Emily's Albums A to Z

Listened: Tuesday May 18

Another really cohesive album and amazing debut. Full of great songs like Purple Haze, Hey Joe (a song I think Jimi owns, despite not writing it), Fire, etc. Also Foxey Lady – my first exposure to which was as the soundtrack to Garth’s pelvic thrusts in Wayne’s World. A perfect introduction, don’t you think?

It should be said that while I don’t really find Jimi Hendrix physically attractive – he was small in stature and despite having some fashion sense, his looks aren’t particularly notable – he has one of the sexiest voices in rock. There, I said it!

Listened: Tuesday May 18

Not enough “album feeling” here for me! But I love the artwork.

Listened: Tuesday May 18

I am not cool enough to be an Interpol fan. I never had a penchant for gun holsters and severe stage presence.

I actually became a Joy Division fan after I became an Interpol fan. And man, I can see now that Interpol does rip them off quite a lot… er, I mean… “Interpol are unabashedly explicit about their influences!”

Listened: Tuesday May 18

I got into Pink Floyd really late. It happened only quite recently, after seeing Roger Waters and his huge Obama checkbox pig at Coachella 2008, which relates directly to this album. Before then, I liked the music, but dismissed it as something stoners listened to (which, after all, is not an incorrect characterization) and I wasn’t a stoner, therefore… but recently I have tried to get over what I think I should like (which can be the major mindset amongst music nerds) and just get busy liking what I like. It’s worked so far!

Listened: Tuesday May 18

Amnesiac era songs always remind me of puking all over my best friend’s car, on the way to their show. I had felt ill all day, but there was no way I wasn’t going to their show. I thought I could ride out the waves of nausea, but no dice. I feel bad to this day about subjecting 3 other people to my vomit, instead of just doing a controlled hurl out the window like I should have.

Funnily enough, after vomiting and heading back home to clean up the mess, I felt fine and we headed back to the show without further incident! The quality of the show plus the unfortunate events leading up to it make that something I probably will never forget.

Listened: Tuesday May 18

Lily Allen doesn’t seem like someone I could hang out with, at all. Her image to me is that of an insecure, partying rich kid with questionable taste.

That said, Lily Allen’s lyrics crack me up. A supremely British sense of humo(u)r coupled with a youngster’s knack for uncomfortably accurate bluntness really does it for me. Whether she’s discussing her brother’s weed habit, unattractive men’s unsuccessful advances, or the wonders of her neighbo(u)rhood, which includes a “pimp and his crack whore”, I have a smile on my face.

That said, she can also really poignantly get across things like regret that a relationship is over (Littlest Things).

This was a crazy-good debut album, I must say.

Listened: Monday May 17

I have to thank my co-worker Jim for turning me on to this band recently. The music is ragged garage rock and Erika Wennerstrom is a force of nature. The album art is also a favorite of mine.

This CD was part of the soundtrack to a crazy house party in the not so distant past. And that worked – really well.

Listened: Monday May 17

I remember having this on in the background during college when my Indian-American roommate pointed out the “Hare Rama, Hare Krishna” lyrics in My Sweet Lord, which I don’t think I understood or noticed before then.

She laughed at a white British dude singing that. Poor George can’t catch a break!

Also – sacrilege alert – I think I like George’s version of If Not for You better than Bob Dylan’s original.

Listened: Monday May 17

It’s like Zooropa and Pop never happened – it’s the old U2 from the Achtung Baby days.

In fact, I would say this album is a grown up version of Achtung Baby. Still singing about love and hope, but from a higher level of understanding.

Listened: Monday May 17

All Night Cinema is Just Jack’s latest. He’s not really known here in the US, but by way of an introduction, he’s like The Streets, but less hard-living and ambitious. He’s a regular guy who has a way with words, storytelling, and catchy hooks.

Goth in the Disco is an amusing portrait of exactly what the title says. What would happen if a goth stumbled into a cool-people disco? And The Day I Died is classical Just Jack – poignant and detail oriented without being sappy or corny at all.