Friday’s listening

Not much music was listened to yesterday. Over breakfast and pre-work potterings I put on An Album By Korallreven, by Korallreven, a Swedish techno thing that I picked up earlier in the year. I’d got hold of files of it towards the end of last year and enjoyed it, and, feeling a little flush before we started the moving-house-process, I’d picked up a real copy. Three months later, I’m not sure why – it’s alright, especially the opening track, but the rest of it is a bit anonymous.

With a big house move on the horizon I’m mindful of the record collection becoming too large – I’m weeding bits that will never get listened to – because even though we’ll have more space (by quite some way) individual rooms will be smaller. Plus, we’ll be spending all available spare cash on paint, and new furniture like proper dining tables, and a proper spare bed, and it seems frivolous to have unlistened-to and unloved CDs on the shelves.

I worked in the large office in the morning, with half a dozen colleagues. Initially James was playing Radio 2 when I settled there after a couple of meetings first thing, and I protested, as usual. De La Soul’s 3 Is The Magic Number was a pleasant surprise, and there was a song by Japan. There was also some awful county thing, which made me want to close the garage door and leave the car engine running.

James suggested I should play songs off my iPhone for an hour before I headed off to work on the other campus at an event for the afternoon, so I did. Once again I just let the ‘Songs I need on mu iPhone’ playlist randomly meander. It gifted us with the following:

Caetano Veloso – Tropicalia

Jimi Hendrix – Little Wing

Grizzly Bear – Southern Point

Yo La Tengo – Beanbag Chair

Aphex Twin – Come To Daddy

The Byrds – Feel A Whole Lot Better

Outkast – Synthesizer

Acoustic Ladyland – The Room

Four Tet – Slow Jam

Blur – Battle

Supper Furry Animals – The Piccolo Snare

Delakota – The Rock

Spoon – I Turn My Camera On

Blur – Song 2

Super Furry Animas – Play It Cool

Sugababes – Overload

The Chemical Brothers – Setting Sun

REM – Electrolyte

I then heard a snatch of Let Forever Be by The Chemical Brothers in Charley’s office, presumably coming from 6music. I had a bit of cognitive dissonance recognizing it as The Chemical Brothers, despite knowing that it was and the prominence of Noel Gallagher’s vocals. Maybe it was having heard Setting Sun so soon before, or the strong visual memory of Gondry’s music video for it, but something in my head said it was Daft Punk. Strange.

And that was it – after work I went for a 32-mile bike ride, and then I made tea and watched Taken and part of 40-Year-Old Virgin while I waited for Emma to come home from a meal out with colleagues.