...Radio Silence...

The Vagabond has been rather silent lately, for which I humbly apologize, but as it so happens, I haven't listened to many new albums as a whole lately. In all honesty, the initial flurry of listening activity that started this music blog was inevitably going to be unsustainable, and I expect to gravitate towards a happy medium here eventually. I do have albums to listen to in my queue, including Jónsi's solo debut, Go; the Penguin Café Orchestra's first abum, Music from the Penguin Cafe; the Decemberists' rock opera from last year, The Hazards of Love; and I anticipate I'll be eager to review the new Stars record, The Five Ghosts, when it comes out next month along with other new releases as I hear them.

The Journey isn't over, it never is, but it comes and goes sometimes with the tide. Stay tuned...

Lala update

So, as some of you undoubtedly have heard, Lala is shutting down come the end of May. I don't know if I'll update the old entries to with new widgets for listening, it may depend on how much attention this little blog garners.

More importantly, I've begun using Grooveshark, another online streaming service that allows for custom playlist widget embedding (imagine that phrase five years ago!) The main appeal, on your end, is that now my blog is no longer America-centric as Grooveshark is available (to my knowledge) worldwide, without memberships required. Plus, the widgets are color-customizable, which is fun on my end. So expect to see Grooveshark from now on, as you hopefully have been enjoying!

And look for more reviews in May, and as the summer goes along get ready for the long-awaited new albums by The Hold Steady and Stars!

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Class of 2010

Tonight, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame enshrined their Class of 2010: ABBA, Jimmy Cliff, Genesis, The Hollies and Iggy & the Stooges. I happen to fascinated with the politics of the Rock Hall, usually in a cynical fashion, but I still find it a useful guide to identifying important artists of the past. In terms of this class, I'm somewhat familiar with all the artists.

I (like everyone on Earth) am aware of ABBA's hits, though I don't actually have any of them save "Dancing Queen" in my library. I knew Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" (a stunning soul hymnal with a gorgeous vocal) well before I grabbed the soundtrack to The Harder They Come, which he contributed to and seems to be a seminal moment in his career, shortly before starting this blog. For the Stooges, I also know a handful of their more important singles. "1969" is a great track, but I'm not really one to enjoy the all-out aggression of their sonic assault (if ever a band's sound necessitated the term, "assault", to describe it, it's the Stooges.) I respect that sound, and the Stooges' role in pushing it to the max, more than I enjoy listening to it. And I have to plead ignorance on the Hollies except knowing Graham Nash (of CSNY) was one of them, though the videos I found on YouTube don't do much to dissuade my notion that they were just a '60s pop band with some sort of lasting influence that others who care more than I could trace.

Then there's Genesis. I have scattered tracks from throughout their career, from their 22-minute opus/something, "Supper's Ready" through to their snappy '80s & '90s hits like "Invisible Touch" & "I Can't Dance." I'm really interested in the band and their transformation after Peter Gabriel left and Phil Collins took over. What I've heard from both ends of their spectrum I've liked, though generally not loved. When I look for '70s prog rock I tend to prefer Yes, and for '80s synth pop they're just one of dozens of bands with hit singles I'm fine with.

That's why I've finally gotten my hands on The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and worked up the determination to dive into it. In all their catalog, it's clearly the hulking mammoth waiting to be tackled. So here's a rare sneak peak at my itinerary: I expect to have a review up of it this week, hopefully tomorrow if I can digest it all fast enough. I'm sure tonight's ceremony will add a little to my enjoyment of the album as well, and so I must be off to catch it. 'Cause there's really nothing I like more than talented people praising other talented people. (That sentence, and this one, are produced without irony. I really do love watching all these praisefests, so help me.)

Four on the Floor

"Four on the Floor" is a new feature to this blog, which is a Lala playlist over there in the right-side column. It's a playlist that will be constantly rotating, consisting simply of four songs that I've been listening to a lot lately. As you can see, they have little to do with each other stylistically. The only common thread they have is that I've listened to them a lot and they've been on my mind lately. I hope you enjoy the frequently random selections from my library, as this playlist will be another chance for me to share the music I love with you, the readers.

Statement of Purpose

Welcome, readers, to the journey of the Aural Vagabond.

A young man from Boston, now living in New York City, I wanted to create an outlet for my habit of unceasingly listening to music, new and old. Combining my ever-expanding musical tastes with my penchant for writing, I came to create the blog you are reading now.

There will be many different aspects to this site, as there are many different reasons I listen to music (and, presumably, many different reasons you do too.) The most straight-forward aspect will be album reviews. I am not a professional critic, so I won't be reviewing all the new albums as they are released. Instead, my reviews will center mainly on the new albums I purchase and rent from my local library (my two main modes of acquisition, although streaming off the internet is up-and-coming in my personal practice.) Sometimes I will get my hands on the latest album and I'll post reviews as timely as I can, but for the most part this blog isn't focused on the weekly output of new album reviews. Instead, expect reviews from all eras and genres as I expand ever-outward in my journey.

One feature I will begin writing will be, "Playback," which will consist of reviews of albums I've had in my collection for a long time, and the focus of those reviews will be not just musical but also contextual. Some Playback entries will have direct references to my life when I first listened to the albums, as some are inextricably tied to times and spaces. Within Playback I also intend to fully review the catalogs of some of the artists whose entire discography I possess. Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, the Beatles, and U2 are the largest individual discographies I have, and hopefully Playback will get a chance to examine theirs and more as I continue this blog.

I also will begin a series of smaller entries, which will have less form than Playback and as such will be nameless for now, based on reviews of individual songs. One strand I'm following as a guide in my journey is the history of the Billboard Charts, and in many cases these present artists for whom only a few (if not one) songs will suffice in my exploration. One-hit wonders will abound here, but sometimes there will be artists I just have no interest in besides their hit(s).

Other projects will surely follow, but for now let this post light my way for the coming future. As the blog builds, I hope to build a readership that will not only follow me in my journey but also guide me along to new and as-yet-unconsidered destinations. I'm ready to set sail.