Now that We are Through

Some of my friends and I share music to listen to while we work. Sometimes we rate/review what gets shared with us and share those reviews with the group.

Röyksopp – Melody A.M. (2001)

I kind of set this up more than a month ago. Following a rap rock rabbit led me down a worm hole past Beck (his song Where It’s At, not his newer stuff), Bloodhound Gang, Chumbawamba, Rage Against the Machine, 311, and other artists we’ve covered in this game to more electronic groups, which all of culminated in a Norwegian EDM duo a guy from my church introduced me to more than 10 years ago (and I haven’t really listened to since).

Crank It to Eleven and Blow Another Speaker

Some of my friends and I share music to listen to while we work. Sometimes we rate/review what gets shared with us and share those reviews with the group.

A Late ’90s/Early ’00s Playlist

Prepare yourself.

Recently, my wife had a conversation that ended going down odd avenues. I don’t remember what sparked it (something in a show we were watching probably), but my wife asked who sang a particular song. She thought it might have been Sublime, and while I knew that was wrong, I couldn’t remember either.

Turns out, it was a one-hit wonder group called Citizen King:

Rock and Roll is Here to Stay

For a couple of years some of my friends and I have been sharing music. We’re supposed to review/rate what gets shared with us, and share those reviews with the group, but that doesn’t always happen.

Now that it’s after Memorial Day, public schools are letting out, and it’s getting pretty warm outside, I think it’s summer. So I shared an album that feels like summer to me. But before I get to that, here’s what my friends suggested:

Big Star – #1 Record (1972)

I know next to nothing about this band or album. But they’re Beatles-influenced power pop, so I feel like I should have at least heard of them before. The key is “Beatles-influenced”. Expecting The Beatles would be a mistake, especially when listening to Chris Bell’s vocals. I don’t hate them, but I prefer Alex Chilton’s. Anyway, I can hear The Beatles’ influence in the songwriting and the sound of the guitars, etc.

Why Don’t You Take Another Little Piece of My Soul

For more than a year, some of my friends and I have been sharing music. We’re supposed to review/rate what gets shared with us, and share those reviews with the group, but that doesn’t always happen.

Simon and Garfunkel – Bookends (1968)

This is one of those albums I listened to on vinyl. Not that it really makes a difference, but there’s just something about laying on the floor at the end of a long day, listening to the quiet static of a needle as the record starts.

I tend to think of this as two separate EPs. The A side (Bookends to Bookends) as a one concept EP and the B side as just a collection of other songs.

I know it’s one of “the arts,” but like dance, I don’t always think of music (especially “popular” music) that way. Simon and Garfunkel are one of the few groups who make me remember music really is art. And this album specifically does so.

I was Looking for a Piece that Fit

For more than a year, some of my friends and former coworkers have been sharing music. The idea is that we’re supposed to review/rate what’s shared with us, then share those reviews with the group, but that doesn’t always happen.

This week, my former co-worker Tim suggested we all share something from the past couple of years that we haven’t listened to. Ok. Sure. This is a little different. My band mate Spencer went through bands that he used to listen to, but hasn’t really kept up on to find something. I thought about doing the same thing, except it seemed overwhelming. So I just went through bands that I’ve already shared with the group looking for side projects.

One that I really wanted to share was Andrew Stockdale’s solo album he released while Wolfmother was on hiatus. But he writes all their stuff anyway, and, as it turned out, they recorded it while they were still together. Really it’s just a Wolfmother album with a different name, so I guess that’s not going with the spirit of this week’s “theme.” Not that we always have to have a theme. But, it’s not on Spotify anymore anyway.

Before I get into what I did find, let me get into what everyone else shared.

Bette Midler – It’s the Girls (2014)

Tim’s whole idea behind suggesting we share something we haven’t heard that’s been recorded and released in the past couple of years was so it will help us stretch our selections and have a dose of what is being recorded “today.” Yet he shares an album from a woman who’s been recording for the past 50 years. Not only that, it’s a cover album of songs that inspired her to start singing in the first place. So an old woman singing old songs is supposed to have a dose of what’s being recorded today?

Anyone Who Speaks Can Say the Same Truth

Some of my co-workers and I have been sharing some of our favorite music, rating them, reviewing them and sharing those reviews with one another. I thought I’d share my thoughts on their suggestions (and their thoughts on mine) with you here.

Here’s how I rate things. If I give something one star, it means I don’t think it qualifies as music. Five stars mean I wish I wrote the thing. Most music for me is a three.

Wye Oak – Shriek (2014)

Chris shared this album because as the year draws to a close, he’s decided it was his favorite album of the year. And I was the first person to know.

This band is similar to Beach House. Woman vocalist, a male band mate, and whatever the two can pull off in the studio. Spacey and melodic. Not as psychedelic as Beach House, and that’s OK.

Its Better than I Ever Knew

Some of my co-workers and I started sharing some of our favorite music. We’ve been doing it for a while, but now we’re actually reviewing them and sharing those reviews with one another.

This week it wasn’t an album. It was a mix of 10 songs from our senior year of high school. For some of us these would have been literal mixtapes. My list has songs which were big the summer before my senior year through graduation. And they are songs I liked at the time. For other people they might be older songs which they liked while they were in high school (if I would have done that, The Beatles would have made the list)(spoiler: The Beatles weren’t on my list). For others, they might be songs which were popular, but they didn’t like them until later. Whatever.

I’m pretty sure this post has more tags than any other I’ve ever written.

Tim’s mix (1996-1997)

“While I did graduate in 1996, my graduating class was 1997, so I am pulling from music all the way to ’97. This includes songs popular then, and songs recorded around then, or songs I just liked and listened to a lot. I thought it would be fun to arrange them in album style, by where I think the best listening order is. So, while the same artist might be listed multiple times, I think it is more enjoyable to listen to in the order below:”

Jump off Van Halen’s 1984