Reading time with pickles

December 10 Album of the year. What’s rocking your world?

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I never thought I’d like a song about pickles. Maybe being in college and working in the newsroom had something to do with it. Because things seemed to go wrong there more often than not… which meant I got stressed. And then senile. So a song about a jar of pickles didn’t seem weird. In fact, Regina Spektor’s pretty piano playing and silly song were the perfect calming combination and exactly what I needed in that chaos (who needs a functioning printer or server when you can hear about reading a book to a jar of pickles?).

I was so entranced by the song that I went to her site and listened to more. I’ll admit, some of them are kind of weird – when she goes off on a chord and it sounds like screaming or you really have no idea what she’s saying. But some are brilliant. So I downloaded the brilliant ones and made people listen to them too, and then they kind of got annoyed. Some people just can’t handle my enthusiasm.

Fast forward three years later to summer 2009. I read that NPR was streaming her new album, Far, before its release. And so this is what I did: I left NPR’s music player loaded on my computer at home AND AT WORK, where I wore earbuds all day, listening to her album over and over and over. Then when I was home I played it before bed and while I was getting ready for work. When the release date finally arrived, I downloaded the album – extended version! — from iTunes. Which is saying something because I never download entire albums.

What’s magical about her songs is the intricacy of the lyrics, not only how the words sound together but what they mean. By listening to this album nonstop for days, I developed a dear attachment to it. I put a link to the NPR stream as my Google chat status and talked about what it meant with friends, which songs were our favorites, how certain lyrics were applicable to our lives. It’s the kind of feeling I rarely have anymore with music. And it was nice to share it with friends.

The stream of her album isn’t up anymore, but you can hear a live NPR performance here.

“I am a breathing time machine…”

I just discovered (and simultaneously fell in love with) The Avett Brothers. They performed in a podcast of NPR’s “All Songs Considered.” I don’t even know how to describe the music. A little rock. A little bluegrass. Entirely wonderful. Even though I spent an afternoon watching some of their performances on Youtube, I still can’t tell the brothers apart, and some of their facial hair styles confuse me. But the music is amazing.

Love the tender lyrics and beautiful detail shots (the piano, the guitar and the Avett Brothers’ eyes) in the “Murder in the City” video:

Other Avett Brothers songs I’m obsessed with:
“Laundry Room” — How can the rock out that goes from 4:45 to the end not make you happy? So. Freakin. Badass. And it’s pretty cute how they dance and jump around while they’re playing.
“Bella Donna” — Makes me want to learn (even more) to play the guitar.

They’re playing in New York in October. I think I have to go.

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One of my dream jobs is to select the music for a film or TV show. The task almost seems impossible — to find the perfect snippet of a song for a specific scene so that it seems like they were made for each other. “Grey’s Anatomy” always does a good job, and after watching season 3 of “Weeds,” I’m noticing some stellar pairings as well.

Xavier Rudd’s song “Messages” was in a “Weeds” episode and the catchy refrain lured me in. His voice sounded familiar, but I’d never actually heard any of his songs before. Other interesting asides: Rudd is an Aussie, plays the didgeridoo and never wears shoes (as you may notice in the video).

I’ve been a fan of State Radio for a few years and have even seen them in concert in New York. But this song slipped by me until I heard it in “Weeds.”