voracious brain stimulation

in the past week, i've read 2 good books and am well into a third and have listened to at least ten new music albums and discovered some fun new bands – i guess once i start stimulating my brain, it wants more more more! this is in addition to managing the numerous design projects i have going on while dealing with the stress of the economy...i am truly reaching a point where i am feeling a bit overwhelmed. but not to dwell on the stress part, i highly recommend the 2 books i completed: the white tiger by aravind adiga and outliers: the story of success by malcolm gladwell. the white tiger, an entertaining read in and of itself, will have even deeper resonance for anyone who is from or has visited india, and an extra layer for those who have also been to china in the past 5-10 years. i really couldn't put it down. outliers is non-fiction but a very entertaining and eye-opening read.

so now onto music:
first, on thursday i had a lovely lunch with reuben wu of ladytron [see foto from friday night's show] to discuss a possible collaboration. if you are in NYC, they are playing webster hall tonight [friday] and tomorrow night, 7pm. i will be going tonight. i asked him what he was listening to and he told me about neon indian [myspace page here.] i really like the neon indian and lok forward to see a proper release. after listening, i thought of deastro again. 2 weeks ago i got to catch part of the deastro show in nyc and also got a preview copy of his upcoming album, moondagger, which i think is excellent. you can buy ladytron's latest, velocifero here.

i was really upset to find out that missingtoof, a music blog where i learn about the latest remix artists and new electronica bands is having server problems. posting this sadness on twitter got the attention of disko author [thank you!] and his post on remixes/covers of stacey q's two of hearts really cheered me up out of my stress funk! the brad walsh version really made me smile. i guess i shouldn't poo-poo twitter so much huh?

last week via sam and missy of ghostly, i met justin who is the US director of promotions for mute records and he turned me on to some acts on his roster. one of those acts is the NYC based art rock trio liars. they straddle several genres on their self titled release and remind me of what i liked in bands like the beta band [though the liars sound nothing like them]. i'm going to give it my office/ipod/car/bicycle test which requires i listen to the music in all four environments in order to get a full taste of the work and this album is worthy of the test. i'm glad i got turned on to them as this album was actually released in 2007! liars on itunes here. other things i'm grooving on from mute is: fever ray fever ray which is basically the new the knife album and i love it [interview with karin of fever ray at my friend lapo's blog.]; i'm from barcelona who killed harry houdini, a band actually from sweden [and who doesn't love swedish pop music?]; and the new can anthology, if you're even the least bit curious about early innovators in pop/electronic music you must own this.

i can write more music stuff, but i think i've reached the limit for a single blog entry.

now the ever-present plug: nooka is available at fine stores and here. remember, you get a free copy of deastro's keepers with every online watch order on this link while supplies last!

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