Hobbits & Radio Woes

Happy Monday! It's time for the first full week of gutsiness to commence!

I am a creature of habit. I've often compared myself to a hobbit-like being, happy to sit in a cozy corner and drink tea and not go on any adventures or do anything unexpected (see blog: The Good Hobbit Wife). This is why the "trying something new everyday" idea is so daunting...and yet exciting, if I let myself go there.

One of my many habits has to do with music. I am not a picky music lover, I just love music. However, I have found myself getting into a rut with music, lately. I listen to 103.7 The Mountain in the car, typically, as I do a lot of driving between school and work and it's nice to have something to listen to.

The Mountain is not such a bad station, or at least it wasn't. Back in the day they claimed to be an eclectic rock station, playing stuff that the college and early-career types like to listen to. Here a little Jack Johnson, there a little Bowie. Toss in some Rusted Root for variety's sake, you know? And I love that they love Seattle, and always keep pretty good track of stuff going on in the city. Gotta love the local mindset.

But lately I've become a bit disenchanted with the station.

(rant) For one thing...they fired my favorite morning show hosts back in September (Marty and Jodie!! Nooooo!!). They even had the gall to do this without consulting me, while I was away in Ireland...how rude. For another, I find that they are a lot less eclectic than they once claimed to be. Playing John Mayer's "Who Says" twenty times each hour doesn't count, as "edgy" as it may seem (oh my goooooosh, did he just say "stoned" on the radio?). Has anyone else noticed that all of Counting Crows' new songs sound EXACTLY THE SAME? And when I heard one of the hosts call Imogen Heap an "emerging artist" last week I nearly flipped my lid. You just played a song from her THIRD solo album! How long do you have to be on the air before you've made it, dude? Did the soundtrack to that Zach Braff movie count for nothing, not to mention the trailer?*
(/rant)

My favorite solution to this is to listen to my iPod in the car. However, I have managed to break three different types of iPod adaptors in the last two years, so that idea is out, for now.

Yesterday I flipped my dial over to KEXP (90.3) for the first time, under the recommendation of my Mass Media professor. Though it's not as easily-singable, being much more eclectic and obscure than The Mountain ever is or was, I enjoyed the brief ten minutes I listened before switching back to the station I felt comfortable with, climbing back into my hobbit-hole and shutting the curtains, sighing into my Earl Grey.

This morning, after hearing "Fireflies" by Owl City on The Mountain one time too many, I decided to throw comfort out the window and switch to KEXP for a whole week, nonstop, just to give it a chance.

First new find that I love? "To The Sky", by a band called Maps. Beautiful, beautiful...better than anything the poppy-types on The Mountain are dishing out. I suggest taking a listen! It is now cuddled happily on my iPod.

Perhaps it's not a groundbreaking gutsiness, but all the same...a week in a new audio territory means a lot to me. And that's all that matters anyway, I think. ;)

I'm now going to go make myself some cocoa and enjoy my new favorite song. Thanks for reading!

-The GLS
*For the record, I absolutely adore "Garden State"...no one get their feathers in a flurry, mmk? Mmk.