I’ve had a pretty miserable couple of days. I had the days off, but because of the splendid weather we’d been having in Baltimore, my allergies were off the scale. They were so bad that I got sick and literally spent last night tossing and turning as opposed to sleeping.
Of course, on the other side of the coin, I’ve been listening to some pretty good music lately. I picked up She & Him’s Volume Two. It didn’t really slay me as much as Volume One, but it’s not that bad.
I also picked up three other albums based on recommendations. My cousin’s been telling me for years that I should check out Kings of Leon. Now that they’re a huge band, I was reluctant to jump on the bandwagon, but when I saw Aha Shake Heartbreak used, I knew it was my chance to get up on them.
I also picked up Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion. My best friend told me about Animal Collective a few years ago and a coworker kept pestering me to pick up Merriweather—like, every week he’d ask me if I’d picked it up yet. Now I have.
And I got The Killers’ Sam’s Town. I’ve been reluctant to try out The Killers because all the wrong people seem to love them, but I’ve heard lots of good things about this particular album, even from some of the right people.
So while I may have been feeling agony and lacking a sense of smell, my ears were in heaven.
Moreover, I guess I should apologize to Joanna Newsom. I gave Have One on Me another shot, and it’s actually not a bad album. I think it’s just that the damn thing was so over-hyped as the best thing since sliced bread that there was no way it could have lived up to the hype. I think that part of the problem was that I was listening to it on headphones; the album is one of those full-bodied things that needs to breathe. It’s something you’ve go to listen to on speakers in a room that’s quiet.
Now, I’m not saying that it’s ever going to be on heavy rotation or even make my best-of-the-year list, but I’ve realized that I was overly harsh on it a few weeks ago and I wanted to come clean.
That’s it for this week. I think next week I’ll gush about the awesomeness of hearing a three-year old sing along to Fiona Apple.
