Also, I wanted to mention that I've been doing stuff on Last FM, which basically shows what you've been listening to on your computer, tallys up statistics for it, etc. My username, as always, is Phoemeister, in case you want to friend me on there.

Anyway, I joined a long time ago but could never get it to work with Winamp, and basically got it to work this time by using Windows Media Player, which we all know sucks, so who knows. Also, I made up a music genre called colitis. Really, I just tagged random music with colitis, but my actual hope some day is to un-tag all of those, and go back and tag songs like, "Everybody Hurts" by REM. As one of my friends said once, I am like one of those comic book villains where one bad thing happens to them and then they're bitter about it and make their whole life about it, and my "thing" is colitis.

Also, I was shown this really cool site, Pandora, where you type in the name of an artist or band you like and it kind of makes a radio station of similar things for you to listen to. Unfortunately: I have ass slow internet, and so it just kept cutting out every two seconds, which was really annoying.
posted by DJ Jazzy Phoe @ 8:18 PM  | 

 
So... I'm having a little trouble keeping up listening to all the music I've gotten lately. Obviously: the most burgeois problem ever, but there you go.

Like I said, I got 10 CD's for Christmas. And I never want to listen to any of them but Illinois and The Weight is a Gift. Then I bought the CD I mentioned in the last post. Then on top of that Mouse has burnt me 3 CDs since then, because he is a generous human being who also happens to have 800+ CD's. Which, by the way, he's worked up an elaborate system using Excel to keep track of them. I would make fun of him if I didn't secretly want to do the same thing (I think I'll settle for compulsive alphabetization for now).

One of them is Michigan, which is turning out pretty awesome. It's obviously another Sufjan Stevens album. The main difference seems to be that it's a little mellower.

The other two are Odelay by Beck and whatever Nada Surf album Nada Surf made directly before The Weight is a Gift. So... pretty much I'll probably be compulsively listening to the new Nada Surf and Sufjan like I've been compulsively listening to the other two, and never listen to any of my other new music again. But you know what: I am happy to have this ever so burgeois problem of having too much music to love.

I think I'm going to lend Mouse Calla, Idlewild, and Coheed & Cambria back. I have already lent him the Old 97's at one point, and he wasn't that impressed. I have serious doubts as to whether he'll like C & C or Idlewild, but he's got so much music that those are the only other things I can think of off the top of my head that I have that he wouldn't. Besides Calla, which he probably will like because I specifically mentioned them to him and he perked up. I also had an inkling, because he seems to like things Supertramp liked, and Supertramp liked Calla. That and Nada Surf seem to be the only other band we all agree on.

Also, I think Mulva's going to burn me some Talking Heads.

I <3 working with people who have a flagrant disregard for copyright law.

In other news: I still think about buying Fall Out Boy every day. I brought Saves the Day to work the other day and got much mocking for it. But as far as emo goes, I think those guys are pretty much the top of the heap. They are so good that they don't embarass me for being emo, like 90% of my emo does. But they were still mocked. It really makes me want to bring in Coheed & Cambria to doubly torture the Saves the Day mockers, but on the other hand I don't want to use music as an offensive weapon, more bring in someone everyone can love, or at least tolerate. I started this whole paragraph with the bit about Fall Out Boy, because they genuinely do embarass me that I like them and want to buy their album. Them, Yellowcard, and Simple Plan are probably the only crappy emo bands I've not bought yet. I can't let that number shrink any farther.
posted by DJ Jazzy Phoe @ 8:00 PM  | 

 
Today I bought a CD by Marty Casey and the Lovehammers.

Yes. I really did feel icky buying an album from a band with Lovehammers in the name. BUT--Marty Casey's the guy that got second place in Rock Star: INXS, which I watched religiously over the summer and loved. And I thought he should've won, though I'm glad he didn't, kind of, because it means he's releasing his own stuff, which (at least from the one original song he did on the show) I like better than INXS music.

Now, it's actually only been three or four months since the show ended. And usually it takes a good band at least a year to come up with a good album. So I know they probably rushed out crap just to get it out before the hype from the show runs out. So I'm not expecting 100% quality here. And I really did consider not getting it or at least waiting. BUT--I love Marty Casey! As part of his original fan base I feel responsible for whether or not the record company ever gives him the chance to release an actually good album. That's how sappy I am. Also... there's worse things I could be buying than somewhat generic modern rock by a reality show contestant from Rock Star. I could be buying completely generic pop or country from an american idol winner, or completely generic easy listening from Il Divo. Also: EVERY DAY I think about getting Fallout Boy's album, and I have succeeded in not buying it every time. That deserves a reward.

