What I've Been Listening To This Week

It's Friday afternoon and in just a few short hours I'll be cutting out of work early (admittedly, this early departure really just has to do with doing more work, only from outside of my cubicle), but until then, I thought I'd pass the time with a brief analysis of what I've been listening to lately.

I'm always interested in the ways we present ourselves vs. the ways we're actually, privately living. The music I write about here is a public expression of what I've been listening to, thinking about, seeing, etc., but the "private" side of things (all the things I listen to and don't write about here) is usually a totally different story.

So, here are my top ten artists this week according to my last.fm account:

1. Free Loan Investments Is their better springtime music than Free Loan Investments? Not today, there isn't. Their cover of "Rush Hour" from Shelflife's You're Still Young at Heart comp is making my heart flutter and my head spin.

2 & 3. Delta Dart and Mary Timony are tied for second place. I woke up in a Delta Dart kind of mood this morning and listened to their albums Fight or Flight and Lone Star. I've been really into Mary Timony's album The Golden Dove lately, especially the song "Blood Tree." I mentioned this on twitter and my friend Brittany said that Mary Timony is a witch who enchants all of her tunes, which is way better than Drew's claim that Mary Timony is a watered-down Sonic Youth ripoff.

4. Best Coast I'm still riding the high of seeing Best Coast in Oberlin a few weeks ago (review here) and have been listening to their tour CD-R & other tracks a ton (they would probably actually be number one for this week if last.fm had tracked the amount of times I streamed their new song.)

5. Mirah I don't know why, but this week I was in the mood to listen to Advisory Committee (I think this was probably inspired by the recently announced Thao and Mirah tour) & I'm always in the mood to listen to Mirah b-sides and compilation tracks ("Tumwater Falls" is the perfect springtime song.)

6. Pearl Harbor I just found out about Pearl Harbor this week from my friend April and wrote about their lazy California pop jams yesterday. This morning I ordered the repress of their Something About the Chaparral 12".

7. Little Red Car Wreck I wrote about Little Red Car Wreck way back when. Their album Motor Like A Mother is one of my mainstays and has been for something like 10 years now.

8. Allo Darlin' Are all of you too good for that free Allo Darlin' 7"? Hardly anyone has commented on that entry! You have until midnight (EST) on Sunday. Anyway, I've been really into some of the new Allo Darlin' tracks (especially "Dreaming" and "My Heart is a Drummer") and that is duly reflected in my last.fm stats.

9. Churchbuilder Churchbuilder is another band that I wrote about a long time ago. Akron based pop with dreamy synths and songs about Flannery O'Conor and bad northeastern Ohio weather.

10. The Lemonheads I was in a mopey mood on Monday morning and started my work week off by listening to the Lemonheads' album Car Button Cloth -- it's the perfect sad springtime record, especially with songs like "Hospital" and "The Outdoor Life."