The Music Swap

My family celebrates holidays by raiding each others' music collections. (And drinking.)

When I look at iTunes, I can easily remember the holiday by looking at the music. We're junkies, really. Almost of our childhood memories have very specific soundtracks (Poco, Doobie Brothers, Orleans, Bonnie Raitt). My father once told me that our family music education may not have been wide, but it was deep.

Last year, I was completely hooked on collecting British pop music covers by crappy British bands. This year, I took a six month hiatus from new music -- two months listening to only a client's new project while they work recording, and then, my post-break-up moratorium on any music.

Post-moritorium, I bought three cds:
Alicia Keys, As I Am
Kanye West, Graduation
Common, Finding Forever

I highly recommend all three. I listened to the Alicia Keys album non-stop from Austin to Florida and had to keep reminding myself not to sing aloud on the plane. Plus, D worked with Alicia Keys a few weeks ago and had only the best things to say about her after hearing her sing a cappella for 2 or 3 days.

I know that sort of thing shouldn't matter, but it always does when I buy music. Heck, I had emotional and not musical reasons for buying what I bought:

• I adore Alicia Keys and will buy anything she releases so she can keep making music, mostly in thanks for "If I Ain't Got You," a song I would have danced to at my wedding to A . . . dammit.
  
• My friend C highly recommended the Kanye West cd, but I really bought it after he lost his mother out of solidarity for someone with an absurdly close maternal bond.
  
• I've bought nearly every Common album for years and years, but it took my friend RH's gentle reminder to make me pick the new one up. Like RH, I make my friends pick up my friends' albums, too. Hell, I make them go to shows at Emo's and Red-Eyed Fly to see bands they hate. (Love you guys!) The Common disc is really great though.

For this year's music swap, I will be picking up some east coast indie stuff from D & S, more covers for my collection from mom, and sending them some of my more obscure indie stuff and some unreleased demos (that I have approval to share with D&S).

Currently playing:
Frosty the Snowman, Fats Domino.
Drums of Death Instrumental, DJ Shadow.
Roll On, Dntel feat. Jenny Lewis.
Angels We Have Heard on High, Duvall.
Orange Moon, Erykah Badu.
Liquid Street, Roy Hargrove.
Molly's Chambers, Kings of Leon (from BBC's Radio 1 Live Lounge).
Le Bien, Le Mal, GURU.
Little Girl Blue, Nina Simone (which repeats the melody from Angels We Have Heard On High).