Album a Day: Suzanne Vega - 99.9 F°

You should at least once in your life have a job where you are either allowed or encouraged to play music because you will discover you like so many band and styles you were unaware of before. This was exactly the case in 2006/2007 when I worked at The Fetish Factory and we had a whole crew of people that were in to some pretty rad music (South Florida might have actually been one of my bigger growths in musical appreciation in general). Working at Fetish Factory is exactly where I discovered Suzanne Vega who was perhaps cool when I was a little too young to be aware of her but thanks to some excellent co-workers I was able to discover someone that may have otherwise passed me by. This 4th album from Santa Monica's Suzanne Vega is everything that was good about the early 90's. Vega took her signature sound and incorporated electronic elements (the much more 90's-industrial ones as opposed to the 80's-synth kind) and pushed beyond the ideas of conventional song-making while staying true to the folk-inspired sing/songwriter that made her popular in the first place. I love the mix of folk-style modern rock mixed with various tribal sounds. Sometimes the flow of the album is all over the place but you can at least appreciate the variety of styles she was trying to incorporate into the album. I also absolutely love the imagery and lyrical ideas on this album. Favorite Tracks: Rock In This Pocket (Song of David), Blood Makes Noise, 99.9 F°, (If You Were) In My Movie, and Bad Wisdom