The music post

The following is paraphrased dialogue between me and my wife during Saturday night's Guster concert in Philly:

"Dude, Guster's getting old."
"Dudette, we're getting old."

Even in the over-21 partition of the venue we felt out of our age group. I thought Guster was a band from our college days. How do kids today know the lyrics to all of their songs? Apparently the band is still popular and still putting on good shows. We definitely enjoyed this one. They didn't play a bad song in the set. As an added bonus, Mason Jennings opened for them. He seems to be aging as well and perhaps mellowing out some. He lacked a fire that he had in the earlier days of his career, but that could also be because we was only the opening act. I will say that his performance was more polished than the last time we saw him. Plus, mellow is not necessarily a bad thing.

Speaking of music, the new Arcade Fire and Air albums come out tomorrow. I've had them pre-ordered because regardless of any negative reviews they may receive, I'm still going to want them. These are two cases where the bands' previous work is strong enough for me to blind buy anything new from them. And I want a hard copy. I'm fine with downloading some albums, but Arcade Fire and Air are on my A-list (funny how they both happen to begin with the letter A), and I haven't completely left the CD format behind yet. I still prefer that "old fashioned" sound sometimes. As R joked, one day we'll be saying that to our kids, and they'll be laughing at us – ha ha, look at crazy old Dad with his scratched up Smashing Pumpkins discs.

In case you're looking for recommendations, here's what else I've been listening to and liking lately:

Post-War by M. Ward - My sister-in-law introduced to this guy a few years ago, and I am very grateful. Check out Transfiguration of Vincent for his finest hour.

9 by Damien Rice - Heartbreakingly good.

Wincing the Night Away by The Shins - For when I need something light and poppy.

Reckoning by R.E.M. - A terrific companion-piece to my favorite R.E.M. album, Murmur.

Bone Machine by Tom Waits - I've been trying out a few of Waits' albums recently, and this is the one that stuck. I love the imagery.

XM Radio - I've been doing talk radio in the mornings, but usually surf the music stations on the way home. Some of the play lists are so vast I'll hear a song and then never hear it again, which can be good and bad.