Bonus music

The new mp3 player came pre-loaded with 19 mp3s, and I am just now listening to them to see if they are worth keeping. Most are. I've never heard of any of these artists/groups. I am woefully out of date when it comes to contemporary pop music, but the vast majority of it that gets played on the radio is such crap that I just don't have the time to waste wading through it and trying to find something fit to listen to. So far they've been pretty good, though. One trance piece that I moved to my ambient/electronic folder, one rap that I deleted, one Spanish-language song that sounds like a hybrid of conjunto/Tejano, except it's probably from some L.A. band if I'm guessing right, which I also deleted. A hip-hoppy piece that I deleted.

P.S. I have nothing against real conjunto--it's essentially only polka music anyway, which is a big part of my own ancestry.

Anyway, one song that I liked so much I had to play it twice was "Little Black Backpack" by Stroke 9. I don't completely understand what it's about, but it has one of my favorite sayings: "I think I'm gonna bash his head in." If I had had this song in high school I would have been singing it to annoy the English teacher. They are the only group with two songs in this collection, and they're both pretty good. I might have to investigate them further. I'm going to have to look up some info on some of these people and learn more about them.

Some other artists that jumped out at me: Andrew Paul Woodworth, Gretchen Lieberum, The Caroline Movement, The Procession (they sound like they are heavily influenced by the Beatles), Umphrey's McGee.

Overall, pretty good stuff.