holding steady.™

(inspired pretty directly by kitsune noir’s music monday feature) here’s what i’ve been listening to this week:

i made this killer playlist a while back (i tend to do that when i have periods with a lot of work coming up), and let me tell you how LOUSY it is with songs by radiohead, moby and daft punk. i think i included each artist’s full catalogue, and i have to say, it’s been a productive few days.

i was in a really somber, sing-a-song-of-sixpence-and-heartbreak mood last week…and i suppose, if i’m honest, for like two years. ryan adams is an old stand-by, as far as male vocalists who manage to really convey haunting emotional trauma even while singing about prostitutes go.

listening to the roots actually came about because i was going through my pictures the other day, and saw a bunch of my shots from langerado (2008), where those guys performed one of the best live sets i’ve ever seen. one group that i still haven’t gotten to see live is tegan and sara. they’re coming into my area of the state pretty soon, but school and work are probably going to take precedence.

if you ever lived somewhere with routinely dreary weather, then you can understand why jack johnson consistently has a high play count for me. it’s not actually that depressing here, but we’ve been having a lot of overcast cold snaps in the past couple of months, including a nasty one this week. in fact, listening to local natives is a pretty good work-around for that as well. i had never heard of them before about two weeks ago, and gorilla manor is an out-of-control-good album, with tons of eccentric beats and jam-tastic vocals.

[cautionary tip: careful with listening to the album while parked at the scanner in the library. you may accidentally start singing along, and this will attract stares.]

i mean, if you’re into that type of thing, you’ll appreciate this.

try listening to a combination of any/all astral matrix songs ever recorded, grizzly bear’s “veckatimest,” & a pick-your-own selection of radiohead’s greatest songs, while the iTunes 8 visualizer runs in the background.

the visualizer is originally based off of (or is the next version of) an older third-party iTunes visualizer named magnetosphere by a company called barbarian group. i first appreciated their new work when i finally updated to iTunes 8 in decemeber, and liked it so very much that i sent them an email to thank them.

in any event, do what i say. (astral matrix + “veckatimest” + radiohead) x magnetosphere 2.0 x m.a.s. > awesome.

UPDATE: i found a link to the original magnetosphere visualizer.

[while listening to the end of last week wednesday's rachel madow show and the first part of grizzly bear's veckatimist]
completed the reporting for my job (which i was a month behind on), told one of my supervisors that i was going to uf for grad school, went to the bathroom and changed into my “it’s freezing at work” shirt

[while listening to the rest of veckatimest]
began the dismal process of looking up a map of gainesville, locating the political science department and trying to find someplace to live near there (it should be noted that this process was made that much more dismal by the frequent cutting out of the wireless network at my job); planned what i was going to have for lunch

[while watching twilight]
ate my delicious asian sesame chicken salad

[while replaying radiohead's in rainbows in my head]
participated in a focus group for the program i’m in at the job

to get through what can be a hellish workday, i created a working playlist based upon my top-rated songs from the following artists:

• alicia keys
• band of horses
• coconut records
• death cab for cutie
• hot chip
• jack johnson
• jenny lewis
• john mayer (for you, simon)
• lykke li
• metric
• mgmt
• moby
• modest mouse
• radiohead
• rilo kiley
• the roots
• ryan adams
• sam sparro
• stars
• tegan and sara
• the whitest boy alive

the result is nearly 600 songs, or over a day and a half of music that i happen to adore.

the favorite from today: sam sparro, “too many questions“