124. Heavy Rotation

There hasn't been a whole lot of music listening these past few weeks.  This one snuck up on me.  I've never been into Moby or electronic music in general.  But I've always kinda liked the jazzy lounge music they play in fancyish restaurants while you're waiting for a table and ordering overpriced cocktails.  So now I have a Downtempo Electronica station on Pandora, and I downloaded this from Amazon.  Mostly intrumental with a nice soul sample.  Moby.  Who knew?

 One of these mornings... won't be very long... You will look for me, and I'll be gone.

105. "Now Usually I Don't Do This..."

... But I cannot hype this Balmorhea album enough.

Maybe it's because it's a genre of music that I don't normally mess with; or maybe it's because I'm in a really thoughtful place; or maybe it's because it's just really frikkin fire.

Whatever it is... I am all over this album.  As much as it saddens me that I haven't found anything I enjoy nearly as much in their other albums, I am so grateful to have found something that feels so natural to me.  It's as comfortable as silence, and yet so much better.

Wow.

98. Heavy Rotation

I'm probably pickier about gospel music than any other type of music.  A lot of it just sounds exactly, unremarkably the same to me.  So I don't "love" a lot of gospel songs.  I'm working on that.  And in the meantime, I am daily grooving to Give Thanks by Marvin Sapp.  It's a fairly laid-back, "put it on the in background and sway a little bit while you do other things" groove.  And with a "just can't say it enough" message.  I mess with it.

Everything's working out for your good.  Even when things don't look like they should.

94. Music-Palooza

Once upon a time, in a previous blogging life, the homie wrote that his graduate school applications had sent his music-getting into overdrive. I'm coming to know the feeling. I spend significant amounts of (work) time every day on a Pandora-Amazon-YouTube circuit of new music getting. Generally, it goes like this:

Pandora plays New Interesting Song by Artist I Never Heard Of. I go to Amazon to see what reviewers have said about New Interesting Album. I hit up YouTube to check out sample tracks from New Interesting Album and Artist I Never Heard Of's other albums.

On a good day iTunes gets 2 or 3 bucks outta me by the time I get home (though if I'm not too pressed I wait to download the song on Amazon. I love Amazon.) In any case I've never enjoyed spending 99 cents so much. At this point I'd rather have a great new song than a great new almost anything else. Most recently I've gotten it in with:

Blu & Exile - My World Is...
Helen Jane Long - Porcelain
Matt Nathanson - Bulletproof Weeks
Dave Tofani Quartet - In a Sentimental Mood
Aretha Franklin - Call Me

(I think) It's worth noting that my former co-blogger wrote at the time that he was spending crazy hours in Best Buy copping CDs. When I read that post again today I immediately wondered why on earth anyone would shop for music at Best Buy??? Then I remembered that things were not always as they are now. Just a few short years ago, we all shopped for music at Best Buy. It was the semi-official music-getting spot. How things have changed.

I'm impatiently awaiting my next trip East so I can violate the copyrights of my homie's entire music library. I plan on doubling (or tripling) the size of my collection without taking up an inch of extra space. Just thinking of the hours of new music listening that await me... Goosebumps.

Now if only I could say that it was my dedication to my schoolwork that was driving the cravings. If only.

88. Heavy Rotation

Recently, one of the homies introduced me to ambient music as a genre. That led me to lots of instrumental music, which in turn led me to Balmorhea. I rarely purchase complete albums, but I invested $8.99 in River Arms and have been quite pleased. If you're the type of person to sit and listen to thunderstorms, or just sit and daydream, you may be the type of person to love this album. It's easily one of my favorites.

Since there are no lyrics, I can't leave a quote, but here's a link to a highly rated track.

69. Heavy Rotation

Ladies and Gentlemen, I proudly present to you... When Your Life Was Low by Lalah Hathaway and Joe Sample. This is one of those songs you only ever happen upon by accident, but that instantly becomes an indispensable part of your musical life. One of my classmates was playing it when I stopped by her apartment years ago. I do not own a single other Lalah Hathaway song and I don't know who Joe Sample is. This song though... I've never heard anything like it. The way it dances the border between beautiful and bitter. I kinda love it.

Although I never hear from you, still it's nice to know... You used to love me so. When your life was low.

44. Heavy Rotation

I have a bad habit of only listening to the first 80% of an album. When I can tell it's winding down, I switch it out or start it over from the beginning. On the bright side, even after listening to an album for years, I sometimes discover a "new" song that I love and never heard before. Recently that happened with Cee-Lo's "Under tha Unfluence (Follow Me)." I put this one on repeat in the car at night and blast the chorus with the windows down.

You gotta believe in something... So why not believe in me?

35. Heavy Rotation

I am seriously considering purchasing Melankton by Kate Havnevik. I've downloaded (paid for) two songs and I think I'd kinda like a couple more. Her sound reminds me of bjork, but she's just this side of normal. Really thoughtful lyrics and the kind of production you can drift away to.

I love the way you live so intensely, enjoy every minute of life... laughing loudly. Unlike you, I am not pretending.

23. Heavy Rotation

Another song I can't get enough of is The Weepies - World Spins Madly On. It's got that "Whatever happens, life goes on" vibe that I find is so essential sometimes. I wish it were more than 2 1/2 minutes long. Just as I'm getting into it, it's ending. But I guess that's what Repeat is for.

I just got lost, and slept right through the dawn. And the world spins madly on.

4. Heavy Rotation

I have been listening to "Let Go" by Frou Frou for about 3 weeks. It's become my semi-official "Get your ass outta bed and do something" banger. The message is great and the production just makes you wanna cast off and float away.

"So hand me that remote. Can't you see that all that stuff's a sideshow?"