Interconnectedness.

I hate to seem redundant, but I had a very interesting conversation with my friend Liz over dinner tonight about relationships. In the course of this conversation, we discussed the almost narcissistic need that some people have when it comes to relationships and dating. For instance, the situation we discussed was people's willingness to stay in relationships with others who they don't find interesting or compelling, just to stay "in a relationship". This idea made me think: how much of our single lives do we spend earnestly looking or waiting for a special someone to come along? Why are we, as a whole, so focused on finding someone to spend so much of our time with, even if it turns out that we don't like spending our time with them all that much? Being single for as long as I have, I can't really find a logistical question to these answers. Yes, I feel the need for connectedness with someone else, the need to love and be loved, and despite the wonders of my own body heat, I still find it cold in my bed from time to time. Still, I have a lot of trouble compromising my standards just to have "someone"; I'd rather be alone and happy than with someone and melancholic. Plus, another thing that drives me absolutely nuts both as a slave to logic and as a single person is the idea of "not dating" someone. I have friends who exclusively have "not relationships" -- in other words, they hang out with the person, make out with them, have occasional (or not so occasional) sex, but all the while they adamantly insist that they are not really dating that person, that they're just "hanging out" or some lame excuse like that. Have I done it? Of course. But as I grow older I have less and less patience for people like that. If you like the person enough to sleep with them, have the cajones to say "Yes, we are dating." I know that some people freak out at the concept of being "in a committed relationship" but then again, I don't see why people place such a high importance on such labels. To be honest, if you are happy with the person you are with or "not with", you shouldn't want to look for anyone else; with that being the case, labeling it or not shouldn't matter, as you're ideally not flirting or anything like that.

But enough of this madness. I want to give you five quick recommendations for some albums that you might be into. I'll try to keep it limited to stuff that's been released in the last year or so

1) Tapes 'n Tapes - Walk it Off: These guys are one of those bands that gained a lot of buzz due to favorable ratings in music blogs. This is their second (that I'm aware of, at least) release, and it's great. Somehow, no matter how hard I try, I can't get the song "Say Back Something" out of my head. And that's a good thing.

2) She & Him - Volume One: Cute, folky tunes sung by Zooey Deschanel, who just so happens to be ridiculously cute herself. It's a kind of modern folk re-working of a bunch of older tunes. Very much in the vein of Camera Obscura, but it always puts me in a good mood.

3) Headlights - Some Racing, Some Stopping: I love Headlights. There, I said it. Everyone who hears this album in my car always gets intrigued by them. This is the new album, and it might not quite stack up to "Kill Them With Kindness" but it's still a very solid release, and is definitely worth checking out.

4) DeVotchKa - A Mad & Faithful Telling: Don't ask me how they do it, but these guys manage to hit the ball out of the park on every release. For you folks who have no idea who they are, you probably know them as the band that did all the music for "Little Miss Sunshine". This miiiiight just possibly be their strongest album yet.

5) Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone: This band fascinates and confounds me at the same time. They're instrumental and, a word I despise seeing thrown around too freely in music reviews "ambient". I really dig them, but couldn't sit and listen to them too terribly much, but it makes amazing background music. They do one hell of a job of layering and texturing music; it's hard to find a band that does it as well as these guys.