People, sometimes I look at this poor sad lonely blog, and I get weighed down by how much I haven't said here. Like how I moved and what I'm doing and where I'm living, and how I actually did last month's 12 of 12 but was too busy to upload it until it sort of seemed too late. It's so hard being me!

I can't do those things, but I can tell you about some things I'm pretty into these days, because if there's anything I enjoy, it's making others love the things I love. Here are some of those things:

- The Hemlock Ring
When you're a new knitter, there are certain projects that you think, if this is what knitters do, knitters must be crazy people. Things like, I don't know, lace blankets based on doily patterns from 1942? That said, a good stern blocking and extra-pointy bind-off edge make me feel like a fiber arts badass.

- Espinacas con garbanzos!:
Aha! You wouldn't click if I said "spinach with chickpeas," but this is not just spinach with chickpeas. This is tangy, and spicy, and Spanish, and totally deserving of a gratuitous exclamation point. I make it without the bread, but with a link or two of the orangest, most Spanish-like sausage I can find, and it shocks me every time with the depth of its deliciousness.

- The Civil Wars:
I went to a couple of their shows around LA in December and January—my roommate and I are tangentially acquainted with Joy Williams, having worked with her family and occasionally with Joy herself at summer camp—and fell instantly in love. Now their new album is number one on iTunes (just ahead of Mumford and Sons' Sigh No More, which is also pretty great), allowing me to be both thrilled for them and insufferably smug for knowing allllll about them, like, a month ahead of time.

- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
I KNOW. I'M SUCH A REVOLUTIONARY.  But no, really, the entire reading world is not lying to you about this series. I may not sleep until it's finished. (I also just finished Life of Pi, which I loved for completely different reasons; perhaps someday I will read something not from the Book Club Favorites! shelf, or whatever.)

See? Was that so hard? Let's do this more often, shall we?

Two lists

Things I Have Not Done Lately:

- Written in this blog (obviously)
- Written anything else to speak of (alarmingly)
- Knitted
- Watched TV except for Chuck and Bones, neither of which will be denied
- Gone to bed on time
- Cleaned the bathroom or the floors

Things I Have Done Instead:

- I have no idea. Seriously. Wherefore art thou, April?
- Gone with church community group to Georgetown retirement home for hilarious conversation-and-singalong time, wherein musical age gap is revealed. All present can sing chorus and first verse of "America the Beautiful," and that's all.
- Attended and enjoyed This American Life Live ("live" in the sense of "at the same time at different theaters"); finally admitted vague crush on Ira Glass. (Ironically, Live re-runs at theaters nationwide on May 7. You should go.)
- Designed and built a website.
- Became hooked on easy and delicious Asian noodle salad; set personal record of finishing package of tofu in two days.
- Got head/chest cold; stopped running; felt like blob; ran anyway
- Replaced The New Pornographers' "The Laws Have Changed" with Bon Iver's "Skinny Love" at the top of iTunes most-played list.

That is all.

What Was That?

So, when it comes to music, I'm a lyrics girl. I mean, obviously, there has to be a beat and some kind of melody, and all that; I'm not really up for grooving to spoken-word on the bus, or whatever. But I've never gotten people who say they don't listen to, or never learn, the words of the music they listen to. The lyrics may not come first, but sooner or later...right?

But sometimes, I have to say, the lyrics ruin it all--I was listening to a song the other day, and it's a song of which I've recently become quite fond. It's cute, and funny, and it plays like a sweet little romantic comedy in my head. And then I heard this one line clearly for the first time and was all, "Wait, what did you just say? See, now, you are not nearly as cute as you were ten seconds ago."

(Notice that I'm not telling you which song by which band, so as to not spoil your own enjoyment. I am nice.)

This may happen to me a lot because I listen to a lot of bands fronted by mumbly boys, so that actually learning the words is a kind of continual journey of discovery. Apparently, bad diction covers a multitude of sins; this is, I guess, why we have "Inna Gadda da Vida" and "Louie, Louie." And maybe it's for the best--for all I know, all the cute boppy indie bands I like are singing about kicking puppies and stealing candy from small children, and all I can think is, "Awww, he really loves his girlfriend!"

Go back to your mumbling, boys.

Stay inside 'til somebody finds us, do whatever the TV tells us

I recently bought a new album, Boxer, by The National. I thought about it for a long time--I acquired their song "Fake Empire" awhile back, and then Chuck used it once this season (along with Bon Iver's "Skinny Love," which is another story altogether, and a perfect confluence of totally different but totally complementary songs), and I found myself listening to it all the time. I decided a mental monopoly was worth $9.99, and bought the album.

First of all, I think I've figured out why I love "Fake Empire" so much. It starts out with this line: "stay out super-late tonight, picking apples, making pies." And, you see, it is exactly the kind of music I would like to listen to as I stay up super-late, picking apples*, making pies. Family and friends will tell you that I am not a late-night anything, and that is mostly true, except: I am a late-night baker. There's something hugely relaxing and hugely satisfying about mixing up some sweets after bedtime (and eating them warm, whatever they are, immediately prior to falling into bed). For this weird ritual, only the best music will do: the most singable, the most groovable, the most a part of me. This album is midnight baking music already. See how cool that is? It's like a little onomatopoeia of life.

Second, I once had a conversation with a friend about the absence of non-tenor pop stars. He was right: the lower registers get the shaft in the pop recording world. Which is why I love The National's frontman's voice: he's a deep, deep baritone, and it's always simultaneously surprising and strangely comforting. I feel like I will listen to this album next time I'm feeling sad, or when I'm trying to sleep in an unfamiliar place. It's a nice feeling, having it even when I'm happy at home, just in case.

You can watch The National on Youtube ("Fake Empire," "Apartment Story," etc.), but I almost think it's better if you can't see them. Turn the videos on, then turn around or something. Then stay up and make a pie, just because.

*Why one would stay up super-late picking apples is unclear--wouldn't they be hard to see?--but I'm going to just go with it.

Citizen Playlist

Tonight is Tuesday night, the only really free night of my week. I've already finished Cinema Hype for tomorrow and taken some time with the book I'm reading, with all of the windows open and the ceiling fan on and the sun finally, finally sinking behind the house across the street. Later, I might watch a little 30 Rock and try to write some fiction. Tuesday night is a long, good night.

It's also the day where all good things come to iTunes. It's new release day. It's free-music day. (Why don't I ever take advantage of iTunes free singles? Only an absurd creature of habit turns down this kind of deal.) It's the day where they update the celebrity playlists. Do you know the iTunes Celebrity Playlist page? Go to the iTunes Store and choose Music from the menu on the left. Scroll down a little, and you'll see it, again on the left. There you go: pages and pages and pages of celebrities' favorite songs, complete with little summaries and comments. Just in the last week or two, they've added the Sex and the City cast(!) and Alton Brown (who listens to exactly the kind of music you'd think. Heh). How great is this? Hours and hours of entertainment (and possibly some new music), I'm telling you.

There are really two kinds of celebrity playlist: the ultra-pretentious kind where the celebrity in question writes a whole paragraph on each song you don't know by each band you've never heard of, and the disappointingly/awesomely vapid kind where each song gets three words and an exclamation point [see Garner, Jennifer]. Okay, so maybe there are a few in the middle, people who listen to the same songs everybody else listens to, but I never remember much about those. Unless they're by America Ferrara, who is kind of my music twin.

In response to the celebrity playlist phenomenon, my friend Avery came up with the Citizen Playlist: the celebrity playlist for the rest of us. This is a playlist for today and not for forever, simply because "forever" playlists are far too much pressure. I would be here for days. Weeks. Months. And then new music would come out, and I'd have to revise the whole thing, wouldn't I?

So here is my citizen playlist for June 10, 2008.

"More Adventurous" - Rilo Kiley
Picking a favorite Rilo Kiley song is kind of Sophie's Choice, so I had to include two. This song is lovely, singable, and packed with mostly good advice about risk and love and accidental pregnancy. So, all the things I like in a good pop song.

"Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel" - Barenaked Ladies
I have spent basically a decade trying to decide on a favorite BNL song, and I think I've finally settled on this one. (Because it totally matters in the long run.) It's about exactly what you'd think it's about. I always get this one phrase in my head, "in all the confusion, there's something serene--I'm just a posthumous part of the scene," and then there's this little instrumental thing, maybe an oboe?, that goes boop! boop!--I can't really explain it, but once that starts looping around in there, it's all over.

"This Modern Love" - Bloc Party
This song is super-rhythmic and super-catchy, with super-jangly guitars, and I like singing, "This modern looove....BREAKS ME!" just like the guys in the band.

"Somewhere North" - Caedmon's Call
This is from the only album of the only Christian band I have left over from my early days of DC Talk and the like. It is wonderful and sounds like driving at night with the windows rolled down.

"The One I Love" - David Gray
I don't really think I understand the details of this song--she's telling the repo man she's the one he loves? And yet. I always play it twice in a row.

"I Will Always Love You" - Dolly Parton
And don't even think about substituting Whitney or anybody else. It's got to be Dolly, or it wouldn't be the saddest song in the entire world. Complete with monologue of acceptance in the middle.

"You Are What You Love" - Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
The Jenny Lewis album Rabbit Fur Coat is probably my most favorite album this year so far; I listen to it FAR more than is really normal, and am not even a little embarrassed about it, because it is catchy and lyrical and wonderful every single time. And this song speaks the truth: you are what you love, not what loves you back. I feel that this is a Life Lesson. (Fun fact: Jenny Lewis is the frontwoman for Rilo Kiley, so this is almost like choosing a third RK song. Scandal!)

"The Bleeding Heart Show" - The New Pornographers
This is, by far, not the New Pornographers song I listen to the most--it's not even on my favorite album of theirs--but it has the infamous "hey la hey la" segment at the end, which I can never get enough of. I love the NPs for sounding like they're in a high school rock musical 100% of the time.

"Feeling Good" - Nina Simone
My brother got me into this song, and let's just say that I'm saving it up for a particular day that I hope will arrive any day now. (No, not THAT day. You'll know, trust me.) It is exactly, exactly right.

"Sunday Smile" - Beirut
I've just discovered these guys and know practically nothing about them, but they use a lot of accordion and a lot of harmony, and I am fully convinced that they have handlebar mustaches. Listen and you'll see what I mean.

"Walkin' After Midnight" - Patsy Cline
I went on a major Patsy Cline thing earlier this year, and this is my favorite, favorite song from her Greatest Hits (except maybe "If You've Got Leaving On Your Mind," but whatever). Imagine living in a place where you can walk around after midnight (in search of your lost love, which kind of makes the whole thing less fun)! I think I'd be afraid of being mugged, but that's just me.

"Heart of Mine" - Peter Salett
This is a perfectly ordinary pop song that I love more than it could ever deserve. It plays in the movie Keeping the Faith, and that is basically all that is special about it, except that it SPEAKS TO MY SOUL. I don't know why. This is another back-to-back song.

"The Angels Hung Around" - Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley's most recent album is kind of a concept album about the sex trade in L.A.--just a little light listening, right? But it's actually fantastic and only minimally depressing, and I love the things Jenny Lewis sings here about her (long) life in L.A. She has a relationship with that city. Plus, I like singing along with the bridge.

"Walk Away Renee" - Vonda Shepherd
Yes, I could also go for the original by the Four Tops--it's a great song either way--but this is the version I have. It's Vonda Shepherd, and it's from the Ally McBeal soundtrack, and I do not appreciate all that snickering over in the corner, you.

"Hotel Yorba" - The White Stripes
I once saw this song on a sample playlist of songs about monogamy, which made me smile, even though it's accurate. Mostly I just like singing/shouting along.

"Pressed in a Book" - The Shins
Choosing just one Shins song is another hopeless cause, so I picked this one because I love it. I know it so well, I don't even really hear it, but then I sometimes play it twice in a row. And it melts into the song that follows it, "The Past and Pending," which is incredibly comforting. But, you know, that could be any Shins song. They're just that much a part of the woodwork of me.

