The Listening Project - Arm's Way - Islands

Part 16 – Arm’s Way– Islands (2008, ANTI-Records)

I’m beginning to realize that a lot of Hypatia’s music (and by “Hypatia’s music” we should always already understand it to mostly “Hypatia’s ex’s music) is the sort of music that’s super awesomepants to write to, because you really don’t need to do much work to keep up with it.  This is not meant as a good or bad critique, I’m a lazy music listener, I’m totally ok with that.  But it is a trend that I’ve been noticing, and now that I’ve started back up with the Listening Project, it’s closer to the front of my mind.

I almost went to see Islands, right after I moved down to ATL, and who knows, perhaps I should have.  But given how shruggy I feel about Arm’s Way I don’t think I’ll loose any sleep over that decision.  But there’s a little local color for you.

This is a nice light album.  The sound is thin without being weak and the pace of most of the songs is up-beat.  It’s a toe-tapping kind of music.  Perhaps in the ears of someone wiling to do more work than I am with the whole “listening to music” thing can find more to say. 

Although, I think I just talked myself into really liking this album.

Favorite Track: “J’aime Vous Voire Quitter”

Least Favorite: “To a Bond”

Next up - Arular- M.I.A. (2005)

The Listening Project - Amethyst Rock Star - Saul Williams

 Part 15 - Amethyst Rock Star - Saul Williams (2001, Universal Special Markets)

Dude. Dude.  Dude, seriously, one of my favorite ever albums of ALL TIME AND HISTORY.  I luffs it.  There isn't a lot of hip hop on the old iPod, but it is a genre I've come to enjoy (when it's good, it's very good).

I'm really not totally certain what else to say about this.  It's the sort of album that fits almost any mood or time of day or year.  In a lot of respects it's way easier to write about albums I'm not as certain about, because, really, what more can I say about this other than WHY ARE YOU NOT LISTENING TO IT RIGHT NOW?!!!!

Favorite Track: "Coded Language"
Least Favorite: "Our Father"



Next Up - Arm's Way - Islands (2008)

The Listening Project - All Hands on the Bad One - Sleater Kinney

Part 14 - All Hands on the Bad One - Sleater Kinney (2000, Kill Rock Stars)

I love this album.  I'm totally surprised that I hadn't originally put it on the old iPod, which means that I hadn't listened to it outside of my car in . . . 3 years? 4 years?  Weird.

I want to say that I got this CD way back in the back day when I listened to a lot of dyke rock (a little acoustic Ani, a little Melissa Ferrick, some . . . you know . . . Indigo Girls) but it's also totally possible that I picked it up from Hypatia's Ex (a person you can blame for most of my music) (not the Indigo Girls tho).  Who knows.  I do know that I saw them on their last tour and that was pretty great.

So - they're fun.  A little gritty.  13 tracks wrap up in just over 36 minutes.  You get in, you get out.  You have a fun time while you're there.  It's kind of great.

I've been packing all day.  I got nothing.

Favorite Track - "You're No Rock and Roll Fun" - totally awesome
Least Favorite - "The Swimmer" - the only really slow song on the album. Kinda boring.

Next up - Amethyst Rock Star - Saul Williams (2001) (and then we're all caught up and can go back to strict alphabetical listening!)

The Listening Project - Apple O' - Deerhoof

Part 13 - Apple O' - Deerhoof (2003, Kill Rock Stars)

You know, I have absolutely no idea what I think about this one.  (To be truthful, another album I listened to while pretending to get back in shape, so, there you go)

On the one hand, it seems totally listenable, really fun (well, a little more laid-back than that) and maybe a little quirky.  On the other hand, I can't shake the sense that it's the sort of album that takes a lot of effort to listen to.  There are like melodies and harmonies and shit.  Weird.

I don't know if I've really talked about my musical laziness yet, but, I've got lazy ears.  Like, some of my favorite music ever is French Polyphony. It's just that touch more complex than chant, but without a. the douchiness and b. difficult instruments.  Also mid-nineties rock.  I am willing to bet you a dollar that absolutely no one ever broke a sweat over Inside Out, and yet, I love it.  Lazy ears.  Lazy, lazy ears.

