Great post. Thank you. My mom is very Catholic and I am not so she loves to tell this story. When I was about five or so she heard the stereo cranked up and came to see what was going on. Walked into the living room and there I was in a Jesus Christ pose lying on the floor in front of the speakers with some music blasting. I am not sure but I think it was either Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture or Vivaldi's Four Seasons. She turned it down and asked "What are you doing?", to which I replied "Listening to God." And I absolutely still feel that way. Music can dig right down into your subconscious, make the world go away and make everything right. It may seem trite and/or silly but Pink Floyd's album "Dark Side of the Moon" also changed my life... literally. And so that is still one of my comfort albums. I used to sit in the dark in my attic, smoking doobies and listening to music. When I was nearing the end of high school I did not have a plan about what to do. The vast majority of my friends were not heading off to university unless they had athletic scholarships and I did not. I guess my parent's always assumed that I would and both my older siblings went to Uni but I had never really thought ahead about that. But the lyrics to "Time" made me get up off my ass: Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town Waiting for someone or something to show you the way Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today And then one day you find ten years have got behind you No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun p.s. Zero 7 and Thievery Corporation are amazing. I have no idea how I remember this but the first time I ever made risotto my friend put on Lebanese Blonde.
KB's "music for straights" trick What's that you say? You're throwing a party and you're pretty sure your houseguests aren't going to want a mix of Skinny Puppy, Sepultura and Aaron Copeland? Well here's your trick, friend: 1) search for "lebanese blonde" 2) Click "start genius mix" 3) That's it! Without even thinking about it, your tony houseguests can sit back drinking cosmos and hearing nothing but those Kruder & Dorfmeister, DJ Cam, Thievery Corporation and St. Germain records that you mostly only listen to when your friends come over! ___________________________________ Sorry. I mean, obviously I own all that and I enjoy all that and I listen to all that but Thievery Corporation is the only band I can consistently play for the models and lawyers and have them go "what is this? I really like it!" ;-)
That is one of the reasons why the Garden State soundtrack was so popular. To the vast majority of people everything on that was palatable. lol I remember when I bought St. Germain's Boulevard there was a teenage Asian hipster girl ahead of me buying it and a 55 or so year old jazz fan looking black guy behind me with it and a 30 year old white guy in a suit in the middle. I just left a comment on another post about the Stompin' Tom song "Big Joe Muffaraw": "The first time I ever saw this Stompin Tom a few guys I worked in a warehouse with who were in a thrash metal band convinced me to go. Country was not my thing but there were punks, preps, old and old [I meant young] and everyone in between there and it was awesome. Saw him a bunch of more times."
The Garden Dtate soundtrack was essentially a Shins album. It's an amazing album, it was an amazing album well before Zach Braff screamed into the abyss. It annoyed me that all of a sudden everyone I knew was telling me about this new band. -I know, I know, I'm being the "I liked it before it wAs cool" guy.