Stereolab "The Noise Of Carpet"

This popped up when I hit the ol' random button, and though I hadn't heard it in a long time, it served it's purpose.

There are songs you play for comfort. Albums that bring back good memories or warm feelings. Albums that are un-challenging.

But rarely do you, on purpose, listen to the opposite of that.

Too-cool-for-school critics in the 90s loved Stereolab's album "Emperor Tomato Ketchup," so naturally, when it came out, I had to check it out (hoping to find that I too, was too cool for school). And I had kind of a funny reaction to it.

I can't say that I loved, loved, loved it. But I found it artistically challenging.

It was like trying to read "War And Peace" or eat caviar. It was beyond my capacity and taste, but worth trying, if only to stretch my boundaries.

In the years that followed, if I was bored or in a rut with the music I was listening to, I'd put on "The Noise Of Carpet" and be jolted awake, engaged and ready to return to my more familiar musical world.