Music Monday-1/5/2015 The Adventures of Being 13, Mix Tape

Aleathia says:

For my daughter's 13th birthday I decided to make her a "mix tape" from music I thought she might be interested in.  She had spent the last few years listening to dub step, but I could tell she was getting bored with it.  She is a girl on the edge of an identity and what shapes that more than music?  Don't we all have a soundtrack to our lives that draws us back to long ago times when we hear a particular band?

Like a good mom, I listened to some of what she was interested in and tried to pluck attributes from these that might show up in music I already owned.  I stuck to college music, old school fun music, and stuff with a bit of a dark edge to it that wasn't detrimental.  Let's face it.  I can't let the kid survive on dub step and weird shit like Black Veil Brides.  I want her to eventually move on to music that is made with instruments for goodness sake.

Last summer we took her to see Dean Ween Group and Primus.  It was a bit overwhelming for her with the crowds and the drugs and the douche bags from the city, but she did enjoy it.

I can't find the official list of 18 songs I gave to her but I know there were bands like Radiohead, B-52's, Andrew Bird, Bon Iver, Panic at the Disco!, PJ Harvey, Bowerbirds, Death Cab for Cutie, Band of Horses, and bands like those.  I thought she might listen to it once and move on...politely stuffing it in her desk drawer with the other music she never listens to.  But when she got iTunes cards for Christmas she downloaded Andrew Bird and Band of Horses.  She borrowed my Death Cab for Cutie and hasn't been able to stop listening to it...on repeat and has asked to borrow others for downloading like B-52's, PJ Harvey and Radiohead.

For her birthday, her father bought her tickets to see Jack White at Madison Square Garden.  She is hitting the big leagues.  I look forward to making her another "mix tape".  There were lots of great bands I couldn't fit on the last one and now that I know what she likes from that one, I can in effect create her own personal Pandora station from our listening library.

I remember my youth and all the joy I got from walking for hours listening to my Walkman memorizing all the lyrics and every lick of a guitar.  It was like I got to grow up on my own terms.  I had something my mom would never understand (though now I know her musical tastes did influence me in the long run).  Don't be afraid to share you music with your kids.  They might not tell you they like it to your face, but you might just catch them singing the lyrics to "Private Idaho" when they think you aren't listening.  It is the small victories that count.  Remember that.

Music Monday - 6/2/2014

Ally says:

Confession: I lived for three and a half decades before I heard a single song by the Replacements.

I don't know how it happened. I had really good guides, I swear. I had not one but two older sisters. I was born in the 70's...what more did I need to have a fully comprehensive musical trove of knowledge?

My oldest sister, seven years my senior, used to play me Led Zepplin in the car. I'd watch the cherry of her cigarette flit through the air when she was dancing like some kind of rock and roll firefly.

 Ramble on and now's the time the is now to sing my song. 

I'm goin round the world, I got find my girl, on my way. 

Gotta find the queen of all my dreams. 

I've been this way ten years to the day, Ramble on. 

This is good groundwork, right? From there, my other sister, three years my senior, picked up the slack. There was punk - Ramones, Clash, Sex Pistols. Then heavy metal. Then grunge. Then more punk. And yet somewhere along the way, I traveled this musical highway without ever hearing a single song by the Replacements.

Yes, THE REPLACEMENTS.

I know. I know. What can I say? These things happen. Dumbstruck? Yes. Me too. Never once until I was in my, ahem, mid-30's did I hear the 'Mats.

When I confessed my sister tweeted me this:

@AllyMalinenko @edwardmichael I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just admit to not knowing The Replacements. #bigsisterfail
— stephanie malinenko (@stephanieayn) March 21, 2014

I don't know how it happened people, but it just did.

And I'm glad it did.

Because that meant that something amazing was saved for me. While the rest of you understood the power of the album Tim at a young age, I was will fully ignorant so that now, I can be blown away. NOW. Just like I was back then when music was the only thing that could ever matter. When making a mix tape for a friend was a way to tell them you loved them, you were scared too, but you were there and that meant neither of you were alone.

God, I miss mix tapes.

Back then, when I couldn't talk, music talked for me. I haven't felt that way about music in awhile. Until now. So yeah, I'm not sorry. Sometimes things work out for a reason.

You already know the tune. Come on kids, sing along with me. Where we gonna meet?

That's right.

Left of the Dial.





Aleathia says:

I am one of those gals that gets pretty stuck in her ways about music if left to myself.  I am open to new tunes, but this exposure usually only comes from hanging out with different types of people.  I have since settled in a small town and hunkered down in our new house.  There isn't a lot of mingling going on in person or online.  So in an effort to update myself I went to the local record store, which unfortunately is a national chain, and looked at new releases and flagged bands in the racks.

Today I'm going to drop a few videos on you from the new Pixies album Indie Cindy.  I know that the Pixies are by no means "new" music.  They were around back in the day, but I could just never bring myself to listen to them.  I knew of them, knew a few songs, but it was never enough to make me invested.

I jumped onto the new Myspace and took this album for a spin.  I was pretty much transported back to the early 90's which says to me that this band didn't grow or expand much.  It has that same 90's noisy double guitar that blends together and the lack luster vocals that just barely sounds out above the music.  If you love this sort of thing, buy the record.  It wasn't all a loss as there were a few tunes on there that I found to be palatable and would listen to again.

This one is my favorite, "Greens and Blues":

and this one, "Magdalena 318":

and lastly "Snakes":