music binge

I was sick yesterday.

So I spent most of the day doing things you do when you are sick: sleep. watch tv. catch up on some recorded shows. A few video games... Then I got bored around 12 o'clock.

I cleaned up my iPod of a ton of music that I never really listened to, and some movies and stuff that were just taking up space. Lately I've been looking through the internets for new music and bands that I've ignored. Here are just a few of the new records I've been listening to the past week.

Animal Collective: "Merriweather Post Pravilion"
I keep hearing about this band. And when I found out that they were elctronic-ish... I decided to give their latest album a listen. I think it's hard to describe their sound. The album itself is kind of a dreamy thing.. with guitars and electronics and stuff going all around. I listened to most of it while I was sick... so that might influence what I think about it. Who listens to music like this? I'd like to see them play live.

Danger Mouse + Sparklehorse: "Dark Night of the Soul"
I really like this. You can only get it off the internet. There's guest vocalists on every track, which makes it sound fresh every time I listen to it. Guests include the Flaming Lips, that one guy from the Shins, Frank Black, that guy from the Strokes, Iggy Pop, and others. I'm not sure what DM and Sparklehorse were trying to do with this record- I have not been able to find much on the limited edition book by David Lynch that was printed with it. The book provides a visual for the songs on the record. With how popular Danger Mouse is these days... I think he'll be in cahoots with every musician for years to come. Good find.

David Byrne + Brian Eno: "Everything that Happens Will Happen Today"
I liked the Talking Heads, and I think some of the art/music stuff that David Byrne has done since then has been pretty cool. Brian Eno has had his filthy little hands in producing everyone's albums for the last almost 40 years. Another Byrne and Eno teamup seemed like a good thing: it had electronic stuff, and weird lyrics, interesting song structures... I need to listen to this one some more, but I like what I hear. I'm not sure who I would recommend this to though.

Innerpartysystem: "Innerpartysystem"
I finally got around to getting this album. I liked their song "Don't Stop", and figured I could use a dose of hard-electronic-almost-industrial-glitchy-music. I was really surprised to find that it sounded more like Depeche Mode than anything else. Some of the song's loops and sounds show a strong influence from 90's synthpop and dance music. I think it works, for me anyway. I wonder how they translate to a live show. I'm going to have to check out some of their remixes as well.

Moby: "Wait for Me"
I fell asleep to this. That isn't a bad thing, the whole album is full of synphonics strings, and ambient moods, with cool samples and all the other typical Moby stuff that he packs into a record. It just made me really sleepy after a few tracks... I tried to keep my eyes open... but I couldn't... I'm certain one or more of his songs will be on a commercial or in a movie preview soon. I'm not sure how long the appeal will last, because Moby songs get annoying after hearing them infinity times everywhere.