So I think that's part of my ambivalence.  I also have never been a fan of high register voices, and the singer's voice has that high, kind of nasally quality that must make indie-music folk swoon, like ironically.  Not a huge fan.  In short, not an album I'd put on, but not one that I'd click over were the old iTunes on shuffle.

I feel so ambivalent about this, that I'm not going to do a favorite/least favorite.

Next up - All Hands on the Bad One - Sleater Kinney (2000) (I know it's out of alphabetical order, but, it's new to the iPod, and I love it, and didn't want to skip it.)

The Listening Project - Apologies to the Queen Mary - Wolf Parade

(I finally got smart enough to just charge the ol' iPod and not sync it. Smarty-pants, this girl!)

Part 12 - Apologies to the Queen Mary - Wolf Parade (2005, Sub Pop)

This is, hands down, one of my favoritest ever albums.  For reals.  It's just fun, and beautiful, and exactly the sort of people-doing-interesting-things-with-music that I like.

I don't have a whole lot else to say about it, mostly because this is one of the albums that I, like, actually know, and so there is not a really fun "discovery" story behind it. Also because I listened to it while taking a run for the first time in longer than I'd like to admit.

I do know that the guitarist has the most kick-ass haircut ever, but that I can never find a picture of it, so I can never have that hair cut.  Which is sad.  As sad as the fact that it took me two months to figure out that I could just charge the ol' iPod and not sync it.  Which is something like tragic.



Favorite Track -" Dear Sons and Daughter of Hungry Ghosts "
Least Favorite - I simply refuse to pick a least favorite.

Next up - Apple O' - Deerhoof (2003)

Update on The Listening Project

Meant to post this, like, a week ago.
The Listening Project is on hold for a bit.  My car was broken into and part of what got stolen was my beautiful and totes loved external hard drive.  The hard drive that had all of my music (in addition to all of  my writing and most of my teaching materials).  Gone.  Disappeared like my last willingness to give this Rust Belt city a chance to turn my heart.

I have some music right now, but it sure as shit isn't anything I'm willing to tell the internet I listen to.  At least not without some decent stuff mixed in.

Your sympathies are appreciated.  I'll try to get back to this soon.

Until then, try this:

The Listening Project - Antics - Interpol

Part 11 - Antics - Interpol (2004, Matador)

This album acts like a window into a different time for me.  Listening to it, inevitably, invariably, calls to mind the gym at EMU.  I can smell the equipment and sweat, I can feel the pull at arms and legs from working out (that's pure memory I assure you, Hypatia's Girl might be angry, but she's also hella outta shape).  That this music is so evocative of that particular place, that particular time is especially weird, because I could only have heard it on the radio or on those godforsaken MTVU channels at the gym. (Part of the memory is that creepy marionette music video).  Maybe I heard it once or twice while actually at the gym, however it is now inextricable from my memory of the gym.  Memory is endlessly weird.

It's kind of weird to listen to an album with such a particular memory, right now, because I'm currently working on some thoughts regarding cycles and spirals of time.  (I was also listening to Antics while driving up to EMU again . . .)

Given that the memory that this album recalls a relatively good memory, it's difficult for me not to like it.  Yes, each song sounds pretty much like every other song.  But that one song isn't half-bad.  (Although how quickly "Slow Hands" gets stuck in my head might be a mark against the whole album)

It's nice to know that I have music that holds memories that would otherwise be utterly unremarkable.

Favorite Track -"Length of Love" Just totally great.
Least Favorite - "Next Evil" didn't grab my attention at all.

next up - Apologies to the Queen Mary - Wolf Parade (2005)

The Listening Project - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out - Yo La Tengo

Part 10 - And then nothing turned itself inside-out Yo La Tengo (2000, Matador)

(I know, I know, you're all like, zomg, Hypatia's Girl still has a blog? Weird, totally forgot about that.  Well I was busy, had to go be a mistress of philosophy and drive across PA.  You know, the state that gets in your way when you're trying to get someplace else?)
I'd anticipated not liking this album at all, and so was pleasantly surprised to find that the instinctive dislike for the album was a product in inherited distaste rather than any knowledgeable sort of disagreement.

