Musicana Monday (Throwback to the Shins)

I got to see Wish I Was Here (new Zack Braff movie) with my bro in Langley while I was on vacation, and I absolutely loved it. Somehow I walked away with "Chutes Too Narrow" stuck in my head. There was a new Shins song for the new film. But somehow I still have the old ones in my head.


So, naturally, I dug out my old Shins albums (instead of listening to them on Youtube like a normal person), and you know what? I still love them so much. Is that way too uncool? I'm starting to understand folks that get stuck in their glory days--you know, walking around listening to music and sporting fashion from decades gone by. It's a lot of effort to keep up.

Plus, lots of the old stuff is just unbeatable. And there's the nostalgia factor--Chutes Too Narrow is packed with nostalgia. It brings me back (not that far really) to my first summer of tree planting.

Some albums just do that--especially if you listen to them all summer long on repeat. It's really not a very summery album, but I was totally down with that. In the summer of 2005 (two years late to the game) I fancied myself a poetic person (and also, I fancied a poetic person), so I was into lyrical stuff. And, in fact, I read all the lyrics in the jacket (multiple times). The Shins do contraries well--like awkward and sexy, and I'm a big fan of that in general.

Also, I was super-awkward, but I had dreams of being cool. And this was the golden age of Seth Cohen. Uncool was the new cool. Indie was everything. The hipster apocalypse was on the horizon. "Pink Bullets" was my jam.

Me; my brother Darren; and my foreman, Karl
End of planting season thrift store costume dinner 2005

Who were you in the summer of 2005? What were you listening to? 

Something to Sing About

It feels like it's been a good long time since I found an album that I absolutely love, but a few weeks ago I was directed by a friend towards Adrianne Lenker on bandcamp, and I've been listening to it on repeat since then. My number one fave track is "Indiana," and I've heard it so many times now that I pretty much know all the words. I really feel like you should listen to it and fall in love, but I'll leave that up to you. 

All Sorts (of Awesome from Last Week)

Once again, the highlight of my week was games night with my closest friends. It looked a little something like this:

Is that a head-lamp on my head? Why yes, it is. Usually I take my head-lamp off for Settlers of Catan, but there was to be a ghost-hunting adventure immediately afterwards, so I just left it on. 

Ghost-hunting was a huge success. My bff had seen a vaguely kkk-like shrine-ish thing in the woods earlier that day and ran herself sick to get away from it. But then, after the sun went down, it seemed like a good idea to go in for a closer look. So, armed with our flashlights and head-lamps, we headed for the dark and twisted forest. Up close, what looked like a kkk hood/ghost was actually a bunch of laundry, randomly hung over branches in the woods, but it looked eerie as heck from afar. Also, we had a great time jumping out of bushes and screaming like five-year-olds (some of us more than others).

The soundtrack of the week was The Miseducation of Lauren Hill. I know all the words, and I like to harmonize like a super-dope backup singer (which in my case involves very little harmony, and a lot of shameless off-key singing with my eyes closed. 

What was super-amazing about your week? Don't be shy. The highlight of my week was a board game! 

tough like rocks and sweet like pearls

Lately I've been hunting for new music the way that Goldilocks hunts for porridge. Everything is too this or too that. And I'm not even a picky music listener. It's hard to find what you want when you don't really know what you're looking for. BUT, last week, Leigh-Ann posted "Lazy Saturday & Recommendations," in which she mentioned Oh Land. I watched this video (again and again and again). It was just right.