2000-05-19 - 00:21:23

An error, a hardship, an exile

11:40 PM and neither roommate is home . . . good thing that I enjoy having the place to myself from time to time. Two CDs arrived today: Crime and the City Solution's The Adversary - Live and Goldie's 2 CD release Saturnz Return. As a first impression, both are quite good.

Goldie's music, for me, is something to have in the background, rather than something to focus on. I just let the music flow around me and enjoy the groove. I still consider Timeless, the CD that Nick got me into last fall, to be his best work. Timeless joins Ende Neu (Einst�rzende Neubauten) and Juxtapose (Tricky) as the definitive music of the fall term. Whenever I hear the opening notes of "So Real," I'm sitting upstairs in the Chooch's apartment again.

CCS is one of the many bands that I've looked at recently because of a Nick Cave connection. (Mick Harvey and Rowland S. Howard played with both Cave and CCS.) A year ago, I didn't really know who Cave was or what he was about. Now, not only do I own every CD by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, I've also discovered a lot of related artists: Einst�rzende Neubauten, CCS, the Birthday Party, Die Haut, the Dirty Three, and solo work by Barry Adamson, Mick Harvey, and Anita Lane.

Maybe I have the need to be on a quest, to be on the hunt for something. When I was younger, I became a huge fan of Sergio Aragon�s' hilarious comic, Groo the Wanderer; and I spent several years tracking down every issue. Now, I've recently picked up about 50 CDs from the set of bands I mentioned above, as well as one of Cave's books of collected lyrics and a book of photography chronicling a Bad Seeds tour.

Did I say obsessive? Heheh. That's okay, though; there are worse things to be addicted to than music that inspires and moves you, emotionally, intellectually, and physically. Have I mentioned before that music is my one true passion in life? Seeing Black Sabbath for the first time (2/9/99) was the greatest experience of my life and nothing touches me on a day-to-day basis like music. To quote Friedrich Nietzsche, "Life without music would be an error, a hardship, an exile."

I came across a web site tonight whose creators and contributors obviously share that same passion for music: Under the Influence [ed: now defunct]. I enjoy hearing someone's thoughts on music and recognizing the identical sincere enthusiasm that I feel, regardless of whether I feel a connection to the same artists who touch that person.

J.