your favorites.....
When Garrett and I were chatting online the other day, we were talking about how we all need to catch up with everyone's "favorites," for lack of a better word (ha! talk about word choice!). We were suddenly really excited at the prospect of catching up with everyone's latest cultural obsessions, reading frenzies, interest du jour..... You know, what have you been listening to/reading/ watching/ loving/recommending to others in the past ten years or so? Have there been things you encountered and you immediately thought one/some/all of us would love it? I can remember many of the things we loved then, but what about now?
I'm gonna let more of you post on this topic (if you want) before I weigh in.....I suppose if you want, you could be all John Cusack in High Fidelity and do your "top 5's" of everything, but I always find that impossibly hard. Just tell us what ya love!
I'm gonna let more of you post on this topic (if you want) before I weigh in.....I suppose if you want, you could be all John Cusack in High Fidelity and do your "top 5's" of everything, but I always find that impossibly hard. Just tell us what ya love!
posted by Lesley at 3:01 PM
13 Comments:
I think I'll start with listening. I haven't much time to read for fun and textbooks suck the joy out of the written word.
NPR. I LOVE NPR. I would be Tess Viglund's groupie if I could. I love Neal Conan, Terry Gross, Michelle Norris, Melissa Block and the things I learn and hear! I've found some new music loves because of this. And Lesley's been subjected to my listening when I have found something she would love. Can you say Canterbury Tales RAP?
On to my list, just a reminder, I'm a music slut. If it has a beat I'll listen. And this is just the past week or so, I change my mix around so I don't get bored:
Don't Cha Pussycat Dolls
Play David Banner
Switch Will Smith
I Break Things Erika Jo
Feel Good Gorillaz
Red Shoes Kate Bush
Toxic Britney Spears
Galang Galang MIA
Yeah Usher
Shackles Mary Mary (LE you should try them, you might find that musical soul you are missing in the new contemporary christian rock)
Turn to Ston ELO
Blue Orchid White Stripes
So you can see, it's a huge mix and that's only the current player list.
Listening. I don't listen to much contemporary music. We can't really afford to keep up with everything, plus I'm lazy. I am influenced quite a bit by whatever Tim puts on, because he's a music nazi.
My tastes
Alt country is big for me:
Alejandro Escovedo
Kelly Hogan
Split Lip Rayfield
bluegrass
folk, both old and new:
Greg Brown
John Renbourn
Ricki Lee Jones
Allison Krauss
New Wave:
The Cure
etc
Influenced by Tim
Led Zepplin
AC/DC
Beastie Boys
De La Soul
Tom Waits
I haven't bought a new CD in at least two years. I do a lot of CD mix swaps with friends.
I did hear a group on NPR called Doveman recently, though, so when Tim had a free GC to Amazon.com, we ordered their newest.
NPR here is not as good as in Chicago. I miss Afropop Worldwide with my boyfriend Josh Collinet; Blues Before Sunrise...
Here, though, Alabama Public Radio has a great Friday lineup: Thistle & Shamrock, Alabama Acoustic (new and old folk), and Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour.
I'm with Ellie on contemporary music...I haven't bought any in a LONG long time. But I do listen to bad country, as Lesley was mentioning earlier on, and I thoroughly enjoy bluegrass now too...
I just created a mix for everyone last night. Called "I remember". Songs we listened to, or songs that remind me of us, and high school, because I really have a terrible memory.
I've made up a collection for everyone, too, but it's newer stuff that I thought you all might enjoy -- especially as it seems we share bluegrass/folk/country loves.
Listening --
I listen to NPR, but not near as much as I did in college. I find myself to be like Ellie, missing the shows left behind. I miss Trail Mix (i think that was what it was called), a folk/bluegrass show that used to come out of Lawrence's station. And c'mon, who doesn't miss Night Crossings out of Hutch? They still play that show, and when we're home, I look forward to listening to it in the evenings. Much better than the excess of classical our station offers. I used to listen to this ambient music program called Echoes: canceled. I also loved a show called Fascinating Rhythm that always played old musical/
jazz/ballad type songs revolving around a theme: canceled. I guess I need to increase my membership pledge!
