my books. my life.

Every so often (or just pretty often), a song ends up on repeat. The same song, over and over, in my home, my car, my office. Right now that song is New York by Blind Pilot. I have tried to expand a little and listen to the rest of the bands songs but I keep coming back to this one. I just think it’s beautiful. So, for your listening pleasure, here is New York:

What song are you currently obsessed with?

Check out all of the other Tune in Tuesday posts over at GReads!

Readers, I have waited 5 long years for this. Pretty much all I wanted in the world was a new album by The Shins. And don’t give me any of that Broken Bells nonsense. I wanted real Shins.

And when Port of Morrow was finally released last month, I was not disappointed.

Here are a few songs for you today:

Simple Song
(Sorry for the ad but I wanted to give you the actual music video)

Bait and Switch

40 Mark Strasse

Check out all of the other Tune in Tuesday posts over at GReads!

Sometimes, often despite my best efforts, the outside world still seeps in while I’m reading. This can be annoying but it can also be enlightening. Every once in awhile my book and the real world align to create this wonderful thing. When this happens, it’s usually because I find music that perfectly fits a story.

Which is why I love this month’s theme for Tune in Tuesday: Book Playlists. Although today I’m not actually going to give you a playlist, but just one song.

When I was reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I also happened to be a bit obsessed with AFI’s Sing the Sorrow album. For that reason, I always associate that album with that book. And AFI can be so wonderfully emo that it totally works with the teen angst in Book 5.

But there is one song in particular that never fails to remind me of Harry Potter. And I think the song totally works for Harry. It feels like the song is about someone who is alone – who is faced to deal with something awful on their own. And while Harry is surrounded by friends, there are things he must face that no one can face with him.

 So take a listen and let me know if you agree (here is the YouTube link for you mobile site-users).

Are there songs or albums that remind you of certain books?

Thanks to Ginger at GReads! for hosting Tune in Tuesday. Don’t forget to stop by her blog to see what other Book Playlists people came up with.

After a week of listening, I feel I can finally fairly judge Human Again, and I can thankfully say that I continue to be a huge Ingrid Michaelson fan. I am not good actually telling you WHY I like the music I like so I’m just going leave you to listen for yourself. Here is “Ghost.”

What do you think?

Check out the other Tune in Tuesday posts over at GReads! for more music.

As you know, music is my other favorite type of media to consume. And because year-end lists are fun, here are my favorite albums of 2011 (with little to no commentary).

Note: I often give you samples of music but with the abundance of streaming sites these days and my own lack of energy, I’m going to let you discover it on your own.

The Top 5 (aka the albums that were often kept on repeat for  weeks)

The King is Dead – The Decemberists

El Camino – The Black Keys

Young the Giant – Young the Giant

What Did You Expect from The Vaccines – The Vaccines

Circuital – My Morning Jacket

The Rest 

In the Mountain in the Cloud – Portugal the Man

People and Things – Jack’s Mannequin

Helplessness Blues – Fleet Foxes

Virtue – Emmy the Great

21 – Adele (I know it’s overplayed by it’s a seriously good album)

A Creature I Don’t Know – Laura Marling

Young Love – Mat Kearney

Bon Iver – Bon Iver (it’s no For Emma but still pretty darn good)

The People’s Key – Bright Eyes

Most Anticipated Album of 2012:

Human Again – Ingrid Michaelson

What was your favorite album of 2011? And what are you looking forward to in 2012?

I have been fortunate and have had the opportunity to see most of my favorite bands in concert over the years. But there are still a few bands that I would do almost anything to see.

The Shins

Sea Legs

Arcade Fire

Keep the Car Running

My sad story: I worked for the Obama Campaign in 2008, so I was invited to the staff ball the day after the inauguration. I was in D.C. for the inauguration but my husband wanted to get back to work so we flew home the day of the staff ball instead. Guess who played the staff ball? Arcade Fire. *kicks self*

Ingrid Michaelson

You and I (with Jason Mraz)

Another Sad Story: Ingrid Michaelson and Matt Nathanson did a small appearance together at Borders in Ann Arbor a few years ago. I considered going but did not. I have since fallen absolutely in love with her. *kicks self some more*

What shows are you dying to see?

Head over to Greads! for more Tune in Tuesday goodness.

The Decemberists are another of my favorite shows ever. I saw them in Orlando two years ago and they were totally worth the 2-hour drive home at 2am (thank you again 24-hour Starbucks in Lakeland). Colin Meloy does a fantastic job interacting with the audience and it just makes for a very fun show. Here is one of my favorites, Sons and Daughters:

Check out the rest of the Tune in Tuesday posts over at Greads!

When I think back to my best concert experiences, The National easily jumps to the front. I saw them last fall and I think I was on a concert-high for three days. I’ve already blogged about it actually.

They closed the fantastic night with an sing-a-long version of Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks which might be my favorite concert experience ever. This is the video from the show I was at in Orlando last year:

And, because that video doesn’t give you an accurate taste of everyday The National, here is the totally-strange music video for Conversation 16:

Thanks to Ginger at Greads! for hosting Tune in Tuesday.

Although I always look forward to listening to her selections, I’ve never participated in Tune in Tuesday at GReads. But I happen to love this month’s theme: the Concert Edition. So I am going to share with you a few songs this month from the best shows I have ever been to. This week is a band I adored in college and was lucky enough to see before they morphed into Jack’s Mannequin, etc. Here is Konstantine by Something Corporate:

Title: Record Collecting for Girls: Unleashing Your Inner Music Nerd, One Album at a Time
Author: Courtney E. Smith
Genre: Nonfiction; Music
ISBN: 0547502230
Pages: 240
Year: 2011
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Source: Netgalley
Rating: 4/5

Summary/My Thoughts:

Music lovers. I have a new book for you. Have you ever noticed that most books about music (and magazines about music) are written by men? Well Courtney E. Smith did. I hadn’t given it much thought but she is right. Women make up an even amount of music listeners, so shouldn’t we also write about music? Enter Record Collecting for Girls.

Record Collecting for Girls explores how women relate to music. There is a chapter about Top Fives (remember High Fidelity?), guilty pleasures (mine is the Glee soundtracks), “our” songs, and the classic Beatles vs. Stones debate. She explains why loving The Smiths too much is a dealbreaker for her in men and questions why there are so few girl bands. Each chapter ends with a playlist. Which will be helpful the next time you are in need of some making out or breaking up music. And there are entertaining Interludes along the way (one such Interlude has made be give last.fm another try).

Because this is a book about music, it’s understandably very personal to the author. Some people may not like this (because their musical tastes are very different or they may even suffer from the dealbreaking Smiths Syndrome), but I think it would be impossible to avoid. Smith is five years older than me (as determined by where she was in life when Romeo + Juliet was released). This could be decades in music years, so while I relate to many of the artists she discusses (we share a love for The Shins), some of them I’ve never really experienced. This doesn’t ruin the book at all for me. I can still relate to the feelings behind it (although she did almost lose me by saying she cannot stand Arcade Fire and I actually DO think The National are genius).

If you are a music fan, man or woman, I think you will enjoy this book. It’s lighthearted, funny, and makes you look into your music habits. Plus, I have about a hundred new tracks to go listen to now and there aren’t many things in life that make me happier than new music.

Favorite Passages:

“It’s rare that a female musician is able to develop her image in a way that doesn’t revolve around her physical appeal to the male population.” p. 48*

“Some people might think underground or indie rock artists letting their music be used on soundtracks to blockbusters like New Moon is a big sell-out move. I think it’s a helpful lift to the music taste of future generations. Like giving kids a little bit of fiber with their hefty dose of sugar.” p. 75

On guilty pleasures: “It’s music that causes you to roll up the windows in your car for fear a pedestrian or biker might here.” p. 80

“Indie-music fanatics, both male and female, are captivated by the idea of being first. We want to feel ownership over artists before anyone else even knows who they are.” p. 84

Buy It Now: Amazon; IndieBound

Extra: Follow Courtney E. Smith on Twitter. [P.S.: I love that we live in an age where I can finish a book and then chat with the author 10 minutes later].

*Page numbers reference the e-galley and may differ in the published book.