Rainy Days, Bus Drivers and the Whitest Boy Alive

Frankly, I just don't think I could cut it as a bus driver. Sure, I know the benefits package is pretty good, but you've probably got shitty hours and no one ever gives you the benefit of the doubt - not even me. Usually, I am not too fond of my bus driver, but lately - as I listen to my iPod and read Chuck Klosterman's Chuck Klosterman IV, I've been feeling real sympathy for them. I really do not think I could make it through my work day without listening to music and, yet, they sit for at least eight hours with no tunes to take their mind somewhere else. This is probably for the best as I would likely not get on a bus whose driver was rockin' headphones, but I still can feel bad for them.

The weather is changing - we had some rain last week, and it is starting to get a bit colder. This means, for one reason or another, that all the music I listen to takes on a greater meaning. This can be good and bad - the music will always have a memorable place in my heart, yet the events of that winter season will always be attached to them. For instance, last December, I had just landed a new job which was not exactly helping me pay the bills. December would prove to be an exceptionally odd month, culminating with me being in the hospital the day after Christmas and spending the remainder of the year bed-ridden. For much of that month, Broken Social Scene's Broken Social Scene was in constant rotation. I felt like the epic arrangements and somber tone captured how I was feeling, and I subsequently played it over and over again. Yet, I cannot listen to that album anymore without thinking about last December.

I've been in one of those moods where music just sounds ridiculously good. Last Friday, it was cold as I headed downtown to meet with a band. I was listening to Dreams by the Whitest Boy Alive for the first time. (Note: You can see my review of the album at the Record Room). The Whitest Boy Alive is a new band fronted by Erlend Oye from Kings of Convenience. Simply put, I will listen to just about anything Oye goes near and usually - with his soft voice and melancholy lyrics - Oye is crafting a lovely winter soundtrack. There was, however, his DJ Kicks dance mix which was instead a summer soundtrack - but that was the exception. Anyhow, I found myself unable to get past the remarkable first song, "Burning." I must have played it three times in a row, before moving on to the rest of the album. The other songs on Dreams are equally good, but something about that first song filled me with a feeling that was completely overwhelming. When the album ended, I began listening to Yo La Tengo's new record and the same feeling carried over - just lovely.

Today I will go and see Badly Drawn Boy at Amoeba Records which should be a special experience seeing as how Damon Gough has been soundtracking my life since 2000 and I have never seen him live.