The Russian Futurists – Our Thickness Low-fi bedroom rock. Kinda reminds me of Zero Zero. Catchy, but a little repetitive at times. link
Datarock – Datarock Datarock Awesome! Totally high-energy from start to finish. Nice mix of styles and genres. From Norway! Cute accents. Sexy, too. link
Peter Bjorn and John – Falling Out My friend Randy put me onto this. Good Summer tunes. Haven’t listened to it enough yet to say more. I think this is not their most recent album; that’s not available on eMusic yet (it’s on iTunes, though.) From Sweden. link
Given the opportunity, how would you change New York?
All my dreams are incredibly naive. I have a child’s understanding of market forces and real estate, but I’ve been despondent over the city’s extreme affluence. I understand how hospitable New York can be to the aspiring hedge funder, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how young people with dreams of making art are even managing to come here any more. And without them, the city will become like everywhere else. More subways, fewer cars, maybe? Affordable housing, blah blah, perhaps a more mindful approach before we efface the neighborhoods and districts that provided specific services and made the city unique and perfect and replace them with open-plan loft condos all sporting the same Wenge-cabinetry kitchens, for god’s sake. New York is breaking my heart. I’ve often said that it’s like having a really interesting boyfriend suddenly becoming really, really into wine, and having to have endless conversations about it.