Not sure how it happened, but six months have gone by since my last post. The summers are always filled to the brim here on MV and this one was no different. But the fall, which is usually a time for reconnecting with year-round friends, returning to a regular schedule, and generally having more down time, has felt more like a marathon. I keep running and running and wondering…when will I get to the end? I won’t bore you with the details of my personal life, as I know that is not what you came to read. Instead, I’ll jump right into the music. Since it has been six months since I took the proverbial pen to the paper, I thought I’d attempt to do a high level recap of some of my musical musings. Just because I’m not writing about music, doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about music. The music is what gets me through the marathon, also known as, life.
In no particular order, here we go…
1. The Lumineers is one of my new favorite bands. I’m really hoping that they will be at the Newport Folk Festival next year as I’d love to see them live. Although, they were recently mentioned in the new television show Nashville, so perhaps they are already too big and/or mainstream?
2. Pandora Radio and 8tracks are my preferred ways to stream music. Pandora is much improved from its early days. There is more variety than there used to be and I can stream music directly through DirectTV, which is handy if my phone is not around or it is low on juice. 8tracks allows you to mark songs as “favorites” which is helpful when I hear a song that I like, but don’t know the artist. I can then go back and look at my list of liked songs when I am purchasing music.
3. Speaking of buying music, eMusic is still my go to site for music purchases. Songs range from .49 to .89, which is far less than iTunes. And unlike iTunes, files are not locked which makes it easier to incorporate the songs into iMovie videos, etc.
4. Have you heard of Freegal? It is a music site is allows participating library patrons to download 5 songs a week. Their collection is somewhat limited, but hey it’s free! My daughters and I enjoy perusing the site and I let them pick out songs that I would not typically buy for myself. Recently, we got some songs from one of the Glee soundtracks.
5. Alabama Shakes was most definitely the highlight of the Newport Folk Festival this past summer. Although, I must mention that I was pleasantly surprised by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band . They are not your typical folk act (hello, the word “jazz” is in the name of the band), but they put on quite an enjoyable show.
6. I never thought that I’d be a fan of any American Idol winner but I must say that I really like Phillip Phillips’ song “Home”. I tried to resist the hooks, but he got me and I have to admit that I love playing it loudly and singing along.
7. Milo Greene, who opened up for The Civil Wars last fall at the Berklee Performance Center (see my post from last October), released their debut album in July. Check out their song 1957 if you haven’t already.
8. Speaking of The Civil Wars, I was disappointed to hear that they have split up. You can read more about their ‘internal discord’ in this Rolling Stone article. Perhaps these challenging times will lead to a successful follow-up album. One can only hope.
9. The David Wax Museum, Brandi Carlile, Mumford and Sons and The Lumineers are just a few of the artists that we’ve been listening to these last few months. Check out my latest playlist, “25 songs we like” to hear more of what we’ve been enjoying. Ilana loves Brandi Carlile’s “That Wasn’t Me” and Sasha frequently requests “Big Parade” by The Lumineers.
10. For those of you not within WMVY’s broadcast signal, I am sad to report that their FM signal was sold to WBUR by Aritaur Communications. In early 2013 you will no longer be able to hear MVY programming over the airwaves. It is hard to imagine that 92.7 will stop playing the music that has become synonymous with “island” life. I will truly miss listening to Laurel, PJ, Barbara and the many other DJs that have entertained us with their eclectic music and their own musings. I can recall falling in love with the music of MVY during the summer of ’90 when I lived here with a college friend. And even though I am hopeful that they will raise the money necessary to stream over the internet, it will be truly sad to have to reprogram my radio pre-sets. If you’d like to learn more about the sale of the station or how to contribute to their fundraising efforts, you can go here.
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you’ve enjoyed the music and the musings!
My Musical Muses 