My wife came home the other day, thrilled to have reacquainted herself with Emilíana Torrini on the radio, a singer/songwriter whose CD I remember she bought some ten years ago. It went right into the CD player on arrival, which, honestly was quite a pleasant surprise. So much of the late 1990′s music sounded more or less the same, I suppose, which is probably why we really didn’t pay much attention to her at the time.
She sounds like something in-between Stina Nordenstam and Björk, fragile, yet aggressive, when appropriate.
What neither …

There’s no Christmas without those familiar songs, carols and tunes, now is there? So I thought I’d help you get in the right mood with a collection of tunes I’ve put together over at Finetune. Have to warn you though; the playlist is evolving continuously, starting with 55 various tracks, and I honestly can’t say where it ends by the time Christmas is over.
I do hope, however, you will find that it’s a diverse compilation, catering for every possible taste in music. Please pop out the player (function visible once …

I ran across an old acquaintance (depicted here) just after leaving a meeting in town this afternoon; a brilliant musician I haven’t seen in years, standing by the fountain behind the National Theatre with what looked like a digital thingamajig in hand.
Knowing me I never pass an opportunity to share a few words in transit, so I headed in his direction for a word or two, exchanging the usual pleasantries, and “oh, so you still live in the hill behind the school” and all that. All very superficial. We were …

Man, have these last days been busy. To such an extent, in fact, that taking care of basic chores, such as shaving in the morning, have been put off in order to squeeze in as much work as possible, resulting in this:

I know it isn’t much, but considering I’ve never been much of a beard guy, this is nothing short of deplorable, I tell you, resulting in numerous remarks, even from Cocteau Twins, it would seem. Well actually, this post is an excuse for sharing the Twins’ Bluebeard (although there …