11:15 AM
This will probably come back to haunt me someday, when my musical tastes have evolved a bit more, but right now, as I write this, I can't stand Björk's music. She does, however, have fantastic taste in artwork, as evidenced by the kick-ass aesthetics that accompany her new album, MEDULLA. Of special note is the amazing free screensaver available for download, which is full of beautiful pictures of jellyfish and other aquatics.
It's funny, actually, how I can appreciate so much of an artist's life except for a few things that make me shake my head and go, ick. I don't care a great deal for Dave McKean's type of music, if you've ever heard it – a strange, dissonant form of atonal jazz. I also don't share Neil Gaiman's taste for sushi, or his penchant for punk rock. I'm also not a big fan of Sigur Ros, although People That Know Such Things assure me that they are, indeed, quite cool. I just don't get it.
This doesn't bug me that much, it just means that every artist has different things influencing what they create. I also suspect that two different artists with the exact same tastes would create two entirely different things. I'm just infinitely amused by the endless variety that things like this provide.
Which reminds me, I should go pick up the new Tori Amos DVD. Scuttlebutt has it that there's a CD in there of previously unreleased songs, and somehow the early fall is always perfect Tori season to me.
I hate Bjork's music, too. Mike likes it. This difference of opinion was, at one point, a source of great angst between us on long roadtrips from DC to Wisconsin, where CDs keep us sane and awake for the 14-hour drive.
While Mike finds her stuff interesting, soothing, etc., I just want to hurl myself out of the car if it's in the CD player. I suppose you could argue that the desire to hurl oneself out of a moving vehicle will keep you awake on the highway, I still think coffee is a safer bet.
Our solution? Move to Chicago!
What?! You don't like Björk?! Turn in your hipster credential RIGHT now, young man.
Bah.
Okay.
I'll cave.
I dislike Björk as well. Perhaps it's the crazy accent. Perhaps it's the swan dress she wore to the Oscars.
I dunno.
I don't like TMBG either. I feel like I have to turn in my geek shirt now.
AHA! There I have you, Tom. I've been a fan of TMBG ever since their Apollo 18/Lincoln/Flood days.
I saw them live this summer...
It was a disappointment.
Hey, I never said that they were as good NOW as they were THEN... :)
Actually, TMBG came to Kenyon and did a big show for one of our annual campus activities. It was a lot of fun, with them playing a bunch of great music and doing a highly entertaining puppet show to boot. That was a pretty darn good show. Lately, though, I don't know – I've enjoyed Back to Skull and Factory Showroom, but I thought Mink Car and their latest album, The Spine, were been kind of mediocre. If they were touring to promote The Spine, then the music you saw them perform probably wasn't up to TMBG standards. If you're open to giving them another chance, pick up a copy of Flood – in my opinion, it's the definitive TMBG album (by which I mean it's the one that made me start listening to them) with great songs like "Istanbul, Not Constantinople", "Particle Man" and "Birdhouse in Your Soul".
And I didn't mean to diss you in that last comment, BTW. I was just playin'. :)