My Earthly Pleasures

Yes, I finally gave myself the treat of that trip to BullMoose on Saturday. (Well, first I lay around the house, after JR and Antoine departed their whirlwind stopover at "Chez K", bemoaning the return of the heat yet stubbornly refusing to put the air conditioner back on. THEN I summoned enough energy to drag myself to Portsmouth.) So, the purchases, in alphabetical order by artist:

• Fields, Everything Last Winter
• Maximo Park, Our Earthly Pleasures
• The Polyphonic Spree, The Fragile Army
• Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
• Wilco, Sky Blue Sky

The ritual... what? Karen, a ritual, NO! (I hear you Michaela.) Yes... Drive I95 to Portsmouth, the fastest, most direct route. Park in the garage, and walk to the promised land. Promptly become overwhelmed by vastness of selection, unknown artist blasting overhead, and impossibly beautiful record store boys. (And, alas, they ARE boys, but so cute with their vintage look shirts and carefully careless mops of hair.) Wander the bins, settling in, pulling out all the potential candidates. Shuffling the stack, trying to do math in my head, and making choices based on arbitrary factors like cover art, random song titles, and general whim. Now make my way through checkout, and walk back to garage clutching the prizes, pondering the next big question-- which one to listen to first? Which will grace the beginning of the trip home? The trip home, which is undertaken now not by way of the speedy I95, but down route 1A-- meandering along the shore line and marshes. A pretty ride but also an excuse to listen longer.

So it's Spoon that's first in queue, despite having quite possibly the worst album title EVER. Not exactly what I expected. A little edgier, less accessible... which is not a bad thing, just means it won't be the one I latch onto first. Instead it will be the slow burn that could grab me unawares when I least expect it. Pass a scenic overlook and swap out to Fields. Lush and swirling. Harmonies. Orchestration. Sigh with satisfaction. Then swap out again... and oh god, the immediate choke hold. Maximo Park. I couldn't even remember what snippet put it on The List, but the risk was worth it, this is the one. The one I will be listening to non-stop until I wear myself out and sneak back apologetically to the other purchases to begin letting them in too, bit by bit. Poppy and raw all at the same time and really, can anyone write lyrics like the Brits?

Find me an American band that rhymes hypothetical, alphabetical, theoretical, and dialectical in a refrain so catchy you have to sing along.

Go ahead, I dare you.