Also: Marty Casey DOES need my help. There was like, no press for that record whatsoever, I wouldn't have even known it came out today if I hadn't been shelving it.

Now, for an actual conversation I had with Sista the other day. It's not to mock her, as I have had similar conversations with people over genres of music I don't know well, but anyway, I found this amusing.

*some other coworker is saying something to a customer about Peter Paul and Mary*
Me: Don't dis Peter, Paul, & Mary! They're awesome!
Sista: I like that song they did from Eclessiastes(sp?) in the bible.
Me: Turn, Turn, Turn?
Sista: Yeah.
Me: That's the Byrds.
Sista: Oh. I guess I should've pretended like the song I meant was Monday, Monday.
Me: Monday, Monday is by the Mommas and the Papas. Get your folk rock straight!
Sista: Dammit! What IS by Peter Paul and Mary? Puff the Magic Dragon?
Me: Yep. They DID do Puff the Magic Dragon.
posted by DJ Jazzy Phoe @ 1:03 PM  | 

 
So today marks one of the first times I've ever gotten complimented on the music I've brought in for open. It was The Postal Service, and apparently No Pulp is very into them, and then when we were talking about them, Elaine was all, "I love them too!" And we all agreed they're better than Death Cab For Cutie even though they're only a side project.

Another coworker came up to me and said, "The Postal Service SUCKS!" but I was like, "YOU suck!" and that showed him. Plus, I think he was only doing it to get a rise out of me.

Even though the album has some slow songs, I've been bringing it in more lately. I do like to bring the peppiest music possible for open and close because that's when I'm tired and I figure the music will motivate me, but it was actually nice to have something mellow on today. I love the early shift, but it means less sleep and by the fourth day in a row of this today, I was really tired. So tired that peppy music did not have the power to motivate, only to annoy. So some of the slower Postal Service songs were nice and soothing.

I also brought in the Ben Folds compilation. Usually I don't bother bringing in two things as there are more CD's than can be played a lot of times, but today there were not too many people, and a few of them didn't seem like CD-bringing people, which I was right, so it was actually good I brought two or we might not have had enough to play before open. Also I felt confident because Elaine and Kevin were working today, two people who have expressed a sympathy if not outright liking towards Ben before. Since so many people complain about him, I forget that there's actual several cool people who do like him (Optpri, who made me the compilation, likes Ben, and Jersey has also remarked on how awesome the CD is).

However, Elaine (and in the past, Sista) did hate on the cover of the Cure song, "In Between Days," on there because of how great the Cure is and Ben ruins it. But I totally love it. Ben Folds rocks, the Cure can suck it!
posted by DJ Jazzy Phoe @ 1:45 PM  | 

 
You know what, Nada Surf and Sufjan Stevens? You are TOO GOOD.

Seriously, though. I got like ten albums for Christmas, and both Mulva and Mouse have burned me a CD since then, but I can't listen to any of it, because I even look at another CD and my brain's like, "NO WAY! I want to listen to Nada Surf or Sufjan Stevens. There is no way you're going to make me listen to this other crap."

So... I've made no headway at all. I briefly started in on Vendetta Red and a couple of others while I'd loaned Nada Surf out to Mouse, but all progress was lost as soon as I got it back again.

But anyway, I shouldn't complain. It's awesome that those two albums are so awesome. And it will make up for whichever albums I have that I eventually find out are crap. So it's win-win in the long run.

Oh, I do have to complain about the album Illinois, though. Sufjan does not mention my town, though he mentions every other town in this state. Decatur gets a whole SONG! So does Peoria! Even Kankakee gets a shout out! But no..... nothing for Bloomington or Normal. And Normal, with its goofy name, is just begging to be referenced! And Decatur is totally about the same size as us, and Peoria is not that much bigger. And K-thrilla (as a guy I used to know called Kankakee) is tiny. TINY! There goes my last best chance at having a song written about my town.
posted by DJ Jazzy Phoe @ 1:56 PM  | 

 
Phoemeister: I'll forgive you for not liking Coheed and Cambria
NYC: haha
NYC: it's not that i dislike them
NYC: i just don't so much care for them
Phoemeister: ah
Phoemeister: I brought them in for close the other night
Phoemeister: and I think I can safely say I generated a considerable amount of ill will towards myself :P
NYC: you seem to be pretty good at that
Phoemeister: ouch
NYC: i don't think i've heard a good work music story from you
NYC: these people have no musical taste
NYC: oh don't go ouching yourself
Phoemeister: lol... well, the guy who especially hated Ben got fired, and I think the guy from jersey is getting into my Ben mix CD, so maybe I'm turning the tide
NYC: there ya go
NYC: don't let the man hold you down
posted by DJ Jazzy Phoe @ 9:31 PM  |