My new playlists

Anyone who has talked to me about music knows my favorite music magazine is paste magazine. I have three basic reasons for this. First, Rolling stone and Spin might have awesome RSS feeds and the best interview sections, but Paste is the only one to regularly tell me about bands i haven't already heard of. Second, they pick their songs from a much wider range of music. While i may have been a rock/punk kid when i was a young one, my tastes have become more eclectic since then. Third, each issue comes with a cute little cd that i can take with me and listen to. I don't have to buy a cd just because some guy raved that it revolutionizes modern music and then find out that it's bad spoken word with too much reverb. I can listen to one song by each of the artists they cover and decide for myself if they are good or bad. This is both good for me and the music industry because if i regret my decisions less, then i end up buying more cds now don't i?

Anyways, the songs viewed here were found either via Paste, BBC's "the Playlist" (which i found in a bin on sale somewhere in NY), or off the cd that the lady at urban outfitters gave me when i bought these kickass cowboy boots.

My new playlist:

• Rattlin Bones- kasey chambers & shane nichols: i've got a weakness for male female duets but it rarely happens that i like country songs. But this isn't the country-pop i usually hear and hate (i'm looking at you taylor swift). This one is heavy on the banjo and reminds me of something you'd hear out of louisiana.
  
• She moves in her own way- the kooks: okay, i already knew i love the kooks, but i didn't actually have anything by them until someone gave me this.
• Move you- Anya marina: her voice is a little wispy for my taste, i tend to favor girls with strong voices. But it's quite the catchy song and i could see it easily being used for a tv show.
  
• So many nights- The Cat Empire: This song seems effortlessly cool. which is strange since the character in the song is kind of pathetic for some girl.
  
• Valerie- the Zutons: I like the zutons, but the songs off their first album are for me the kind of songs that i can only listen to every once in a while. This song, however, i just love. It's much less repetitive than some of their other songs.
  
• How the day sounds- Greg Laswell: The lyrics to this song are simple and poignant. Some might even say they are slightly sappy. But i'm okay with it. The lyrics and his laid-back voice come together to make it sound like he's having a conversation. Even when i'm feeling mopey, inevitably when the song gets to the end and he sings "won't you sing along," i already am.
• heartbeats- jose gonzales: when i first heard this song i started frantically shuffling through my box of cds looking for the case so i could figure out who this was. Then i read the name and promptly realized i'd already blogged about his awesomeness. So yeah, he's still awesome. Also, if this song hasn't been in an episode of scrubs, it should be.
• Another day- Jamie lidell: Jamie is channelling the temptations, which is odd since many of them are still alive. research tells me that other songs incorporate electronic stuff, but i'm really only aware of this gospel/soul/funk song. I'll try on the other stuff and get back to you...
• Consolation prizes- Phoenix: these guys grew up in the same time and place as the two wierd guys who would go on to be daft punk. The music couldn't really be farther apart though.
  
• Let me go on- Seabird: i don't really know what to say about this song, just listen to it.
  
• Don't wanna die lonely- nick Pagliari: this song is sappy. but still good.
  
• It's You- Pictures and Sound: This is by far my favorite song on this list. I wish i had a car so i could drive with the top down blasting this song. I was going to go out and buy their cd immediately, but i have a wicked cold today so i decided to stay home and whine instead.

so, thats it. i also want to commend iFrogz ear pollution for making good quality, inexpensive headphones. A few years ago my dad went all out and bought me these super expensive, obnoxiously huge noise-cancelling headphones. The noise-cancelling thing worked real well for drowning out the world when i needed to study, but the sound was crap. Furthermore, the left speaker broke down completely within a few months. I chucked it, and didn't tell him about it because i knew he goes through a lot of trouble researching and comparison shopping whenever he buys anything over twenty bucks. I've used numerous versions of ear buds and crappy dell speakers until now. I popped my iFrogz headphones on christmas morning and could tell the difference right away. The difference in sound is just amazing between these headphones and the buds i had picked up earlier. I also love that they are completely customized to fit my style. there is no way i'm confusing my headphones with anyone else's anymore. The only downside is that they are a little uncomfortable to wear around my neck if i've got a coat on. This wasn't the case with my old headphones, which were slightly larger. But the smaller size is helpful for me because most headphones (and hats) tend to slide around because my skull is oddly small. Actually, most of me is oddly small. The sound is amazing... for the price. It is not even remotely as good as Dr. Dre's Beats headphones (I use this as an example because it's the high end set i've listened to most recently, not because it's the best in it's price range. it isn't). But for less than thirty dollars, the ifrogz ear pollution headphones really are fantastic.


I've got more to write about the adventures i've had while i was away from my trusty computer for the last month. But Nyquil is making my head a little fuzzy so I think it may be time to go to sleep.

zzzzzzzz...