The Electric Version

Today's Music That Jason Will Save For Something Special is Electric Version, by The New Pornographers. I listened to this album last night while I was cooking and eating, and just had to write about it. It's an album that I might not always mention in the hierarchy of albums that will change the way you think about music, but it's wonderful. The songs start out great and just keep getting better; there's maybe one song (out of thirteen) on the whole album that doesn't really grab me, and that's only in comparison to the others. Why aren't you listening to this album? Why?

This is the second album from the NPs. Electric Version is a very fitting title; whereas the first album was more whimsical pop, with a sense of 'we-don't-know-what-this-is-but-there's-magic-here' exploration, this is an album that turns up the guitars and really gets down to business. It doesn't exactly rock harder than anything else, but it's has more volume and drive than Mass Romantic. This album still has all the hallmarks of a NPs album, though: clever lyrics, more pop music in one song than most albums, Neko Case, and so on. It's smart indie-pop, all kinds of fun to listen to, but far too good to be dismissed as radio fluff. These songs will hug you and not let go.

I thought for a while about what my favorite song on this album would be. Maybe "July Jones", the penultimate and likely darkest song on the album. (This is the first NPs song I found, and I listened to it seven or eight times that day.) Any one of the first seven songs is a good choice - "From Blown Speakers", "Loose Translation", "Chump Change", "All For Swinging You Around", "The End of Medicine", and "The Laws Have Changed" are all marvelous. The album closer, "Miss Teen Wordpower" is great too. I don't suppose I really have to rant more about this album - it's just filled with wonderful songs.

In other news:
I had strange dreams last night. Also I went to sleep with a shirt on and woke up shirtless; I have no idea where the shirt is. I looked for it for like ten minutes this morning and could not find it. Strange days indeed.

Last night I also made pizzas on pita bread. Pesto, prosciutto, feta and parmesan cheeses, and some hot sauce. I wish I had used some tomatoes but the end results was still incredible. I'll be thinking about it, and hearing Electric Version in my head all day:

Go, don't stay, just throw it all away
There is you and then there is your body