The Pop Pirate

It will change your life...

It's a phrase you've heard bandied about. And it seems especially prevalent when talking about music. In Garden State, Sam (Natalie Portman) tells Andrew (Zach Braff) that The Shins will change his life, and at the time I thought she was just being precocious.

A few months ago, we bought an iPod. I had resisted due to it's price and my tendency to have all of my music stolen, but I was drunk on carbohydrates, and when we got home that fateful day, we were the proud owners of our very first Apple product. And you know what? The damn thing has changed my life.

When I was younger, I listened to music constantly. I distinctly remember spending my evenings in my room, not caring about TV or books or movies, just listening to tapes. Then at some point school, then life pushed music to the fringes of my life. I listened to music in the car, and occasionally while at work, but I was listening to the same few artists: TMBG, Ben Folds, Barenaked Ladies & Cake (who are all still awesome, by the way).

Then the iPod came into my world. What it accomplished was nothing more than convenience. I was suddenly able to listen to music much more easily and readily than was ever possible before. I didn't have to remember to bring a particular CD around with me, or for that matter, carry around a CD player. All of a sudden, my day was a Cameron Crowe movie. Walking out to my car, grocery shopping, waiting in line at a fast food restaurant, I had wall to wall music. I started to remember how the right music can put me in a good mood, or relax me, challenge me, or wake me up.

Then, since I had so much more listening time, I began to crave more music. Fortunately, I have 2 younger brothers who are much more hip to these things than I am, and they started suggesting CDs for me to check out. First came the very same band who I thought was overhyped in Garden State: The Shins (Oh, Inverted World). And let me tell you: Sam was right. Okay maybe not in earth-shattering ways, but it certainly changed my perspective on what contemporary alternative music can be. No screaming guitars, no whining, and an alarming old-fashioned approach to music making from this band opened my eyes to the landscape of music that I was missing out on. And the lyrics? Wonderful. I'm a person who loves music that is a puzzle- you know it makes sense on some level, but it takes a lot of thought and a lot of listening to crack it (see TMBG's whole catalog). The Shins deliver this enigmatic quality on every track.

So, I'm probably going to talk more about music on here. I just have to listen to this Sufjan Stevens album a few more times to get a handle on it... but it is amazing.

posted by Jeff @ 2:59 PM