Not sure if it's the rain outside making me nostalgic, or the boredom of waiting here at my desk until I can pick some cell cultures from a rather disappointing petri dish....one of those dudes has GOT to have my plasmid in them...but I'm digging into some music - new and old - that have been given the honor of a place on my life's soundtrack. (I actually have a playlist on my computer called Life Soundtrack, if you were wondering).

Here is just a sampling :) Stuff I'm listening to at the moment.

1. Reverend and the Makers - Silence is Talking (Alex Metric remix)
I'm sure by now my friends are shaking their heads and saying, "please stop talking about this Alex Metric kid, please stop playing this song over and over and over." Well I can't. It's the newest addition to the LS and for good reason. It's got a great beat, appropriately timed highs and lows, is NOTHING like the actual song "Silence is Talking" (which is still okay, reminds me of the 90's when I wore VANS shoes, and never brushed my hair, but is not LS worthy)

2. Bright Eyes - Four Winds (album - Cassadaga)
This song delighted me. I was in a particularly bad mood, and was looking for some whiny, sad, emotional music to accompany me in my pity-party, so I turned to Bright Eyes. Despite the sunny outlook the group's name gives me, I know it's misleading. Bright Eyes rarely sing about anything bright, or sunny. So big surprise when I figured I'd check out their new album and this came on. It pulled me out of my bad mood, and I listened to it about 59 more times that day. When facing troubled times I still turn the the words: well I went back by random Cadillac and company jet/like a newly orphaned refugee retracing my steps/all the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead/They said "you'd better look alive".

3. Stereophonics - Maybe Tomorrow
It's an older one. This song speaks for itself. Give it a listen. You'll see.

4. Passion Pit - Let Your Love Grow Tall
Such a true song. Great for driving, especially along Rt. 99 between State College and Tyrone on a sunny day with the windows down and great big white clouds floating above the mountains. This makes the list because (I can't say this any other way, I am settling with the Christmas card phrase I think is most appropriate, cliche as it may be) it fills my heart with joy.

5. Uncle Bob -Swans
This is another song you're just gonna have to listen to. It's short and sweet, and has a killer ending that makes me think the word "epic". But then I'm a sucker for string quartets.

6. Kings of Leon - The Bucket
Another great rhythm. Kings of Leon was introduced to me by my college roommate Katie, and I will be forever thankful. Even my dad likes this one...and he's tough to please, as he is stuck thinking Steely Dan and Three Dog Night are the greatest bands to ever exist (okay, so maybe both of them make appearances on the LS, but GREATEST...?)

7. New Radicals - Mother, We Just Can't Get Enough
"There's something about you......" Ah, just to hear those words sung with the piano lightly building in the background makes me shiver. This song is a LS veteran, and it never gets old. It has a genius combination of what I like to call "build ups" and "break downs"....terms coined by Better Than Ezra as they explained the science of any good song on one of their live albums. Any time I need motivation, or inspiration, or just to feel good....this is the go-to song. NR's "Get What You Give" is on the LS too, it's equally amazing and once I even declared to my freshman English teacher that if I were a country, it would be my national anthem.

8. Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up
Since we're on the funkier side of things at the moment, I though I'd give a shout out to Curtis. Move On Up is actually a family favorite. I grew up in a pretty soulful house, my dad growing up in jazzy Montgomery Alabama plays motown, big band, and funk throughout the house on a regular basis.

9. Phoenix - Too Young
Here's some New Age funk. My best friend Monica and I like to play it when we're cruising down Constitution, pretending like our life is a movie. You should try this sometime. For some reason, whenever I'm in the District I NEED to listen to listen to Phoenix. This addition was actually made to the LS by Conrad Lucas, my 18 year old brother. Must be a family thing (actually that is not true at all.....my sister's music, not going there).

Aaaand, I'm going to stop at 9, because it looks like I'm gonna have to get to picking some cell colonies. I think it's a pretty sufficient list though.
Grand Scheme: make yourself a LS, and choose wisely. Music changes lives.