Oh are we doing it like this?

OK XANTHE

I accept your challenge, your plan seems to be working -at least temporarily.

All NEWish artists here and I'll be dissapointed if you've heard of any of them.




1 As I mentioned before, Yeasayer. They do these brilliant psychadelic, world music inspired dance-rock tunes. Check them out.











2 Raphael Saadiq. Having suddenly become a huge Motown fan. I think this guy is a legend. Saw him on Later With Jools Holland, like most of the new music I discover*.
(If it's not on one of The Guardian blogs. As it happens when you start to become an adult, think you're middle class and support anything vaguely resembling what you almost understand as 'left wing' I've started reading The Guardian website)


*WARNING Parenthesis ahead.








3 Speaking of Motown and Jools Holland: Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears are also just as amazing.










4 The Phantom Band. I took up at least an hour of my time trying to retrace the steps of my last week that lead me to finding out this band so I could remember their name, so you can do me a favour by listening to them. It's kind of sampley, krautrock inspired dreamy, dark folk rock. From Glasgow like a lot of good new bands nowadays.









5 Not technically a new band but getting increasingly less obscure. I was actually told about them forever ago but only recently took an active interest in them: Animal Collective. Hard to describe their sound; summery, experimental shoutiness doesn't quite capture it really. They're from Brooklyn NY again like a lot of new artists (Yeasayer, Bat for Lashes....).




Notable not-so-recent artists you probably don't know (but tell me if you do): Tom Waits, Wilson Pickett, Blonde Redhead, Aphex Twin, Sonic Youth, Commadores, Dick Dale, Jamie T, The Meters, Paul Simon, Ennio Morricone, Bernard Herrman, TV on the Radio.... I'm too tired to go on.

Stay in touch
x

Empire/New York State of Mind

'I'm comfortable with strangers, but it's the people I know I have problems with.'

People do worry a lot don't they? This annoys me. I don't really have much to worry about most of the time, sometime I do have things to worry about but I usually respond by not worrying about them. Relax, this is not deep. What reason have I got to write a 'deep' blog? I'm just saying. That could have been the title to this blog actually 'I'm just saying' but I can't go ahead and change it now can I?

Also, just in case you think I've forgotten, I went to New York. New York was amazing.
Woo!

The Apprentice USA: idiots acting like idiots for an audience of idiots.
AND THEY'RE AMERICAN
and they're all very attractive for some reason. It must be important in the US.
and Donald Trump SHOUTS
A LOT!
it's the best thing on telly.
probably.

Have you ever seen Blade Runner?
If you haven't don't worry, but this would be a little bit less interesting.
Well this supporting character called Gaff played by Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama from Battlestar Galactica BS fans, the father of Lee Adama who is funny because his name is a kind of cheese) anyway he's probably the coolest person in fiction. His job in the film is to arrive and talk a load of jibberish called Cityspeak to Harrison Ford, be generally enigmatic, and leave cool bits of origami around when he leaves. He's mastered a pretty nifty style including a wastecoat, bowtie, leather jacket and fedora.
And I want to be this guy for my party.
I'll need help with the leather jacket and possibly the waistcoat. Help if you can. I have been very unenthusiastic about this party even though I organised it and didn't bother getting anything in New York. Now I feel guilty and am trying to put together a costume from borrowed bits and pieces.

Back to worrying, cause I do try every now and then to maintain a 'theme' believe it or not, in these blogs. A perfect car and a perfect job and a perfect girlfriend to become my perfect wife to move in to my perfect house and produce perfect children seems like such a dreary myth to pursue. I just want to be able to have an exciting life, one I could write a book about that would become a bestseller. I'll take a fast train to hell and have my corpse become food to a million maggots and worms, a withered pocket drained of cash and only a mother to cry for me just for a story to harvest a sliver of emotion from some enlightened biography buff. That's what I want right there.

Hope I haven't taken up too much of your time....