Monday Music!

[jlh]

A while back I was talking to ziggy1278 and C____ about the Pitchfork 100 Tracks of 2007, and C____ said, "Why don't you just make your own list?" Now, my first reply to that was, well, I haven't heard all music ever, or all music that came out this year, or whatever, and therefore don't particularly feel qualified to make any kind of list. In fact, I don't think I actually bought any music in 2008, because I was still trying to digest a bunch of music I got in 2007.

Then ali_wildgoose said that I should post more music. And I thought, you know, I don't have to be all, "Lo, for I am the first person on the internets to talk about this band ever" to have something to say that maybe some of you haven't heard or would at least find interesting. So I started to make this list, off and on, of 50 songs that I think are pretty much perfect. Not, say, the best songs ever, which usually has a lot to do with being influential in some way. No, these songs are ones that I would stand behind, that I like the sound of. Listening to them makes me smile.

Over the New Year I read Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste, which I cannot recommend highly enough to everyone reading this journal. Wilson takes his own distaste for Celine Dion and uses it to explore aesthetics, taste, what it means to have certain kinds of taste, what really separates him from a Celine fan as opposed to what he would like to think separates him from a Celine fan—anyone who has talked to me about these matters would know why I adore this book. So I thought, well, I should start posting these 50 songs.

I think I'll start next week—this has already gotten lengthy and I want to feel free to talk at length about the song—but I will say what the list, given my own taste, will and will not include:

• All of the music I love can trace its roots back, one way or another, to Africa. Jazz, pop, rock, r&b, dance, rap—I think that covers all the genres that I'm drawn to. Well, and also so-called "world music" that has that kind of beat.
  
• I'm an alto, and I find myself drawn to lower tones. Cellos rather than violins, contraltos rather than sopranos, that sort of thing. I'm not much for high soaring tones.
  
• I love female singers, and female songwriters, so there will be a damn lot of them. I wish that this list would end up being close to even representation of women and men, but I think we all know with these genres, that is probably not going to happen.
  
• I'm not going to try to be eclectic for the sake of being eclectic, but the music that really grabs me does tend to come from all over the place.
  
• I'll also try to stay away from what at our college radio station we used to call "warhorses"—you know, the songs that are on everyone's list, the songs that are always on the top 1000 rock songs of all time, the holiday weekend countdown on your local classic rock station that ends with "Stairway to Heaven." There will be songs from the 60s and before, but let's keep the boomers out of this, shall we?
  
• Which is also to say, I'm an Xer. I was a child in the 70s, a teen in the 80s, a young woman in the 90s. Likely the list will be slanted toward the times when I was listening to a lot of music.
  
• I also decided, somewhat arbitrarily, that I didn't want anything so new that what I love about it is its newness. I should have lived with it for a few years before putting it on the list.

Like any list, this one will be full of those sorts of arbitrary decisions, which will be entirely my own. I don't expect anyone except me will like all of the songs; I hope that you will find a few that make the exercise worth while. And it won't be ranked—it'll be in a somewhat random order, and I might not post something every week. But it's a goal, isn't it?

Thoughts?

Comments

[piperki.livejournal.com]

You need viola music in your life. Hee!

That has nothing to do with 99% of your post but you were saying about altos, you know...

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I really do. I heard a story about a violist on NPR, and I keep tracking her down (it was on a local music show) and then having to look her up again. But I need a guide when it comes to classical, only all the people I know who like it, like things I don't like, and so are not much help to me at all.

[sisterpandora.livejournal.com]

I'm very tired so, even though my thoughts are big, my words are tiny. I am so pleased you will be perusing this! You have such a range of musical interests that I'm very excited to see you taking this up. I know I probably won't comment on every post, but I plan to read each thoroughly and add what thoughts may come. Good on you!

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I will definitely need more music icons I think.

I feel very plan-y all of a sudden. I'm hoping this is a super good sign.

[wordplay.livejournal.com]

I LOVE this idea. I love that you are doing it and I would love to do it myself and (by the way) I'm still totally loving the book.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I think I will need more music icons! I'll have to figure out where to find them.

[lillijulianne.livejournal.com]

i need to read that book. and i look forward to reading you on music!

[amyamy.livejournal.com]

Dude, this is a brilliant idea and I can't wait!