I've Been Tagged

And I don't mean that in the fratboy vernacular-sense of the word. One of my blog homies did it, and it means I gotta tell you which tunes I'm digging.

A little background: I bought this swell little non-proprietary audio gadget a while back because it means I can download unlimited tunes from a legitimate-but-unnamed online music source. Since then I can literally plug the little dude in in the morning and download just about any album I want, old or new, any genre. And yes, that includes many of the lesser known artists and labels, for your too-cool-for-school indie-emo-slowcore-hardstep-garage-techno-slappy-farting-mumbo-jumbo-genre-make-it-up-and-sell-some-records bands, even though I hate them just a little less than I hate their fans - I was a badly-dressed geek way back before it was cool. But, back in April I changed jobs and now have a very swift 30-minute door-to-door commute which involves about 10 minutes of walking and 20 minutes on the train. Since then, I've found it a bit tedious to drag around the little player, so most of my music-listening time is limited to evenings and weekends, when the little Race Gannons and Race Gannonettes are screaming and crawling all over my head. Oh and the occasional road trip. SO, I'm not listening to so much music lately, but I'll take a shot at this anyways.

1. Nina Simone. I know it's not a tune, but a broad. But I couldn't decide between my two favorites: Ne Me Quitte Pas and Wild is the Wind. I usually put the anthology on the player while I'm cooking dinner and it usually results in me and Mrs. Gannon dirty dancing to the horror of the little Gannons.
2. Difuntos by Tego Calderon. I don't speak Spanish. And I don't know what Reggaeton means. But when I play Tego Calderon, I turn into the toughest white guy you ever met. And for all you internet people know, I might not even be white. And that's badass.
   
3. The Whateverth Nocturne in Whatever Flat Major by Frédéric Chopin. It's just a phase, but I'm listening to a lot of this dude. But it gets my damn goat that they couldn't come up with actual names for songs back then. I'm never gonna remember all the names of these things - they're all numbers and musical notes. If you're looking for a good one, check out the one that goes: "Da dum, di di di dum dum, da da da do do DUM, da di di dum dum, da DUM, da di di da da DUM DUM, da dum, da di fart." [Update: Okay I've found the name of one of my favorites. It's Called "B minor, Opus 69, Number 2." I really think Chopin was just being an asshole. Here's a link to a record that has the track - it's number 9 on the first disc.]
   
4. Time for Me to Fly by REO Speedwagon. I'll just shortcut any of your comments by saying Fuck You.
5. 10 Dollar by M.I.A. Her dad was a Tamil Tiger and she will shoot your ass. Oh and now they're using one of her songs in a Honda commercial or something.
   
6. Lovely Day by Bill Withers. I'm not ashamed to say I was turned onto this song by that new roller skating movie.
7. Sweeter by Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars. My obligatory "indie" song. I know it fits in this category, because every time I listen to Julie Doiron, I want to slit my wrists, but in a happy way. That, and because the record is probably not on an independent label.
   

OK that's done. Next post will be back to my usual orneriness about politics, probably.