I've recently dusted it off and gave it a good listen again. I think it's been a while only because I played it so many gosh darn times for years after I discovered it. Listening to it now it's still just as powerful to me.
When I was 15/16 I refused to listen to Radiohead because I thought Tom Yorke's voice was too whinny, I didn't listen to Nirvana for similar reasons. There was one day when I finally got it. I believe it was during a ride home after Jazz Band from our guitar player Chris Rue, he had been telling me about it for a while and finally made me listen, and thank God he did.
I have a very good and detailed memory of sitting in the little apartment above my best friend Katie's Garage out in the middle of the heavily wooded Gates Mills, OH and listening to Kid A on full volume in the dark, the only thing to focus on was the lights from the stereo. This near out of body experience was broken only by laughter only after Katie muttered "I feel like i'm on a spaceship". But it does make you feel that way, doesn't it? Like you're zipping through the cosmo's at varying speeds? And for two classically trained musician nerds it was just the trip our brains were looking for.
Kid A would be the gateway drug into a world that I hadn't tapped into yet, having been cuffed to my boom box by album after live album of Dave Matthews Band music.
I seem to remember specific points in my life when my friends introduced me to music that would take me to that next plane of understanding. Like when my friend Ben saw that I needed a heavy dose of good tunes and invited me over to burn album after album of tunes that would open my eyes, (ie- AIR's Talkie Walkie, numerous Stereolab albums, The Bad Plus, Brad Meldeau, Waltz for Koop, etc.). Even a short moment when my friend Craig had me listen to Juana Molina's Segundo just asking "Do you like this?" my eye's wide I respond "What is this?".
At that age me and kids like me were always looking for the newest sound, it was like a drug in one way and a contest in others. Eventually I grew out of it and lightened up in my pursuit of the new and the interesting. I come across things now and then and I'm still the go to girl for some friends seeking new tunes. But surely I'm not as intense about it as my friends Ben and Craig still are.
But still, I can honestly say Radiohead's Kid A changed my life musically. Listening to it now I'm falling in love all over again.
1 comment:
This is a great piece. With a little editing I'd think I was reading a published columnist. Have you ever thought about contributing to a music blog or publication?
I've always loved reading music articles. Even if I'm not super into the music itself, it's so great to hear about the way music lovers experience it. I wonder at the way these people can transform such a wholly aural experience into words that uninitiated laymen such as I can understand.
Post a Comment