Music to live for

Music continues to be one of the things that I am grateful for every day. I don't think I could live without music. I just applied for a job at Pandora, which has been my work radio since I moved here. Before that it was KCRW on iTunes but my last job was on PCs and we weren't allowed to have iTunes. What's up with that? Anyway, there are so many great ways now to listen and discover new music - Pandora, Lala, Buzznet, Last.FM - and buy it with a click on iTunes or Amazon. Lala actually has amazing prices on CDs.

I'm listening to some particularly amazing discs right now that I wanted to share with you.

1) I've only JUST discovered Cat Power with "Greatest" but she has a score of albums that I haven't heard. I'm really particular with female vocalists but I just love her stuff. Listen to one of my favorites from this album, "Love and Communication."

2) If you haven't heard The Gorillaz they are amazing! To get the full range of their music, you only have to listen to this song, below, and "Kids With Guns."



3) I've always liked Beck but the first album I actually bought is his latest, "The Information." I love everything on it and listened to all of his other albums. My next favorite album is "Sea Change." You can listen to three songs (including my favorite, "Cellphone's Dead") and read a great review on NPR. I'm telling you, new music is waiting to be discovered all over the Internet.

4) Thom Yorke is the lead singer of Radiohead. I like them but have never purchased their music. After hearing "Black Swan" on Pandora, I bought his solo album, "The Eraser," and am in love with it.

5) A friend introduced me to Beirut. He's a 19-year old from New Mexico who made an album inspired by gypsy music, it's amazing. This is the first song I heard but the rest of album, "Gulag Orkestar," is all different.

You can find out more about all of these artists on the websites I listed above. I encourage you to buy and try!

I've become a LaLa evangelist

LaLa was in Beta long before I got on. In fact, I was invited by a couple of friends months before I tried it. I didn't feel like looking at something new. I get invited to try stuff all the time. Join this! Do this! Be my friend! It's tiring and much of the time, nauseating. I can't even keep up with email and phone calls. So the idea behind LaLa is this: Trade your CDs with other people, the more you send, the more you receive and it costs $1.75 each.

One day I was at my mom's house and she said something about how she had so many CDs she had to start putting them in boxes so she didn't even know what she had anymore and she was pretty sure she didn't like many of them. She also kept a list of music that she wanted to buy and for months I had been telling her to make a wishlist on Amazon so I could buy them for her. All of a sudden it clicks. I'll trade them on LaLa for CDs that she wants! I joined in October and in four months I've traded 156 CDs and almost completely overturned my CD collection. My mom gets a stack of new music every time I visit and she's thrilled. I've become a LaLa evangelist.