Hello, world!

Hello denizens of the interweb. In all likelihood, this means classmates who are continually looking for a new source of procrastination while code slowly crunches. If anyone else actually reads this, well, bonus!

Even though the world doesn't need another music blog, I've received a number of positive comments regarding my album posts on facebook over the last month or two. Given that music is one of the few things that I spend money on these days (and given that I've purchased an absurd number of albums so far this year: 40+, in fact), I figure I might as well use a blog to comment on my acquisitions. I suppose this also helps me keep track of what albums I've acquired; just last week I found two albums on my external hard drive which apparently I'd listened to once, backed up, deleted from my laptop, and promptly forgot about (for the curious, these are Jose Gonzalez's Veneer and Damien Jurado's Where Shall You Take Me? And I'm really digging Veneer, not sure why I ever deleted it.)

My musical interests are quite varied. I'm really into alt-country/bluegrass/folk at the moment, but I shift from straight up indie rock and indie pop to twee to music from any other genre that has something unique about it. I most prefer anything that I can sing or hum along to (which is why I so enjoy anything twee) or music that has particularly complex composition - so that repeated listens continually reveal something new (which is why I've still been listening to The National's Boxer, which came out originally in May).

To understand how my musical tastes align with yours, my all-time favorite legendary bands include The Talking Heads, The Smiths, The Velvet Underground, The Beatles (natch!), Radiohead, and Belle and Sebastian. And yes, given the impact of B&S on the modern indie landscape, I do consider them legendary. Favorite contemporary bands/musicians of the moment include M. Ward, Josh Ritter, The Arcade Fire, and The National. Other current favorites: The Hold Steady, The Decemberists, The Avett Brothers, and The Polyphonic Spree.

Alright, that's enough for now. More later.