new york |

I still love this song as much as I did ten years ago.

Prog-rock from Singapore: Anechois

When I’m in study mode I listen to only instrumental music, I exhausted Mogwai and Godspeed pretty quickly so I tweeted asking for suggestions. A kind sir passed on Anechois whose EP, A Shadow of a Sound, has been nice to listen to, there’s a little bit of funk in it to. Check it out for yourself…

The MOMA blog

I have an insane love for both New York and art galleries, although I don’t go to either often enough. Once I took a week off work to go to Edinburgh Art College and study pastels on a large scale. My teacher tended to sigh at me and ask me why I always made things so difficult for myself, sitting at a really weird angle, trying to paint through glass or holding my pastels funny. I liked massive abstract things, so he told me to look up Richard Dieberkorn, an American artist influenced by German Expressionism. I still have the piece of sugar paper he wrote the suggestion down on in 2B pencil.

0730_diebenkorn_w — Richard Diebenkorn Sketch

This week I ended up on the MOMA blog, which has a whole exhibition on German Expressionism. Random but I’ve very much enjoyed flicking through the works and thought you might like it too.

This week I’ve been searching for something new and uplifting – mainly because of the changing seasons and I’m missing what had become an almost annual trip to New York. Enter New Pornographers front man and solo artist AC Newman and this new track ‘I’m Not Talking’…

I’m a New Pornographers fan and bought a no frills version of their album ‘Together’ for five dollars at Bleeker Street Records in NY. Amongst half open boxes and haphazard stacks of vinyl, I bonded with the guy in the shop over my terrible CD buying habit (never ever one at a time and I’m fundamentally against all that ‘best of’ rubbish) – straight up he’s like ‘it’s all about the music’, glowing with pride. Simultaneously, I wondered how you could feasibly run a shop in the West Village which sells five dollar CDs.

AC Newman’s solo material is more of a country folk affair than the full band material – Shins like sound in many places. I absolutely love ‘I’m Not Talking’ – musically and lyrically it comes across all calm and in control, grounded by a hypnotic tune. You can stream and download it for free from his website.

Other earcatching tunes of the same ilk…

AC Newman ‘Prophets’…little more guitar and percussion, feel free to ignore the flowers!