#only one said roblocks

[frightenedcookie]

Follow up on my trick or treating adventure

[our-daily-spin]

Broken Bells - After the Disco - 2014

2020-01-20

This was a spin I was surprised I had never spun before.  I’m a huge fan of the Shins (heard for the first time on a mix cd by Dan, on a road trip to Frankemuth) and remember the first Broken Bells album, a collaboration with the Shins lead singer James Mercer and producer Danger Mouse.

Going through my list of about 200 recommendations from friends, is a bit like flipping through a virtual vinyl rack at a store.  Scrolling by until the right synapse fires in my brain, signaling the match between the underlying mood hidden from me and the album that will scratch that itch.

I turned this on in our front room, Henry on the couch playing on his phone, on the couch. During one of the songs, there was some “skipping.” Seemed to be a bad bluetooth connection from my phone to the speaker.  Henry made a joke about it needing cleaned, and then said I thought only records were supposed to skip.  It made me think, is there a “perfect” way to listen to music?  Each seems to have its potential faults.  Vinyl and it’s skipping, CDs and even despite such amazing advances as shock proof players, their skipping.  Digital and buffering or connections.  Even live music - I remember a Spoon concert with Henry where the lead singer’s guitar wasn’t playing out to the crowd for at least the first three songs.  Maybe purely acoustic?  Even there a potential for a string break. 

Maybe that’s part of the allure, the fragility of the perfect experience, manipulating sound waves and electrical pulses.

While interviews reveal the intent behind the title “After the Disco” was more about growing up, or moving past the adventures of youth into adulthood, the ‘disco’ reference primed me more for a post-70s disco type musical performance.  

Oliver needs his Roblocks game read to him, I’ll have to return to this later. but most likely, I never will