Music for the Soul

A rare music post for me, but here it is.

As you know, moving has been the bane of my existence lately. I'm still not sleeping well -- new environment and a/c issues I'm sure. In fact, I'm exhausted today. Bone weary. I was up at 5:30 listening to slurry run through the a/c lines. Fortunately, we've got someone coming out to look at it today. Hopefully that means we can start getting the room to arctic chill level soon and then it's just a matter of my getting used to new house noises.

I've not unboxed anything for three days. Shame on me. Nope, I haven't been working on the house because I've been trying to get some actual work work done. Part of that involves my calling all the area chamber of commerce offices for city info -- most have been very helpful and some seem to be on perpetual vacation, not returning calls at all.

Hmmm.

So I told Mike that we needed to budget. Rent is more expensive here and I'm tired of the rental game altogether. Ergo, saving is a must. But, our phone and router were both on sale last week so I treated myself to a cd that I've been wanting (my sister's been wanting it as well).

And it's so fun! Vampire Weekend (named for a film made by one of the band's members) have a sort-of Caribbean (technically African according to the band's influences) sound that reminds me of certain 80s songs that I love. In fact, their videos have a very Duran Duran feel for me.

Like similar bands, the lyrics can sometimes get a bit heavy, but the upbeat music itself makes the listening experience so much fun. I feel like dancing around the room when I listen to it. And, given my wild mood swings of late, it gets me back in an up mood so that I'm not ready to wreak havoc around myself. "Oxford Weekend" is probably my favorite song on the cd with "A-Punk" right behind it. And I really dare you not to smile listening to "Mansard Roof" or "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" (reminscent of Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place").

And that's the first half of the cd! The second half is just as good, trust me. It's my new happy cd. The band is smart, too, so don't be fooled by the chipper beats. The lyrics are not so thinly veiled opinion pieces on all kinds of things around the world but basically the way people treat each other (in a nutshell).

"Vampire Weekend" (the name of the album) was named on multiple best of 2008 lists and the band is currently working on a new album slated for later this year.