It's not my favorite by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not a bad little album.  Owing to my suckiness at keeping up this blog I probably have listened to this album 3 times over the course of a couple of months, it goes better with sunshiny days when one is driving to a potentially awkward lunch than it does with the blah, gray barrenness of driving up US23 to restart a part of your life from a different perspective.

The beginning of the album didn't really catch me, a little too quiet and the vocals seemed a little superfluous.  However it really picks up in the middle rocking out some really great tracks (at least ones that fit my driving-up-US23 mood a little better) like "The Last Days of Disco" and the cover "You Can Have It All."  (I'd watch the video, it's kind of amazing) Of course, "rocking out" might be a sort of strong label for this.

Over all, a nice, mellow album, not necessarily something you play to listen attentively to all the way through, but a nice thing to have and pick up threads over the course of an hour or so.

Favorite Track - "The Last Days of Disco."  Just fun.
Least Favorite - "Everyday." It's the opening track and it just did nothing for me.

next up - Antics - Interpol (2004)

The Listening Project - and Their Refinement of the Decline - Stars of the Lid

Part 9 - and Their Refinement of the Decline - Stars of the Lid (2007, Kranky)

The reason I started this Sisyphean listening project was that I knew that I had music in my iTunes that was totally awesome, but I didn't know it, and so I wouldn't listen to it.  Finding music like and Their Refinement of the Decline completely justifies this project.

I think that I found Stars of the Lid accidentally, looking for Stars as Eyes.  You know, electronica or drone ambient, who knows the difference?

This album is beautiful.  I'm a big fan of ambient music, anything with a full sound that allows me to get totally lost within the music, so that I listen to all 16 tracks, hardly aware of any passage of time.  Instead content to sit and watch the moon rise through the ripple glass of the dining room window.

It's that good.

[It also caused a deep crisis in my life because it reminds me intensely of William Basinski's Disintegration Loops, which I had, at one point, on my computer and alas, now only have an empty folder labeled "William Basinski" (luckily the boy came through for me, huzzah for douchey indie folks).]

The music is slow and rich, with strings and beauty and wonderfulness.  A little difficult to write about, however I would like to point out that one of the tags on this album on Last.fm is "music to write dissertation to."  This is true.  My thesis is going very well with music like this ringing through my bones.

I'm not going to bother with the Favorite/Least Favorite Tracks for this one - it needs to be listened to in its entirety, preferably while relaxing next to a window at night.

next up - And then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out - Yo La Tengo (2000)

The Listening Project - Ancient Heart - Tanita Tikaram

Part 8 - Ancient Heart - Tanita Tikaram (1988, WEA)

I'm actually kind of a fan of Last.fm.  From their recommendations I've found some good music (Masha Qrella for one).  So when Last.fm told me that if I like Suzanne Vega then I'll like Tanita Tikaram, I thought, sure why not?!

Eh.  I've listened through a few times now and it's starting to grow on me.  I was really worried when I was first listening, this is clearly a pop album from the late 80s.  More than Suzanne Vega, Tikaram really reminds me of Eleanor McEvoy.  Who isn't great, but I really fell in love with her for almost 20 minutes way back in the undergrad years (the first set).

Tikaram's slower, jazzier numbers are more fun.  She's got a very distinct voice, smooth and low.  The pop-ier songs are too sparse and not very well mixed, the end result being something like being at a coffee shop on open night mic night.  So while something like "For All These Years" is just great, fun and jazzy, "Good Tradition," the opening track, is damn near unlistenable.

That being said, I've listened through 3 times now, and I like it better each time I hear it.  If you can make it through the first couple of tracks, you either become used to the late 80s synth or it actually gets better.  I can't tell. 

