Volpane In Love

Decade Archive of my personal blog from 1999 to 2009.

Tuesday, March 09, 1999

What I listen to�usually when I'm futzing on the computer.

They Might Be Giants�Factory Showroom
I love TMBG and I have been listening to their special brand of adventure since I first heard "Ana Ang" and decided I needed a new favorite band (to join all the others).

Joni MitchellBlue
This is quintessential Joni. I remember a talent show back in high school where the school�s aspiring folksinger performed flawless versions of every song on this album�at least that�s how I remembered it.

Tracy ChapmanTracy Chapman
I can barely believe that her debut album is over ten years old. Every time I hear "Fast Car" I have to hold back the tears, it gets to me so.

Loreena McKennitt�The Mask and the Mirror
This goes back to why I like Dead Can Dance, modern songs in a traditional folk mode.

The Great Ladies of Jazz�Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Pearl Bailey
You hear their names tossed around like they are royalty and they are: The Original Sophisticated Lady, The First Lady of Jazz, The Queen of the Blues, The High Priestess of Jazz, Lady Day and The Real Pearl. All on two CDs. Thank you, Russell.

The Smiths�Best of�I, II
I first listened to the Smiths first back in �88, since then I�ve followed Morrissey and collected these two compilations of their best hits.

Claude Bolling's Suite for Violin and Jazz Piano Trio
This Album says to me that the seventies were not so bad as I remembered and the Twenties Art Deco revival back then was not half as bad as the Seventies revival we see today.

The Beautiful South
When I was introduced to this band's wonderfully cynical lyrics back in '96 I swore that someday I would own all their albums. I now own Welcome to and Choke. Their songs are catchy, I love the lyrics and Blue is the Colour could be their best album. I stripped these onto my computer as MP3 files so I could listen to them with out the CD along with my Sunday's albums. They make a wonderful mix of cynical lyricism.

The Sundays�Reading, Writing, and Arithmatic
I listened to them obsessively back in '93 and '94 when I finally purchased their first album. The vocalization of Harriet Wheeler combined with David Gavurin's layered guitar riffs are to me the quintessence of urban living and the melancholia that results from relationship angst. They inspired some way cool web sites too.

Kate Bush�Hounds of Love
Ever since Running Up That Hill first appeared on MTV, I was hooked. Kate is a goddess and someday I will own all her albums and not just The Whole Story.

Yo-yo MaSoul of the Tango: The Music of Astor Piazzola
Tango, tango, tango! I remember coming across his work first on an album by the Kronos Quartet and thinking I had discovered the meaning behind the movie Kiss of the Spiderwoman. Yo-yo Ma makes Piazzola's melodies come alive and weave their magic in such a subtle passionate way that you will have your breath taken out of you before you realize that you are listening to one of Argentina's greatest composers.

Deep Forest
Okay, I know this is "world-beat-techno-trance-mainstream" schlock but it is: Still cool listening even after all these years...spawned all sorts of similar sounding cool "bands" like Enigma. Hey! They have a great web site. If only I could find that URL!

Malcolm Mclaren's Paris
I am told he stole all the tunes shamelessly from Frenchmen, and even though the poetry is really cheesy, this is an incredible album.

Dead Can Dance�The Serpent's Egg, Spiritchaser
Need I say more?

ZBS�Ruby, the Galactic Gumshoe
The best radio drama on the net.