Clean Up Clean Up, Everybody Do Their Share, Pt. 2

About a month ago I started the process of getting rid of some of the cruft in my music collection -- the stuff I listened to a few times and decided I'd probably never listen to again.

Like I said then, things are a bit different now than they used to be. Back in the day, I'd gather up all these CDs and take them to Amoeba, where I'd trade them in for a couple of new things. Now, I guess I just delete them.

We'll go from G to L today:

Garmarna, God's Musicians -- I got this in early 2004. After my house burned down in November of 2003, the folks in The Well's Newmusic conference got together and sent me literally hundreds of CDs to help replace all the music I lost in the fire. It was an amazing outpouring of support, from people I knew as well as from people I barely knew at all, and it was a perfect example of everything that is good about community, online or otherwise.

I got back probably 2/3 of what I had lost, plus I got albums from dozens of artists I had never heard nor heard of; everyone took the opportunity to send me the type of music they liked as well as the stuff they knew I liked. As a result, I discovered some bands which have become favorites, like Low, New Pornographers, and Nada Surf. I also got a bunch of things that I listened to a few times and decided were not for me, and this is one of them. Still, I'm incredibly thankful that I got the opportunity, through the largesse of persons now forgotten, to check them out.

Gjallarhorn, Sjofn -- Another one, probably from the same person.

Grandaddy, Under the Western Freeway -- Is it possible that these guys had whatever success they had based on their proximity (physically, though musically a bit as well) to Pavement? It's only a half-hour from Modesto to Stockton, but somewhere along Highway 99 they picked up the bleeps and blips that turned me off to this record.

Gwen Stefani, Love.Angel.Music.Baby -- Other than providing the inspiration for this blog's sub-hed, this album hasn't done much for me. I still like to look at Stefani, I just don't feel the need to listen to her solo music,

Hedingarna, Tra -- More Scandanavian rock.

J.C. Chasez, Schizophrenic -- "Some Girls Dance With Women" is an awesome dance-pop track, and the bonus track featuring a verse by the inestimable Dirt McGirl is pretty great, too. When this came out I was squarely in the "Chasez is doing better than Timberlake" camp when it came to post-'N Sync output, until Timberlake released Futuresex/Lovesounds, making him the undisputed champ.

The Jeff Healey Band, Hell to Pay -- I only have this because I burned it for my dad. It's decent Texas blues, but there are so many others I'd rather listen to before I even thought about putting this on.

Jens Lekman, Oh You're So Silent Jens -- Why do I have so much Swedish music?

Joey Ramone, Don't Worry About Me -- I love the Ramones. Or, to be more specific, I love the first three Ramones albums and parts of Too Tough to Die and Animal Boy. Beyond that, not so much. That extends to Joey's solo album; his paean to Maria Bartiromo notwithstanding, this album left me cold.

Jonny Greenwood, Bodysong -- A instrumental solo record from Radiohead's guitarist, a perfect example of something I listened to once, thought "huh," and immediately forgot about.

Joss Stone, The Soul Sessions -- Just doesn't do it for me. I appreciate that she was only 16 when she recorded it, and she gets points for covering Aretha and Carla Thomas and not embarrassing herself, but once you get past the novelty of her youth you're left with a lukewarm soul record. Give me Bettye Lavette, and have Stone get back to me in about fifty years.

Kings of Convenience, Riot on an Empty Street -- Quiet is the new loud indeed. It seems like in just about every micro-genre, I can find one or two artists that I enjoy. When it comes to Scandinavian folk, I'll stick with Jose Gonzalez.

The Kleptones, A Night at the Hip-Hopera -- I picked this up after briefly getting into mashups in the wake of Danger Mouse's Grey Album. That remains the pinnacle of the genre for me, and is the only one I still listen to. Well, OK, I'll listen to American Edit occasionally, but that's it.

LCD Soundsystem, LCD Soundsystem -- "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House": great song. The rest of this album: eh. Away it goes.

Lemon Jelly, Lost Horizons -- One thing this project is doing is allowing me to come to terms with the fact that I just don't like electronica.

Les Savy Fav, Inches -- Or art rock.

Live, Awake: The Best of Live -- I'm pretty sure the only reason I have this on my hard drive is that I needed a certain number of rips in order to join the old Chris Myden Ubernet. They had to be rips from retail discs, ripped in a very specific fashion, and most of the discs I got post-fire were CD-Rs and therefore wouldn't qualify. For some reason I had an actual copy of this, so it got ripped, and I got in. I don't think I've listened to it since; even moving to Live's old stomping grounds in central PA hasn't made me any more interested in listening to them.

Los Lonely Boys, Los Lonely Boys -- Every so often I become enamored of a song that I hear on the local AAA station. You know, "Drops of Jupiter," "Feels Like Forever," that sort of thing. This album has the sublime "Heaven" on it, but the rest of it doesn't measure up.

Lyle Lovett, Live in Texas -- See the Live record above. The difference is that I actually like some of Lovett's stuff, especially the early records (Pontiac, Joshua Judges Ruth). This live album doesn't measure up, though.