my week in music.

in the interest of being honest, i must tell you that i write this post in my christmas ornament pajamas, and it is eleven-ten am. now, i am normally up, showered, and off to here-and-there with the girls (on most days), but today, today is rainy and cruddy outside, and even though the girls are dressed and cleaned, mostly, i am half clothed, drinking tea, and taking advantage of not having a dress code. um, yah, so, ‘carry on andy you’re losing them’.

after an intense dance session, that left me gasping for air, i am once again drawn to the subject of music. i don’t think i’d be gasping if i wasn’t alternating between a twenty-eight and forty pound body boa around my neck, torso, and legs. whipping a. and h. around me as if i were oleg protopopov, yes, oleg, a great figure skater in the world of pair figure skating, you should see me on the ice, is an incredible work-out. they love it, and like all kids want “more, more, more.”, and i am going to be “sore, sore, sore.”. that last sentence was a “bore,bore, bore”.

okay, so to the music. as i wrote in a previous post, i enjoy music, as all humans do, or should, and have a broad range of musicians that i listen to. it seems to be too easy an exercise to share with you my three, five or ten favorite songs or musicians. if that were the case, i would go to my bag of regulars, think about what impression i want to make, and dish out the artists that represent the me i want you to think i am. instead, i would like to share with you some songs/musicians that i have been listening to lately, and by lately i mean that each of the following have been listened to more than once in the last week. let me say this: i am sure the weather has influenced the songs that i have been listening to – overall, a bit on the somber side.

so, where do I start? hmmmm. okay, kate nash ‘paris’ and ‘don’t you want to share the guilt’ quite frankly the whole album is good. a. changes the lyrics in ‘paris’ from “you’ll never listen to me” to “you know how to listen to me.” – perfect. i have always enjoyed female singers who’s lyrics reflect their emotions in an honest and raw manner. these lyrics and songs seemingly have no place in my life right now, but i am drawn to them.

next up. a few weeks ago i got a series of texts from my brother that went like this: “andrew jackson jihad. get it now. you need to hear this” “on song three amazing” “listening to song six. get them.” and so on. he is right. pretty darn good stuff. a bit gritty, they bang the guitar in rhythm with lyrics that catch you by surprise and get you thinking. see for yourself. uplifting?

number three, number three, is there a number three here? the next song i couldn’t get away from if i tried. if you only listen to one of the songs in this post – please listen to this one. sinead o’connor’s “black boys on mopeds”. if i were a dog, her voice, the lyrics, and feel of this song, would erect my hackles. never thought I would write “erect my hackles” in relation to a sinead o’connor song. a beautifully brave musician.

aaand number four. “release” by pearl jam. i’m not sure what to say about this one. a rainy day song packed with emotions.

and rounding off our list at number five is neutral milk hotel’s “king of carrot flowers”. this song and album took me a bit to warm up to, but the start to this song, which starts the album, is really quite spectacular.

what have you been listening to? not, what do you listen to? but what has grabbed you in the last week? this was hard for me to do. i want to expand and share other songs and musicians that i love, but will leave it there.