Staying home can't be that bad for me
Yeah so CMJ passed and I saw not one frickin' show. Instead I worked til after midnight every night for like a two week stretch. (I shouldn't complain, at least I'll be able to pay October's rent!) But without all of the show reviews that I intended to run in this space (Excepter, Fruit Bats, Devendra Banhart etc....) I don't have much to write about. But I'm feeling particularly motivated to write--especially now that even ADAMis back to regularly updating. (Welcome back, dude, I've missed you!)
So I can tell you about the best recent gift that I recieved (unsolicited, no less!), which was a Bob Geldoff record from Carrie that I promptly hung up next to my bed so his scruffy, beardy, well-intentioned face is the first thing I see when I get up every morning. And I can tell you about the most surprisingly great new CD I recieved, which would be the new Silver Jews album (Tanglewood Numbers) that actually rocks. (I mean, I like Silver Jews but this album really uses Malkmus' guitar skills and uptempp song writing to excellent effect. Almost none of the songs are sllllooooooow and quiet, like usual.) Plus, as always, David Berman's fantastical lyrical skills make for some excellent song titles (Example: "How Can I Love You If You Won't Lie Down" and "Getting Back Into Getting Back Into You.") . I'm not sure of the album's release date, but be sure to look for it in October. I can also tell you how much I'm loving this pre-fall weather. The air isn't fetid or humid and I can actually wear sleeves. This whole change happened in like one day about three days ago, but the pessimist in me is frightened that before it becomes actual, lovely fall, we're gonna get another round of shitty 90 degree days that put me in a pissy mood. I can also tell you how happy I am now that the second season of Arrested Development has started. I am seriously sad that the Bluth family aren't real people. Now I totally get why crazy soap opera fans can't distinguish between the actors and the characters--because I totally hope to meet and befriend George Michael in real life and I feel like Tobias Funke (how do you make an umlaut in Blogger?) could get over his never-nude status if he could just meet me. (Seriously, does anyone else find it disturbing that he is like my ideal man? Cuz I thought I was over needing to date men that were ambigiously gay?) The second season's DVD comes out in two weeks. So, you know, anyone who wants to get mentioned on here as buying me the best present ever (supplanting even the Geldof record), you know what to buy!
The other thing I've been musing on recently is overloving/overplaying songs. I read this one day when I was bored and trapped at work until the wee hours of the morning and it really got me to think about what makes a song a keeper and what it takes for a song to withstand being listened to over and over again on repeat for a month (because that is how I digest new songs/albums/bands: with obsessive overplay). And it's true, there are some songs I'm so tired of. They come up on my iPod and I reflexively skip past them. And sometimes I'll find myself trying to mete out listens of newly found, much loved songs. Like, if I play it too much, I'm going to get bored and it isn't going to have the same effect anymore. (I've been trying to only play the new Blood on the Wall album sporadically, so as not to wear it out, but I still want to listen to it all the time!) The author of that McSweeneys piece is right: Allison does stand up to repeated listens. I'm always excited by it and it always has an effect on me. In fact, I'm still discovering things about it that move me or engage me. I think Elvis Costello (at least through "Spike") has always been particularly good at that. But I feel like I'm burnt out (finally) on the songs from Rilo Kiley's "More Adventurous." Fear not, that just means that it is now their "Take Offs and Landings" that is in heavy rotation (especially the track "Picture of Success"). But I am kinda sad that "Does He Love You" or "Portions for Foxes" doesn't have the same immediate power to move me to tears that they once did. Also, I think my overexposure to M.I.A. with that recent Honda commercial has now rendered her album grating to me. My iPod has been having a secret love affair with "Purple Rain" and insists on playing it every time I turn it on in shuffle. But now everytime it plays, I get filled with dread that this time I'm not going to be thrilled to hear it or this time it won't give me butterflies in my stomach. Which is weird becuase the song is like 20 years old and I've been listening to it for about that long, but I really don't want it to lose its power. Got any suggestions, short of not allowing yourself to listen to your favorite songs repeatedly, for how to keep the magic alive?
So I can tell you about the best recent gift that I recieved (unsolicited, no less!), which was a Bob Geldoff record from Carrie that I promptly hung up next to my bed so his scruffy, beardy, well-intentioned face is the first thing I see when I get up every morning. And I can tell you about the most surprisingly great new CD I recieved, which would be the new Silver Jews album (Tanglewood Numbers) that actually rocks. (I mean, I like Silver Jews but this album really uses Malkmus' guitar skills and uptempp song writing to excellent effect. Almost none of the songs are sllllooooooow and quiet, like usual.) Plus, as always, David Berman's fantastical lyrical skills make for some excellent song titles (Example: "How Can I Love You If You Won't Lie Down" and "Getting Back Into Getting Back Into You.") . I'm not sure of the album's release date, but be sure to look for it in October. I can also tell you how much I'm loving this pre-fall weather. The air isn't fetid or humid and I can actually wear sleeves. This whole change happened in like one day about three days ago, but the pessimist in me is frightened that before it becomes actual, lovely fall, we're gonna get another round of shitty 90 degree days that put me in a pissy mood. I can also tell you how happy I am now that the second season of Arrested Development has started. I am seriously sad that the Bluth family aren't real people. Now I totally get why crazy soap opera fans can't distinguish between the actors and the characters--because I totally hope to meet and befriend George Michael in real life and I feel like Tobias Funke (how do you make an umlaut in Blogger?) could get over his never-nude status if he could just meet me. (Seriously, does anyone else find it disturbing that he is like my ideal man? Cuz I thought I was over needing to date men that were ambigiously gay?) The second season's DVD comes out in two weeks. So, you know, anyone who wants to get mentioned on here as buying me the best present ever (supplanting even the Geldof record), you know what to buy!
The other thing I've been musing on recently is overloving/overplaying songs. I read this one day when I was bored and trapped at work until the wee hours of the morning and it really got me to think about what makes a song a keeper and what it takes for a song to withstand being listened to over and over again on repeat for a month (because that is how I digest new songs/albums/bands: with obsessive overplay). And it's true, there are some songs I'm so tired of. They come up on my iPod and I reflexively skip past them. And sometimes I'll find myself trying to mete out listens of newly found, much loved songs. Like, if I play it too much, I'm going to get bored and it isn't going to have the same effect anymore. (I've been trying to only play the new Blood on the Wall album sporadically, so as not to wear it out, but I still want to listen to it all the time!) The author of that McSweeneys piece is right: Allison does stand up to repeated listens. I'm always excited by it and it always has an effect on me. In fact, I'm still discovering things about it that move me or engage me. I think Elvis Costello (at least through "Spike") has always been particularly good at that. But I feel like I'm burnt out (finally) on the songs from Rilo Kiley's "More Adventurous." Fear not, that just means that it is now their "Take Offs and Landings" that is in heavy rotation (especially the track "Picture of Success"). But I am kinda sad that "Does He Love You" or "Portions for Foxes" doesn't have the same immediate power to move me to tears that they once did. Also, I think my overexposure to M.I.A. with that recent Honda commercial has now rendered her album grating to me. My iPod has been having a secret love affair with "Purple Rain" and insists on playing it every time I turn it on in shuffle. But now everytime it plays, I get filled with dread that this time I'm not going to be thrilled to hear it or this time it won't give me butterflies in my stomach. Which is weird becuase the song is like 20 years old and I've been listening to it for about that long, but I really don't want it to lose its power. Got any suggestions, short of not allowing yourself to listen to your favorite songs repeatedly, for how to keep the magic alive?
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