Out of the Pod

I’ve fallen off the "Out of the Pod" wagon recently but its back in the blog today. The idea is that I hit Shuffle first thing each Sunday just to see what musical gem makes an appearance from the 28,672 songs in the Library.
Today, the first song Out of the Pod was "Dance Music" by the Mountain Goats. What? While "Dance Music" turns out to be an interesting song with thoughtful words, where on earth did it come from? It must be a song that's tagged along when I swapped Libraries with someone. And who are the Mountain Goats, I’ve never heard of them. According to Wikipedia the Mountain Goats are a band from North Carolina with an ever changing lineup who’ve, amongst other things, released a concept record about organ harvesting colonies on the moon (you’d think it’d be a challenge to write lyrics on that subject but there you go.....)
You know how it is, you swap iTunes libraries with a friend and in return for your carefully organised lists you receive a mixed bag of music that your friend likes or possibly doesn’t like anymore but couldn’t be bothered removing. Still, some of the music on a swapped library will prove to be a glorious revelation (eg Alabama 3), some of it will be suitable only for use as background music on boring car trips (eg that Johnson guy whose songs all sound the same) and no doubt there’ll also be some music that’s either challenging or unfathomable depending on who's listening to it. Then at the bottom of the pile is the sort of music that would be guaranteed a place in the soundtrack of any film titled "Streetlife in Hell" (eg that aural dross from Titanic by Celine Dion). It works both ways of course, I know people who've received my library and have immediately deleted anything with a mizmar in it, all wrestling theme songs and incredibly Alabama 3. Each to their own.

Out of the Pod this week: 15 March '09

Today’s first song out of the Pod was “I Surrender" by David Sylvian. I know nothing about Mr Sylvian, never heard of him before. “I Surrender” has a laid-back jazz feel, and would make a good background song while smoking a quiet shisha on a lazy Friday afternoon. The first 3 minutes of “I surrender” were mellow and I enjoyed it. After 4 minutes the mood becomes dark as he sings about mothers crying under the southern skies or something. After 5 minutes he starts waffling on about some girl who’s going to “throw burning books into the sea”. After 6 minutes I hoped he was going to jump in after her. After 7 minutes there was a trumpet solo. Trumpet? After 7 minutes? However, as I’ve promised to play the first song out of the Pod in its entirety no matter what, I gritted my teeth. But why trumpet? There’d been no hint of trumpet anywhere in the song previously, maybe a trumpet playing session musician wandered into the wrong studio, played a bit then wandered out again. Finally after 9 minutes 43 seconds the whole thing, thankfully, shuddered to a halt. I don't believe I'll listen to any more of Mr Sylvian's music without an anaesthetic.

Thank goodness the next song was straightforward and unpretentious: “Iron Horse” by Motorhead. Yea Lemmy!

Out of the Pod this week: 22 Feb 09

Shuffle! The first song out of the 'pod this week is......"Trash City" by Transvision Vamp. What's not to like about a song you can sing along with the first time you hear it? "Trash City, Trash, Trash City....da dah...Trash City, Trash, Trash City....."

Only 27,688 songs to go.

Out of the Pod this week 15 Feb 09

First day of the working week, into the car, start 'er up and put the iPod on shuffle. The first song out of the 'pod this week was:
'The One I Love' by REM (you know the way it goes "...this one goes out to the one I love etc etc."
Only 27,689 songs to go....

Out of the Pod this week 8 Feb '09

First day of the working week, into the car, start 'er up and put the iPod on shuffle. The first song out of the 'pod this week was.....eek....good grief I can't believe I have this.....'One Piece at a time' by Johnny Cash. Only 27,690 songs to go....