if you’re into pictures and charts (and who isn’t?), i’ve posted some graphs of my progress.

• r.e.m. [automatic for the people]
• gustav holst’s suite no.1 in e-flat (performer unknown)
• christopher franke [babylon 5: z’ha’dum]
• berlin philharmonic performing dvorak’s concerto for cello and orchestra
• mercury rev [deserter’s songs]
• roni size [brown paper bag]single
• yoko kanno [cowboy bebop]
• john barry [dances with wolves]
• camera obscura [biggest bluest hi-fi]
• the faint [blank-wave arcade]
• yoko kanno [cowboy bebop: music for freelance remixes]

switching gears now, i first heard of the faint when a friend convinced me to go to a show in fort walton beach, fl in the summer of 2001. tucked into the corner of a otherwise-empty, impossible-to-find hole-in-the-wall bar with about 20 other kids, the faint’s brand of synth-rock-with-so-much-pop-flavor-you-must-dance completely blew my mind. the group’s performance was amazing, with apocalyptic smoke and lights which gave an edge most sinister to a group whose make-up was pale and dress was black.

after the show, i briefly talked with the frontman. i forget what we spoke about, idle chit chat probably, but i found the experience a bit surreal. he was still all dolled up in his goth-stylings, but he was just sitting there, chatting it up,  arms folded, like a regualr-joe from omaha. i bought blank-wave arcade from him. •

quick notes:
holst’s suite no.1 is a good work, especially the third movement. but as i’ve mentioned before, i’m a sucker for a good march. mercury rev’s deserter’s songs is majestic and symphonic; it is the group’s finest recording. my youthful devotion to r.e.m. disappeared rather rapidly around the time new adventures hi-fi came out, but i still consider automatic for the people a classic.