barcelona
7. “Two Weeks,” Grizzly Bear
8. “Can You Discover?” Discovery
9. “1901,” Phoenix
10. “Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer,” A.C. Newman
11. “Half Asleep,” School of Seven Bells
12. “Beach Party,” Air France
13. “Palmitos Park,” El Guincho
14. “House Jam,” Gang Gang Dance
15. “Origin,” Studio
16. “Happy as Can Be,” Cut off Your Hands
17. “Make Out Fall Out Make Up,” Love Is All
18. “I Sing I Swim,” Seabear

why wikipedia is awesome

(or, “Cautionary Tales for Students Tempted to Reference Wikipedia Whilst Writing Research Papers”)

If you look up Bikini Kill, there is a section entitled “Sociological Summary.”

And that summary goes like this:

Bikini kill was a wondered version of the neo age feminist blossoms blooming after the initial seeds had lost a healthy soil. A matured rose of the flower child which became diseased and withered inside itself with outside critique justifying a broader perception after the initial shock of rebellion against narrow minds had subsided and improvement was needed. A comparable measurement to that of reversed racism, though much quicker it its dignified presence. The overall influence is spread as wide as the riot grrl slash feminist movement itself. If you track bikini kill for the true influential nature one might look to any group of the now with the social maturity to poke fun at itself in it’s message layerings, while society norms collide to dispute around the ensuing provocation produced. The true influence of this group is so often misunderstood its quite disheartening to a fan such as myself. The pigeon hole ideologies expressed are a concealer at my summation, laying a light hearted glow upon the face that was this wonderful artistic gathering. This band will continue to ‘double dare’ us to break away from social norms and influence generations of kids to think for themselves, long into the next century. <3 tp tp tp

things that make me happy, #38

When I walked into the on-campus coffee shop this morning before work, “What the Snowman Learned about Love” was about a minute in, right at the point when the overblown sythesizer bit fades away into, like, the prettiest song ever.

I can’t think of a sweeter melody to start your day with.

love hurts!

In honor of Valentine’s Day, here’s a list of my favorite love songs of all time.

They all make me cry. Huzzah!

10. Decemberists – “Red Right Ankle” (Her Majesty)–This one gets the award for most unexpectedly grody love song opening: “This is the story of your red right ankle/and how it came to meet your leg/and how the muscle, bone, and sinews tangled/and how the skin was softly shed.”  It also works the word “ventricles” in there toward the end. Mmmm.

9. Frightened Rabbit – “Poke” (The Midnight Organ Fight)–Don’t let the break-up backdrop fool you. Or the fact that the first verse includes the word “cunt.” This is totally a love song. Really.

8.  Cure – “Plainsong” (Disintegration)

7. The Beatles – “Julia” (The White Album)

6. Magnetic Fields – “The Book of Love” (69 Love Songs)–Stephin Merritt says fuck you to love-with-a-capital-L, but he still loves you, which is really all that matters.

5. Yo La Tengo – “The Whole of the Law” (Painful)

4. Simon and Garfunkel - “Kathy’s Song” (Sounds of Silence)

3. Regina Spektor – “Samson” (Begin to Hope)–It turns the biblical story on its head so sweetly. And the opening line is a sucker punch.

2. Rufus Wainwright – “Hallelujah”–I really love that Samson and Delilah story, I guess. (Yeah, Jeff Buckley’s version is wonderful, but I like this one just a bit better.)

1. Joni Mitchell – “River” (Blue)–In Love, Actually, this is the song playing when Emma Thompson’s character tells her husband that Joni Mitchell taught her how to feel. Feel fucking depressed is more like it, but, yeah. Pretty much.

muzak, 2008

I’m feeling kinda ‘meh’ about the music that came out this year. Seems like for every album I really liked there was one that felt overhyped and underwhelming.

The new M83 record felt like Loveless 17 years later; The Week that Was’ self-titled album ike 70s prog-rock; Beach House like the Velvet Underground with even more barbituates and fewer melodies. And I couldn’t get past Santi White’s abrasively strident vocals, though I almost like “Lights Out.” Almost.

None of these records made me feel the way I did last year the first, second, third time that I heard “Atlas” by Battles. (In order: confused and a little flustered, still confused but intrigued, less confused and on the road to addiction.) None of them had the simultaneous singularity and familiarity of Panda Bear’s Person Pitch. Nothing knocked me off my ass and made me want to dance like a nerdy white girl the way Los Campesinos’ “Sticking Fingers into Sockets” EP did. Nothing hit the perfectly giddy mania of Of Montreal’s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer (which, along with Person Pitch, was probably my favorite album).

And so, my favorites this year a bunch of pretty simple records that don’t reinvent the wheel, but do what they do really well. They remind me that a great song is great first and foremost because it has heart. Otherwise, it’s just kind of a musical exercise.

Favorite Albums
1. Bon Iver–For Emma, Forever Ago (limited release 2007; wide release 2008)
2. Frightened Rabbit–The Midnight Organ Fight
3. The Dodos–Visiter
4. Fleet Foxes–Fleet Foxes
5. TV on the Radio–Dear Science

Favorite Tracks
1. “White Winter Hymnal,” Fleet Foxes
2. “Flume,” Bon Iver
3. “Keep Yourself Warm,” Frightened Rabbit
4. “Sentimental Heart,” She and Him
5. “2 Atoms in a Molecule,” Noah and the Whale

the un-christmas christmas mix

I don’t think there’s gonna be an un-Christmas Christmas mix this year. For the two of you who will genuinely be saddened by this news, I am sorry.

I might change my mind. Maybe. But if I do, it’s not going to be 2008 stuff. It’s gonna be all sorts of crazy shit! College radio days, high school, et al! Bring on the pain!

another reason to (heart) NPR

NPR’s website has a bunch of concerts online that you can stream for free… DeVotchKa, Spoon, and The New Pornographers are up now.

Most of you probably already know this. But just in case some of you don’t…

Falling Down

If you haven’t already been subjected, I invite you to listen to this wreck of a Tom Waits cover that Scarlett Johansson has had the balls to record and, worse, release.

Apparently, there’s a whole album of them.

Ironically, this morning on my walk to work I was thinking about how underappreciated Tom Waits is. This was not the type of adulation I had in mind.