Resolution Follow Up.

Every year I try to out out a list of my favorite 6 or 10 or more albums of the year. Just like the rest of the Internet does. Last year I ran a little late and didn't post until mid-January or so. By the time I got around to it the moment had passed and I didn't at all feel enthusiastic about posting the previous year's excitements. It was on to the new year and no time to reflect on the past. Part of the delay came from my usual December listening choices which is Christmas music. I prefer the more obscure/different songs then the handful that are played on traditional radio. (Though I like some of the traditional stuff too, "Last Christmas" by Wham! being one of my all time favorites) I have an rdio playlist which has over 200 hundred songs ranging from traditional, obscure, sad, bittersweet to downright weird. I listen to that many times during the month. I also try to find more and more to put on there by scouring the Internet for offbeat Christmas. I've already got a few albums queued up and ready to listen to. But, I can't do it until December or at the very earliest after Thanksgiving. There are rules you see. So December is stocking stuffed with Christmas music, and though I try to make time to reflect on the year past to get my top albums in order I sometimes find I don't want to . I want to keep the Christmas and not interrupt it with non-Christmas music.

Christmas Playlist

So I made a resolution to try to reflect on my yearly favorites earlier this year. Keep December for Christmas Carols and use November to shore up my list. After all, it's doubtful that there will be anything coming up in the last 2 months that will blow me away and reach top status. But I can keep an ear open just in case.

Here we are in mid-November and it's time to get started. Great right? I'm right on time. Unfortunately I'm not. You see I spent the last few weeks at work listening to an Audiobook. Of course during that time I queued up a lot of music on rdio. So my queue is looking daunting right now and I kind of want to clean it up a bit. Also, I spent most of October listening to Halloween music to add to my Halloween playlist (I like seasonally appropriate playlists, though I spend more time looking for music for the playlists then I do actually listening to them it seems) Another issue that could potentially hold me back is my upcoming vacation and the Thanksgiving holiday. That's 7 days out of the office. That's 7 days that I won't be catching up on my rdio queue (I mainly listen to it at work. Home is usually filled with life and I don't have rdio to go) So really I only have 4 days to reflect and get this list together.

Okay, I can probably do that. I already have 3 albums that I know will be on the final list. Each of them were so good right away that there was never any doubt about them. It's the final few that will be difficult. There was some great music this year, but outside of those 3 albums has there been any that are truly great? Any that I think I'll love for ages to come? I hope so.

Today I started the process by firing up my 2014 playlist (Yes, I have a lot of playlists) This will help me choose which albums and artists I need to hone in on. The list itself is all the songs I like from this year. I'll listen to the songs, and if there is an artist that is represented a lot on the list, I'll queue up that album. Or, if there's one truly transcendent song I'll queue up that album as well. Sometimes if a song is so good it could elevate everything around it. My only fear is that I may have tapered off updating the list in the second half of the year. Maybe I was too distracted with life, maybe nothing was all that great after Summer. Hopefully it won't matter.

2014 Playlist

Mark it Down

Here we go. Another out of control situation. Is it monthly? Bi-Monthly? Seasonally? Only when we are visiting/have visitors? What is it? What can I do? What can we do?

Inspiration vs Inspiration

What do you do when you have too many ideas?

Tonight the gang and I are playing some more D&D. The gang being Ace, Mike, Meri (second-timer) and Frank (second second-timer) Is Alex out completely? I'll be the DM (My second time in the Modern Era)

Last time I ran 5th edition with the introductory adventure "Lost Mine of Phandalin" that came with the Starter Set. I think it's a solid adventure and we were having fun. In between sessions I looked into some OSR adventures and read up some more on the Moldvay Basic set of D&D. This came about from Ace's interest in the old-school. Of course it inspired me to throw together something. Which in turn became something else. Which in turn became the beginnings of a small campaign/adventure path. One that I would love to run. But I also want to wrap up the 5th edition game. And yet I also want to finish the Skylark Vale that Ace runs in 3.5.

Maybe the problem isn't too many ideas, but rather not enough time.

Sigh

Blogger, Why are you so broken? Why can't you refresh my feeds? Why do you struggle so?

A Dream

Wouldn't it be nice if one day when we had company we actually liked one another for a change?

Disconnected

So, one of my favorite bands, The Raveonettes released a new album today called Pe'Ahi. It's not their best work, but it's still pretty damn good as most of their albums are. I love how prolific they are as well, putting out a new album every year and a half. Their last two were phenomenal and I highly recommend them. I always said that if I were in a band I would totally steal the Raveonettes' sound.

Anyways, the album came as a complete surprise to me as I hadn't heard anything about it until this morning when I got my weekly new music notification from rdio. How did this happen? I get updates from the band via Facebook and it doesn't mention a new album. I checked their Twitter and it doesn't mention a new album. Seems odd to release something and not promote. (As I look into this more it appears that this was indeed a "surprise" album as that is what a lot of musical websites are saying. I guess I shouldn't be so worked up about it.)

