When I was younger, before I started thinking about how I wanted to wear my hair, and what clothes I could buy, and where I could put that lamp that was shaped like a tripod or knew what eggplant tasted like, music was my life. It consumed me. I lived in a constant soundtrack.
But then, for a little while, after I graduated college, I actually sort of felt like I had gotten away from music. Like, as I had become busy with other things, it had just become something I listened to in the background, not something I experienced. I was pretty depressed about it. It was like eating every day on cue without actually tasting anything. And that's not right at all.
So we bought a record console. I bought records. I'm fully aware of how music-nerdy this sounds, but honestly, it does just sound better. And its an experience, not a background. It fills a room up. You can't help but notice it. Its not music privately tucked away in your pocket, not music that is nearly invisible in your ear. Its music to be shared. Which is kind of the point, I think.
Moreover, I went through and made some serious lists of all the albums I wanted to own, so I wasn't just being forced to listen to random songs collected here and there. Nic (the boyfriend) bought me an external hard drive and I went about collecting digital music as well.
But not through illegal downloading that makes me desperately paranoid about being sued for millions of dollars. And not by expensively purchasing music either. Rather, through one of the greatest ways to live grandly on nothing: The Library!
I still use my library card from when I lived in Somerville, rather than belonging to the Boston Public Library, because the former gives me access to the entire Minuteman network. And so every week, I request about twenty CDs and have them sent from all over, just for me! Brilliant.
Unsurprisingly, I made a lot of mix CDs in my youth. For the past couple months, I've been recreating that experience by making a monthly playlist. A song for each day. Some people will tell you they listen to everything. I only listen to the best of everything. Life's too short to listen to lame music or get all elitist about things.
August is the end of summer, a kind of slow, nostalgic, hazy month, and a little back-minded thinking of whats to come. So I've chosen a lot of bands and artists that are my personal "easy listening", music that I've listened to forever. Don't be fussy. Its all cool.
You can't live well without music, kids.
(Listen here: http://8tracks.com/maddhall/the-race-is-on-again-what-august-is-like)
1. Sometimes- My Bloody Valentine
2. You Knock Me Out - R. Kelly
3. Don't Explain - Billie Holiday
4. Somebody That I Used To Know - Elliott Smith
5. Amarga Soledad - Pedro Ramos
6. Try Me - James Brown
7. This is All I Came To Do - Dinosaur Jr
8. Have Mercy - Loretta Lynn
9. Ashes of American Flags - Wilco
10. Reach Out For Me - Dionne Warwick
11. King Porter Stomp - Benny Goodman
12. Water - The Roots
13. Queen Jane Approximately - Bob Dylan
14. Where Eagles Have Been - Wolfmother
15. Grinnin' In Your Face -Son House
16. Rhythm & Soul - Spoon
17. Heartland Truckstop - Beth Orton
18. And I - Ciara
19. The Empty Page - Sonic Youth
20. No Easy Love - Annie
21. Sun It Rises - Fleet Foxes
22. Hood Stuck - Ludacris
23. Girl Friend - The Modern Lovers
24. Open Up Your Heart - Buck Owens
25. Sunshine and Clouds (And Everything Proud) - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
26. Sweet Road - Animal Collective
27. Pyramid Song - Radiohead
28. Slippery People - Talking Heads
29. Kingdom of the Animals - Iron & Wine
30. Left of the Dial - The Replacements
31. The Race is On Again - Yo La Tengo
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