Between working long and late hours, apartment hunting, and now packing and preparing to move, I haven't really listened to much music for pleasure this summer, and I haven't really thought about it.  I listen to music all day for work, so often I crave quiet after ten hours of mastering old blues and folk recordings. I quit listening to music for most of June, reading during my subway commute and listening to podcasts of This American Life and Radio Lab at the gym.  I left stores if I hated the music, which happened frequently. That new Grizzly Bear CD still sat dusty and unplayed on top of my stereo.

Then, last week, I finished a book and suffered through three consecutive late night subway commutes in which passengers talked so loudly I wished for my earplugs.  So I charged up my iPod, still broken - in fact, even more broken, now that my lock/unlock button only functions sometimes - and hit shuffle.  Sometimes, that's all it takes.

Wow, music is awesome! It makes me feel so good! All these wonderful songs in random order syncing with my footsteps as I walk to the subway, blocking out the noise as I wait for the train.  My favorites from this week:

While You Wait For The Others - Grizzly Bear

Blagged - Peter Sarstedt

S.O.S. - Abba

I Am A Rock - Davy Graham

I bought a new CD three weeks ago.  Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest. And I have not listened to it yet.  Oh, I have tried.  I unwrapped it the day after I bought it but had to run out of the house before I could listen.  I put it on my iPod (which I hate to do, believing that a CD deserves a full fidelity first listening) to enjoy while waiting in the florescent lit prospective jurors room during my first time ever serving jury duty this week.  But we prospective jurors were all dismissed, so I never had the chance. Have I not had one hour to devote to listening to a CD in the past three weeks?

Well, I guess not.  Between working and apartment hunting and a few hours of sleep now and then, I've been booked solid.  The only music I have listened to has been for work.  (Hours and hours of old timey blues and folk, peppered with early-70s Nigerian disco funk and French experimental -- all heavenly!)

If I don't listen to it this weekend, I will suck it up and listen during a subway commute.  But don't you think a new CD deserves better?

Releasing limited edition artwork with a CD-R labeled "For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will." Brilliant. 

Danger Mouse = cat. 

Music industry = mouse.

Streaming on NPR.