Music

I do a lot of thinking and reflecting about the world that surrounds me. One of the things that I’ve been thinking a lot about is what the people I know do. So many friends and acquaintances have taken on some amazing adventures. Some are parents. A kindergarten classmate is a very successful fashion designer. A few are working on alternative energy. It is spectacular what we have all become. A college classmate of mine is now making some spectacular music in a band called You Won’t. The album is called Skeptic Goodbye and I’m closing out my very stressful week with it… what an improvement! Stream the album here (I can’t stop tapping my foot to Television):

You Won’t also recently recorded an awesome Couch Session with Big Ugly Yellow Couch and made an amazing video of Three Car Garage with another college amigo. I’m hoping they’ll find an excuse to tour in the Bay Area soon.

Happy Weekend!

Track One

10 February 2012

Music, Photography

Leave a Comment

Last night Alex (husband and live music industry insider) spent about 45 minutes bombarding his Facebook feed with music videos. It was an incredibly focused list of tracks, all of them the first off their respective albums. I asked him to tell me why:

“When I’m looking for new music, I listen to the first tracks of records, hoping to get hooked. It’s frustrating how unimpressive some of the first tracks are. I immediately think of these great examples of totally engaging and captivating first tracks that command your attention. They grab your attention, but also give you an idea of what the rest of the record is going to be like. I use the first tracks as a highwater mark.”

In 2010, NPR’s All Songs Considered had listeners vote for their favorite opening tracks and compiled a playlist for all to hear. Bob Boilen, the maestro of the show, thoughtfully pondered the importance of these first musical glimpses,

“It used to be that the opening track to a record was what got you to go back and put on the album, at least to hear side one. But do opening tracks matter in a world where shuffle is probably more pervasive than linear listening? I think so. In fact, I’ll usually decide how much time to spend with a new album just from hearing the opening track. I listen for a defining sound that clues me into what lies ahead. If it doesn’t happen on the first track, I’m likely not to listen to the second. But my listening is different from most. I have bins of music to go through.”

Their logic is so similar, and I am often amazed at the amount of music Alex consumes on a daily basis, both professionally and personally. His memory for it is astounding, especially considering he can barely remember important birthdays (thank goodness for Google calendar).

I thought it would be awesome to share some of Alex’s favorite first tracks and he willingly agreed (with a little cajoling) to make a playlist for us. I’ll let his selections say the rest (in no particular order).

Listen to the Track One playlist by Alex on Spotify.

Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!!!

Whoa…

30 September 2011

California, Food and Drink, Grad School, Lifestyle, Music, Oakland, Photography, Travel

2 Comments

You don’t have to worry anymore, guys, I’m not dead. 2011, the year of many transitions, has kept me from blogging. More accurately, all of the reading and writing I have to do for grad school is keeping me from blogging. Since I last posted, Alex and I flew across the country and settled here in Oakland, California. We found a great apartment, full of character, in a 1920′s (pink!) stucco building in North Oakland. We live close to about 7 or 8 coffee shops, a boulangerie with fantastic baguettes (and more good coffee), a few yoga studios, and a bunch of vintage boutiques. Très charmant. Not as much of our apartment is decorated as I would like, but hopefully I can make it happen in little bits and pieces.

Three mornings a week I’m in a classroom at the Mills College lab school with 2 and a half to 3 and a half year olds. I’m in five early education classes, and I audit one dance class (which, I swear, is solely responsible for maintaining my sanity). When I’m not actually in the classroom or in my own classes, you might find me in the library with my nose in any number of books or articles, or clacking away at at one paper or another. I try to sit outside in the sunshine to do my reading as much as possible. The Mills campus is really quite beautiful, and I try to take advantage of the warm California sun as much as possible. On weekends we try to do fun things. We started out using Zipcar all the time, but since decided that freedom and flexibility would be worth the extra pennies to buy a car.

Our new chariot! Gene Carmesan (of course) is a 2010 Toyota Corolla. He’s a champ. So far, with the help of Zipcars, public transit, and Gene, we’ve explored Alcatraz, Muir Woods, the Bear Republic, Russian River, and Lagunitas breweries, Joaquin Miller Park. Gene also took us into San Francisco for a great James Blake concert (not quite as good as the US debut in Williamsburg, have to say…).

My sister, bless her heart, carried Harry on a cross country flight. She’s got the battle wounds to show for it, to be sure. Harry is now comfortable, which means he’s back to being a jerk most of the time. He has his moments:

One of the highlights of my summer (aside from getting married and moving across the country, of course), was receiving Jasmin Ortiz’s fantastic photographs from our June 30 Brooklyn Municipal Building wedding and neighborhood bar festivities. The shot below is just a sneak preview. More will be posted at Emily. Alex. Wedding(s). very soon.

With that, a catch-up post, I will leave you for now – hopefully for not quite so long this time. Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Stack of music

27 February 2011

Music, Photography

Leave a Comment

Friday afternoon was immensely productive for me… shockingly. I straightened and organized, cleaned a bit, and uploaded all of the above CDs to my computer. This pile has been adding up since December. Alex is really good about buying real CDs instead of just buying downloads or stealing music. He also gets some advances through work, and I benefit from that for real. That being said, keep your ears open for the new Timber Timbre release coming April 5. Hauntingly beautiful blues is about the only way I can describe Timber Timbre. Always a favorite.