Favorite Track - "Twist in my Sobriety" - something about this reminds me of the Arabian dance from The Nutcracker, always one of my favorites.
Least Favorite - "Good Tradition" - seriously, I almost didn't listen to the album because of this.

next up - And Their Refinement of the Decline - Stars of the Lid (2007)

[so this post was particularly hard because I realized that one of my all-time-totally-the-best-thing-ever favorite albums isn't on my iPod.  Saul Williams, who is a genius, should be here between Amnesiac and Ancient Heart with his Amethyst Rock Star.  Find it, listen to it, love it.]

The Listening Project - Amnesiac - Radiohead

Part 7 - Amnesiac - Radiohead (2001, Capitol Records)

I was going to say that I didn't know anyone who didn't love Radiohead (particularly those of my generation), however, I have found one person who doesn't like Radiohead.  I'm trying to be friends with him anyway.

My love of Radiohead notwithstanding, Amnesiac is a difficult album for me to write about.  Radiohead isn't an easy listening kind of band.  It has a winter-night kind of feel to it, mellow with an uncomfortable sort of drive forward to the sound.  I'm not really certain what more to say about it.  Hooray for Radiohead!

Favorite Track - "Dollars & Cents"
Least Favorite - "Pyramid Song" It just doesn't do it for me.

next up - Ancient Heart - Tanita Tikaram (1988)

The Listening Project - American Football - American Football

Part 6 - American Football - American Football (1998, Polyvinyl Record Company)

One of my concerns about doing this project is that there is a lot of music in my iTunes that I've never listened to.  That I, in fact, have no idea what it really is at all.  American Football was one of those bands, hanging out in my music library, a couple of songs had been nicked in shuffle-mode, but I had not a single clue what they sounded like.  But I kind of thought I didn't like them.

What's great about me, outside of my modesty, is I can admit a mistake (sometimes).  So I plug them in on my walk through the neighborhood to get to school last Wednesday (?!) and am greeted with the aural equivalent of the perfect fall day that was Wednesday morning.  Best. Fall. Album.  I love music that has a season, and American Football is fall in this really wonderful way.

Their sound is incredibly delicate and rich, like a really good creme brulee.  The way the melody weaves through guitar and vocals dapples like October sun through just-changed maple leaves.  This is a break-up album, but manages not to be maudlin or, worse, make me cry.  I liked it, in short, a helluva lot more than I expected.

Favorite Track - "I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional"
Least Favorite - "Stay Home" - it's a good song, but maybe not an 8 minute good song.

next up - Amnesiac - Radiohead (2001)

The Listening Project - Almost Killed Me - The Hold Steady

Part 5 - Almost Killed Me - The Hold Steady (2004, French Kiss Records)

The problem with having gone to the Pitchfork Music Festival 3 years in a row and not knowing jack about music is that I have a lot of false memories about who I saw, when.  I am positive that I saw the Hold Steady, but it might have been Oxford Collapse, or I might have meant to see them but saw someone else instead.

It's all very complicated.

At any rate, the Hold Steady is a good example of the paradox of my musical tastes.  For those of you listening along at home, you may have noticed that I really like unusual male voices. And Craig Finn has an unusual voice, a kind of strained talking-at-you-in-a-rhythm sound that, apparently, I really like.  And yet, cannot stand Tom Waits or Bob Dylan.  Weird, I know.  Almost Killed Me is not a very challenging listen.  It's a nice straight-forward album that doesn't try to be something it's not.  How nice.  It's the sort of album that makes for good listening when writing or doing other things.

Favorite Track - "Killer Parties"
Least Favorite - "Positive Jam" - dudes, I'm so over the "We Didn't Start the Fire" intros.

next up - American Football - American Football (1998).  Oooh, emo.

The Listening Project - Alligator - The National

Part 4 - Alligator - The National (2005, Beggars UK/Ada)

I found The National.  Which is cool because as the time I was dating that guy.  You know, the guy that knows all of the most obscure music, has seen all the bands, really likes Guided By Voices.  It was really intimidating to be that girl, you know, the one that doesn't know jack about music, last went to R.E.M.'s Monster concert, really likes wizard rock.  But The National, I found 'em in this record shop in Holland, MI.  And they're awesome.

