recent downloads on itunes
ever since i got a mac and an iphone and 367 ipods, i'm obsessed with the itunes store. i download on average 3 albums a week. i thought i'd start refreshing my blog with a quick music post. something i've wanted to do for a while just never really thought anyone would care about my taste in music.
1. mgmt: brooklyn based mgmt first caught my ear while on a drive with...okwaitlet'sstartover. why did i REALLY download mgmt? one word - dooce. heather has supreme taste in music and is pretty much responsible for my hot chip and radiohead obsessions. why not give her the credit for this too? i was so happy when last week a hot chip song was featured on so you think you can dance. i secretly decided in my head it was because of heather.
speaking of, that thought got me started on how much i am influenced by others when it comes to music. although you make the final decision to buy, download and actually listen to a particular artist, it's not very often that you are just 'browsing' through the latest and happen upon something that seems interesting and end up loving it forever. i love tori because of my modern dance teacher suzanne (my first real girl crush!). i love van halen and sammy hagar first because of my dad and later on because of my high school crush, jeremy leeper. the music i like because of my dad is a list too long to even start. pinback was listed as a like on a 'rivals' myspace (jeez, how old am i???). a client of rob's compiled a cd for him and pinback was also on that album, then later a compilation an ex did for him (the same 'rival' i site above) and pinback was also featured. i took that as a sign.
but i digress...isn't this a list of sorts?
2. radiohead. i started with in rainbows when once again dooce posted that it was the album of the year. i was dissapointed when i immeditaely ran to itunes and found it wasn't available for download yet. this started my research on the bands non-conformist way of recording and i was hooked. i will admit my first three or four listens to this album did not have me convinced and then one day, i was humming a song in my head over and over and over and couldn't figure out for the life of me who it was. later i realized it was indeed radiohead and since then i've downloaded every album i can find online. can't wait to see them live in august at outside lands.
3. eels. again, this was a band that was on one of the above mentioned compilation cds. i wrote down some lyrics and googled them to find out it was the eels. i found one or two songs on limewire (back when i used it) and liked them well enough, just never went further. one day i was in best buy and happened upon a greatest hits album at the front of the store in the new releases section. i went for it and promptly listened to it in my car for weeks on end. i downloaded about 6 more albums and found that not one was a bummer - i loved them all. i was stoked to hear that e was coming to play at the palace of fine arts and bought tickets the day they went on sale. i can honestly say this was the most incredible show i have seen - most likely ever. it started with this amazing documentary on e and his crazy brilliant quantum theorist dad. then the show - can't really explain it. search for it on you tube. you won't be dissapointed. the documentary will air on pbs later this year. watch for an update here when it gets closer - you really do not want to miss it. spectacular. raw and real, this one man band with many guest performers makes playing the saw so brilliant that you will wonder why no one utilizes this tool more regularly for music.
i have strange taste in music, i think. i love cheesy classic rock and emo indie music. one thing i cannot stand is rap. do like electronic and dance although this is a recent discovery, most likely thanks to my involvement with the gay community, who tend to be fans.
i could go on and on - incubus (i love rediscovering past bands), silversun pickups, sun kil moon, the dandy warhols, george michael (i dare you to download listen without prejudice and not totally dig cowboys and angels and heal the pain), my morning jacket.
it's really fun to scroll through my music library and rememeber what i was going through when i was really into a particular artist or album. it's amazing to me what emotions can be felt when you hear just the first few plinks of a song that really carried you through a particular moment in life.