Dammit, I’ve been deliberately infected with a blogmeme. OK, here we go:
1. How much music do I have?
Probably between 300-400 CDs (it occurs to me that I haven’t listened to most of them in years), plus a bunch of stuff I’ve snagged from various MP3 blogs. And a ton of analog tapes of Brian Cleary’s old Delta Factor radio show. I’m hoping to do some collection-swapping in the relatively near future.
2. What was the last CD I bought?
The self-released CD-R “Now that’s what I call droning, vol.4″, by The Fun Years.
Other recent purchases include all the Tim Hecker I can find, and various God Speed You Black Emperor spinoffs like Set Fire To Flames and A Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tralalala Band. I like the great stuff enough to put up with the less listenable experimental bits.
3. What am I listening to right now?
Gull’s Window Circus, 90.3 FM WZBC (online stream at the top of this page). Whoops, just ended. Now it’s No Commercial Potential 1: Abstract Terrains.
When I don’t like a given show on the Z, I usually tune over to SomaFM. I’ve been meaning to give Ben Walker’s Theory of Everything a listen, even though he’s a horrible, horrible lefty, because he used to do a radio show on the Z from 1-3 AM, back in ‘96 or ‘97, called Frontier Radio, that I really liked.
4. Name five songs that mean a lot to me.
Over the past five years or so I’ve been listening less to songs (stuff with lyrics) and more to ambient-ish music, mostly as a sort of background mood modulator for when I’m reading, working, or drawing . But if I had to harken back in a general way to stuff I’ve liked, I think I’d have to look to whole albums rather than songs. Here are five, from back in the day, that I recall very favorably:
- Pixies: Doolittle
- The Church: Priest = Aura
- The Sisters of Mercy: Floodland
- Shriekback: Oil and Gold
- The Chameleons (UK): Strange Times
- Dinosaur Jr: You’re Living All Over Me
(UPDATE: Slint: Spiderland)
Music I’ve been digging in more recent years, including both the producers of weird ambient stuff and bands that write actual songs: Spiritualized, Arab Strap, Mogwai, and The Third Eye Foundation. I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff.
Oh: the theme song from Brazil, because it’s so whistle-able.
5. I’m passing this meme on to…
Hmmm. When he returns from his excursion into Deutschland, Archenemy’s only remaining (very occasional) co-blogger and dance-a-teria type, JMD.
In the course of googling for these links, I’ve discovered three new CDs (one, two, three) that I didn’t know about that I’ll definitely be picking up. So, special thanks to the Curmudgeonly Patient Zero (at least, among blogs I read).