new music monday

(I know it's Wednesday, but it doesn't roll off the tongue the same way.)

Today I went to Tower and bought new music that I'd never heard of before for the first time in about five years. I just needed something fresh in my life. And I picked it much like I would a potential new book of fiction (which means a recently published novel that isn't already on my long list of Things I Must Someday Read), just by looking at the cover.

The cover in this case caught my eye with its colors, the image, and the band's name: Tilly and the Wall.

Would it surprise any of you that one of the guys from Bright Eyes produced the album and played for some of the songs? That they thank Conor Oberst in the their liner notes? That the band is from Nebraska?

I was surprised. Of all the new music I could choose, I happened to pick one that's got the fingerprints of Bright Eyes band members all over it. And I didn't find that out til I opened it up...

One thing that kind of struck me pleasantly is there are no photographs of the band on the album art. No line-up of lanky people with their hair in their face, staring pointedly at the lens, no grinning candid shots, no set-ups of the people in the band next to their instrument of choice.

The music itself is jangly, full of instruments and a bit of a mess, all of which I rather like. The feeling of the album is something akin to a big, euphoric hootenanny, but kinda like Blondie meets a Wes Anderson Movie Soundtrack. The first track starts with a harmonica, and a chant of one, two, three, four!

I ran into the old manager of Tower Records last week while out drinking and got him to write down a bunch of bands I ought to be listening to. He and I agree on a lot of things and I trust what he's into, though I know half of it is just things that someone else told him he'd be cooler for knowing about. I decided to look for something that appealed to my own aesthetic, for now, and will check out the five or so bands that I should know about later.

It's kind of interesting to know myself this well and find something that I actually like just by judging its visual elements. And even crazier that it's got links to one of my favorite bands. I've been thinking a lot about my tastes and values and opinions lately, with the departure of men from my life, as well as the entrance of men into my life, as well as friends and acquaintances being readmitted into the din of my solitude. I have a pretty well developed aesthetic and I am glad to know myself this well. I suppose it is a result of being a bit older than the average college girl, but also, it's that I've been lucky to be exposed to lots of things in my life.