Tiempo Pa Pensa

After spending last summer exhausting my mp3 selection and primeval iPod for throngs of hyperactive middle school and aloof high school campers, I needed a complete musical purge and overhaul. Hastings was also dangerously located on the walk back home from work, and I was often rather anxious to get rid of that tip money. (Really, do you know how awkward it is to whip out a wad of $40 in all one-dollar bills each time you need to pay for something?)

So, I went from a full-fledged sound system and board with easily over several hundred knobs and slides and a litter of iPods to one small, contained CD/tape player and box of CDs, and it was perfect. In a year when I bought one pair of earrings and two pairs of shoes, music and quality chocolate were the only things I could muster any enthusiasm to invest in. And what enthusiasm there was to be had.

All this to say, if you ever got sick of me intently rambling about esoteric subgenres, it's mostly me just being excited to share these new discoveries. Finds of the year: emusic is a godsend in general, but especially for anyone who isn't quite making six figures yet, and this Dutch media group's widget lets you sample weekly over a dozen albums in their entirety just prior to their release. Those, and that it's all about the record and wine labels named for animals, particularly of the engorged sort.

In that vein, this Music section is born. Here are the albums of the last month on most continuous play. And yes, the average release date (I really did duly calculate this) for these albums is June 1998, but I have a lot of history to catch up on and chronology’s the thing I fudge most often in my stories besides. (Did I just admit that?)

Mala Rodríguez, Malamarismo
Don't let the "female Spanish rapper" bit throw you off, either, with that lithe Spaniard lisp slipping over the lilting lines.

Voxtrot, the Raised by Wolves and Your Biggest Fan EPs
Some disgustingly neat (as in trim) tracks, notably numbers 2 and 4 on the first one.

Gillian Welch, Soul Journey
You like this one the way you like "Return of the Jedi": because it resolves all the tensions earlier albums unearthed, and it's OK to not always be challenging yourself. I'd subconsciously avoided this one for a while, I think, because of the cheesy cover art and album title, but the opening song by itself easily makes up for both.

The Raincoats, The Kitchen Tapes
Chicks who look like they came from the pages of any early '80s yearbook and are claimed by Sonic Youth and Nirvana as influences. (Now that's a righteous epitaph.) I've been listening to this album at a rate of once every two days.

Mogwai, Young Team
Raw, brooding Scottish industrial alternative. Plus, You can pretty much bet their amps go up to 11.

Cistercian monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz, Chant
Haunting, in all the best ways. And a good counterpart to Mogwai.

And the theme song to "Now, Voyager." Mostly because I wanted to watch the movie, which iTunes didn't have, and this was the closest I could get.