Music

I hate the "favorite music" question, because my tastes waffle. But here's the last 10 albums I've listened to. As opposed to "played for background music".

Modest Mouse, "Everywhere and His Nasty Parlor Tricks"- Not their best, and even they say it was a bit of an experiment, but I still love it.

AFI, "Sing the Sorrow"- Most of their stuff is "bleh", but once in their careers; which is more than most people; they absolutely struck lightning and created a "best of the decade" type CD.

Dredg, "Leitmotif"- They've taken on a bit of a pop-rock inflection recently, and while I still like their new stuff, like most bands, their first big album was their best.

The Bird and the Bee, "The Bird and the Bee"- You've heard these guys before. Probably in a supermarket or shopping mall; public programmers love these guys. I'd call it "electrojazz"; essentially, they take standard jazz and modernize it a bunch. I love it, even if it knocks down my man cred by a point. Lead singer Inara George (who you might recognize from "Fools In Love", which was everywhere a little ways back) has an absolutely gorgeous voice which is worth the listen alone.

Smashing Pumpkins, "American Gothic"- I'm a huge Smashing Pumpkins mark. I love it all, except for Billy's solo album, which no one liked except Billy. He's taken full, uninhibited control of the band now- no more giving James Iha his token "one song per album"; James is out. Now that Billy's made his millions and has gotten as successful as he'll get in the music business, he's free to explore his creative impulses, for better (American Gothic) or worse (the last 1/3 of "Zeitgeist"). This is the "acoustic EP" that so many bands release these days, except this is all new material and it doesn't suck.

At The Drive-In, "Relationship of Command"- It started the emo genre without being emo itself. Poorly imitated, never duplicated, this stands as one of my "best of all time" albums. *Way* ahead of its time.

The Mars Volta, "De-Loused in the Comatorium"- After At the Drive-In broke up, Cedric and Omar formed The Mars Volta, teamed up with Rick Rubin (who's like Midas, except everything he touches turns to awesome- seriously, look up a list of the albums Rick Rubin has produced), and then created an album so original people are still trying to figure out what to classify it is. Rock meets trance meets dance meets jazz meets classical metal?

The Fiery Furnaces, "Rehearsing My Choir"- These guys are a music nerd's band. If you seriously want to listen to Fiery Furnaces, start with "Bitter Tea"; it's the closest thing they have to what could be called "accessible". But "Rehearsing My Choir" is a biographical album about three generations of women in the Friedberger family. (The Friedbergers are the brother/sister team behind Fiery Furnaces.) Narrated by their grandmother, filled with jangly pianos, it remains a good listen for me several times through.

Bill Hicks, "Arizona Bay"- Not a musical album, fair enough. But it's Bill Hicks, the great comedian/philosopher, at his absolute best. Recorded in the months before he died at 32 of pancreatic cancer, it's Bill his most open; shedding the last few inhibitions he had in a last push to get across his message of love, laughter, and truth. If a hundred years from now, there was a cult that revered Bill Hicks as a prophet, I wouldn't be surprised. I might even be a member.

Cake, "Comfort Eagle"- Often referred to as the "lost" Cake album. Widely considered to be their second best (after "Fashion Nugget", that CD was just freaking awesome), it's mostly known for the single "Short Skirt, Long Jacket", but there isn't a single weak song on the album. In a just world, this CD would have made Cake famous again.