NYC: no need to hate on bon jovi
Phoemeister: yes
Phoemeister: yes there is :P
NYC: you're just jealous he isn't from there
Phoemeister: no, man
Phoemeister: we have REO Speedwagon
Phoemeister: wait
Phoemeister: maybe I am jealous
NYC: HA!
NYC: i win
NYC: CT has john mayer and dashboard
Phoemeister: Well I'm glad I'm not from there then
Phoemeister: BLEEEEEH
Phoemeister: the other day this guy returned John Mayer to buy a Ben Folds CD and I told him he was trading up
Phoemeister: but then he admitted it was because he already had the John Mayer cd
Phoemeister: and I felt bad for hating on John
Phoemeister: though I will never feel bad for dissing Dashboard Confessional
Phoemeister: Saves the Day is from New Jersey, I think
NYC: yes they are
NYCsEvil: how you like the whiney music without liking dashboard baffles me
Phoemeister: lol
Phoemeister: I dunno either
Phoemeister: by all rights I should want Dashboard to have my children
Phoemeister: I think that's half of it. I feel like people would expect it of me, so I feel like I have to buck the trend
Phoemeister: so that if anyone says I love all emo, I can be like, "That's not true! I don't like dashboard confessional!"

---

Phoemeister: lol... I posted part of our conver on the blog
Phoemeister: and someone already responded to me:

Tina: Frank Sinatra was from Jersey
Phoemeister: So now I'm double teamed
NYC: haha, that's funny
NYC: it's funny, because you suck
Phoemeister: LOL
posted by DJ Jazzy Phoe @ 10:33 PM  | 

 
So today this like, 8 year old came to my register to buy Greenday's American Idiot. I thought it was very cute. I think the kid thinks I'm very strange, as I spent quite some time trying to persuade him to get Dookie instead. He probably thinks an album from 1993 or whenever it was is like, ancient. It also probably speaks quite a lot about my personality that I try to get a little kid to buy an album named after poop with songs about masturbation instead of an (admitedly somewhat foulmouthed) album that at least is relevant to our current sociopolitical situation.

In other news: I got a bunch of new music for Christmas, here are my thoughts:

Paul Simon's Greatest hits: I've only listened to "You Can Call Me Al" 80 times so far, not much of the rest of the album. I don't know why, but I love that song. Also: I figure since I <3 Simon & Garfunkel so much, I couldn't go wrong with Paul by himself.

Brand New -- Your Favorite Weapon: I have listened to it a little. So far it is not shaping up to be as good as Deja Entendu, but it is not bad either. Plus, who knows. I could grow into it, or grow to hate it. It's hard to tell at this early stage.

Vendetta Red -- Between the Never and the Now. Not turning me on particularly, but I've only listened to it once. Also: I feel proud of myself that this and the Brand New album are the only emo I had on my list this year. Am I weaning myself off of emo? Hopefully.

Better Than Ezra -- Before the Robots: I have very few impressions, I think I was paying attention to something else when I gave it the first listen last night.

Semisonic -- All About Chemistry: ditto.

Marcy Playground -- MP3. If possible, I have even less remberance of it than the Semisonic and Better than Ezra albums.

Saturday Morning Cartoon's Greatest Hits -- I keep forgetting about how, with cover albums, it helps to actually like the original songs. Here, I not only never particularly liked most of these, but I don't even remember most of them. The Bugaloos? Goolie Get-Together? Friends/Sigmund and the Seamonsters? What the hell? Where's my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, and Care Bear theme songs? I DO like Sponge's Speed Racer song, and Matthew Sweet's Scooby-Doo Where are You? though, and think I might someday grow to love Sublime's Hong Kong Phooey. Those I like probably more due to the strengths of the actual bands than the songs.

Navar -- Your Window. Weirdly, they kind of remind me of how Christian rock sounds, even though they're lyrics aren't that way. The guy just kind of has that kind of voice, is about all I can describe that. I don't know if I like it or not yet, other than the two songs (Mojave Shake and Everything's the Same) I d/led from Amazon yonks ago that inspired me to ask for it in the first place.

Sufjan Stevens -- Illinois. You know, I have had this guy's name wrong for ages. I used to think it was Surfjam, and then I realized it was an M not an N, but I had been adding in the R where no R belongs right up until I got the album and noticed that. Now I have no idea how to pronounce the name, and I'm terrified of looking stupid. Not to mention the fact that I HAVE pronounced it with the R in front of people before. But none of them ever called me on it. Who knows? Aside from all that folderol: I really like it so far. It's a very unique album. I've already heard and enjoyed The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts and Casimir Pulaski Day, but after only a couple listens, I'm already quite fond of Come On! Feel the Illinoise!, John Wayne Gacy Jr., Chicago, and Decatur. I used to have this image of Sufjan being kind of folky, but now that I've heard the album, I'm not exactly sure how I'd describe it, because the banjo feels folky, but it has some cool production effects I'd doubt you'd put in folk.

Nada Surf -- The Weight is a Gift. This is probably my favorite so far (though this might be partially because I've actually heard the whole thing several times before I got it). Anyway, I LOVE it. Particularly Do it Again. Where I've heard it before, is Supertramp put a few of the songs off it on the overhead during work, and also occaisionally brought the album in during mornings. Which actually kind of makes my enjoyment of the album bittersweet, because I'm sad he got fired, and I really associate this album with him. One great thing about having the album, is Do It Again is 20 times better now that I can listen to it on headphones or a stereo, and actually hear the bass, which you couldn't so much at the store. The lead singer's voice sounds better too. And I love this one line from it, "I spend all my energy staying upright." I have no idea what the band meant the song to be about, or that line in particular, but I have a habit of twisting around songs to be about my own experiences, and that's pretty much how I feel after a day on my feet at work. I also really enjoy Always Love, Concrete Bed, and Imaginary Friends. Another song I really love and associate with some coworkers is Blankest Year. It's quite peppy, and I can remember this one day that it was the first thing that came on one day when we were there at 6 a.m. and we were all rocking out to it. What else can you do with a song that starts, "Aw, fuck it. I'm gonna have a party."? Anyway, quite a good album.
posted by DJ Jazzy Phoe @ 3:48 PM  | 

 
So, it was employee appreciation weekend. We had one other since I've been working at the store, and then I mainly loaded up on books I wanted to read and Christmas presents.

So I wanted to get some music this time. Only... it's not that great of a discount on most things, as 90% of our CD's are heinously overpriced. And then a lot of the CD's I've been meaning to get... on my Christmas list.

Based on these parameters and on what I've happened to see around while I'm supposed to be working, I narrowed it down to two albums:

One was this album a coworker made. Someone lent it to me, and I really like it, actually. And it's like 10 bucks, which on 40% off day is 6 bucks. But... I'm too embarassed to buy it when he's around. Which he was today. So... I guess it'll have to wait.

The other was Songs and More Songs by Tom Lehrer for the same price. I'd actually had a conversation with Optpri not that long ago about novelty music. She'd been under the impression I was a novelty music enthusiast, as I'd mentioned a Dr. Demento song someone sent to me once in conversation, and we're both fans of the Muppet Christmas album. But I'm not, really. The only thing approaching that in non holiday music I had was Tenacious D's album. No Weird Al, no Dr. Demento, no They Might Be Giants, no Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine, no nothing.

So when I saw Tom Lehrer in the store one day, with 28 tracks on it for just 9.99 I saw an opportunity to get me some novelty music. For those who don't know, Tom Lehrer does the song, "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," the greatest novelty song of all time. The first time you hear it, you want to bust a gut, and over time it NEVER GETS OLD. The greatest bit: since Lehrer is from the 50's, he sounds so innocuous. You hear the beginning of it and it's all "Spring is here, spring is here," etc. and you're like, "this sounds like it begins at the beginning of some nauseatingly happy musical." But then it gets to the bit about murdering pigeons. It is THE BEST.

Anyway: so far I'm not that impressed with the other songs on the album. But Poisoning Pigeons in the Park is worth $6.00, easy. And hopefully I can find at least one track out of 27 others to enjoy.

In other novelty music news: I DO expect to get the Cartoon Theme Song covers album for Christmas. Rock!
posted by DJ Jazzy Phoe @ 10:17 PM  |