The Angel

It's out.

Like the balding old groupie I am, I waited up past midnight to see if Playing the Angel would pop up for sale on iTunes. Sure enough, it did. And what a surprise! Instead of continuing on the heavy sounds of Violator, Sounds of Faith and Devotion, Ultra (especially), and Exciter, this one is a clear throw-back to the eighties, sound-wise. Even the melodies have a distinct playful dance quality to them, though the lyrics remain somewhat melancholy (ooh, terrible...). Now I just can't wait to see them. Live. In New York City. Madison Square Garden. Front row balcony. December 7. With my wife, and my other best friend. Sweet.

While I was waiting for that Angel to appear, I ran across an old acquaintance. Fiona Apple. Do you remember her? She released a couple of albums in the late nineties. Good ones. Decent ones. This one blows them away. Although not as arresting as Norah Jones, for example, Fiona does have one of those voices that has that dark, velvety feel to them. And this time the sound is honed. Focused. Refined, bassy, strong. Most of time, at least. Needless to say, this is now on the iPod.

And finally, at long last I remembered to pull down some songs from the The Life Aquatic soundtrack. There are, plain and simple, elements of my life that have been lacking the appropriate accompaniment, and that music is on this soundtrack, namely in a couple of Seu Jorge's portugese Bowie covers, and a couple of Mark Mothersbough's quirky tracks. I mean, someone earnestly singing Life on Mars?, in portugese, with just an acoustic guitar. What can be more disarming? By the way, check out Seu's album Cru while you're at it. That one has a couple of seriously good tracks on it. The real Brazil.

Anyway.

I should probably go to bed now.