Current Play List (I'll Get To It!)

I don't sleep very well or very much.  I've been that way my whole life; although, it did get notably worse a couple years ago.  More on that...um...never.  Anyway, as a result, every night when we go to bed, I listen to my iPod and play my gameboy until I get sleepy.  Last night the following conversation took place:

Me: These are snore cancelling ear buds, but I leave the left one out until you fall asleep so I can hear you when you say some random shit.
He: Do I say random shit?
Me: OH YEAH.
He: What's Pi to the fifth place?
Me: .....
He: Random like that?
Me: (after laughing hysterically) No, not usually quite that random.
He: You should tweet that.
Me: Whaa?  Now we're deciding what to say based on whether or not I'll tweet it?
He: Well yeah, I'm playing to a bigger audience now.
Me: Hahahahaha
He: You should tweet that too.
Me: HAHAHAHA

How could this possibly relate to music you ask?  Well, I'll tell you.  During this exchange, the unequalled Paula Kelley was singing in my right ear.  How did that impact the aforementioned conversation?  Well, because the song she was singing ("You Gonna Make It?", by the way) is part of the little play list that has kept me sane here lately.  That bit of sanity is what has allowed me to have even a shred of humor left in me after all that has happened the last couple (horrible) weeks.

So, just in case a shitty couple weeks befalls you in the future, let me share with you my musical Prozac:
1. Brollo (Acoustic) - Jon Palmer & the New Complainers
2. Radio - Jon Palmer & the New Complainers
3. Handbag - Betty Goo
4. Horseface - Betty Goo
5. Vanity - Betty Goo
6. Uncommon Courtesy - Betty Goo
7. Washed Up - Betty Goo
8. Over Your Head - Boy Wonder
9. X-Large - Boy Wonder
10. What About Everything? - Carbon Leaf
11. Lonesome - Dr. Dog
12. That Old Black Hole - Dr. Dog
13. Get Away - Dr. Dog
14. You Gonna Make It? - Paula Kelley
15. Slug - Paula Kelley
16. Lucie - Paula Kelley
17. The Girlfriend - Paula Kelley
18. The End of That - Plants and Animals
19. Song for Love - Plants and Animals
20. Don't Care What Time It Is - Rachel Platten
21. 53 Steps - Rachel Platten
22. You Don't Have To Go - Rachel Platten
23. All I Seem To Do - Rachel Platten
24. Don't Wanna Be Here - Rachel Platten
25. I Could Be a King - The Dunwells
26. Get Gone - White Arrows
27. Landslide - Steve Adamyk Band
28. Lost and Found - The Kill Van Kulls
29. My Time Has Just Begun - The Dead Trees
30. Pineapple Girl - Mister Heavenly
31. Sing In My Meadow - Cowboy Junkies
32. I Want to Forget - Psychic Twin
33. Church Clothes - Matt Nathanson
34. Lost Myself in Search of You - Matt Nathanson
35. Mercy - Matt Nathanson
36. Under Attack - Ryan Schmidt
37. White Horse - Ryan Schmidt
38. Go Where You Belong - Ryan Schmidt
39. Wasted - Micah
40. Yellow Ledbetter - Pearl Jam

Micah - Micah EP

Album: Micah - EP
Artist: Micah
Release: July 14, 2006

How have I not talked about this one already? (honestly, I kind of thought I had)  This was Micah's debut but of course I got it last because I do everything backwards.  I would say that this EP has my favorite Micah song on it, but that would require me to pick between "Wasted" and "Goodbye" and this just isn't gonna happen.  So we'll just have to split the difference.  "Goodbye" is one of those that is very upbeat sounding which is in contrast to the lyrics and I love that.  It is very reminiscent of Stevie Wonder (or Jamiroquai if you're a generation younger) which is sweet.  I have literally danced around the house to this song a number of times and I haven't even begun to get tired of it.  "Wasted" is of the same vein as "Goodbye"and is definitely dance-around-like-a-fool worthy.  I put these both on a couple play lists that my husband and I listened to while we were working on a home improvement project (that drug on forever) and they both held up wonderfully to everything I could think to mix them with - everything from Matt Nathanson to The Black Keys to Red Hot Chili Peppers - and that says a lot.

The next two songs are decidedly more chill.  "Thinking" opens with "I'm scared as hell, thinking 'bout the future, thinking 'bout everything" and there isn't a person on earth that can't relate to that.  Never before has the fear of moving on and changing and our tendency to stand in our own way been so fun to listen to!  "Take Me Home" is another one that portrays a bit of the human experience that we've all had.  It expresses that desire within us all to go home, whether home is an actual physical place or just a simpler, more comforting time.  In this crazy, hectic world of isolation and anonymity, I think this urge to slip out of the rat race and into a place that feels like home, where we're known and understood and accepted, even if just for a minute, is pretty commonplace.  Listening to this song will give you that feeling, for 4 1/2 minutes.

Even if you're not familiar with Micah's work (then you have clearly been ignoring me and what is your problem??) you should definitely check this EP out.  The songs are just so catchy and human - I don't see how they wouldn't appeal to everyone.  Just go get it and give it a listen and you'll see what I mean.

How Do You Listen?

I had a bit of a conversation the other day that got me to thinking about the way we listen to music. (I say a "bit" of a conversation because it was Twitter and you may have noticed that I am far too verbose to have a truly satisfying conversation in 140 characters or less at a time.) Anyway, it started differently but the part that started my synapses firing was a distinction between passive listeners and active listeners. I had never really thought of it like that and, more importantly, I had never considered that the actual artists might think of it like that.

