Perhaps the lack of update alludes to my schedule – or maybe you think i’m lazy. And that’s fine, but you’re wrong.
I normally have to work to like christian artists, but when Justin was up here he gave me a Derek Webb cd called mockingbird that I’ve really been enjoying. If there was anything to not like about it, I’d start with the overuse of the 12 string, and that little bit of whine that he’s had since his caedmon’s call days. But it’s pretty easy to look past that and enjoy his songs and their arrangements. It’s a lot of the liberal left jesus stuff that is refreshing though ominously pendulumic. But at least he doesn’t make up words. I liked it on the first listen and I haven’t stopped listening and that makes me happy.
On the other hand I picked up the most recent Shins album and it’s been work. I’m still not totally convinced I like them, but I really want to. I want to like them because my friends like them and also to convince myself that I don’t automatically dislike bands just because they’re popular. If I can like the Shins I will reduce my curmudgeon factor by at least 2 points which is more than oatmeal can do for me. So I’ve been investing myself and sadly it hasn’t really paid off. I instantly disliked them for their cd insert. It’s a pain to read the lyrics, but they made it very easy to see who played what and just how many whats they played. Either make it all impossible or all explicit, but this mumbo jumbo middle ground of making the art mysterious and the artist obvious is only waxing ego’s. dumb. At their best I’d say they remind me of how much I like Morrissey. So if I listen to them and think, ‘hey these guys like Morrissey just like me!’ than I can enjoy them a bit, and so that’s what I do. And slowly my curmudgeoness self fades away.
Speaking of melancholy, I’m going crazy. I think I’m moving the family south; MN winters are killing me. One more dreary sub-spring day and the next blog will be about my time under the bridge with a brown bag. It’s hard to get worked up about global warming when you live in MN.
I’m going to go pretend that our TV works and stare at fuzz for awhile. Maybe listen to the Shins…