I've been on a cd buying binge the last week. I bought more cds in the last week than I have in the last year I think. And the grand total is five. On a side note, I've long thought that my most consistent, yet least marketable skill is my uncanny success rate of removing thost annoying stickers from the tops of cd cases in one piece. Few things I hate worse than watching someone struggle with one of those, and in the process tear it to shreds, leaving sticking little spots on the cd case. I'm a little obsessive compulsive. Anyway, I was mentioning this to Garrick yesterday, and he revealed to me a much better way than my slow, methodical pealing. Simply unlatch the bottom of the cd case and flip the front over to the back, an then you can just easily peel it off. I feel like that's cheating. At least you can't do that with DVDs.Anyway, I usually hate buying multiple cds at once, because inevitably one or more guest thrown to the rear and I end up never really listening to it. Or at least not for a long time, when I stumble upon it by accident. Though that's often the most satisfying. I downloaded a bunch of Beulah songs last year, then didn't listen to them for months. But since then it's one of my favorite cds. Anyway, the first two purchases last week were the New Pornographers and the Decemberists. I bought the Decemberists to try to compensate for the disappoint lack of any Neutral Milk Hotel, which I've heard them favorably compared to. So far, I'm not really seeing it. It's kind of like wanting a big juicy steak and just getting one rib or something. It's not exactly what you were hoping for, but still somewhat satisfying, if to a lesser degree. I've passively enjoyed the New Pornographers for a long time. I'd heard them in Great Lakes all the time without knowing who the band was, while at the same time hearing all sort of raves for the band. Plus, they're playing in NY next month and I was considering going. But I mostly got it to counter the effects of the prolonged late-winter weather that's been plaguing this city since January. Its as if the seasons were suddenly extended to six months. More accurately, though, it's more like there are only two seasons, autumn and summer. It's already getting unbearably hot, and we never had spring.
Out of curiosity and brand loyalty, yesterday I bought the new Radiohead album. I never really listed to Kid A or Amnesiac that much, and as much as I try I haven't been able to really get into them. Truthfull, I never even really love OK Computer. So that's four albums now that I've bought based almost solely out of my love for The Bends. Which says something about how great that album is. I tried listening to it at work yesterday, but seeing as I tune everything out at work, I couldn't really concentrate on it. Plus, I can't really listen to music at work because I always need to be able to hear if anyone is approaching my desk so I can look busy. Anyway, for $9.99 at Best Buy, it seemed worth the risk. For some odd reason, I considered spending $12.99 for the special edition packaging. I'm a sucker for that stuff. I hate that.
So then in the afternoon, I searched high and far for the new Fountains of Wayne cd. I started at the Virgin Megastore, but was convinced they have the highest prices in the city. Nothing doing at Circuit City, so I trudged from there down to St. Marks Sounds, where, once upon a time, all cds were $9.99. Not sure if that's still true, because I haven't found anything there in a long time. Yesterday proved no exception. But I take that back about Virgin having the highest prices in the city. That honor would fall to Kim's Video and Music. I really can't believe they stay in business selling cds for $17.99. Who's buying this stuff. They must make all their money selling porno tapes or high-priced vinyl or something, because it doesn't make any sense to me. Please never buy anything from them. I've hated them for a long time.
So of course I ended up surrendering and going back to the Virgin Megastore. Plunked down $13.99. On "sale." Right. But on the back, the original sticker read $18.99. Is it any wonder people are downloading music like larcenous little maniacs? And speaking of which, shouldn't I have gotten my music industry price-fixing settlement money by now? How could prices still be this high after the lawsuit? It's obscene, is what it is. Yeah, so on my way out, I happened to spot the Yeah Yeah Yeahs album there too, for the low low price of $9.99, so I bought that too. I'd been kind of curious about it, since I loved their first EP. And, I figured Miss Charming Melodee would enjoy it as well, so $9.99 seemed a small price to pay.
My first reaction to the Fountains of Wayne is that it is totally fucking awesome. Tough to say that about a power pop album though. I'l probably lower that rating somewhat in the near future, and in fact my favorite song has already begun to show some holes. That would be "Little Red Light," which is one of the greatest driving songs I've ever heard, and it's about a traffic jam. I can think of nothing that would exacerbate the frustration of being stuck in traffic than listening to this song while sitting in an unmoving car. But the chorus is perfect. It actually reminds me a bit of the one song that was created when Miss CM and I played with her former roommate and my former neighbor Rachel a few months back.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs is about what I'd expected. Raw and gritty and headshakingly powerful and catchy. For the most part. It makes me want to be an angry girl. The main thing working against it is the absolute, God awful, fourth grade art student cover art. Really, I can't think of a worse album cover ever. Another argument for downloading music: You wouldn't have to suffer looking at this dreck on the cover. Just plug and play and go. Without the terrible artistic statements. Really, it keeps the music in its purest form. If band members were talented visual artists, wouldn't that be their job instead? OK, not to say you can't be talented at more than one thing. It's just startling how some people can be so good at one thing and so terrible at another. That cover is just awful.
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