Alligator is a good listen.  They aren't a fast sound, but a heavy one.  Even their sad songs (of which there are at least two on this album that I can't listen to with out tearing up, at least, but I'm a sap) have a weight to them.  Live they are surprisingly angry, but this album is a little gentler.

Favorite Track - toss up between "Daughters of the So-Ho Riots" and "Karen"
Least Favorite - Seriously, this is exactly the sort of music I love.  There are no least favorites here.

next up - Almost Killed Me - The Hold Steady (2004)

The Listening Project - Aldhils Arboretum - Of Montreal

Part 3 - Aldhils Arboretum - Of Montreal (2002, Kindercore/Polyvinyl)

My love of Of Montreal may have bounds, but I've yet to really find those bounds. There is something great about a band that will cheerily sing about old people in cemeteries being sad.

I've also been able to catch them live twice, and it is a helluva show. I love Of Montreal live the same way I love Goths. Kevin Barnes, the lead singer, needs a lot of attention and is willing to do what it takes to get that attention. Luckily for those of us who long for a musical and performative heir to David Bowie's glam rockiness - a lot of that attention needing is found through chipper, chirpy music, filled with melody and art and a show that involves inflatable suits, jello, and Kevin stripping down to his Tim-Curry-Is-Dr.-Frank-N-Furter lingerie. It makes me so happy. Definitely what was called for on a day like today.

Favorite Track - "Kid Without Claws"
Least Favorite - I have no memories of "A Question for Emily Foreman"

next up - One of my favorites! Alligator - National (2005).

The Listening Project - Aladdin Sane - David Bowie

Part 2 - Aladdin Sane - David Bowie (1973, RCA)

I refuse to believe that there is a single person out there in the universe who doesn't want to make out with David Bowie, particularly in the early 70s, covered-in-glitter, deliciously crazy, David Bowie of Aladdin Sane.

I mean really, it's amazing.

The boys have been less than excited about this listening project ("But Hypatia'sGirl - why would you want to listen to music that sucks?") and were somewhat resistant to participating when I told them that I wanted to listen to the next in my series on the drive up to Ann Arbor. Until they realized it was Bowie. I'm really just in love with this whole album, it's fun, it's playful. It's everything that I love about glam rock and great guitars. And David Bowie's voice.

I have no real great story about this album, aside from my slavering love of David Bowie . . . and how great a glam rock theme party can be!

Favorite Track - "Panic in Detroit."
Least Favorite - I absolutely refuse to try and tease out which I like least.

Next up - Aldhils Arboretum - Of Montreal (2002)

The Listening Project - Adam and Eve - Catherine Wheel

My goal is to actually listen through my iTunes collection. I've decided to go through by album, just to keep the spice of variety in there.
Now, I'm not some crazy person with 40 days worth of music, just 9.9 days.
The first on the list - Adam and Eve from Catherine Wheel. (1998, EMI/Chrysalis)

What will always make me giggle about Catherine Wheel, is that I have this perfect memory of checking them out when I was in high school and finding them to be ZOMG so hard. Of course my musical listening in high school consisted of music for ballet, musical theater (whatever musical I was performing in at the time) and the lesbian musicians my dad listens to.

There is something incredibly satisfying to my ears about that mid-90s rock sound, and surely no fuller example can be the quasi-ballad rock of Catherine Wheel. Adam and Eve is a surprisingly good album to write to, the constancy of their sound doesn't require a helluva lot of attention, the songs fade pretty seamlessly into one another, so if it's wide variety of sound you're looking for, I would suggest you look somewhere else, but for a kind of satisfying reminder of the pop rock music of my late high school career, it's hard to go wrong with this.

Interestingly, to me, there is something about the voice of the lead singer, Rob Dickenson, reminds me of my current favorite band, The National.

Favorite track - "Satellite" - just a kind of solid song.
Least Favorite - "Phantom of the American Mother" - a little too ballady for my tastes.

Next up - Aladdin Sane - David Bowie, 1973 (oh goody!)