I've been in something of a rut lately.

Basically, I haven't been turned on to any great new music in a while. Nothing has gotten me excited.

Of course, by "new," I simply mean something I haven't heard before (or at least something I haven't listened to a lot). I don't know if I'm just being stubborn and unreceptive to music I haven't heard, or if I simply haven't heard anything good, but it's been a problem.

First, I went back through some old favorites, but to no avail. The Olivia Tremor Control and Animal Collective both re-piqued my interest for a spell, but neither lasted. Rehashing my Talking Heads collection also proved fruitful, but only briefly. The problem with music I've heard before is, basically, that I've heard it before.

My next step was to ask some friends for suggestions. I was recommended a lot of music, names I had heard and hadn't, but I still haven't gotten around to checking out very many of them. I'll get around to it eventually, but for now, that hasn't proven very helpful just yet, either. Good new music, like true love and telephone booths, is rarely found when searching for it. It only seems to pop out of nowhere, and usually when you don't even need it.

Next, I undertook a project I have mentioned here before and have been planning for a while (and something that occupied the cover and double truck of Venues this week): I plowed through a whole bunch of promo CDs I had received over the last few months. There was a lot of garbage, but there were also a few bright spots that I'll eventually go back to for a deeper listen. Because of the nature of the Herculean project, though, I was unable to dedicate too much time to any specific record and thus couldn't really get too into anything.

I think I'm expecting too much. I'm expecting to find another all-time favorite, when in reality I only need something to entertain me for a bit. I'm looking for another album that will blow me away, that I will be talking about reverently in a decade. The problem is, most of the records I speak of in such a way now took a little while to get into. I've never just listened to something once and said "This is my favorite thing ever." It takes time.

Luckily, help is on the way. You see, I don't have a car at school, but I'm going home for spring break, where I'll have access to the panacea of all musical woes: the car stereo. It's not that there are any great radio stations where I live, and the factory-installed stereo system in my second (or maybe third) hand Civic isn't anything to brag about, but there's something transcendent about listening to music while driving, especially when by yourself for a long time. It allows me to listen to something new, wholly unadulterated, and really take it in. I can guarantee that, by the time I get back to school after break, I'll have a few new favorites in my rotation.