OK, so maybe I'm cheating by posting an excerpt from an email I sent recently as a web update. I've been busy, so sue me! :-)

Here's what's on my heavy rotation music list as of late:

[] Moxy Fruvous. Last week I bought everything they ever released. These guys are like Barenaked Ladies (festive, Canadian, nerdy; with fun improvs and great lyrics) if they mixed with, say, Rockapella. Their arrangements are verrrrry tasty. For a treat, find an mp3 of their a cappella arrangement of Billy Joel's "And So It Goes," and "Once I Was the King of Spain." Awesome!

[] Since I mentioned them... Barenaked Ladies. Maybe it's just my thing for Canadians, I dunno... but if I'm ever granted a wish, it'll be to sing something full-blast with Steven Page. When God created incredibly powerful, gigantor vocal mechanisms, Steve got the golden model. Yowza! This guy's lungs often move me to tears just from sheer eargasm. Lordy, lordy, lordy! And all kvelling over Steve aside, their tunes are fun and catchy, and perfectly capture the experiences of us 30-something suburbanites. Nobody writes a to-the-point, perfectly-sums-it-up, I'm-pretty-sure-Steve-was-in-my-brain-when-he-wrote-that heartbreaker tune better than Steve. Listen to "Break Your Heart" or "Intermittently" or "Powder Blue" and tell me that doesn't sum stuff up.

[] OK Go (self-titled). These guys are from Chicago, and Jerm and I discovered them when they were the house band for a live taping of NPR's "This American Life" with Ira Glass. They totally rock. They just released their first CD, so their single "Get Over It" is getting some airplay on the radio and on MTV2. Don't let that tune fool you... these guys are what the Beatles would be had the Fab Four been born today and were raised on They Might Be Giants. Great chord progressions, yummy harmonies, clever lyrics... Love them, love them, love them!

[] Tommy Dorsey: "Sentimental Memories"; Glenn Miller: "Pure Gold"; Benny Goodman: "Stompin' at the Savoy." This stuff from the late 30s and early 40s *really* does it for me. Nothing beats Tommy Dorsey. I love the Glenn Miller and the Benny Goodman, but Tommy's trombone sings like nothing else. Call me a big mushball, but make your room dark, light some candles, and grab yer sweetheart, put on these discs, have a drink or two, and dance in your living room. Swoon-city. (Not that I would know from experience, but it's on my to-do list. hee hee)

[] Ben Folds Five. They have three studio CDs: their self-titled debut, Whatever and Ever Amen, and The Unauthorized Biography of Reinholt Messner. They also have a CD of outtakes, B-sides and live stuff, called "Naked Baby Photos." All CDs are well worth the money. The second disc (Whatever and Ever Amen) captures 1997 for me in a way that nothing else can... I am instantly transported to Colorado Springs when I hear that disc. The track "Selfless, Cold and the Composed" is one of my favoritestest songs on the earth. It's in the best key in the world (F# Maj), it's in this jazz-waltz tempo, and the lyrics kill me. The last album (Reinholt Meissner) is a bit more jaded and depressing, but still fantastic. Ben Folds is not only an astoundingly gifted pianist, but he's one hell of a lyricist as well. And Robert Sledge is the greatest bass player alive-- you'd think that boy was playing a guitar... Geddy Lee-- feh!

[] I'm not sure if you're into prog rock, but Genesis and Yes can't be beat. These guys are musicians of the highest order... their musical chops are drool-worthy. Tony Banks of Genesis is an incredible keyboardist... Chris Squire from Yes is an jaw-dropping bassist... I love rock musicians who play like classically-trained folks.

[] I've been listening to the original concept album of Jesus Christ Superstar as of late. Murray Head is a god. :-) Listening to that album is a religious (okay, maybe sacreligous) experience for me... the kooky time signatures that seem effortless... the ragged imperfect voices that make the recording sound so honest and spontaneous... and did I mention Murray Head portraying the tormented Judas so absolutely perfectly? That record really, really, really moves me, and it needs to be savored without distraction, with the lyrics in front of you for maximum effect.

[] The Holst Singers: "This Have I Done for My True Love." Stefan bought me this disc of this super-tight, vibrato-less ensemble who sings Holst's eargasmic simple choral pieces. My god, if you wanna die, listen to that disc. I'm a fan of almost everything Gustav Holst has done (I whistle "Jupiter" at work all the time), but wasn't familiar with his choral works until Stefan got me hooked. (Thanks Stef!)

[] If you want something goofy, you can't go wrong with the Dead Milkmen. I've loved these guys since high school. They have great songs like "My Many Smells", "Bitchin' Camaro", "Punk Rock Girl" and "Taking Retards to the Zoo." Politically correct they're not... but good old fashioned snot-rock they are. Leave your brain at the door and have a good time. Turns out my friend Quaf works with their former lead singer in Wilmington.

[] Anything by XTC. Some people find Andy Partridge's voice annoying, or they base their knowledge of XTC on their tune "Peter Pumpkinhead." Wake up, doofii! Pick up a copy of Oranges and Lemons and thank me later.

[] Some Kate Bush album. Ask Danielle which album she recommends. I can't decide. But Kate Bush is a true freak of nature, she's so amazing. Man. How she conceives of her songs is beyond me.

[] Anything by The Evelyn Situation, Jay's Booming Hat, Brooklyn Ferry, Tolstoy for Fun or Tnedde and the Tnedde-tones. :-D :-D hardy har har... (just kidding.)

Other must-have albums:

[] The Police: Synchronicity
[] The Indigo Girls: Rites of Passage
[] Paul Simon: Graceland (which I bought, coincidentally, in a record store in Memphis)
[] The Roches: Keep on Doing
[] Queen: Greatest Hits
[] Joni Mitchell: Blue
[] Crash Test Dummies: God Shuffled His Feet
[] Billy Joel: The Nylon Curtain (if I could take one disc on a desert island, this would be it)
[] Crowded House: Temple of Low Men (could the song "Into Temptation" be a more perfectly-written thing?)
[] Anything by Cecilia Bartoli. Holy crap.