This week's list, randomly as always:
1. Ben Fold Five, Whatever and Ever, Amen
2. Jamiroquai, Travelling Without Moving
3. DJ Shadow, Preemptive Strike
4. Filter, Title of Record
5. SGR, Atomic Pony
Disclosure for this week: When I pulled SGR's CD out of my pile, I already knew the disc was not in the case. I went into a panicked search this morning to try to find it, it no avail. HOWEVER, it just so happens that SGR recorded their album at the studio, so I did a little search and happened to find a copy on CD around that I could pop in and listen to. So, while the copy isn't mine, it is on CD, and hence, will be listened to! I hope I can find my copy, though!
Now, on to the musical stylings of the week!
The one song I really knew from Filter's Title of Record was "Take My Picture", which was likely the reason I got the CD in the first place. It's definitely my favorite track on the album. I think, in these days, I probably would've downloaded just that track and let the rest just be. Many of the other songs are a bit harder rock, which isn't a personal preference of mine. I'd probably give some of these tracks another go round, but I'd have to be in the mood for it.
Something I'm always in the mood for is Jamiroquai's Travelling Without Moving. That's right, another week, another Jamiroquai album (don't worry, this can only happen two more times!). Yes, it's the album that made them popular in the US because of "Virtual Insanity", aka, the song with the cool moving-couches video, but I think it's their best overall album. Stylistically, it runs the gamut--there's R&B, funk, soul, some cool rockin' didgeridoo. I don't know that I could pick a favorite track from the album. I think the whole album is my favorite.
This was my first Jamiroquai purchase. I was fifteen or sixteen when I got it, and it's one of the first 10 cds I owned. I know this because I got a CD case from my sister for my birthday one year that held 8 CDs, and I think I was able to put most, if not all, of my collection in it. I listened to this CD a lot in 1997--I remember putting it on while I was in the van on the way up to (and later coming back from) the Summer College program at Ithaca. Being that those two weeks were some of the most formative for me, listening to any of the music I associate from that time always brings a smile to my face, but this CD especially. It was a bit of a departure from what I had listened to before, and I think it helped me a lot in expanding the genres of music I'd be open to listening to. Plus, it's a great album to dance to, and anyone who knows me knows I love to dance!
Another CD in my early collection was Ben Folds Five's Whatever and Ever, Amen. I have really strong memories of sitting on my bed (the top bunk, no less!), listening to this CD and reading Agatha Christie plays from a book that I had to get for one play for English class. The album has the up, the down, the all around fun emotionally. There's the super-happy "Kate", and the all-too-crushing "Brick". The anger and need for revenge in "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces" is counterbalanced by the mellow "Missing the War". The cooling relationship of "Selfless, Cold, and Composed" goes against the wild breakup of "Song For the Dumped". All in all, it was perfect for my mood for during my sophomore year of high school. I was up and down so much that year; for the second half, mostly down. I don't know exactly what caused it, but I was definitely depressed for the better part of the second semester, and I always turned to music in those times. It wasn't to quote every single line of every depressing song I heard--that's not my thing. Just listening to music and sort of being inside my thoughts, at the time, was what I thought I needed. Yeah, there was some poetry in there too, and not all of it good, but there was always music, and I know this album was definitely part of that time. I don't really feel the same feelings I felt when I listened to it back then, but I think that's a good thing. If I was still holding on to the same emotions I had thirteen years ago, there is something seriously holding up my progress in life.
SGR's EP, Atomic Pony was a project I actually got to see happen. It's a great little ska and rock record that has some fantastically fun tunes. Matt Skoufalos and friends came in to the studio looking to rework some songs they had, and they spent a fair amount of time there making them sound great. It's hard to pick a favorite song on this one; that may be because I got to know all the songs so well as they were being recorded and mixed. "Constellation", with the help of Freedie "DJ-3D" Weaver's additional vocals, is a perfectly danceable ska song, and it definitely gets me in the mood to jump around and, eventually, to catch my breath at the end. Every time I listen to "Potter's Field" I'm inclined to start belting it out. It may just be five songs long, but it's incredibly fun to listen to.
I first heard DJ Shadow in 2003, after I was given a mix (and yes, I'll write about that here, too) by someone who was great for expanding both my creativity and my musical knowledge, but not so great in nearly every other way for me. It's interesting how those people come into your life; with luck it's never a long stay. Regardless, every time I listen to Preemptive Strike, I'm taken back to the city, hanging around Temple. There's something about the CD that, to me, sounds like the city. I love all four parts of "What Does Your Soul Look Like", "High Noon", and "Organ Donor". This is a great album all around. I think there's a darkness to it that keeps me on edge and draws me in at the same time. It makes me think back to the writing I was doing at the time--experimental for me at the time, although now, when I do get around to writing some poetry, still greatly influences how I write today. Maybe I should put this album on more often, or put it on as I'm walking around the city, and see what I can come up with. I'll have to try this out sometime soon, maybe on a day when the weather is nice and I have a few hours to kill.
And another week is done. I love that every week I'm still pulling out CDs and getting really excited to listen to them. There's definitely something to be said for holding a CD in your hand, pouring through the liner notes, or just looking through the artwork. With an mp3, you can't hold it, unless it's on an iPod or similar device, and I don't think that feeling is the same. Just today, Apple announced that the Beatles catalog is being added to the iTunes library. That really wasn't the unforgettable announcement I was hoping for. Personally, if I'm going to buy a Beatles album, I'd prefer to get the CD version. This project is making me realize the impact having something tactile like a CD versus the data files of mp3's, AAC's and the like that I can't hold on to. I would put more value in a CD than I would in mp3 downloads any day. Every week is giving me a few more good reasons why.
Until next week, happy listening!
Battery Tally: Still 4 sets! Those rechargeables are MONSTERS...Actually, they literally are Monster Batteries. I highly recommend the brand.
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