March 2006

Bigfoot's Quasi-Random 10
All Shuffled Up

My MP3 player is the Creative Zen Nano Plus. With just 1GB of space, I can't hold my whole music collection. With Grandpa's added in, almost none of the music in our collective collection is on my player. So, this isn't really such a random selection of my music, it's just quasi-random. The last time I switched the songs on my player I had two goals: keeping my current must-listen CDs on there & getting some new stuff into my ears from Grandpa's collection or from CDs we've gotten recently from E-Music. Here are the 10 songs from the mish-mosh on my Zen Nano:

1) "Expect the Worst/'Cos She's a Tourist by The Dears
Like a lot of the artists that came up on my player, The Dears are Grandpa's fault. I haven't listened to this one that much since a lot of songs by The Dears are too low to hear over my usual background noise of train stations. Despite that, this song, with its mention of Coronas and "my heart is aching, my back is breaking," was appropriate considering that I just got back from lugging heavy bags all over a husband-less week in Mexico City.

2) "Too Late" by The Like
Not Grandpa's music, but rather a Paste magazine find. I first heard the Like's "What I Say & What I Mean" on a Paste sample CD & immediately loved it. My sister gave me the CD for Xmas.

3) "Almost Crimes [Radio Kills Remix]" by Broken Social Scene
Another band that's on my MP3 player because of Grandpa. They make for a good listen on the train.

4) "Kicks in the Schoolyard" by The Rosebuds
Holy crap! The Rosebuds are one of my must-listen bands that are in the select few that are always on the MP3 player. I found them the way I love to find bands, accidentally at a show. They opened for Camera Obscura in Hoboken almost 2 years ago, and I bought a CD on the spot. I am always happy when the Rosebuds are on.

5) "Autosuggestion" by Joy Division
I listened to Joy Division a bit in high school, but didn't own them. We own a lot of Joy Division and New Order now since Grandpa became a bit, well, obsessed with them after watching 24 Hour Party People. Their dark sounds put me back in my high school punk days.

6) "Olga's Birthday" by Rose Polenzani
Rose Polenzani is an accidental find twice removed. In 1998 or 1999 I saw a show in Philly that included a singer/keyboardist I knew in high school. The others on that night were pretty damn awesome, so I started checking out their other shows. One of the performers, Erin McKeown, has a side project called Voices on the Verge that's a trio of three women in the singer-songwriter genre. Rose Polenzani is one of those women. I just got some of her solo stuff from E-Music. (The other of the trio, Jess Klein, is my favorite of the bunch, but you should really also check out Voices on the Verge.)

7) "Whatever's Left" by Snow Patrol
Grandpa's music. Very cool, but I haven't gotten it permanently etched in my mind yet.

8) "Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Half)" by Broken Social Scene
Huh, Broken Social Scene hits again. I guess that's what happens when there's not a lot of music to randomize.

9) "White Light Generator" by Ladytron
Nice listen, but hasn't been successful in fighting my natural tendency to listen to The Rosebuds, The Magic Numbers, The Like, etc.

10) "22 The Death of All the Romance" by The Dears
Probably my favorite Dears song. It always gets stuck in my head. "I can't believe the things you say…tell me tell me tell me the lies." The Zen Nano must have known I was doing a random ten article, so it wrapped things up nicely by both starting & ending with The Dears. [pat pat] Good MP3 player. I'll fill you with some new stuff soon.