the american analog set

the american analog set
the fun of watching fireworks
released in 1996

from our living room to yours
released in 1997

the golden band
released in 1999 

know by heart
released in 2001

promise of love
released in 2003

so this band is from my hometown, but they moved to austin in 1996, pretty soon after they formed. i didn't discover them until i moved to austin as well. i came across know by heart at waterloo records, and loved the album cover enough to buy it without hearing it. there was most likely also a helpful note about the album that probably mentioned the presence of ben gibbard on one of the songs, and i was getting into death cab for cutie at the time. oddly enough i've always thought that the song with ben gibbard was the weakest track on the album.

i eventually tracked down their earlier albums, as well as their 2003 release, but know by heart has always been my favorite. their first four albums are absolutely solid, though. they put out one last album in 2005 before breaking up. the singer, andrew kenny, has since gone on to form the wooden birds. not sure what the rest of the people in this band are doing now.

i definitely learned to appreciate slow, quiet music because of this band.

i already shared one song with you in this blog's first post, but i'll give you two more now. both are from know by heart, because it's just that good.

american analog set - punk as fuck

so leave me to die in the comfort
of my own home
of my own home
of my own

american analog set - aaron & maria

we're living off some modest trust
from daddy 'fore his oil went bust
and loving you is just enough
'cause no one gives a fuck about us

air

air
moon safari
released in 1998

talkie walkie
released in 2004

i was introduced to air through the eating, sleeping, waiting & playing dvd, though i'm sure i heard "sexy boy" at some point before that. i don't remember much of that actually tour documentary, i just recall watching the videos repeatedly late at night in a friend's apartment in austin. moon safari was an especially good album, kind of lost interest in the rest, though.

i'm too lazy to upload a song right now, so i'm just going to put two videos after the jump. first is the cheesy but sweet video for "all i need."

the second video is for a song that's not on either of these albums, but it's always been one of my favorites. the song is "le soleil est près de moi" and it's from their debut ep. the video served as a preview of sorts for the documentary mentioned above. that live shot with the theremin is incredible.

aesop rock

aesop rock
labor days
released in 2001

daylight ep
released in 2002

labor days was the first hip-hop cd that i bought. i was working at a cd store in austin, tx at the time and decided to get into hip-hop, so a coworker put this album in my hands. i liked it instantly, and it's still one of my favorites. from there i looked into the rest of the def jux catalog (i'm so white), so this won't be the last def jux entry in this blog. i'm not entirely sure why i picked up the daylight ep, but it has some great tracks on it as well, including the hidden track "one of four," which covers aesop rock's nervous breakdown in late 2001.

aesop rock - "daylight"

his most recent album, none shall pass, was excellent as well, and features john darnielle (ugh genius) on the last song. you can watch the video for that one after the jump. it has zombies in it!

the adventures of jet / bobgoblin

starting in alphabetical order makes sense, as does combining multiple albums by the same band into one post. in this case, the same band happens to have changed their name from bobgoblin to the adventures of jet (with a brief stint as the commercials somewhere in between).

bobgoblin 
the twelve-point master plan
released in 1997

the adventures of jet 
part 3: coping with insignificance
released in 1999

bobgoblin came first, and had a concept somewhat similar to devo. apparently the enhanced portion of the cd explains this in greater detail, but the enhanced portion probably won't work on any computer made in the last decade, so i can't go into greater detail. they eventually got tired of the whole concept thing and dropped it, picked up a few synthesizers and became the adventures of jet. they put out this album, and then apparently a second album in 2003 that i haven't ever heard.

the bobgoblin album has some of the better songs from this band, but the adventures of jet album was stronger as a whole. i was always a sucker for that late 90s/early 00s synth-resurgence.

bobgoblin - overthrow
the adventures of jet - tell me when it's over

this is the start

i bought my first cd in 1996, between the ages of 13 and 14. it was the self-titled alice in chains album*, i had the version with the green case/purple tray (apparently the less rare of the two, what was i thinking!).  i don't think i actually had a cd player at the time, just a computer with a cd-rom. before that i bought cassettes, and occasionally listened to cds that belonged to my older siblings when they happened to be around.

14 years, and 600+ cds later, i do have a cd player, i just never use it. certain cds get pulled out to listen to in the car, but at home i only listen to records and mp3s. yet everytime i move i always dutifully pack them into boxes (in alphabetical order, of course) and cart them to the next apartment.

i've known for a few years now that i don't really need to keep all of these cds around, and have managed to go through and sell a dozen here and there, but i've never seriously considered getting rid of all of them until now.

to mark the occasion, i've decided to trade my otherwise useless music video blog in for a new blog about letting go of my cd collection. partly because i'm a sucker for a good blog name (thanks american analog set), but mostly it's just that i'm a nerd, and it seems like a fun project. (previous fun projects have involved creating not only a word document list of my cd collection, but also a far more detailed excel spreadsheet.)

as you've already figured out, i'm no writer. i haven't even fully decided what form this blog is going to take. sometimes i might have something interesting to say about an album, other times it could be a memory related to said album. still other times i might just post a particular song that i like most from the album. you might even get a guest-post from my girlfriend, who has already started her own cd purge. those will probably be the better posts.

so this is the start, it's june 1, 2010, and i have 601 cds.



*alice in chains, really. what can i say, it was the 90s. while i most certainly learned about excellent bands from my siblings, i didn't fully grasp the excellence of those bands until a few years later. at this point i was picking up albums from friends, and let's face it, dirt was a pretty good album at the time.

this particular interest was short-lived, as on my 14th birthday i was given a punk rock mixtape (i still have it) that more or less shaped my tastes through high school. after high school, a fast network and napster and audiogalaxy took over, but that's a story for another time.