A Whole New World!!

I've been away from a while. For a reason. Two, actually. On April 27, at approximately 11:45 in the morning, my two children arrived happy and healthy!!! We've been home roughly a week and our "routine", if you could call it that, consists of a sitcomesque new parents thing of diapers, bottles, feeding, diapers and diapers. My daughter and son are wonderful. My older son, who's adjusting really well, is the family's new helper, older brother, example and playmate. Things have settled in quite nicely, though, in all honesty, I'm absolutely exhausted.

Family aside, I've been having this major '80s music jones. Not a stupid, nostalgia sixth grade dance thing but wanting to discover or rediscover music that has dated very well. So, with that, I've really found a great appreciation for R.E.M., a band I've always respected but sometimes was irritated by. Michael Stipe doesn't really impress me as a singer but song content and overall vibe make the songs. I'd like to explore more pre-Document stuff and I am a bit scared to move into the '90s. As a senior in high school, I was the newspaper editor and music critic. One of the albums I wrote about was Time Out of Mind, which I didn't give a great review. Shiny Happy People made Stand look like Flight of the Valkyries. Stipe's vocals on Everybody Hurts from the next album made Adam Duritz from the Counting Crows sound like Van Morrison. With all of that, I think R.E.M.'s the next band from "the past" i'd like to explore.

Another band I'm re-enjoying, though they're breaking new ground today is My Morning Jacket. Kokonos, the band's latest live double-disc from the Fillmore in San Francisco, captures a band with a timeless classic yet modern sound. Like R.E.M., I'd like to tap into the band's early releases. I have the three major-label records but want to hear the band's four or five albums that helped define their following. If any band makes you appreciate what rocked about the early 70s but is missing today, this band is it. If any band makes you thank goodness that good music is still being made, this band is it. Off to feed...