Jack Johnson - Brushfire Fairytales

Label: Everloving
Genre: Folk Rock
Year: 2001
Recommended by: Sarah Sherry

I know this entire album by heart. It was released right before I went to high school. I remember listening to "Mud Football" on repeat one morning on vacation in the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. 

I had a pair of crappy headphones, a portable disc player, and Brushfire Fairytales. I walked around for about an hour from about 6 AM to 7 AM listening to one song on this album. One that I don't entirely love, but I think i was just sick of my family at the time and it was a song that illustrated the difference of moving from Middle School to a high school knowing many fewer people. I've still never really had a game of improptu football, but I still like the visualization.

I also enjoy "Inaudible Melodies" because a weird reference to Bruce Lee moving too quickly for the 30 FPS cameras to catch everything he was doing. The album itself is only good. It's not transcendent and many people can be annoyed by the Johnson's voice. It will always be important to me. No matter what I say about any album in any review, it always means more to the person who recommended it.

David Byrne - Look Into the Eyeball

Label: Virgin
Year: 2001
Genre: Folk Rock, World Beat,  Alternative Rock
Recommending Person: Denise Erazmus

I was really excited when I saw this recommended because who doesn't love David Byrne? Then I heard "Like Humans Do" and immediately got sent back to high school. THIS IS THE SONG THAT IS ON EVERY COMPUTER WITH XP ON THE PLANET! 

One, a nerdy person, would re-format your computer and Like Humans Do would appear. Being dumb and 14 I didn't know David Byrne was formerly the lead singer of the Talking Heads and I figured it was just someone who was talented at Microsoft and decided he could sneak in his song onto every computer on the planet. Again, I was dumb.

The record itself is enjoyable if a bit into itself, it's become a staple of Byrne, and it drifts into a multilingual album with "Desconocido Soy". It was catchy enough on the first listen, but it really succeeds on the 3rd listen and I would only layer more the more time I give it.