Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Rambling thoughts about how much music I USED to listen to...

It dawned on me yesterday that I do not listen to near as much music as I used to--I’m talking about time spent listening to music and/or talk radio/podcasts, not quantity of material. I used to listen everywhere, even in the shower!* I always had to have something playing.

I also had a car then, so I always had the radio blaring. Sure I have my iPod now, but sometimes I just don’t take the time to put my headphones in before I leave the house, and when I’m already all bundled up, I’m not taking those fingers out of the gloves just to dig around for my iPod (plus it’s much less awkward to sing yell along in the isolation of your own car compared to public transit). Even in warmer weather, when I get on a crowded bus and am holding on for dear life, I don’t have free hand to find and put in those headphones. Then there’s my recent new problem of my headphones shocking my ears in the cold, dry weather (does my Big Coat really cause THAT much static electricity when I walk?!?!)

Maybe another reason is because I live with Tankboy and I let him take the reins at home most of the time—whether it be out of laziness or I think of him as some sort of music authority (but believe me, we do NOT agree on everything).

Whatever my excuses, the bottom line is that I’m not listening to music as often. A lot of the time when I’m at work or finally do get my iPod all plugged in, I just can’t think of anything to listen to! I’ve got all these albums at my fingertips and my mind completely blanks (times like these I miss the days when all your music was out in the open visually so you could see everything you had—but I suppose that’s a whole ‘nother blog post).

Does anyone else ever have this quandary? Right now I’ve got the iTunes on shuffle,** but does anyone have any advice on something I should pop in? Even reminders of great old stuff would be good (This is also why I dig old school jukeboxes over the new kind where you can download anything bc you’re limited on what you can select, and reminds you of old favorites, not just the hot new flavor—plus finding a bar with good jukebox is that much more rewarding—but I guess that’s yet another whole blog post…).


*Maybe I should hook my new iHome up in the bathroom and get another for the bedroom…

**Maybe this is what iTunes Genius is good for. Does anyone ever use this feature?

7 comments:

Owen said...

I'm pimpin' Kiwi mates, but here are three of my faves from the past year:

http://chrismatthewsrobotmonkeyorchestra.bandcamp.com/

http://humphreysandkeen.bandcamp.com/

http://solarosa.bandcamp.com/

Tankboy said...

No kidding we don't agree on everything. Just the other day I thought you were going to throw my tankPOD across the room when I was playing Ke$ha...

Mich said...

Thanks Owen! Checking them out now :)

And Tankboy- yeah, sometimes I wonder just whatintheworld you are playing!

DShan said...

I didn't foresee the day when the woman dating Tankboy asked the internet where to find tunes. Kudos to you, Shel.

I've wondered about Genius too, and I am also a bit surprised at how often I'm NOT listening to music. I sort of forget, except in times of avid hunting when I cruise music blogs viz HypeM and Elbows and whatnot.

I'm curious about theSixtyOne; maybe that'll fill in some gaps for you. I've been on it a bit, but not a lot, so I dunno. Never been a big fan of Pandora or its competitors. Last.fm? Not a huge fan either.

Definitely share your solution(s), cuz I 'should' be listening to more tunes and really just need something I like and trust to make it happen.

Mich said...

Sorry Tankboy, that came off mean. Lets emphasize the sometimes. Most of the time we dig similar stuff.

But that Ke$ha song, damn. What can I say, maybe you're just more open than I :)

Mich said...

DShan- Thats the thing! I dont want to always be hunting for music, I want to simply enjoy it! The radio made things pretty easy when I was young, but now there's a niche for every genre (and subgenre) and you want to be in the right place for you. But it's hard. Plus (full disclosure time), I've never even heard of half the blogs you just mentioned... it was easier when there were a few reliable places to pick things up--but maybe I'm just getting old and whiny (get off my lawn!)

Pandora never hooked me either (although I liked the concept). Last.fm I've found to be a pretty good, user friendly resource. I usually go to MySpace (I know, for shame old lady!)to buzz through an artist's top stuff when I want a quick idea of what they're all about.

Most of the time though, my go-to to just leisurely listen is woxy.com (pick it for me Shiv!)

devin said...

you obviously don't have enough funk to listen to