Desert Island Disks

If you've read (or seen) High Fidelity, or if you listen to any decent radio stations, you've probably, at one time or another contemplated your Top Ten Desert Island Disks. If for some reason you have no clue as to what I mean, these would be the ten albums you would pick if you were to be stuck on a desert island for all eternity with only ten cds. I'm not going to any desert islands, nor am I in a position to be forced to select a mere ten cds from my collection. However, with my upcoming trip out of the US, there is no way that I could possibly bring my entire cd collection and still have room for clothes. So, I limited myself to a small CD case which holds twenty-three disks. Then I had to go through the arduous task of triaging my cds and deciding which ones made the cut. First, I decided to eliminate nearly all of the cds that made the trip to Russia with me back in 2000. I had a great time on that adventure, but I'm a different person now, and this is going to be a very different trip. Only two cds from my previous trip are accompanying me on this journey.

(1) The first of these two is In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel. This is my favorite album, although if you compare it to the albums on the rest of the list, you might wonder. It has a very different sound. A friend of mine gave me this album when I was in Russia. He told me that it was possibly the greatest album of all time. This was a friend who had very similar tastes in music to myself, so when he hit play, I was confused. I actually didn't like it in the slightest! Yet somehow, it grew on me, and within the week, I found myself needing to listen to it several times a day. Additionally, I was living in St. Petersburg, a city which suffered greatly during World War Two, and which is home to a fantastic museum on the St. Petersburg blockade, and where I studied the blockade in depth in one of my courses. Jeff Mangum, the singer/songwriter of NMH has somewhat of an obsession with World War Two, and this shines through clearly in this album. Then there's the Kunstkamera, a rather creepy museum in St. Pete containing (in addition to other, non-creepy exhibits) Peter the Great's collection of human oddities. People with weak stomachs should really not visit this place.... I believe I've described it in the past as an exhibit of deformed babies in jars. I somehow ended up visiting the Kunstkamera at least three times. I also read essentially any English language book I could find. I do a lot of reading in general, and it's something I miss when I'm overseas. Translating my way through a Russian novel, while in some ways satisfying, is never as pleasing as a good old read in my native tongue. I acquired a book called Geek Love, which I read cover to cover. It was an interesting, although rather disturbing book about circus geeks (circus freaks). The parents in the book had decided to create the highest quality circus freaks, by having the mother ingest an abominable combination of illegal substances while pregnant. The children who died in childbirth (including at least one with two heads) we placed in formaldehyde and put on display. I know, this is completely gross and disturbing - that's not why I bring it up. You see, at the time I was reading Geek Love and visiting the Kunstkamera, I was introduced to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, which contains the ever so memorable song Two Headed Boy. I don't know; I guess it was just a combination of things, but somehow that album seemed to fit so perfectly with the life I was living at the time. I love it. Jeff Mangum is a genius. And I couldn't imagine returning to Russia without it.

Don't worry - I don't intend to give that lengthy of a review for all twenty-four cds! Here are the rest:

(2) Tabera Noastra by the band Zdob si Zdub. I discovered this group while in St. Petersburg (and even got to see them live - they were incredible!), and I fell in love. They're not Russian (although some of their songs are in Russian). They're out of Moldova, and most of their songs are in Romanian. It doesn't matter that I can't understand a good lot of what they're saying... Zdob si Zdub produces a riotous folk-punk (a la Flogging Molly, but with Eastern European folk instruments instead of Irish) and they rock. If you can find this cd, buy it.

The remainder of the albums I selected either fell into the category of favorites, or hold the status of newbies (of which I have not yet grown tired - a huge thank you to A. for letting me burn so many of his cds!). Some of the newbies have already earned spots in the favorites category. Anyhow, in no particular order:

(3) Get Behind Me Satan by The White Stripes
(4) I'm Wide Awake It's Morning and (5) Digital Ash in a Digital Urn by Bright Eyes
(6) You are the Quarry by Morrissey
(7) Mer de Noms by A Perfect Circle
(8) This is a Long Drive with Nothing to Think About (9) Good News for People Who Love Bad News and (10) The Moon & Antarctica by Modest Mouse (To be honest, Lonesome Crowded West is my favorite Modest Mouse album... but it accompanied me on my last trip to Russia, so I'm leaving it behind this time.)
(11) London Calling and (12) The Clash by The Clash, in addition to (13) a mix CD I made of my favorite Clash songs from various other albums
(14) Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables by the Dead Kennedys
(15) Mezmerize by System of a Down
(16) Relationship of Command by At The Drive In
(17) Swagger and (18) Drunken Lullabies by Flogging Molly
(19) Doolitle by the Pixies
(20) Dry by PJ Harvey
(21) Le Tigre by Le Tigre
(22) I Megaphone by Imogen Heap
(23) The Dresden Dolls by The Dresden Dolls

Of course, I'm also bringing six cds with selected songs (some from the cds above, many from a wide variety of sources) which I'm planning to use in the classroom. However, that's work related, so I won't bother writing about it until I get over there. Anyhow, A. is flying in this evening. He'll be here until midday Monday, so don't expect to hear from me until Monday evening!