Currently listening to...

On rotation in my car and in the house are these awesome CD's...Awesome to ME that is. They may suck to you. Hey, but that's okayyy. Anyhow, the first is the soundtrack to one of the best action/cop spoof movies EVER. And I don't even watch that particular movie genre , but seeing brilliant Brit Simon Pegg and his real life best friend Nick Frost in this gem of a flick (directed by their mate Edgar Wright) made me a fan. Just like Tarantino's soundtracks, there are snippets of movie dialogue interspersed throughout the CD. Faves include songs by the Fratellis and the Eels. I don't know about you, but I really like soundtracks. I'm a very visual person and if I like a movie and/or the songs in it, I will usually get or download the soundtrack. This compilation had that dirty, grungy garage rock band feel (The Troggs anyone?). None of this Mamma Mia ABBA shit for me.One of my favorite directors who also has a knack for quirky soundtracks (ever listen to "Pink Flamingos", the original "Crybaby" and "Pecker?), John Waters is a genius in collecting kitsch and vintage trashy songs for his offbeat compilations. A sick sense of humor is needed to appreciate his odd, yet appropriate song choices...I can't even get into it here. He just cracks me up. Put it this way, if you play this with a gathering of friends, they would either walk out whilst pondering your dubious taste in music, or laugh at your face OR (and this would be cool) think that you have the most twisted musical taste ever. Sigh, which is why I end up listening to a lot of this kind of stuff solo.

Even though this movie, "Marie Antoinette" sucked the saggiest donkey balls ever (please, NEVER watch it - you will thank me for 2 hours of your life you've saved), it had a really awesome soundtrack. Even though Sofia Coppola (cough, overrated) movies are boring, she sure knows how to pick songs for her flicks. This compilation is a 2 disc set but I've been listening mostly to the first CD. It's a mix of 80's, plus ambient, as well as classical. It's kind of cool to listen to this as harmless background music. She must be a big Bow Wow Wow fan because there's three songs on here("Aphrodisiac", "I Want Candy" and the florid "Fools Rush In")! I love Siouxsie & the Banshees' "Hong Kong Garden" (provided great background for one of the early ball scenes), Adam Ant's tribal "Kings of the Wild Frontier" it plays during the scene pictured on the CD cover art), and the moody "Ceremony" by New Order. On disc 2, let's not forget the droning "All Cats are Grey" by the Cure. Gothic Marie Antoinette.

I can't believe I'm posting this, but I'm really digging this bubble-gum-teen-pseudo-glam-alternative rock band from Germany, Tokio Hotel. They recently won "Best New Artist" at the 2008 MTV VMA's, beating out Miley Cyrus (gag) and Jordin Sparks. I was curious. Hmmm, what are the kiddos listening to these days? I caught a snippet of the band on TV and wondered what was so great about this band, apart from the androgynous lead singer's huge tribute to 80's hair band hair (Nikki Sixx lives) and his skillfull use of copius amounts of black eyeliner and eyeshadow rivaling that of Siouxsie Sioux herself. Give that boy an award for killer hair and makeup!!!

Okay, several dozen downloads later...

Wow! They weren't too bad. I feel kind of embarassed to admit I dig this because I'm practically an old fart here! But hey, they're several steps up from the Jonas Brothers (ha ha).

This is their first album, Schrei ("Scream" in German, recently released this year in the U.S. as "Scream" with bonus songs), which came out in 2005. I can't understand what they're singing, but there are some catchy songs in there plus some really nice ballads. For their American release, the band rerecorded some songs because the lead singer's voice changed ("When it's time to change..." Peter Brady action). Yeah, they were pretty young when they started - 15 or so. Now the lead singer (who is a twin by the way - his twin is the guitarist) is 19. His voice isn't that much deeper - but he doesn't like like a girl anymore. Songs like "Der letzte Tag" ("The Final Day") and "Rette Mich" ("Rescue Me") are sticking in my mind. Total trash bubble gum rock!

Zimmer 483 (Room 483) is their second German language album. Featuring the catchy "Übers Ende der Welt" ("Ready, Set, Go!"), the poppy "Deiner Seite (Ich Bin Da)" ("By Your Side"), and the angsty and hard rock like (but hard rock lite-ish) "Ich Brech Aus" ("Break Away"), and other songs in the Teutonic tongue. What else has come out of Germany besides Nena, Nina Hagen (whoa, is she scary or what) and the Scorpions?

Of course, my latest band obsession, English band Muse's "Absolution" (2003), their third CD. Just two words...Stockholm Syndrome. Can the guitars get any more fierce? Then, there's the breathy and sinuous "Time is Running Out" and the quiet ballad "Falling Away With You" - this song reminds me of Queen, and "Butterflies and Hurricanes" (I dig that bombastically romantic piano interlude). What is it with me and guys with falsettos? Matthew Bellamy can rock that falsetto without sounding fey or ghey. No Barry Gibb action here.

This next CD, also by Muse, has also blown me away - "Black Holes & Revelations"(2006). Man, can you say, "Kick Ass?" . This version is a CD/DVD set (the DVD has the Absolution Tour on it). It's not like me to really get into a band so quickly, but once I really latch on to a band, I pretty much get everything I can on them. That is, only if I really really like their music. I love the 80's feel of "Starlight" (the synth line reminds me of this tiny part of ABC's "Be Near Me" - "...all my dreams came true last night, all my hopes and fears"), the Depeche Modesque (shades of "Enjoy the Silence") "Map of the Problematique" and the Spanish guitars and swirly Middle Eastern strings in "City of Delusion", not to mention the funky falsetto in "Supermassive Black Hole". Seems like almost every song on this CD could be played by a different band but with the same lead singer. Matthew Bellamy is a musical genius.

And lastly, another Muse CD on my rotation, the absolutely brilliant live album, "H.A.A.R.P." which was just released this year. This also came with a DVD of their live performance at the opening of the new Wembley Stadium last year. From what I've seen, they are terrific in concert with massive projection screens and thousands of lights and of course, great musicianship.

That's my current aural rotation, that is, until I get tired of it. Who knows when that'll be. I get fixated sometimes. For weeks. This is the most new music I've listened to in years. Perhaps I'm progressing to nearly modern times now. Ha. I'm digging myself out of my 80's time warp. I pretty much stopped paying attention to most music after the 90's. Grunge and dance music just about killed my enthusiasm. Only a few bands/artists nowadays catch my attention. I have a bare inkling of what's new out there - maybe that's a good thing. I don't have any preconceived notions of what's great or not. I just like what I like.