Addicted To Noise

I’ve been impulsively downloading tracks from iTunes lately. I can’t help myself. If I hear something I like, I have to have it. Lately, I’ve been obsessing over Snow Patrol and Death Cab for Cutie and Modest Mouse. Death cab’s “Transatlanticism” is probably one of the best songs I’ve discovered in the last six months. It has this piano-guitar combo that really strokes my brain the right way. I always listen to music while I write and I quickly get bored with the stuff I have, so I’m constantly looking for new sounds. I keep telling myself that I should develop more of an appreciation for jazz and classical, but I always end up browsing the alternative and electronica sections. It’s not that I don’t like classical and jazz, but it’s not the first thing that comes to my mind. I do have some Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, and some assorted classical stuff, but it represents a small portion of my collection. Does that make me somehow culturally aware? I’ve always struggled with the concept of listening to a certain piece of music or reading a certain book because you’re supposed to. On the one hand, shouldn’t your artistic choices be determined by your own tastes and not the dictates of some so-called authority? On the other hand, does that approach mean that some people will never venture beyond a narrow range of genres? When I was a kid, I didn’t read much else besides science fiction, including some really crappy Star Trek novels. It wasn’t until later in high school and into college that I was introduced to a broader and more diverse literature. If I hadn’t received that education, I might still be reading crappy Star Trek novels.