Monday, March 13, 2006

iPod rundown - 03/12/06

Do I post these just so I can show off how cool I think I am, how eclectic my taste in music is? Perhaps I just want to knock the Barry Bonds post off the top spot. It's not like anyone's looking at this yet anyway.

I do have some other posts in the works, but until I get around to doing them...

I was at the gym in the evening and listened to the following (still working the indefinite shuffle):

1279. Ghost - "Feed"
1280. June of 44 - "Mindel"
1281. Latin Playboys - "Pink Steps"
1282. Missy Elliott - "Dog In Heat"
1283. Dälek - "Voices of the Ether"
1284. Wilco - "War on War"
1285. Kwanjai Kalasin Yuk - "Auk Pee Deh Bun Mai Terng"
1286. Six Organs of Admittance - "School of the Flower"
1287. The Red Krayola - "Green of My Pants"
1288. Low - "Closer"
1289. Basement Jaxx - "Being With U"
1290. Herbie Hancock - "Rain Dance"
1291. Beyoncé - "Naughty Girl"
1292. Pet Shop Boys - "It's Alright"
1293. Amerie - "1 Thing"

1279: Hypnotic Underworld is an excellent album. I'd ended my commute home halfway through this song. Didn't bother beginning it again--it's just as well, the second half of it is much better for working the stairmaster than is the quiet first half.

1280: I got into Slint and their followers several years late and spent a lot of time picking through the back catalogs of several related bands. Much of it sort of runs together, but I have a soft spot for it, in general, as a music of possibility. June of 44 rocks, and this is one of the better early tracks, from Engine Takes to the Water.

1281: I love the Latin Playboys record, but this short, quiet song is not good workout music. Skipped.

1282: Missy Elliott is great, of course. I inherited …So Addictive from a friend who bought it upon release but who somehow didn't like it. Very well suited for working out, perhaps not surprisingly.

1283: I may post in the future about my former, mistaken assumption that, as is true for many other genres of music, hip hop is more interesting/inventive in the underground than in the mainstream. In the event, Dälek is one of the few underground hip hop artists that I get any enjoyment out of. This noisy track off of From Filthy Tongue Of Gods And Griots is, in fact, perfect workout music.

1284: Yeah, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is great. Not much else to add.

1285: Molam: Thai Country Groove from Isan, one of the Sublime Frequencies releases, of which I have a few. These songs are always a pleasant shock when they come on.

1286: I think School of the Flower is the most satisfying Six Organs of Admittance record so far. This 13 minute, drone-y title track is gorgeous.

1287: I got into The Red Krayola in part because of David Grubbs' involvement in their more recent stuff and because of David Thomas' enthusiasm--plus, Mayo Thompson was in Pere Ubu for a while. Also, I have a perverse need to look into leftfield or lesser known music from the past. This song is one of my favorites from God Bless The Red Krayola and All Who Sail With It, the second album.

1288: Things We Lost In The Fire is my favorite Low album. One of the many great sounding records recorded by Steve Albini. I wonder if this lovely song is too slow to have as a slow song at the wedding. At this point I was stretching, so there was no need to skip it.

1289: I actually bought Remedy soon after it came out, even though I wasn't listening to much electronic or any dance music at the time (1999), and, as it turned out, was soon going to be spending a lot of time listening to post-rock and free jazz. But, Spin (!) was so enthusiastic about it, I had to hear it. I thought it was ok, but, in retrospect, it wasn't the right time for me. I then completely avoided pop music for years, but I started to read more and more about Basement Jaxx. Thankfully, I'd kept Remedy. Many listens later, it's not only better than "ok", it's great. As are Rooty and Kish Kash.

1290: For a while there, it seemed like every month there was an article or interview in The Wire namechecking Sextant. One of my few non-Miles "fusion" records. It's pretty cool--sort of akin to, I think, To Rococo Rot, and those sorts of more recent German electronic bands.

1291: By the end of 2004, after years of ignoring chart pop, and having started reading several music bloggers who wrote admiringly (and convincingly) about pop, I decided to take the plunge and download several singles from that year. I'm glad I did. "Naughty Girl", for one, is fantastic; I never seem to get enough of it.

1292: Bought Discography years ago but, other than "West End Girls" and that U2 cover, never really listened to it. Loaded it onto the iPod to correct this oversight. This song has a swell beat, plenty good for a workout, but lyrically it's kind of dumb--the old "things may suck, but music makes it alright" thing...

1293: "1 Thing" was part of 2005's end-of-year pop download. I like it ok, but it doesn't have that extra little bit that elevates a pop song for me.

It would appear that, if nothing else, these types of posts are demonstrating that writing about music, about the music itself, beyond just my personal history surrounding the music, is not my strong suit.

Oh well.

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