Apr 6, 2011

Music Diary Project: Day 3
Today was a return to the normal routine, for the most part, so the listening was far more representative of a typical work day for me.

Technically the first music of today was last night before I went to sleep. I was having trouble falling asleep, so I grabbed my iPod Touch and tuned into WFMU with the handy little app and heard:
Costes - "I Hate Noise"
Naked On the Vague - "The Fridge"

The first music I heard upon waking up was on my train ride this morning, where I decided I needed something a little loud and distracting to wake me up, so I went with:
Thou - Peasant
I discovered these Louisiana doomsters through last year's awesome Summit, and while this isn't quite as stunning as that full-length was, its still a potent slice of sludgy doom.

Since I still had a few minutes left on my ride when that album ended, I switched over to shuffle for the last few stops and the short walk to my office:
Mastodon - "The Wolf is Loose"
Blue Oyster Cult - "Cities In Flames (Live)"

After catching up with the email and messages I missed while I was out sick yesterday, I dove into construction drawings for a small remodel project I've been working on and stuck with the shuffle:
Joy Division - "Exercise One"
The Fall - "Pat-Trip Dispenser"
Deerhunter - "Revival"
Disappears - "Little Ghost"
Nachtmystium - "High On Hate"
Tim Hecker - "Analog Paralysis, 1978"
Public Image Ltd. - "Go Back"
Yelawolf f. Raekwon - "I Wish"
Stereolab - "Equivalences"
Dungen - "Barnen Undrar"

The Kills - Blood Pressures
Decided to jump back to this album and liked it even better on the second listen. I'm glad they laid off the playground chants from Midnight Boom, those nearly ruined that record for me. I'm a much bigger fan of the dingy-blues they churn out.

By this point it was well past time for lunch, and my stomach was ready to jump out of my body and start chewing on my arms, and I decided to use the walk to the Depaul Center to spend some time with another recent album that has been getting lots of attention on the internet:
Katy B - On A Mission (Tracks 1-3 on the way to lunch, tracks 4-8 on the way back, and tracks 9-12 back at my desk)
Really liked this on first listen, much more than I expected to. I'm still very much a dilettante when it comes to dubstep, but I really liked the way this rubbed me. It helped that Katy B has bucketloads of charm and a great voice. Another one I'm looking forward to spending time with.

While I was at lunch, the radio in Quizno's was tuned to a local top 40 station which gave me the following accompaniment while I ate:
Erasure - "A Little Respect"
Nickelback - "Savin' Me" (this one I actually had to look up on the station's website when I got back to work, I had mentally noted it as "some shitty post-grunge, Nickelback-lite power ballad")
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Otherside"
Beyonce - "Halo"
That run started and ended well, but quite a crap sandwich in between.

Back at work, after wrapping up the Katy B record, it was back to full album listening:
British Sea Power - Valhalla Dancehall
I wanted to give this another spin because I knew I wanted to try to write something about it tonight (see previous entry). I'm not sure I was able to hit on just why this record works so well for me, but I really wish more people gave them a fair shot.

The Chamber Strings - Gospel Morning
This is a fantastic album, a completely under-appreciated piece of 1990s indie pop that takes the obvious influences of Big Star, Nikki Sudden, and early 70s Rolling Stones and rolls it into some absolutely joyous pop. Well worth tracking down.

After rushing through a fire drill at the office (not a literal one, but I ended up having to call a whole bunch of contractors to help spread information about a project out to bid right now - I learned I would never make it as a telemarketer), it was time to head home on the train:
James Blake - James Blake
As much as I was impressed by the Katy B record, I was let down by this other dubstep buzz artist. There were a few moments that I connected with ("The Wilhelm Scream" and his Feist cover) and I think they guy has a great voice, but I just wasn't feeling the under-stated beats behind his vocals. I get that the minimalism is part of his whole approach, but I found myself bored more often than I was engaged. I'm still willing to give this another go though, there must be something that so many other people are hearing.

Quasimoto - The Unseen (Tracks 1-10)
Just one of the many brilliant Madlib projects.

The journey was a little longer than usual because I to catch a bus to meet up with my wife at a friend's house, where she was babysitting their three children. Unfortunately I made it there after the kids were already asleep, so I didn't get to spend any time with them. On the drive home later on, the car radio was tuned to the local alt-rock station and I was "treated" to:
Switchfoot - "The Sound"

Then it was time to write about the British Sea Power album and type up tonight's entry between blog reading and general internet dicking around:
Drive-By Truckers - "Assholes"
British Sea Power - "No Lucifer"
British Sea Power - "Waving Flags"
British Sea Power - "Living is So Easy"
British Sea Power - "Thin Black Sail"
The Brother Kite - "The Finest Kind"
Burzum - "Jesus' Tod"
Burzum - "Vanvidd"
Death Cab For Cutie - "Home is A Fire" (via Pitchfork stream)
Death Cab For Cutie - "You Are A Tourist" (via YouTube video)
Gang Gang Dance - "Mindkilla" (via Pitchfork stream)

I've noticed a lot of people offering some little tidbits at the end of their posts about the Music Diary Project, so I thought I would join in with the fun:
Favorite Track Heard Today: "The Wolf is Loose" - Mastodon
Favorite New Track Heard Today: "Witches Brew" - Katy B/ "You Are A Tourist" - Death Cab For Cutie
Least Favorite Track Heard Today: "Savin' Me" - Nickelback

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