In other news: I own the wrong The Soundtrack of Our Lives album

Nostalgia Train

Climb aboard! Next stops the 90's! The iPod shuffle gave me I Can't by Radiohead and it led me down a rabbit hole of 90's appreciation. Here's a decade that often gets overlooked by me due to my preference of the 80's over the 90's. Also due to bad personal experiences and feeling in the 90's. But, it's been nearly a decade and a half since the end of that terrible decade, and 20 or more years since the good stuff. (Wow. Old) So let's get started!

Here we have Radiohead's debut album Pablo Honey. Sure, you know Creep, their hit, but are you familiar with these other great songs? Songs like Anyone Can Play Guitar. Did Radiohead listen to this song years later and decide that since anyone can play guitar it was time to move away from guitar rock into more experimental territory? The writing was on the wall from the beginning. Or how about Thinking About You, a beautiful acoustic love song? My personal favorite is Stop Whispering. There's the standard edition and the US edition. Either or is fantastic. Whichever one happens to be playing is the one I like best. The question is, why the US gets a different version. It has a different production, more in line with US tastes I guess. As much as I understand and appreciate the amazing critical nature of their later albums, for me Radiohead's most enjoyable period are their first three albums, Pablo Honey, The Bends and OK Computer. All from the 90's

Next we have Chrome, the sophomore effort from Catherine Wheel. This one not only brings up memories of the 90's, but memories of first loves. I do love Catherine Wheel's albums and I wonder if I would've ever discover them without the introduction from my first girlfriend. That relationship didn't last, but luckily it didn't sully my joy in listening to great songs like Pain or Strange Fruit or especially highlight track Show Me Mary. That last is one of my favorite songs of all time.

This trip includes some false nostalgia. Well, more like false memories. The Idlewild song When I argue I See Shapes is an excellent song. It's back-half has a total 90's guitar part that can't help by evoke the decade. And since it came out in 1998, that makes sense. I call it false because I didn't discover it until years later, and only realized it was from the 90's a little bit after that. So, the nostalgia is real yet false.

We also have Copper Blue by Sugar First Time Listening. Decent, Though I can only get so far with Mould's singing style. File Under: Easy Listening is their album I actually remember hearing in the 90's though I couldn't tell you which song turned me on to it. I am not going to head there as per the aforementioned singing style (Oh wait. I know this song Helpless! So what's the one from File Under: Easy Listening?)

Evoking the past can be more satisfying then outright remembering the past. It's why I can listen to and appreciate Sugar or Idlewild's 90's output. More so than I appreciate what I was actually listening to at the time. I can't listen to Soundgarden, Pearljam, Nirvana, Live or Stone Temple Pilots anymore. It's almost as if I'm embarrassed by that time and my tastes. Yet, I can still listen to the Cure albums from that time. And the Radiohead. And our next and final artist.

Rounding out my nostalgia trip is Siamese Dream from the Smashing Pumpkins. It seems like at this point it goes without saying that this band's 90's output is far greater than anything they did since. Honestly, it was pretty much downhill after Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness (half-great/half-bloat, remind me to outline my edit to a 1 album masterpiece) Siamese Dream is of course excellent and my first introduction to the Pumpkins. I liked them a lot during this time but they were always second fiddle to all the artists I have listed in the previous paragraph. Yet, I can listen to the Smashing Pumpkins to this day, so either their music is more timeless, or it's better, or because I didn't wear myself out on it I can listen to it still, or my tastes have changed to include them but not the others. Whatever it is, I can still listen to and enjoy Hummer, Silverfuck and my personal favorite Mayonaise. Hell, even the overplayed hits are still excellent; Cherub Rock, Today and Disarm.

Well, it's been a fun ride. Should I go for the 00's next?

How Well Do You Perform?

The personal evaluation in the workplace is the most pointless way to add undue stress to an employee. Do you think anything on there is close to the truth? Do you think it's not just all smoke & mirrors to make oneself look good enough? (can't go too good because it rings false. can't go too bad because why give employer ammunition?)

Nothing has changed in the last few years so what is there to write? Listen Boss, you tell me ok. I don't want the stress of having to put together some BS. I am seriously thinking of taking a previous review and re-submitting it.

Blah.

A Fine Line

Given my current emotional state, it was maybe a bad idea to listen to Bloom by Beach House. This band and this particular album straddles the line between aching beauty and aching sadness. It's basically heartbreaking today. If I were listening to it alone in a darkened bedroom I would probably be a frightful mess. Here in the office I am keeping up a nice front.

Still, the beauty is there. A slight slimmer of light shining through the darkness.

From the Vale

Never go underground. This is the lesson that I need to learn. After all, on this particular quest nothing good has come from going underground. Bears, Wererats, Monsters that destroy metal, Giant Creature made of Rock, Nigh-impenetrable cursed statues, treasure chests that will eat you, giant centipedes, ogres, rooms of shit, rooms of garbage, and hordes and hordes of bloodthirsty assholes. Oh and let’s not forget the numerous traps.

Just give me a canopy of trees and grass under my feet. Give me moonlight and shadows. Give me an open road. That’s what this is about.