verbiage.

This morning one of my favorite things happened on the way back from my spinning class. I sat in traffic.

I was behind a van that had the word "EDIBLES” in large,
red letters. The entire stop & go journey home immediately became exciting. Quoi?

It might help to know, that I am an anagramming fool. I always feel the urge to anagram. This desire borders on obsessive. Billboard signs, license plates, bumper stickers. You name it, I will rearrange it. Not just on the road! For all intents and purposes of this update & my morning drive, i'll publicly admit that few things in this world are more satisfying than being behind a van with lots of words on it, while sitting traffic.

I mean, you can REALLY make some words happen. 42, to be precise.

Granted, I didn't come up with every word (I checked), but it’s probably one of my favorite, caffeine free, ways to wake up.

And to further delve into my morning mind, dear reader/listener, I was horrified to discover that the side of the van read Edibles ETC as I turned into my apartment complex.

I was peeved. that Extra E could have come in handy.
Clearly I am Scrabble starved. It’s been well over a week.

xxx
j
Download: All My Little Words - Magnetic Fields | Alphabet Aerobics - Blackalicious | The Word - The Beatles
Buy the album: 69 Love Songs (Box Set)- Magnetic Fields , A2G EP - Blackalicious, Rubber Soul - The Beatles

Songs for Homosexual Men in Masculine Roles, Part One

As the Hollywood megacorporations pat themselves on the back for being so progressive, it's good to remember the artists who've been laying it all out for years...

1. "Montgomery Clift debuted on film opposite John Wayne as 'a new kind of leading man -- sensitive, intense and handsome.'"


2. And the straightest dude / I ever knew was standing right for me all the time / So I had to play football for the coach


3. "...by the mid-1980s, rumors had begun to circulate that one of Hüsker Dü's members was homosexual. Many assumed it was Norton, due in part to his handlebar mustache. Mould reports that Norton took the whispers and occasional taunts in stride..."


4. A vodka bottle gave you those raccoon eyes / We got beat up just for holding hands

Download:

1. R.E.M. - Monty Got a Raw Deal


2. Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby


3. Hüsker Dü - Could You Be the One


4. The Magnetic Fields - Take Ecstasy With Me

Buy the album:
R.E.M. - Automatic for the People / Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby / Hüsker Dü - Warehouse - Songs and Stories / The Magnetic Fields - Holiday

pantalones en fuego!

the new liars album is excellent. honestly.

my friend zachary says that the album
sounds a little like animal collective, but,
i don't know. i draw poor musical comparisons.

in fact, i was once told that i will never
be the president of the similar voices society.
whatever. coldplay & dave matthews
sound exactly the same, most of the time.

i digress.

after listening to this album all day,
i started wanting to share it with you (familiar).
but, since this is just a site for sampling
here are two of my favorites.

enjoy.

Download: The Liars - The Wrong Coat For You Mt. Heart Attack | The Liars - It Fit When I Was A Kid
Buy the album, here

it ain’t so much a possum as it is a dixon

the year was 1993. i was in eighth grade and rob zabrecky, lead singer and bassist for the band possum dixon, was making me harder than chinese algebra. i listened to their first album so much, i’m surprised my cassette copy still works.

and then? the band was gone. whither goest thou, possum dixon, alone and raving in the night?

when i got my first soul-sucking full-time office job, i resurrected the self-titled possum dixon tape and listened to it on my walkman whilst filing. (sample lyric from the song ‘nerves’: ‘i hate work / i’m a mailroom clerk / oh, linda! stop me / from making mistakes!’) ah! i finally get the corporate drone angst! and the fact that there are always twelve middle-aged women in an office named linda!

here we are over ten years after the album's release. me? i’m getting out of the ubiquitous office soon to attend a prestigious art school. zabrecky? touring l.a. with his show of amazing prestidigitation. not so different. i know i look better than i did at thirteen, and rob’s looking a little like noah taylor from the life aquatic. never mind. we always have the memories. and the songs. oh, the songs!

p.s. - from what i can tell, it’s pretty much a requirement that i form and/or join a terrible band while in art school. future bandmates take note…we are performing these songs. and i get to sing.

Download: watch the girl destroy me, elevators
Buy the album: possum dixon

the dead are risen rockin'

there’s a lot of prejudice against the undead.

but i love them. the funny moaning noises. the stiff dance moves, so awkward they’re endearing. the undeadliness of it all.

i think about zombies a lot. today, i’ve done so with the aid of these songs. they are my zombaid, if you will.

Download:
exquisite dead guy ~ they might be giants

nights of the living dead (live) ~ tilly and the wall

they are night zombies!! they are neighbors!! they have come back from the dead!! ahhhh! ~ sufjan stevens

the oscar meyer theme ~ billie holiday comes back from the dead in the body of author david sedaris to sing about bologna, as is expected

Buy the album:
factory showroom they might be giants; wild like children tilly and the wall; illinois sufjan stevens; the david sedaris boxset david sedaris

the chase, etc.

i spent my entire day at home
hardly communicating with the outside world,
& listening to french music, mostly
although my understanding of
the language is entirely broken.

for dinner, i had some ice cream.

i am feeling thematique.

Download:
Bonnie & Clyde - Serge Gainsbourg / Bonnie & Clyde - Stereolab

bonus Serge, reminiscent of my days at Burberry.
where the best part of the job, was the music.

Ford Mustang - Serge Gainesbourg

Buy the album:
Serge Gainesbourg - Initials S.G / Oodles of Stereolab

Taurus... and my name is Kim

Welcome to our little mp3 blog, folks. I hope we'll have lots of music sharing fun!

I've been mildly obsessed with this song for a few weeks now, blaring it while driving around the not-so-mean streets of Louisville. I first heard it through my friend Kim, a prominent Louisville DJ (Louisville locals check out the Dirty Soul Party, Concrete, and Global Grease).

The group was formed by members of the Detroit Emeralds and achieved a number one R&B hit with this song in 1977. The song also reached number two on the pop charts, but the Floaters never achieved much success after the majesty of "Float On."

You may be wondering who my favorite Floater is... and I'm going to tell you, hands down, it's Larry.

Download: Float On - The Floaters
Buy the album: Float On - The Floaters

two cups, two lids.

four hands.

my life isn't very cinematic, but i always
enjoy seeing what happens next.

hello, march. this song inspires nostalgia, makes me
wish i was still in chicago, where people drink warm
beverages to keep warm, not just habitually.
here's to stardust & wanderlust.

xxx
j

Download: Aguas De Marco (Waters Of March) | Antonio Carlos Jobim & Elis Regina
Buy the album: Antonio Carlos Jobim Songbook

Beginnings...

My oldest memory of anything musical is the 1985 soft-rock ballad Sara by Jefferson Starship. Why did this 4-minute slice of AOR etch itself into my 4-year-old consciousness? I clearly remember how I adored the descending melody line in the chorus, along with the backing harmonies. (I still have a soft spot for vocal harmonies.)

Thankfully, the next pieces of music to touch me were slightly more hip. Several family road trips in the mid-80's were accompanied by a box cassette tapes that included Paul Simon's Graceland (1986) and the soundtrack to Stop Making Sense (1984) by the Talking Heads. The strange singing in Zulu and French kept my mind busy on the long hours of highway driving across middle America.

Thank you, David. Thank you, Paul. Thank you, Grace.

Download: Starship - Sara / Paul Simon - Crazy Love Vol. II / The Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
Buy the album: Starship - Knee Deep in the Hoopla / Paul Simon - Graceland / Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense