The More I Listen the Better It Gets

One time I was talking to friend and we agreed that you need to listen to a song or album at least five times before it “clicks” (or doesn’t). It’s kind of like dating. It takes a certain amount of time (for me, two weeks) before I’m sure that this person is right (or wrong) for me.

With music, I find that if I like a song a lot immediately, it may not have staying power. Once the thrill is gone, that catchy little ditty gets cast back into the sea.

If I’m not sure about a song, sometimes it just takes a few more listens. Sometimes thirty. Sometimes I need to wait until the band or performers next freakin’ album comes out. Then I buy the new album and while listening to its unfamiliar sounds, I think back to the familiarity of the previous album. Then (and this is the magic part) I put in the previous album and WHAM! Suddenly it clicks. The old album is brilliant! A thing of beauty and wonder!

Has this ever happened to you?

It happened to me recently with Jeremy Enigk (who you may know as the singer for Sunny Day Real Estate). He’s had four solo albums. I liked the first one. Then I bought the second and third ones but couldn’t get into them. Then I bought the most recent one and…WHAM! Suddenly the second and third albums are brilliant! (The fourth album also has some great songs…check out “Life’s Too Short” from his Myspace page).

Music Podcasts Aplenty

When podcasts first hit cyberspace, I was a new mom living in Vancouver, BC. My husband suggested I video myself cooking in our kitchen while chatting with our 6-month old infant (who has such fantastic facial expressions her preschool teachers recently crowned her with “Best Facial Expressions” at the year end potluck). I never got around to filming this, but the podcast idea was planted in me.

When I started using iTunes last year, I checked out the available podcasts. Here are some of my favorites at the moment (please share yours!):

All Songs Considered – This once a week podcast from NPR shares some of the latest music. They always manage to find the newish bands with the most buzz and play those tracks, but occasionally they come up with some oldies, too. They also put out a podcast of Live performances.

Last.fm – Not exactly a podcast, but it does push free mpeg audio tracks your way if you are subscribed. They tend to send you songs similar to the type of music you are listening to in Last.fm, so I’m getting a lot of post rock and ambient material. I’m not complaining.

The Interface – from Spinner.com…”handpicked live performances.” This is a video podcast and worth checking out to see if they have anything you’d like in there. Again, mostly indie music.

Parlophone Records – I also subscribe to the Parlophone records video podcast (hoping for something from Riceboy Sleeps one of these days). If you have a favorite record label, search ‘em out to see if they have a Podcast.

KEXP – Your favorite radio station probably has a podcast, too. This one has Song of the Day, Live performances and more.