Stars - "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead"

If the internet has changed my life in any way, perhaps the biggest is the way in which I consume music. I've become something of a ravenous music consumer, an audio glutton if you will. I purchase, I burn, I download. I am constantly looking for new bands that excite me, while simultaneously remaining engaged with old favorites. The problem is that I now get new music on such a regular basis that I don't really have time to listen to it all. I spend almost more time collecting it than actually listening. I have dozens of albums collected over the past couple of years that I have yet to listen to in their entirety.

There's just way too much good music out there. And I'm only aware of it now because of this bastard internet. If I only listened to the radio or watched music television (and it shocks and appalls me that many thousands of people still do) I probably would only pick up a new album every couple of months. Or more likely, just the single that I happened to enjoy. Because of all the music I enjoy, maybe a tenth of it shows up in the mainstream. That's changing a bit now, thanks in part to certain popular television shows that like to have eclectic indie soundtracks. But that still doesn't leave room for the tons and tons of good stuff not getting airplay anywhere (late night campus radio not included).

It also doesn't help that I like so many different kinds of music. There are people in this country (and I'm trying to hold back a convulsive shudder) that only listen to country music. Or only rap, or jazz, or antique wax cylinder recordings of hobos whistling, or whatever. I listen to pretty much every genre there is (especially whistling hobos). I enjoy some more than others, but I listen to everything. Hell, I even enjoy bad music on occasion.

So, I'm rambling. It's past my bedtime. The point I was eventually going to get to is that the benefit of hoarding so much music, is that I get to hear a lot of good stuff. Today's video is an example of that. Stars is an amazing pop band, and the above song from Set Yourself On Fire is a prime example.

The video is simple, and beautiful, and clearly inspired by one of my favorite movies, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.