In the aforementioned conversation I was oddly honored to be classified as an active listener.  But when I think about it, I guess it really is true.  Much to the chagrin of my husband (or anyone else who tries to eat a meal or have a conversation with me where music is playing...even quietly), it is very rarely ever just background noise to me.  More than once I have blurted out, "Oh, I love this song!" and then commenced to singing whatever was playing at a time when my husband didn't even realize there was music on.  I never miss it, it always gets my attention. 

But just having music grab my attention isn't enough.  When I listen to something, I like to really get inside it.  I've said before, music can be a tangible thing, a place where you can go and wander around and I like to do that as often as possible.  There are so many layers to it, you are not doing it justice if you don't at least try to hear them all.  For me, the first thing is the vocal.  The vocal has to be something I want to listen to, it has to have an effect on me in some way.  If there is no sincerity, or if it's just plain bad, then it doesn't matter what the music is doing behind it, I won't keep listening.  Then comes the lyrics - this is what I'll have to change if I ever want to really appreciate Bob Dylan, I have to put the lyrics before the vocal.  Anyway, the lyrics are second in order of what draws me to a song, but first in line of things that keep me.  I love the shit out of lyrics.  I like a clever turn of phrase, or a double meaning, or an unexpected surprise.  I know the words to an absolutely absurd number of songs and that's only because I pay attention to them so much that they just sink in.  It can't be helped.

Then there is the music itself.  It can be as simple as an acoustic guitar that feels like it's being played with your heart strings to an elaborate orchestral arrangement.  The music has a big job - it has to support the vocal, but not overpower it.  It builds the structure around the lyrics, it protects them, supports them, gives them a place to hang out and relax.  I love the way the drums and pianos interact and how the guitar just blankets them and pulls it all together.  The jingle of a tambourine in the beat hooks me every single time.  The emotion of a song is really just as wrapped up in the music as it is in the lyrics and the vocal. 

Honestly, it blows me away that not everyone hears music this way.  I suppose it is the difference between hearing it and listening to it.  I wan to know what's going on inside there and I want to take it in and let it do what it does.  I'm not saying that you can't enjoy music without having a religious experience every time you listen to something, I don't mean that at all, because I surely don't.  I listen to music all day long at work and it is forced to be in the background because, you know, I'm at work.  But really, I don't think you're giving the music (or the artists, for that matter) the respect it deserves if you just let it go in one ear and out the other all the time.  Sometimes you need to just sit down with a song or better yet, an entire record, and just eat it up and digest it.  Let it change you.  Being affected is not a bad thing.  If you don't ever take the time to really feel it, you're the one who is missing out.

Micah - Coast to Coast

Album: Coast to Coast
Artist: Micah
Release: July 2010

Micah is a singer/songwriter from Rochester, New York (you can find him here and here); his album Coast to Coast was gifted to me by an apparently generous and hardworking music elf.  It has quickly taken its place as one of my favorite things I've received this holiday season. 

This album is a roller coaster ride through the ups and downs of relationships.  There's the one you're fighting for that you know can work if you can both just give it "Time" (and when I listen to this song I just want to shake the shit out of the girl he wrote it about) to that awful empty feeling when a relationship falls out from under you and you aren't sure how to react or even what really went wrong ("Where You Used to Lay").  He also ventures into the fun, exciting side of romance with "Hearts on Fire" where everything is good and he implores her to just go with it and not over analyze and "Carry Me" which explores the way love with the right person can sustain us and carry us through the dark times in life. 

Before all that though, the first thing that struck me when listening to Coast to Coast was Micah's voice and I am really digging the mellow, soulful quality of it.  He has been the perfect thing for me to listen to at the end of these hectic holiday-crazy days.  Of course, some of these songs (especially the acoustic versions that are included, obviously) are very stripped down and that just doesn't work unless the vocal performance can stand on it's own.  Believe me, it does.

Not only is his voice just plain good, but the whole record has a groove to it that I didn't really expect from a singer/songwriter.  For me the most unexpected song was "Oh My" with its catchy kind of island vibe.  Even so, it is still a heart-on-my-sleeve love song with lines like "I wonder if she thinks about me, cause I think about her all the time" that lets us know that Micah is not afraid to combine vulnerable emotions with peppy music - love it!

There are also more standard singer/songwriter type songs on Coast to Coast like the title track (which features a very complimentary performance by Marisa Fair).  The vocal performance on "Coast to Coast" is surely one to be proud of.  He pushes it and yet maintains control and never lets the song go anywhere unpleasant.  There is a big instrumental arrangement behind this song, but the vocal stands right up to it.  And just in case you're thinking maybe the music is hiding something, there is an acoustic version that sounds every bit as sweet.

Even when he's turning out the kinds of songs we expect from guys with guitars, he makes the genre his own.  Take for instance the blatant sexuality in "What It's Like": "I want to know, what it's like, to have the taste of your lips on my mouth, while we are, in between these sheets."  It is a very welcome addition to a genre where the lyrics are often vague and coy and frankly just not ballsy enough to come out and say what they really want.  Also, the piano/drum combo in the arrangement on this song is pure genius.  There is no way it won't get in your head and take up residence.

Micah is a new find for me, but I think he has a lot of talent and I'm really excited to see where his music goes in the future.  My only complaint about this record is that "Oh My" and "What It's Like" are a bit repetitive with the "oh my's" and "oh's" respectively.  However, he more than makes up for that with a beautiful vocal, clever arrangements and enough flannel to warm my little child of the 90's heart.