The Clash - London Calling

I listened to this at Justin's old house, just off of Roosevelt. It was winter break of my last year of university, but was followed up in bulk that summer. I waited years, and among other things (a box full of uniforms; grounded; a copy of Anna Karenina; the inclination to stay in Seattle; a wide variety of emotional baggage) that I got from again living in the same city as him was a love of this album. "Train In Vain" is my favorite song. This is perhaps the most prominent entry in my ledger of "100% tension, 0% compatibility" relationships. Fortunately, there is good company in this group, due if to nothing else than to the law of large numbers.

Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American

2002-03, my room at The Rectory. It was clearly the former living room or library of the house; a big fireplace with mantle in the middle of the outside wall, four large windows, wood floors, and shelving around three of the four walls. Definitely top five biggest rooms on campus, and all mine. I listened to the same few cds the majority of the time that I lived there, with my loveseat perpetually covered in clothes and the makeshift king-sized bed. Living all isolated in the house definitely creeped me out, especially during holidays when campus was deserted - how I remember being alone on campus over Thanksgiving break, walking to the bakery during a blizzard, buying an entire pumpkin pie and eating it straight from the dish with a fork while watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer Slay-a-Thon on Thanksgiving day. It got dark around 4 pm, and I was totally freaked out, holed up in my room with all of the lights on in the house (sorry, global warming). This cd was my default for a big part of that year, the one that just lived in my stereo and was constantly playing, mostly because I couldn't be asked to change the cd. I recall sitting at my computer, IMing with Kate, and I can hear the intro to the first track in my head.

Stellastarr* - Stellastarr*

I've seen them live in concert twice. The more important time was at the Crocodile Cafe (R.I.P.) in April 2004. Ryan's friends wanted to go, so we also went. Earlier in the day, I had mentioned to Justin and Co. (the Scooby Gang) that we were going to the concert. Ryan was not a big Scooby fan, at least as far as Justin was concerned, so imagine the tension when we show up and who do we see, but some of my friends. Who were much more easy for me to talk to while we were waiting for the myriad intro bands and warm-ups to end. Ryan was so pissed that he left me at the show. I got a ride back to Queen Anne from Justin. In my mind, that was the day Ryan and I broke up. In his mind, probably not, but I'm writing this bloody thing. He might say June, and there's an argument there I suppose, but - no.

Kings of Leon - Because of the Times

Quite contrary to my experience with Aha Shake Heartbreak, my next Kings of Leon phase was when I met Tom. He, the America-phile who loves American Football (the Dallas Cowboys in particular) and soul music, had a thing for Kings of Leon as they are one of the few contemporary bands who ascribe to Tom's particularly retro music aesthetic. He was quite pleased that I liked them and owned their sophomore album (and their debut as well), and as music was one of the primary foundations of our friendship, this boded well. He gave me a copy of the newest album in April 2007 (right after it came out), and while it took me awhile to warm to the whole thing, it became something that linked him to me in my mind. "On Call" became our song, for me, and I was sentimental at that time, also liking "True Love Way"; "Charmer" was his favorite due to it's grittiness, and I now favor "Ragoo" and "Fans," the last two still having a place on my shuffle.

Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak

This album came out in late 2004, but I didn't get into it until spring of 2005. It was one of the first albums I purchased on i~Tunes (after hearing singles played on KEXP), and there was something about it - the twangy-ness, the southern-rock-ness, the gritty and awkward vocals, the self-referential and slightly vulgar lyrics, the songs as circumstantial snapshots lacking in happy endings - the latter few of qualities seemed to make it all just resonate for me at that time. I remember thinking that these were just some kids from Oklahoma, I think 19-21ish, and they made something that unexpectedly felt the way I felt. Living in the shitty Brooklyn apartment, spending my time in my dark bedroom initially suffering through my drawn-out crap relationship with Kurt that was slowing dying and had been doing so for months, feeling the hurt of being treated poorly and then the hurt of being alone. I willingly signed up for more. I spent a lot of February - early summer 2005 listening to this album.