Music I'm obsessing on this week 6/1-6/7/2011

Yeah, you didn't ask, you're gonna get it anyway.

Previous albums in listed in this section would be, (if this selection had existed before now)
Little Big Planet OST(apparently no longer available for purchase from Amazon.)

Aerial- Kate Bush
Mirrored - Battles
Court and Spark- Joni Mitchell
Songs For Dustmites- Steve Burns

This weeks- (or in some cases, MONTHS) Music Du Jour (Yes I know Du Jour means of the day, but forgive me)

1. Passion Pit- Manners [Vinyl]

Here I have chosen the Vinyl Version of this Album, because YES I remember vinyl. And I think it's cool that a modern band still offers vinyl.

Passion Pit is awesome beyond words. And I don't have to tell you. They exude awesomeness.
I'm sure you're not going to just take my word for it.
This band is tight musically and vocally. Although they do always sing in falsetto, so if that bugs you, you may want to check out one of my other suggestions. Their lyrics are interesting, sweet, lovely and thought provoking.
It is electronic, which is somewhat a new genre for me. This whole album just has a funky GROOVE to it. Michael Angelakos has a beautiful and haunting quality to his voice, and does not look AT ALL how I pictured him. Either case, their music is really unique and should be checked out by everyone.

2. Aimee Mann- Bachelor No. 2

Here I have chosen the SACD version of this album, and should it happen to be mailed to me anonymously I would be eternally in anonymous' debt forever.
The thing about the SACDs that I remember as a kid making the pilgrimage down the 14 steps to my Brother's room in the basement, finding the coveted "Dark Side of the Moon" SACD, sneaking back up the stairs quietly as not to wake the sleeping beast, then popping this sucker into my walkman with headphones and writing in the computer room.
They have the very best sound quality around, they also have this mechanism which is... well very hard to describe. It's a little lift. It has a spindle in the middle. Oh, and the disk is gold.
Anyway, about the actual album now.

Bachelor No. 2, to My ear anyhow, is Aimee Mann's most solid work since her Til Tuesday days. Although she is a fantastic writer, the lyrics of these songs speak to me more than others and I just love this album. It's a great, "I need to do the dishes and I need to clean the house but I do not feel motivated to do so" sort of album. You just kind of automatically move to it. I LOVE this quality in an album. But it's also the kind when you are sitting at home, you can just sit and veg out. The lyrics pull you in and give you a ride to somewhere else. Check it out, but by all means, if you can't afford the gold version, get the cheap one. Strangely enough, this album is ALSO available in vinyl.

3. Death Cab for Cutie- Something About Airplanes [Vinyl]


Again, in vinyl. Pick up a CD or a MP3 copy if you don't have one of those new fangled... whatcha call em, record players! :)

This is Death Cab's inaugural work, originally produced in 1998, it features the Woodland instrument-like vocals of Ben Gibbard, who is both folksy and haunting. This album seems to tell a story to me. I LOVE albums that tell me a story. My favorite artist growing up with Kate Bush, and my favorite album of hers was Hounds of Love. But on that album there's a whole second half called "The Ninth Wave" which is this beautiful confusing story about a woman who falls into the ice and is reborn.
This album, although a very different story, reminds me of that Kate Bush album. It doesn't sound anything like it, but it's so cohesive... it's just really beautiful. Ben could sing the phone book to me and I'd likely be hooked. It's like how Kate can sing the numbers of Pi and keep my attention throughout the whole song. I realize Death Cab just came out with a new album. I do not yet own it. Someone should remedy that for me. ;)

In the meantime, Happy Listening!



2.

How I survived several weeks with a sinus headache.

