RASHIDA

I don't think I'm the biggest fan of Rufus Wainwright - I'm not too familiar with his stuff - but I bought his latest album "Out of The Game" after I checked out a few of the tracks on Spotify. Also, since I am a sucker for anything Mark Ronson and Dap Kings related (i.e. Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, Ronson's debut Version, and The Business INTL's Record Collection).


But damn, I love the slightly sophisticated, yacht-jazz-rock vibes of the whole album. It's pretty smooth, light and poppy - think Steely Dan.



p.s.  Barbara is probably the most Yacht-Rock moment on "Out of the Game"

Alan Hampton

He's a really awesome bass player from New York via Houston (like I'm talking A-Level Jazz Playing With Guys Like Herbie Hancock and Gretchen Wilson) and he does this on the side. (Or is it his main thing now? I'm not sure)

Regardless, he's a very talented dude who writes a lot of very sweet, down-to-earth, musically interesting songs. When I saw him live, he was the support act for M'Shell Ndgeocello at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco! It was only $20.

Things I have been reading

Aside from sporadically delving into textbooks for university, I haven't had that much time to read novels or magazines. I am terrible at managing my time, especially in portioning off that quiet, solitary time you need to devote to reading. So, to fix this, I've started reading a few things this month. The ones I've particularly enjoyed have stars put next to them.

Half Read/Started:
Mark Treddnick - The Little Red Book of Writing*
Christopher Hitchens - A Letter to the Young Contrarian
James Joyce - Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Maya Angelou - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings* (close to finishing this one, it's an amazing autobiography of her early life)
Emily Dickinson - Collected Poems*

Read:
Neil Gaiman - Sandman: The Dream Hunters (Graphic Novel)*
Sam Harris - Lying*

Online:
I've read a few things online, but I'd like to share a link to this great article on the New York Times about what people read on the subway.

Looking back, I've spent a disproportionate amount of time reading things on screens rather than reading things on paper or Kindle (e-ink doesn't count as a screen! Maybe it does. Damn). Looks like a trip to the bookstore or the library is in order.

ALPINE-SLOWCLUB-BLACKJOELEWIS

I like a lot of music and I recommend a lot of music. So without further adieu, here are the songs and artists that I have really liked this week.

First off, here's Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears. Pretty cool southern rock soul funk blues crazy band - super raw and heavy.



Imagine folk music, indie music and soul music got together and had some sexy, hyperactive babies (whilst hitting a lot of drums) you'd get something like Slow Club. Also, I really liked the lyrics.



Speaking of sexy, here's a new track from Melbourne dream-pop outfit Alpine. Warning, the videoclip does get a bit... well.... make-out? In a surrealist kind of way? Which is another reason why it's cool. These guys make music that is on another level, I have been listening to the album ("A is For Alpine") all evening and my ears are splitting diamonds.

Team Google

I'm pretty agnostic when it comes to technology, deciding to use things depending on what is available or convenient or pretty. It's a formula that has worked so far (albeit with a few notable exceptions) and come to think about it, it's a pretty arbitrary formula because it isn't rooted in reason or logic.

So, I met Dom today, and I showed him the really cool CRT switch off animation (see below) that happens everytime the phone gets switched off, or put into lock mode - he was unimpressed. He likes his iPhone better. And he has a point. To be completely honest? I'd like the iPhone a LOT if I had one. It has sexy industrial design; it has a sexy OS that glides under your fingers; and it has heaps of apps (much more than Google phone has). My Google phone? It's not that bad, it doesn't work as well or as seamlessly as an iPhone (but only by a little). It's pretty sexy though.


So, CRT animation aside, why Google?

It was available, convenient and pretty.

Plus, it was free. Kind of (I'm on a contract).



Like Professor Higgins (see above), I've grown accustomed to my phone (well, he grew accustomed to Eliza Doolittle, so that's a little different). I don't mind the fact that Google is storing all my information (see XKCD comic below) when, in exchange, they give me an email service without equal, an operating system without cost, and a document service that allows me to work without physical boundaries. Maybe if Apple had gotten in first and I had bought an iPhone (or if Vodafone would stop being such scrooges and offer the iPhone for free on the $29 cap), I'd be writing a completely different blog post today.

So there you have it. Reasons, and, if not, the biggest reason - Google got in first and I grew accustomed to its face/data mining/CRT Animation. Plus it's Google and since I am no longer a technology journalist I can finally admit what I have always felt - I love Google. Google is great to interview (unlike Apple's cold-as-hell PR people) and I genuinely believe it is doing great things (even though it is not the awesome developer of stuff it used to to be - I mean these are the guys and girls who made Chrome - they should make more stuff).

FREEESHHHH

I've had a pretty lazy Sunday in. Finished off a bit more writing (and hopefully it's a lot better now - I've got a lot of work to do) and to be honest I'd love to do a bit more reading. Studying law is not an ideal use of time for someone who enjoys reading  - the prose in the textbooks is often convoluted, limpid and uninspiring.

Anyway here's a really nice piece of hip-hop/beat/jazz/bom-bap/post-geometry/midnight for you.



Elaquent is a beat maker hailing from Ottowa, Canada. This one is a bit smokey - with a stickey sweet bassline.

Hermes

Oh man. Hermes submissions are due soon; I should probably get my act together.

There are some ideas floating around.

AMAZING

Metric. Canadian band. Electronic. More hooks than a boxing match (and as much punch, too).
Really gorgeous acoustic versions of their tune Synthetica and a cover of Always On My Mind. Emily Haynes' voice!