all my favorite bands are from brooklyn.

Pela is one of John Richards' favorite bands.
That is why I gave them a chance.. tuned in.

John Richards' morning show on KEXP is my favorite music program on the radio and KEXP has been responsible for most of my favorite band discoveries.

Their broadcast of live performances of people like 'The Cave Singers' and 'Yeasayer' were the first time I had ever been exposed to such bands.

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My first experience with Yeasayer . heard live on KEXP 2007

Click here to listen to my first experience of THE CAVE SINGERS on KEXP 2007

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Pela is the band that would have resulted if U2 and The Clash had had babies back in the 80's. a little dreamy. but man! is the lead singer's voice fantastic.

But before you scoff and call me an overly obvious and lame hipster chick, hear me out. My musical origins are humble and very genuine.

The first thing that I ever knew about music, I am not ashamed to say, was 'The Dixie Chicks'

There is a black hole in my musical experiences that began with my mother's obsession with country music.

My mother had never listened to country music since the time I first knew her.

At least as far as I had known..

Her musical diet, in my early childhood consisted of Dire Straits and James Taylor. But suddenly we were treated to the country radio station every morning and afternoon, driving to and from school...Maybe it was because country music was mostly safe content for young children to listen to, but I think a big contributing factor is that she was reliving her country music days that occurred during her residency in South Dakota.. where her boss had always had the country music on loud.

When your musical options and knowledge are limited to country, country and country, your source of individualism and customization has to fit into that spectrum somewhere. Its all you know.

In my case I decide that The Dixie Chicks were definitely my favorite.
Natalie Maines was such a rockstar.

I quickly had all the lyrics to both their freshman and sophomore albums memorized and had my own Fly karaoke cd which I also sang to … solo.
Keith Whitley, Shania Twain and Garth Brooks were also staples and still are pretty good examples of what country should be.

I wouldn't say can I stand country now, but its not really country anymore.
Its pop with a twang.


The next thing I turned to, to express my individualistic musical taste was late night radio shows.

I used to stay up late illegally, to my mother's chagrin.. reading library books, and then at a certain point I would lull myself to sleep by listening to late night shows. I had small clock radio won as a prize for selling a certain amount of magazine subscriptions for the yearly school fundraiser. It was super cool, with speakers that would flip up and lock into position, making the radio seem like a mini stereo boombox.

oh Delilah!

My most common late night show was on WARM 106.9 and was called Lovesongs with Delilah. People would call in and request songs for their loved ones. The stories were so heart warming and Delilah's voice so gentle and calming. She always had something beautifully poetic and I'm assuming, in hindsight, corny to say to them.. But I was so hooked! I couldn't stop listening! The only problem with Delilah was that she played "Drift Away" by Uncle Cracker WAY to often. As soon as she started to play the seemingly obligatory version of the song, that was my cue to fade down my radio's volume and drift away myself.

If I was adventurous, I would listen to the radio count down on KISS 106.1. At 9 o'clock they would play, in order of most requested to least, the top pop songs of the day and then the top song would battle a completely new song… sometimes by an unknown group. If the new song won, by call-in votes.. it would battle the next night's new song.

There was one song in particular that I was in love with. I heard it the first night of the count down and was inthralled! I was so excited when it won the vote because I knew it would be on the next night and I would get to hear it again… I waited with a paper and pencil to copy down the lyrics. The group, and the internet for that matter, was so new that I couldn't find the soul capturing words anywhere.! That night I tried with all my might to quickly get all the words… but they went by SO fast! I scrambled. Would the song win again, so that I could hear it just one more time?

Yes! It won again and I the next night I continued the new ritual.

Then, one night, it came up against a new MEGA song. Nelly's new single "Hot in Herre".

I listened to see if it was enough to beat my beloved song.. and......

It had to be the dumbest piece of crap I had EVER heard..! and I wasn't that musically experienced.

So, of course, the dastardly thing won that night's votes.. and my song slipped into the abyss.

"Caught in the Middle" by A1 is probably the least remembered one hit wonder, but somewhere in my filing cabinet I have all the lyrics, painstakingly transcribed by hand.

you be the judge:

After that, I rebelled against pop radio. If the dumbest song in the world according to Sahale was number one on the charts.. then there HAD to be better music out there somewhere that I could find another way.

I went through my Dad's record collection, looking for something old… something that had faced the test of time and still remained standing. At least that was my theory. If its old, but still remembered, it must have been vetted by generations of fans.

I distinctly remember finding the "creepy crazy lamb" record that I later would learn was Pearl Jam… I set it aside… too freaky.

hm. Billy Idol… Neil Young..

and then I saw it.

It wasn't the first time for I had seen it once before.

Looking through the pages of the booklet, depicting long haired hippie dudes looking suspicious.

I had marveled at the psychedelic art on the each face of the 3 disc set.

Then my dad had caught me and snatched them away saying in a nervously joking way, "You shouldn't be looking at those!"

Well now I was looking at them for the second time and this time I had to find out what was on them.

hm. 'Led Zeppelin', I pondered.

I wonder if he is any good. I thought Led Zeppelin was a person.

The next week, I remember sharing Led Zeppelin with a girl on the bus, on the way to a school ski trip.
She thought they were pretty cool too.
After that I was sold on the idea of music once and forever.

However, my frustration with pop radio took me on an off road course of musical danger.

It had caused me to dismiss and have a distain for ALL modern music. Which was a big mistake.

It was only after my lovely and kind housemate, Emily Jewell, gave me a metaphorical and musical slap across the face that I wisen-ed up.

But...... she listen to such weird stuff.

It was really, really painful at first.

Let me tell you Animal Collective and Midlake, after years of blues based rock n' roll, is hard on the ears. But it definitely opened my eyes and widened my horizons.

I remember that one day in particular she was on a Beach House kick.

She kept playing this one song.. Gila... over and over and over.. ...and suddenly it clicked.

There was just something about it.

I had to sneak back to her computer later and find it because I HAD to hear it again .. and I didn't want her to know she had finally converted me.

That song... and Oh, Mandy by The Spinto Band finally broke me into the super indie music world.

But what impressed me most about my house mate is she was a non-discrimnatory music listener. She would listen to everything and anything she liked.

I not only inherited the appreciation for the super indie but also music like Brand New, Third Eye Blind, Deftones and Outkast.

Today, the best of the best doesn't always play on the radio so keep your eyes open and your spirits up. If you haven't found your band, don't give up.

And definitely don't worry if it is hip or not. Just like what ya wanna like.

For a place to start:
I have 5 pages of playlists here
You can listen to KEXP here
You can see what my old housemate is currently listening to here
and you can surf the web blogs here
and don't forget to listen to my songs of the week here and here