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28 February 2009

Music hath the charm to sooth the savage beast

I am having a rough couple of days because, even though I finished the thesis (hurray!), a good friend of mine is acting strangely and I'm worried about her and also, next week is classics awareness week and I'm about one more phone call away from strangling Imperator Nostri with my bare hands. (That's not his official title; I just enjoy thinking of him as one of those less than reasonable Roman emporers). I've tried reasoning with him but it seems to make no impression. I hope I can keep it together enough not to volunteer to do anything else for the rest of the semester. I'll show up, mind you; I just don't want to arrange anything else.

I am also supposed to be getting my grad school applications done this weekend. I have the GSIS (pronounced gee-sis): grad school inadequacy syndrome. I'm trying not to be unduly alarmed because I have yet to see anyone apply to grad school in any other state of mind. However, I'm still sick with dread and fear over it. I want to get out of here so badly.

How am I dealing with it all? I had a long walk, that helped. I'm about to go sort out my closet, that will help. But, I have decided that something I really want is new music to listen to. I think it will make me feel better. The only flaw in this plan is that I have no idea where to start looking. To resolve this, I respectfully implore all of you to suggest something to me and help me save my sanity.

3 comments:

  1. I feel I should add that it has been at least a year and a half since I bought a cd or even one of those new-fangled mp3 things.

    All the music I hear is church music, which I love, or aging Radiohead/Portishead (is there anything sexier than Beth Gibbons' voice, or is that just me?) but I need something new to listen to! Apart from a blossoming obsession with Baroque music, I've hardly tried anything new since the late 90's.

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  2. Have you tired one of those sites where you type in an artist or composer you like and it generates playlists based on similar?
    http://www.last.fm/listen
    That's a link for 'lastFM'. If you go to 'radio' and type something into search, it automatically designs your own personal radio programme. You can do it as many times as you like and it's free - although you can't download. However, it's good for finding new stuff which you can then go buy/download elsewhere.
    There are other similar sites:
    http://musicovery.com/index.php?ct=us
    There you go - found another!
    If you like radiohead then there is of course Muse and Coldplay that always get compared. But have you listened to Sigur Ros? They're Icelandic and lesser known but also get compared to RH.
    If you like female vocalists like Beth Gibbons then you may like 'Lamb'. If you're not keen on the trip-hoppy, jazzy instrumental then Lou Rhodes (lead singer) does acoustic stuff solo.
    There's something to get you started anyway..
    Hope that helps!

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  3. That does! For some reason Coldplay annoy me (it's not rational) but I am definitely going to check out the Icelandic people.

    I didn't know about the internet radio things and it's great to find out about it. Free things are always a good start!

    Thanks Kate!

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