Well, the past few weeks have been interesting and busy. I usually do not schedule more than 2-3 events on any given day for fear that I will not make said events. So my average day of dropping Evan to the bus, the other kids and Paul to Nana's, then taking myself to work are about max on what I'd like to do per day.
Well, apparently the insanity bug hit me somewhere in there.
I decided somewhere in there that I was superwoman or something.
I hit the brick wall, the big huge brick wall of life in the form of an allergy attack.
Not just a normal one, but the "have a constant headache for 2 weeks running" sort of allergy attack.
And I did all my normal things at first. The Neti Pot and massive amounts of vitamin C (2000 MG per day, or as much as you can stand to listen to that album. Which for me was about .001%)
Memorial Day came up in there somewhere, and we were away on vacation, which interrupted things, but I wasn't really feeling the headache those days. It was still there but I was willing it away by sheer power, force, remember, I am SHE-RA! Ok, so I'm not... but lets pretend for a moment I am.
I mean, on our vacation I rode a horse named Belle, who was all white like She-Ra's horse. However, I regret to say only resembled "Swift Wind" when she farted. I suppose to be fair we'll say I didn't really "ride" her so much as lead her on a horse drawn carriage. And when I say "lead" it was more like she already knew the route and struggled the whole time against me to try to pass her friend horse Bud, thinking, I suppose that she was in a race for the final apple at the stables.
And previous to that, I did find a lost little boy, grant you, the lost little boy was MY little boy who had wandered off looking for his big sister Lily and myself. But hey, I wasn't worried. I mean we were on Mackinac Island, it's not like the kid could get off of the island without me. *sarcasm* The important thing is that we were all reunited, and I had to resist the urge to kill him.
I climbed Castle Rock, that should count for something. Yes, it was stairs, but Christ, have you seen those stairs? By the time I got to the top my vision was blurry and doubled, and there was a fog around the whole scene, (and no, the horse wasn't there so I couldn't say it was her "Swift Wind" at all.)
Oh, and transporting 3 children 4 hours to the straits and 6 hours from Tahquamenon Falls... that should count for something.
Ok, so the baby didn't come with us, he stayed with his Nana who graciously offered to take him for the weekend.

Anyhow, back to the attack of doom!
Yeah, so the headache on Monday came back as we came down south. I think it's the pollen honestly.
Tuesday was bearable, although it got progressively worse at work. I forced myself to go swimming in the morning, just a few laps to keep myself in shape before work and I think it helped.
Wednesday came and I felt like utter crap. I went swimming again, but this time i brought the husband, kids and friend. I still felt like utter crap. I'm allergic to chlorine I don't know how this fact always seems to escape me in the summer, so I was a snotty mess by the time we left the pool. My friend's son developed blisters from the amount of chlorine used in the pool. Evan ended up being late to school over that whole rigamarole. We went to my in laws. I felt like I could be upright but I didn't really feel up to much else. The next day came and I still felt like crap. I got a doctors appointment so that I could get a work excuse.
They gave me a new nose spray, which did help considerably. But Friday the gunk moved into my lungs and caused me to be feverish all day. I don't think I got out of bed except to call the doctor and beg that they extend my work excuse.
which they did, EVENTUALLY, but only after 2 calls.
Saturday I woke up feeling Pseudo-human. A far cry from She-Ra, but it was going to have to do.
we went over to Nana's, because that's what we usually end up doing around here.
Set up the tent to sweep it out, then had to tear it down in a hurry due to an approaching thunderstorm. Oh and of course an epic squirt gun fight between me, Evan (my 6 year old) Paul and My brother in law. (Who said I cry when I'm squirted in the face with a squirt gun... which I would like to address by going on the record and saying "No, I do not!" Neener Neener :P take that Uncle Mike.)
The kids stayed over at Nana's that night, Paul and I went to frozen yogurt then came home exhausted. Paul attempted to make me tea, then fell asleep while it was steeping. I woke up at 4am expecting to find him next to me, when I didn't I panicked. He fell asleep on the couch, I found him frantically shaking the sleep out of his head while he washed the egg poacher. Then we had a relaxing morning that went into the mid afternoon quite by accident.

Then came the epic idea. The beach!!!
So, we go and retrieve the kids from Nana's house, (begrudgingly, they wanted to go to Mocha Mountain)
I never thought I would have to BEG any child of mine to go the beach, but the major selling factor was "There will be beach volleyball!" and somehow this appealed to the boys. Away we went.
We got there in the heat of the day and parked in the furthest possible spot, not by choice but because it WAS the only spot. We hiked in, sun blocked up and began our decent into the water, or at least the two oldest boys did. Mom and Dad set up the blanket, snacks, and the baby tent. (Dad has been unusually helpful recently, I don't think he likes all the public attention/ridicule.)
There are only like, 2 maybe 3 people in the world that will get why this is funny and one of them lacks the memory of the original event...
Eugene, Kitty... I went to Silver Lake for the first time in 16 years... and THIS time, I did not manage to get horribly lost! I did not end up on I-96! And I did NOT end up at a rest area several miles from our house. This should be commended.

We did very nearly bring home a pet turtle who tried to swim up my and Tommy's swim suit. He was a very cute little turtle, but ultimately he belonged in the lake.
The kids wanted to bring him home so badly. Nana said he can come visit them via the creek that runs next to her house. That is, if he can find the way.