you always like the ones that sing your life

I am a person that enjoys music. For me no matter what is going on in my life, there’s always a song about it (I take comfort in that fact). And for some reason the sad songs always do it best. Music is a huge part of who we are personally and culturally (except for those who really don’t get in to music, and there’s just no hope for them). Music taste is a strange animal as well. Recently I’ve noticed that I can track my musical tastes back through not only my friends but my family as well. My mother always said “you always like the ones that sing your life,” I got The Beatles (pop tracks with something to say), James Taylor (really pretty songs about being normal), and Jimmy Buffett (all is not lost, we’re flawed but we’re happy stuff) from her and her twin sister. My folk influence came from my Mom and my aunt, the reason I like stuff like Iron and Wine, John Vanderslice, and Sun Kil Moon probably has nothing to do with the fact that I’ve heard “Tea for the Tillerman” from beginning to end over a hundred times. My Grandmother gave me country (not that new-fangled stuff they try to pass off as country these days, real songs, about hard living). Some of mine and her favorites were always; Patsy Cline (why do I love you again, love songs), Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash (epic songs about damaged people, not unlike themselves). The other thing I got from my grandmother was the Crooners (sure none of them wrote their own stuff but they’re renditions were always the best). Frank Sinatra (the chairman of the board, he made you love the girl he was singing about as much as he did), Nat King Cole (does it get any better that “unforgettable”?), and Ray Price (Another great voice from that period of our musical heritage). This love of old “true” country is what brought me into the arms of bands like Bright Eyes, Jenny Lewis, and Band of Horses, and my entire addiction to sad songs in general. My Uncle bestowed on me the rock. I’ve always been a rock and roll kid but I truly learned the way of rock from this guy. Metallica (think black album, and “master of puppets” those guys are totally guilty of laterday douchebagery, I know, but at one point they rocked your face off), The Rolling Stones (another band guilty of some douchebagery as of late but a great band in their day), and of course Jimmy Hendrix (the space rock and post rock bands I listen to today owe their careers of the voodoo Jimmy wielded). To this I owe my taste for things like Reggie and the Full Effect, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and Modest Mouse (bands that just plain rock). My other aunt and uncle were always into new wave, having grown up in the 80’s. from them I aquired a taste for The Talking Heads, and Devo (silly sounding songs with strong social commentary layers), and They Might Be Giants (a band that may very well need to be credited with the indie music scene, and more silly songs that really have a deeper meaning) and the Clash (I still have my aunts copy of Combat Rock on vinyl and listen to it regularly). The influence of new wave and punk got me into bands like The Vandals, Vampire Weekend, and The Flaming Lips. From this foundation I have built, what I believe to be a very well-rounded taste for music. It’s funny how one can trace taste through not only themselves but through those around them. So now you know more about who I am. and here are my top 5 albums right now. comment with yours…or be destroyed…cake or death.

1. Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary

2. The Arcade fire – Neon Bible

3. Cold War Kids – Robbers and Cowards

4. Two Gallants – Two Gallants

5. The National – Boxer

~ by justinstrickland on November 26, 2007.