But I must confess: I buy CDs. I went for a dry spell for a while, and just recently starting bowing to the entity that is Amazon once again. I download stuff, too. And like Jen, I'm a music slut ;)
I have a freakish fetish for pop music that I used to despise: Kelly Clarkson's oversouling, Rob Thomas' infectious solo stuff, Gwen Stefani's retro-80s sound, and oh my, I listen to JLo/Jenny from the Block/Jennifer Lopez when I'm down -- for some reason, I like her. Some techno is fun, too -- mainly from soundtracks like The Matrix and Tomb Raider. And I LOVE Jen's list because Will, Usher, Pussycat Dolls, and Britney all sound a little familiar. Hmmmm. :)And as I fessed up to earlier, I listen to country, like twangy mainstream loud country: Gretchen Wilson (like, I bought her new CD when it came out, I'm so addicted), Big and Rich, Sugarland, Miranda Lambert, Montgomery Gentry, Joe Nichols, and anything on the over powerful "country" station in town. But these are more in the car running around town tunes.
When I really REALLY listen to stuff, it falls on that folk/rock
/country/bluegrass spectrum: My lasting loves are Kathleen Edwards, Mindy Smith, Dar Williams, Victoria Williams, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Iris DeMent, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and many more in that category. And I just discovered the Be Good Tanyas and Uncle Earl and Nickel Creek -- all good, too.
And I often get nostalgic for those female artists from the 90s: Luscious Jackson, Poe, Veruca Salt, Tori Amos (HATE her newer stuff --- it's all about Under the Pink and Little Earthquakes), etc.
I don't listen to Indigo Girls anymore -- only their earlier stuff when I'm really nostalgic.
k, done for now. Wait, I didn't even get to movies!!
I get online Sunday afternoons just to listen to Trail Mix out of Lawrence. I've loved that show my entire life!
Oh my god--I forgot about Night Crossings! And I haven't heard Hearts of Space in YEARS.
(The station in Chicago I used to listen to played not enough classical and waaaaay too much jazz.)
Um, I wouldn't mind getting a CD that had Kelly's Since U Been Gone song on it...
I adore techno, house, trip-hop, acid jazz, but that stuff doesn't fly in our house (like I said, Tim's a music nazi), so I don't actually own any.
I'm excited to see Nickel Creek on your list, Lesley. I guess they must be pretty popular now, but I discovered them at the Telluride bluegrass festival four or five years ago and was instantly hooked.
I'm so excited to hear the mix you've made.
The Be Good Tanyas, if not part of the Chicago alt-country label I love, Bloodshot Records, at least are very similar to their artists. I like what I've heard.
I forgot to mention the only song I really, truly hate. And sarah loves it.
The summer of 69 by Brian Adams.
Yuck.
Oh, my, how stupid am I that I've neglected to listen to Trail Mix online. (Cue Lesley's emergence from stone age) For some reason, I can rarely get it to work for the Hutch station, so I never tried for Lawrence's station. So today I am -- and the first songs? Nickel Creek and tracks from Dar's latest!! I am home.
(But I also just downloaded "Don't Cha" -- and all is good in my universe.)
Okay, music: i love practically all kinds of music... though, unlike a lot of you, i'm still not much of a country fan. I can handle a little bit every now and then, but not a steady flow.
More than any other kinds, i tend to lean towards classic rock, alternative and folk. But i also love classical music, later 19th and earlier 20th century music from France and Italy *think Josephine Baker/Louise Brooks era*, and Big Band tunes.
Anyway, here are some of my favorite music groups/singers:
Nick Drake
Radiohead
Led Zeppelin
Tori Amos
Kate Bush
The Who
The Waifs
The Pixies
Cat Stevens
Elliott Smith
Rasputina
The Beatles
The Shins
Pink Floyd
Jimi Hendrix
The Pretenders
Janis Joplin
Billie Holiday
Eartha Kitt
... too many more to mention.
My seven favorite bands if I had to pare them down:
Radiohead
Wilco
Modest Mouse
Split Lip Rayfield
The Shins
Nick Drake
Elliot Smith
Nickel Creek has satisfied my music longings most often in recent years.
I forgot to mention Gillian Welch!!
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