the food of life
The other day as I was trying to find the good spot on the front seat of my car on which to balance the travel CD player so that it would not skip, I realized that I listen to music almost constantly. I wake up to this gangster rap station at home - nothing like waking to the Thong Song or another remix of My Niggas. I play music in the car. I play it constantly at work. And then when I'm home nights I play music there as well. While I'm reading, writing, bathing, cleaning (ha), lovin' (not that I'm doing any of that these days...), sometimes even while I'm sleeping: music. My 25 CD-changer gets a constant work-out, as does my newly-fixed turntable. Shit, sometimes I'm even playing music on my keyboard (I hate that word, but it is what it is - I don't have room for a piano.)
The problem, therefore, is that with all these venues of music listening, I end up having to make choices about which CD's come to work, which live in the car (yeah, I know it's not good for them, thank you), and which stay home. Well, home usually wins out so I have a very limited collection here at work. About 35 CD's maybe - all of which I'm pretty sick of.
Here's a sampling of what I annoy my co-workers with all day long:
Brand Nubian. Foundation
Good album. Angry, but not too angry. Strong beats. Intelligent lyrics. Great as punishment for when my boss refuses to shut her door during speaker-phone conversations with her husband.
Smashing Pumpkins. Siamese Dream
One of the best albums ever. Billy at his best. I heard a rumor he took over most of the instruments during recording. Don't know if that's true. Don't give a fuck. Crunchy-crunchy guitars. Wall o'sound. More consistent than Gish. One of the more sonically dynamic albums from one of the more sonically dynamic bands. The Disarm video made me cry the first time I saw it.
Tool. Undertow & Aenima
Don't get me started on Tool. Angry. Pretty. Wonderful. Scary. The video for Prison Sex from Undertow blew me away, as I know it did you (the little clay guy). Aenima is dedicated to Bill Hicks and contains lines like, "Fuck L. Ron Hubbard and fuck all his clones". Fear Tool.
Manhattan Jazz Quintet
A bit wimpy but not a false step on his album. Great horn work. Kick ass version of Summertime and My Favorite Things. Good straight-ahead, palatable for the old folks jazz quintet.
The Chieftains. The Long Black Veil
I love me the Irish music as it gets me in touch with my roots and reminds me of drinking and kicking-ass, but I'm not crazy about this album. Guest singers. Could so do without Tom Jones and Mick Jagger here. A few good tracks.
Fiona Apple. When the Pawn Writes A Really Long Album Title As A Big Fuck You To Journalists And Record Companies And The Fans...
Trying to get into it. I am. Just not crazy about a lot of the tracks. She bums me out, with her little attitude. But Fast As You Can remains one of the jauntiest yet pretty desperate fucking songs I've heard in a long time. And her lyric writing is getting much better.
Snoop Doggy Dogg. The Doggfather
Listened to it once. Fucking Snoop, c'mon man...
Dinosaur Jr. Green Mind
For some reason his horrible can't-hold-a-tune voice has totally grown on me. The music kicks ass. Really. The guitar work, the noise, the energy, the raw nature of the album. Great for when I've had a pot of coffee and 4 Diet Cokes and there is a pile of work and the phone keeps ringing and there are 79 emails to check and scripts to read and an entry to write and my eye is twitching and my Lotus Notes keeps freezing up. That's when I need me some Dinosaur Jr.
Radiohead. The Bends
Were this on vinyl I would have worn a groove in it. I don't know what to say about it. I love it and it's mine and you can't have it. I want a lazy eye too.
G. Love and Special Sauce
Awwwwwww yeah! I hated their follow up to this, but man, this album kicks ass. Very original sound. Nice laid-back unpretentious rap/singing. Beck probably digs this album. Your mom probably digs this album. Well, at least she did last night, though I doubt she was listening too closely, if you know what I mean.
Paul Simon. The Rhythm of the Saints
Close to a perfect record. I don't know care what sounds he's biting, his mix of cultural influences and Brazilian(?) drumming here makes me very happy. Blend his voice with anything (check his Caveman soundtrack, yo), it sounds fucking good. The lyrics. Further to Fly. Proof. Love it.
Weezer. Pinkerton
This album makes me very sad and very happy at the same time. The lyrics fuck with me, especially lately. You should go listen to The Good Life right now. The sound here has matured quite a bit since the debut. I bought this album in Tucson, Arizona on a road trip. I would like a new album from them before I die, thankyouverymuch.
R.E.M. Up
I like it, but it's not one of my favorites. Some good stuff. Daysleeper is gorgeous and sad, especially to listen to here at work.
The Doors. Waiting for the Sun
I listened to only the Doors for a year in college. I was going through a phase. Reading only Kerouac and doing crazy theatre all night and listening to the Doors and really angry angry free jazz and growing my hair out long. I still like them but thankfully I'm over that phase. I think.
Tom Petty. Wildflowers
I love Tom Petty. I just like his sound. His voice. This is a good one. Tight. Poignant. Brown.
Macy Gray. On How Life Is
I bought this before anyone else, just for the record. I played it out for myself a while ago and have been away long enough to just get back into it. I'm rediscovering her while you are crying to I Try when it comes on 98.7 StarFM: that's just how hip I am.
Foo Fighters. The Colour and the Shape
A near perfect album also. I don't know what to say about it. Love the Foo. You have to.
Ben Folds Five
I like the other two albums of theirs that I have better, but this is quite enjoyable. I like piano-driven bands sometimes. His voice kicks ass. For geeks, they have quite a good sense of humor. Don't judge them based on Brick. Brick is not representative of what they do. Sure, it's pretty, but there is a lot more. Buy the new one with the funny name. The first song is about Narcolepsy and it's epic and funny and sad. Dig it.
Beastie Boys. Hello Nasty
Well it's 50 cups of coffee and you know it's on! I loooooove them. Love them. Though this is probably my 3rd favorite album of theirs, after Check Your Head and Paul's Boutique, it still kicks ass over most everything out there. No reason or excuse not to like the Beasties. Seriously. None.
PJ Harvey. To Bring You My Love
She scares me. But for some reason I like that.
Elvis Costello and the Attractions. The Very Best Of...
Best of... I know, I know. But I couldn't decide which album to bring to the office. What can I say about Elvis? Well this: when I talk Elvis, you know for damn sure I'm not talking Presley, or Mitchell, or Grbac. I even love the wimpy direction he's gone lately into croonerhood with Burt Bacharach. Really. The man can do little wrong by me (and don't you bring up the Kojak Variations or Spike, cuz I don't want to hear it, my friend).
The Corin "Corky" Nemec Happy Song Corner
Come on, come on, come on, come on now touch me, babe.
Can't you see that I am not afraid? What was that promise that you made?
Why won't you tell me what she said? What was that promise that you made?
Now, I'm gonna love you, 'til the heavens stop the rain. I'm gonna love you,
'til the stars fall from the sky for you and I... speaking of which. I was walking down Barrington in Beverly Hills the other night wishing I owned a dog and hoping Drew would drive by because I know she goes that way sometimes and hey, I love Drew, I don't care what she says, and anyway this guy, this white guy, comes up to me and points a gun at me. I don't know if it was the 6 hour auditing session I'd had down at the Centre that day or the 8 Mexican Martinis I'd consumed at the Good Luck Bar earlier but I said to him, "Can't you see that I am not afraid?" And you know what he did? He hit me and walked off. He hit me. I mean, c'mon. That's not cool, man. You know?
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