Summer in Abandon

My own personal music revolution began last summer. I was finally emerging fully from the state of suspended animation I was trapped in while a perpetual student. My interests finally started to shift. I was no longer simply passively shedding the old ones with the passage of time, I was actively acquiring new ones. This happened, not surprisingly, with the help of someone I was seeing. I remember the moment my own personal music revolution began - late on a weekend night in July - while listening to the contents of my boyfriend's iPod. My ears got hooked on some woeful and utterly unique sounds - The Shins, New Slang. I had somehow missed it when watching Garden State. I bought album after album after that - first the Shins, then more Spoon, the Decemberists, Death Cab, Junior Boys, Feist, Broken Social Scene. Each new group seemed to open up exponential possibilities, so I've been doing the "choose your own adventure" thing in the global music labyrinth. Just yesterday, though, I took a moment to pause, afterall, I had been sprinting on the path my adventure had taken me down. I was combing through old CD cases and with pen in hand I started jotting down the artists I wanted more of, the ones I had been meaning to add to my collection for the longest time now. I hit upon both Neutral Milk Hotel and Pinback. In 2001 a friend introduced me to the work of both groups, I had been abroad for 2 years and out of touch with music for both of those years. The Pinback especially caught my attention - something foggy and hazy about the lyrics and twang of guitar. The deep base repeats, light hits of percussion - as if the drums were set really far back. I only had their debut. So, yesterday, onto iTunes I cast myself - and bought the whole damn lot of it - both Pinback and Neutral Milk Hotel. [Now there is some plaintive singing! And I love the Beirut connection - another of my recent favorites.]I was immediately struck by how much of a summer album Summer in Abandon really is. Perfect for the July 4th holiday - when my mind is lazy with the sun and my feet walk a little bit slower than their normal whirling dervish pace. Happy 4th, everyone! (That is, if we can even stomach looking the fourth squarely in the eye, what with the state of our nation, "freedoms" and all. Regardless, light a sparkler in hopes of a better tomorrow for our nation and the world.)Here are a few tracks: