making coffee right

i've put the new depeche mode single on to all three computers that i have access to now, so i can hear it everywhere i go. the song has little buildup, and the chorus goes nowhere(except for the bass line at the 3.35 mark), but that's fine. i've written elsewhere before about the total sheen of sex that's all over every depeche mode song since 1986 or so. this new song is no different. it's a good confluence of violator and ultra, i think. the guitar comes in at about 2.20 and makes the whole song. i've played the track at least 10 times today, so it's still second to swing out sister's you on my mind, clocking in at 14.

another song that i found through the early bird request line was the guess who's sour suite. i had no idea that it was the guess who until i tracked it down; i'd never heard them do 70's quiet pop, but there you go.

the latest step in my ailing computer's gradual collapse has been the corruption of my itunes music library file. somehow it's erased everything since july 2004, forcing me to rebuild everything. all of the files are still there, but i've had to delete the many, many tracks that i've deleted from the hard drive over the past year, in addition to re-adding everything that i've put on to the computer in the same time frame. it's interesting to see how much flux the library is in; more than half of my library has turned over in the past year. i have no tolerance for bad music, and will delete it. not without fear of losing some gems unwittingly, mind. i'll always be nervous, but noticing, now, that i haven't wanted to hear any of the songs that i've blasted away over the past year makes me feel more secure.

i've also lost the last year's worth of 'most played songs', which is not unlike losing a diary. i admit to having manipulated it, though. i'll feel that i really like a song a lot more than the play list reflects, and i'll play it just to improve its rank. or, conversely, i'll be embarrased at how high a song is ranked, when i didn't think that i liked it that much at all. it's refreshing to not have the statistics at work. when the numbers are avaliable, i'm compelled to look at them, analyze them, master them. if they're not avaliable, though, i'm perfectly alright, and lot more content to just listen to the music.

the immediacy of acquiring new music has, i'm sure, led to a severe reduction in my attention span. laying down $20 for a new album means that i'll put a lot of work into enjoying it, but if i've just plucked something off of soulseek, i've got no impetus to focus on it. john darnielle wrote well about this, and reassured me in my committment to spending so much of my disposable income on albums that i already have copies of.

on lately, and unmentioned:
the left banke
readymade
mojave 3

starship's we built this city on rock and roll has been rerecorded by STARBUCKS as we built this starbucks on heart and soul. it's incredible. here's a link!