May 26, 2009

122: All The Music That Fits

While packing and preparing to move to a new apartment, I did a Thoreau-ian "simplify, simplify" purge of my possessions. Part of that project is recycling Rolling Stone back issues from the 1980s. Since I bought the complete Rolling Stone 1967-2007 on DVD-ROM, technically I don't need ANY of those back issues clogging up my bookcases anymore. Rather than unilaterally toss 'em all out, I only discarded the issues which were too tattered to keep, and/or the issues I had scissored to ribbons during my teenage collage-making days.

After placing those issues aside, but before dropping them in the recycling bin, I leafed through the stack: about a dozen issues, all from 1985-1989. This quick skim inspired some MP3 purchases from that era (see below).

Another side-effect of packing? A slew of new music discoveries. Since I hardly ever hear new music on the radio, I tend to find new music on the RCN Music Choice channel: Adult Alternative. And when do I listen to this channel? When packing boxes!

  1. "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" by Vampire Weekend is my wife's new ringtone.
  2. "All Around the World Or The Myth of Fingerprints" [demo], Paul Simon
  3. "On A Night Like This" Los Lobos (from the movie soundtrack Masked and Anonymous)
  4. "Take The Joker & Run" Steve Miller Band: I found a special re-release of Miller's Fly Like An Eagle, which includes several outtakes, including this one. It's a early version of "Take The Money & Run", but the arrangement is exactly like "The Joker". It's really funny and odd to hear it like that!
  5. "Waiting for a Miracle" Bruce Cockburn
  6. "Real Love" Lucinda Williams
  7. "Smoking Gun" Robert Cray Band
  8. "Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters" Elton John (I just bought his album Honky Chateau, and re-discovered this great song.)
  9. "People Got A Lotta Nerve" Neko Case
  10. "Satellite" The Hooters
  11. "Trashcan" Delta Spirit
  12. "Lips Like Sugar" Echo & The Bunnymen
  13. "The Big Bang Theory (Theme)" Live in Concert, Barenaked Ladies
  14. "Mykonos" Fleet Foxes
  15. "Hurt Feelings" Flight of the Conchords
  16. "Folsom Prison Blues" Merle Haggard & The Strangers: I like putting together the faux badasses of FotC next to the faux badass of this song.
  17. "I Know" [live] Pat McGee
  18. "I Want to Make The World Turn Around" I had completely forgotten this Steve Miller Band song until I read a review of the LP in my old Rolling Stone magazine...
  19. "Used To Be Bad" A completely ordinary blues duet between two old fogies: Paul McCartney & Steve Miller.
  20. "Absolutely Still" Better Than Ezra
  21. I liked "OK It's Alright With Me" the first few times I heard it, but Eric Hutchinson is starting to sound like a second rate Jamie Cullum or Maroon 5?
  22. "Phantom Limb" The Shins

May 15, 2009

Moving


A lovely mix CD from my wife!

1.       "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" She & Him Volume One
2.       "I Got You (At the End of the Century)" Wilco Being There
3.       "Deep Red Bells" Neko Case Live from Austin
4.       "Los Angeles, I'm Yours" The Decemberists Her Majesty The Decembrists
5.       "Right Moves" Josh Ritter The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
6.       "Classic Cars" Bright Eyes Cassadaga
7.       "Cab" Train For Me, It's You
8.       "As Long As You Follow" Fleetwood Mac
9.       "One Sweet Duet" John Craigie A Picnic On the 405
10.   "Put Your Records On" Corinne Bailey Rae
11.   "The Way I Am" Ingrid Michaelson Girls and Boys
12.   "David" Nellie McKay  Get Away from Me
13.   "Viva la Vida" Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
14.   "Campus" Vampire Weekend
15.   "The Underdog" Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
16.   "Keep the Car Running" Arcade Fire Neon Bible
17.   "Chocolate" Snow Patrol Final Straw
18.   "Come On Get Higher" (live)  Sugarland Love On the Inside
19.   "Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight" Amos Lee
20.   "Passing Afternoon" Iron & Wine Our Endless Numbered Days