Listography: List the First Albums You Ever Owned

Clearly, once upon a time, I used to listen to female singers and Christian ska music. I only really accounted for records I remember listening to in middle school or earlier. Many of these records were likely purchased by my brother (and stolen over time) or through the Columbia Record Club way back when. I think I still owe them $13 or something, but now they employ me, so we're even?

1) The Cranberries - "No Need to Argue"

2) No Doubt - "Tragic Kingdom"

3) Alanis Morrisette - "Jagged Little Pill"

4) Five Iron Frenzy - "Upbeats and Beatdowns"

5) The O.C. Supertones - "Supertones Strike Back"

6) The Insyderz - "Motor City Ska"

7) Reel Big Fish - "Turn the Radio Off"

8) MXPX - "Life in General"

9) The Cardigans - "First Band on the Moon"

10) Clueless - OST

11) The Hippos - "Heads are Gonna Roll"

12) Noggon Toboggan - "Snapcase"

13) The Ataris - "Blue Skies, Broken Hearts . . . Next 12 Exits"

14) Celine Dion (shut it) - "Falling Into You"

15) Mariah Carey (shut it again) - "Butterfly"

16) TLC - "CrazySexyCool"

17) Ace of Base - "The Bridge"

18) Green Day - "Dookie"

19) Nirvana - "Nevermind"

20) The W's - "Fourth from the Last"

Listography : List Your Favorite Cover Songs

1) Matt Pond PA - "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" (by Neutral Milk Hotel)

2) Ra Ra Riot - "Suspended in Gaffa" (by Kate Bush)
3) Jimmy Eat World - "Half Right" (by Heatmiser)
4) Matt Nathanson - "Romeo and Juliet"(by Dire Straits)
5) New Found Glory - "Glory of Love" (by Bryan Adams)
6) Jeff Buckley - "Hallelujah" (by Leonard Cohen)
7) The Format - "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us" (by Sparks)
8) Band of Annuals - "Echo" (By David Williams)
9) Ben Folds - "In Between Days" (by The Cure)
10) Five Iron Frenzy - "Sweet Talkin' Woman" (by Electric Light Orchestra)
11) Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" (by Paul Simon)
12) The Fray - "Heartless" (by Kanye West)
13) Go Big Casino - "I'm Leaving" (by Reubens Accomplice)
14) The Hippos - "Always Something There to Remind Me" (by Naked Eyes)
15) Iron and Wine - "Such Great Heights" (by The Postal Service)
16) Joshua Radin - "Only You" (by Yazoo)
17) Lenka - "Gravity Rides Everythig" (by Modest Mouse)
18) Ryan Adams "Wonderwall" (by Oasis)
19) Ted Leo "Since U Been Gone / Maps" (by Kelly Clarkson / Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
20) Ben Folds "Bitches Aint Shit" (by Dr. Dre)

Listography : List Your Favorite Live Albums

[For you live music fans, I highly suggest NPR's All Songs Considered Live Concert Podcast. They are amazingly up to date and include the Tiny Desk Concert videos. I listen to them constantly at work]

1) At the Point - Matt Nathanson
2) Clarity Live from The Marquee - Jimmy Eat World
3) Proof that the Youth are Revolting - Five Iron Frenzy
4) Last Show at The Glasshouse - Jefferies Fan Club
5) Unplugged in New York - Nirvana
6) iTunes Live @ London Festival '09 - Mumford and Sons
7) Live Warehouse EP - Band of Annuals
8) Live at the Electric Factory - The Fray
9) The Daytrotter EP - Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos
10) Cabin Ghosts - Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons

Listography : List Advice You Follow from Song Lyrics

Listography : List Advice You Follow from Song Lyrics

1. "This is what she says gets her through it: If I don't let myself be happy now then when? If not now, when?"
   - Jimmy Eat World "For Me This is Heaven"
   
   
2. "Do you believe in something beautiful? Then get up and be it!"
   - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists "Me and Mia"
   
   
3. "I wait in 4/4 time and count yellow highway lines that you're relying on to lead you home."
   - The Weakerthans "Left and Leaving"
   
   
4. "You can own the stage, but the lights and glare will not make you real."
   - Margot and the Nuclear So and So's "A Light on a Hill"
   
   
5. "Sees the ocean fall and rise. Counts the waves the somehow didn't hit her."
   -Elliott Smith "Baby Britian"
   
   
6. "Signing up for that second semester cause you won't marry me without the degree. Once I fix things up right you won't be so embarrassed of me. I'll never make it now but at least looking in the mirror won't feel like lying."
   -Dear and the Headlights "Grace"
   
   
7. "Dancing out on 7th street. Dancing through the underground. Dancing little marionette, are you happy now?"
   - Ryan Adams "When the Stars Go Blue"
   
   
8. "C'mon c'mon, spin a little faster. C'mon c'mon, the world will follow after."
   - Counting Crows "Accidentally in Love"
   
   
9. "There's still some living left when you prime comes and goes."
   - Jimmy Eat World "Big Casino"
   
   
10. "Please don't put your life in the hands of a rock n roll band, they'll throw it all away"
    - Oasis "Don't Look Back in Anger"
    
    
11. "I'm trying to find truths in words and rhymes and notes and all the things I wish I wrote."
    - The Format "I'm Ready I Am"
    
    
12. "And I do need the wind across my pale face. And I do need the fern to unfurl in the spring. And I do need the grass to sway, yes I do need to know my place."
    - Bowerbirds "Northern Lights"
    
    
13. "I sat and stared at the sky, I knew I'd find myself there again. I wondered how else to cope with the air. And I know, I won't feel it again if I just played along. "Stupid games are for stupid people" and they end just like a song."
    - New Found Glory "2s and 3s"
    
    
14. "To find someone you love, you gotta be someone you love."
    - Nada Surf "Concrete Bed"
    
    
15. "I always wanna feel like part of this was mine."
    - Jimmy Eat World "A Praise Chorus"
    
    
16. "Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls that brought me here. And in a wide sea of eyes I see one pair that I recognize."
    - Ben Folds "The Luckiest"
    
    
17. "What a curious life we have found here tonight, there is music that sounds from the streets. There are lights in the clouds and there's ghosts all around, hear their voice as it's rolling and ringing through me, soft and sweet, how the notes all bend and reach above the trees."
    - Neutral Milk Hotel "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea"
    
    
18. "Head under water and you tell me to breathe easy for a while. The breathing gets harder, even I know that. Made room for me it's too soon to see if I'm happy in your hands. I'm unusually hard to hold onto."
    - Sara Bareilles "Love Song"
    
    
19. "Don't test the ones you love, it will only tear us down. If you want to feel alive, then learn to love your ground."
    -Mumford and Sons "Sister"
    
    
20. "When I accellerate, I remember why it's good to be alive. Maybe this weight was a gift, like I had to see what I could lift."
    - Nada Surf "Do it Again"
    

New Blog Series! : Listography

So it's been a while since "The Loop" series ended and I posted my top 10 albums and top 25 songs of 2009. I spent a lot of time over vacation thinking of what to do with this blog. Let's face it, EVERYONE HAS A BLOG. If I were to make this a "music news" site, it'd probably just be news recycled from other (better) music blogs. Not to mention that I work a regular 9 to 5(ish) job so my news would be lagging since I'm supposed to be working during those hours (ha).

I really liked having a "series" as part of this blog with the decade retrospective, so I think I'll try it again, but with a different theme. For Christmas, my coworker Todd gave me a book called "Music Listography : Your Life in (Play) Lists", which is basically a journal with pages of themes for several different "mixtapes", not to mention some really cool artwork. I really like the idea of it, very much a challenge in this iPod shuffle world of ours.

When I was in high school, up until about halfway through Senior year, I had a walkman and made mixtapes with various themes, one that I specifically remember being the "emo" mix. Some of my favorite gifts were tapes that friends made for me. There was such a personal element to all of these tapes, not only because you're hand choosing each song, but because you have to record it in real time, listen to every song in full and carefully piece it together. I loved how invested you could get into it, even moreso than a mix CD or shuffle on iTunes. I have been thinking about this for a while, but after seeing a friend's top 100 songs of the decade list, and extra free time thanks to a slow Winter concert season, I was inspired to get this going.

So here's the plan : I'm going to spend this the next few months (through the end of February) and go through some of the pages of this book and make my lists here on the not-so-personal internet. Feel free to comment on the songs or make your own list, I'm curious what everyone else feels fits these categories. I won't go through the WHOLE book, but a few fun pages. If you like it, you should buy the book and do it yourself. Books will probably last longer than the internet, anyway.

This won't be everyday (or multiple times a day) like "The Loop" was, so hopefully by being a little less daunting, I can have a little more fun with it. We've got nothing but time to explore old tunes. And maybe by March, I'll have figured out what to do with this blog. Or at least a new series.

Enjoy!
-Smashley