I usually spend my time listening to the same two or three albums. Occasionally, a new album (or an old one) will upset the apple cart. This happens every so often, sometimes sooner, sometimes later. Even in my car, which is so old-school, CDs litter the front and back seats as well as the floors and glove compartment, I still only listen to a handful of albums. There are a few staples that I also listen to, those few albums that will never go out of style, but there are only about five of them.
So what I am trying to get at is the idea that I've got music coming out of my ears...actually, that's not right...it's going into my ears, but that's beside the point...I've got music coming out/going into my ears but I still only listen to a few songs at any given point in time.
And that brings us to my post today, which will highlight some of the songs that I keep playing over and over again. These are not the best songs that I've ever heard. But they are the songs that have had my attention for the last month or more.
1. Catseye, by Cannister Six, from the album Paris Lounge, Deluxe Volume 2. The first time I heard this, I thought--man, that girl sounds awful! I was going to skip to the next song. But then I hesitated, as she kept going, and I thought, "that's not as awful as I thought." I know, a stellar review, right? So then I listened to it a second time. By the third time it played, I clicked. And I've been listening to it so much my family is probably sick of it and trying to develop ways to delete it from Spotify. But if you give it a chance, it will get into your head, and you might be glad of the fact. An added benefit for this song is its anonymity. In an age where you can find any information about whatever and whoever on the Internet, I can find precious little information on this song. It is almost as if it does not exist. Wonderfully mysterious. It can be found on Spotify.
2. Song for the Crickets, by Parov Stelar, from the album The Princess Part One. You already know my preoccupation with Parov Stelar. (Check out my review of The Princess Part One if you missed it.) This song begins with crickets, and if you turn it up nice and loud, sitting in the center of the stereo speakers, you'll get this awesome vibe as the crickets fill your head. The song is subtle, very chill. And there is a point where the crickets come back into the background as the song comes to a momentary standstill. The crickets take over, in this hip little rhythm, and you won't want it to stop. Brilliant.
3. State of the Art, by Gotye, from the album Making Mirrors. This crazy little song is infectious. It is a simple little story, about a family who has just acquired a Cotillion, a synthesizer, much like families used to get one of those massive Hammond organs you always saw sitting in people's living rooms in the sixties and seventies. As the song says, "when the Cotillion arrived, we threw out the television...now for an arm and a leg, we get three half-dozen beats to choose from, so that we can pretend, there's an orchestra in the lounge room." Full of everything that made messing around with synthesizers groovy (I bought one while I was in High School, and fiddled with it all the time), you can't help but listen again and again. (Click the song title for the video.)
4. Le Temps de L'Amour, by Francoise Hardy, as heard in the movie Moonrise Kingdom. This is a fun little song from an absurd movie that came out last year. Wes Anderson's story of young love has this wonderfully goofy, sweet scene between the two star-crossed lovers featuring this song played on a little mobile record player on the shores of a lake. I don't understand French, but I know a great song when I hear one.
5. Stylo, by the Gorillaz, featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack. If you haven't seen the video, be sure to check it out. But the song itself is intriguing and I can't seem to stop listening to it. I've only heard the radio edit, so don't get mad at me if you listen to the explicit edit.
