Which Tracks Do You Privilege?

Had this conversation a few weeks ago. A bit said:

"So, any particular music you listen to over and over again?"
Rather economically, I said, 'ja.'
"Oh, cool. Like what?"

I looked at my watch as it's always the first I do so I can gauge what kind of answer I was to give.

Here is the answer and the reasons that back each choice.

Stereophonics: Rainbows and Pots of Gold

Because Kelly Jones, the mastermind behind the UK band, has that lucky talent of coupling great lyrics with incomparable sounds. I do think that it takes a certain kind music lover to truly get this sound. They sort of live this ars gratia artis thing.



Marco Masini's "Perche lo fai?"

I remember seeing this live as a very young teenager. Marco Masini won the first price in San Remo's music festival's 'young performers' edition. What I found particularly contagious was this never-before-seen-on-stage collage of angst, anxiety, inadequacy, and shear skill. This song has that 'it'. Just how many times have I heard this? By now, thousands and thousands. And, alas, those who share life with me have too, by association. And many of them even know the words by now.



The Killers: All These Things That I Have Done.

If you have not seen The Killers live you are missing out. These guys are Indie to the core. Those of us who have been following them since long before the mainstream loved them up and turned them into elevator music, get what makes them timeless. To me, they are this poetic blend of solid Americana, the indomitable spirit of the Wild West, pure rock 'n roll, androgyny, and unapologetic lyrics.

I once drove from Grand Junction, CO to Aspen and then from Aspen to Denver. My iPod played this song a total of 8 + hours. When I arrived home the next day I was asked if I had enjoyed the playlist that was prepared for me. 'Yeah, yeah, great track!'
-Track?! Just one?
-Ja. didn't see the need to go past the first one.



Muse: Sing for Absolution

I first saw them in concert when they were still promoting in small, intimate venues before they made it uber-big in the States. That first concert remains, to this day, the best rock 'n roll experience of my life.



Keane: Nothing in My Way

Because I find this song in basically every playlist. Every album of theirs delivers. And as for their latest, Perfect Symmetry, I believe my review of it was was unabashedly laudatory. Theirs is a kind of melancholy I have yet to see better and less affectedly presented by any other modern performer.