#musicdiaryproject2012

I tend to respect singers above all else. And that doesn't necessarily mean technical proficiency as much as means some kind of connection to the lyrics, whether you wrote them or not. (This is one of my primary issues with shows like American Idol.) Okay, I joke about the Cher love, but she is ridiculously consistent. Paul Weller has long been one of my favorite vocalists, too. His vocal attack is unique in that it's simultaneously soulful and brash. Merrill Garbus I've written plenty about already, but I love that she doesn't try to "pretty up" her voice, and that's it's not one I've heard before, though I have echos of it in everything from reggae to jazz.

... because this song has been playing on a loop in my brain all afternoon.

This is pretty typical of my daily "background" music -- nothing too incredibly jarring or progressive: just a lot of "aging hipster" rock, or something. Recently I added back to my music library a bunch of stuff I deleted in a fit of self-righteousness. I know the Stones are problematic, but damn it, I like them. (Even if Mick looks like Don Knotts and sings like that old joke, 'hold your tongue and say 'I was born on a pirate ship.'" )

Okay, so I haven't been keeping up with this as best as I should. Aside from incidental supermarket music, I haven't listened to anything not on my iPod. The title aptly describes it.

Right now I'm listening to some sort of neighborhood sing-a-long which is annoying the fuck out of me. I have no idea what's going on outside.

Full disclosure: I'm not all that knowledgeable about opera, but she has the most amazingly deep, resonant contralto I've heard. She can even easily hit notes in the baritone rage. I hate when any female singer with a voice that isn't light and trebly is labeled a "contralto." Most of them aren't. Yeah, pop singers really don't have vocal types the way classical ones do, but still... this is what a contralto sounds like.

The Replacements are the only band for whom I've managed an unhealthy obsession for more than two decades. I keep wanting to find fault with this song, given it addresses the topic of gender expression, but it's written by and sung from the point-of-view of a straight, cis guy. The "something meets girl/something meets boy" part is pretty problematic. Even with that, there's a still a genuineness lurking beneath the surface.

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about music, infact I’d say it was the Music Diary session last year and I’m not off to a great start as I completely forgot to pay any attention to the music I listened to on Monday. As a replacement for Mondays “music listened to” I thought I’d compile the list of tweets I started at the beginning of May for #MusicInMay which had to stop as I left my headphones at work and for me it is purely a portable media project (I’ll be resuming that after this week) The First Word Is The Hardest #FourDayHombre #MusicInMay ____________________________ World C World A #Condor44 #MusicInMay ___________________________ Come On And Smile #Embrace #MusicInMay @embrace _________________________ White Winter Hymnal #FleetFoxes #MusicInMay ____________________________ The Greatest #CatPower #MusicInMay Lovely track ____________________________ I Can’t Stand #ZolaJesus #MusicInMay ___________________________ Endless Bummer #FantasticPlasticMachine #MusicInMay ___________________________ Burning #WildBeasts #MusicInMay ___________________________ Blood Collection #Wintersleep #MusicInMay ___________________________ All Things To All Men #TheCinematicOrchestra #MusicInMay #RootsManuva ___________________________ Hands Away #Interpol #MusicInMay ___________________________ Mugicone #Mugison #MusicInMay Short and beautifully haunting music ___________________________ Disassociative #MarilynManson #MusicInMay #notashamed ___________________________ Spanish Sahara #Foals #MusicInMay ___________________________