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PLAYLIST: Growing with music provides adventures, surprises

See, I can look classy every now and again.

In two days, I’ll be 24, and I’ll have been listening to music with some fervor for a decade. While I was raised with a solid appreciation for music, and I certainly didn’t dislike it as a young kid, I wasn’t discovering things for myself, really. That came later; as a teenager, I started exploring music — with no small amount of credit due to internet access and music piracy becoming quite easy for someone with some technical skill. Of course, it’s now insanely easy for those without technical skill, which, given the development of technology, shouldn’t come as a surprise.

At 14, I started uncovering musical tastes I hadn’t fully realized. What follows is a short timeline of my musical development over the last decade.

Age 14: Weezer – “Only in Dreams,” from Weezer (1994)

I was probably nine years old when I first heard Weezer — but I didn’t really know it. I fell in love with the infamous “Buddy Holly” video, but more as it pertained to TV classic “Happy Days,” which I’d been watching as regularly as I could in 1995. When the Windows 95 development team decided to showcase their “innovative” video playing technology and plopped the “Buddy Holly” video on the Windows 95 beta CD my parents had procured, a series of motions was set in place, and in 2000, I fell in love with Weezer’s 1994 self-titled debut. Soon after, I discovered Pinkerton — and it’s easy to understand how my musical progression henceforth seems to have developed.

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Brief: Broken Social Scene debut track from upcoming release, Forgiveness Rock Record

Forgiveness Rock Record

“World Sick,” the first track from Broken Social Scene’s forthcoming Forgiveness Rock Record, hit today with the usual aplomb of a track from the Canadian indie rock supergroup. The influence of producer John McEntire — you know, the post-rock god — shines through in the nearly-seven-minute opus.

While “World Sick” doesn’t exhibit all of the pop sensibilities Broken Social Scene has come to be known for, it does show the group’s penchant for that elusive expansive sound: It is in this that the track holds the most glimmer, and you can imagine that McEntire was either chosen distinctly for this purpose, or he has imparted some of his years of wisdom on the group in their songwriting.

Neva Dinova, Bright Eyes split prepped for reissue

One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels

In 2004, Neva Dinova and Bright Eyes released a collaborative EP, One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels, on Crank! Records to some genuine acclaim. Six years on, the split’s garnering some newly focused attention as it’s prepped for a reissue on Omaha, Neb., label Saddle Creek Records, which found its notoriety coming in the form of being home to early-2000s indie standbys like Cursive, Bright Eyes, and The Faint.

 

The reissue of One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels hits shelves on March 23 from Saddle Creek Records and includes four tracks not featured on the original release. Pre-orders will be shipping two weeks before the street date and can be purchased directly from Saddle Creek.