Tuesday, September 15, 2009

On the way home from work tonight,

I was listening to Ingrid Michaelson's new album, and, turning it up louder and louder, I thought: she is one of the artists whose albums I will probably buy without needing to listen to it first. Which got me thinking about several other musicians whose albums I'll probably always buy, mostly because of their influence on me at some point or another, which happened to be good enough to get me hooked.

Here's my list.

•Jason Mraz. I remember the first time I ever listened to "Waiting for my Rocket to Come." I loved it just from my rhapsody preview, and that album reminds me of some of my dearest memories of my senior year in high school, like going to see Oklahoma the musical at the Capitol theater with my stepdad and my little stepsister, because I was in my school's production of it earlier that year. He let me listen to that album the whole way to Salt Lake and back, and I remember thinking everything about that night was perfect, even though we didn't have time to eat dinner. Later on, I grew to love Jason even more after my best friend gave me a disc with a bunch of early, live recordings. I will probably always feel 18 when I hear those songs. Ever since, I've never missed buying one of his albums. Though I like his live recordings much (much, much) better, his music will always be special to me.

Sondre Lerche. You guys. He is so great. I don't think you understand. I've been listening to him since before my senior year in high school. My blog title comes from one of his early songs, "No One's Gonna Come," which is slightly Beatles-esque. His second album, "Two Way Monologues" reminds me of my freshman year in college, specifically a night when I went to my sister's apartment and it rained so hard that it seemed the ground was raining up as well. Every album following that one has been, seriously, fantastic. A lot of people became fans after "Dan in Real Life," but do yourself a favor and check out his earlier work. I love him.

•Ingrid Michaelson. I was kind of disappointed by the stuff she released last year--it was a lot of repeats and left me wanting. This latest album, however, is great. Her song, "Glass," always reminds me of flying over Los Angeles in early spring, seeing the skyline at night and turning the music up so loud that it hurt my ears.

•Rooney. My "gateway" drug to better music than... LFO. Stuff like that. The opening riff to "Stay Away" will probably remain my favorite opening to a song, ever. It's good, California rock-pop.

Those are my initial musicians that come to mind. I'll have to think about it some more. That said, who are yours?

2 comments:

Amy said...

Coldplay.

BNL.

Trashcan Sinatras.

good list Ash. fun idea.

Adrienne Hansen said...

LFO was cool. You little cool music basher.

Ummm...JOHN freaking MAYER! Hello?!

That's about all. I'm boring.