So that's the soundtrack of me, circa now. Go forth and sample music!

"Absurd degree" rhymes with "verdigris"

The other day, I caved and bought the Wicked soundtrack. For all my love of musicals and show tune geekery, I have not previously kept a single Broadway soundtrack on my iPod--they clash with the rest of my music, you see. People with Shuffle fixations like mine have to keep an eye on these things. But I came home from L.A. on Sunday with a heavy nostalgia for my long weekend away and the songs from Wicked running circles in my brain. So I bought it. And now I can't stop. Over and over, Wicked, Wicked, Wicked.

People who know me shouldn't be surprised at my Rain Man music habits. I know my friend Brydon remembers the day, years ago, that he came over and found me listening to "Tears in Heaven" on repeat; this is also the way the Eastmountainsouth song "So Are You to Me" found its way to the top of my iTunes Top 25, ahead of the runner-up by a good thirty listens. I do this mostly when I'm sad, or when I'd rather be someplace other than where I am, though sometimes it's just a particular note or phrase capturing my frame of mind in a way that I can't quite articulate. I always wonder if it isn't something like the neural loops obsessive-compulsive people find themselves stuck in, though it doesn't feel like something that needs to be diagnosed. It's more like scratching some kind of aural-emotional itch.

Anyway, no need to worry. The cycle will break eventually; it always does (and I caught myself humming Rilo Kiley after rowing tonight). Until then, lather, rinse, repeat.

"You've got to listen to this one song. It'll change your life!"

I got to do something last night that I think everyone should do at least once: I saw my favorite band live. I'm not sure I know exactly how the Shins became the band for me--their song "Know Your Onion!" is on the old Gilmore Girls soundtrack, I guess, and then "Caring is Creepy" and "New Slang" showed up in Garden State, and I went home and downloaded the whole album. It was the first thing I ever bought on iTunes, and it took all afternoon because I had dial-up.

It was so worth it--Oh, Inverted World is still the single most-listened-to album I own. I've listened to it so many times that I don't even hear it anymore, except that at the same time, I sometimes rewind songs to hear them again--mostly the last two, "Pressed in a Book" and "The Past and Pending," which I swear makes my heart rate and blood pressure drop every time I hear it. I like to listen to "New Slang" when I'm far away from home, because it's the most comforting song in the world, but it's also good for driving with the windows down at night in the summer. Or for walking in the afternoon in the fall, come to think of it. I don't know how their songs can be airy and murky and springy, all at the same time, but they are. The whole album just seems like a series of perfect musical moments to me, like I keep thinking, "there is nothing else in the world that would go better in that spot in that song. It's just right the way it is." And so I keep listening to it, and it becomes even more ingrained.

The Shins have put out two albums since then, Chutes Too Narrow and the brand-new Wincing the Night Away, which I think is poised to someday knock Oh, Inverted World off its throne, once it's all worn in and comfortable. It's a wonderful album--sort of atmospheric, but also perfectly, head-boppingly bouncy at the same time, and every single song is good. We'll see where that album and I go together, and maybe I'll write about it more specifically someday.

So, the Shins. Live and in the flesh! What to say about the show itself? I went to see them because I wanted to see them, and not because I thought they'd be an especially great live show. And that's about right--they were a fine show, a good show, but it's not like they're super exhibitionists, or anything. They mostly just come up, play, bounce around a little, and call it a night. It's just that the music is so good, you know? James Mercer must weigh about 130 pounds soaking wet, and he mumbles less live than on the albums. His falsetto is a little scary in real life. There's also have a sort of adorable bass player/second vocalist, and a guitarist who obviously plays Guitar Hero waaay too much, and the requisite all-instrument guy that looks like Richie from The Royal Tenenbaums. They started with "Sleeping Lessons" and ended with "So Says I," and hit most of the high points along the way--just about exactly what you'd expect. It was just a show, not that different from any other show I've been to, but I'm so happy that I got to go and listen.