temporary tempo

once upon a time five years ago, I blogged about pandora and how cool it was. those four stations have morphed a bit since then, and I must confess I hardly listen to them anymore. Mraz Cake Radio has become Flogging Mraz Death Cake Radio, and I'll switch over to it if I am in the mood for some wild and upbeat stuff sung by men with wonderfully unique voices. but other than those rare occasions, you'll probably find my pandora set to the Sufjan Park Album station. along with Sufjan Stevens and The Album Leaf, it plays a great deal of Wilco.

all three of those musical groups remind me of last summer. lots of phone calls. castles of innocent (but somehow still pretty selfish) hope.

pandora.com is still a great way to discover new and suddenly favourite songs. right this minute it happens to be playing a song called 5 Years Time by Noah and the Whale. I like it despite its repetitive pop. the lyrics have just enough poignance.

now we're back to Sufjan. it's the trumpets he throws in his stuff that summon such a cheerful vibe, I'm thinking. most of this station is more mellow. some with soft, soft vocals and some with long, slow, bare instrumentals. (me? listening to music without words? what? I know. it's weird.) pandora is good at mixing all of this just right. it even gives me Simon & Garfunkel. lovely.

in another five years, I'm sure I'll have a new handful of custom radio stations. but maybe one of them will dig back in time and play some old, unforgotten track from The Strokes or Bob Dylan. I can see it. someday, somewhere in the future, I'll listen to some old track from The Album Leaf and I will be once more right in the middle of this rainy spring, facing all these dissolving aspirations.

if you have a moment, dear audience, listen to one or two of these songs that my life has been marinating in lately. I'm putting links to them here just for you, and also to form a sonic time-capsule for myself, so I'll always be able to come back and listen to these softly mingled flavors of my past.

One Wing, by Wilco
Window, by The Album Leaf
Chicago by Sufjan Stevens

note to self: you need to actually buy some of The Album Leaf someday. it would make the most beautiful and perfect yoga music. even better than the Iron & Wine you use now.