Musiphoria

Listening: Bouncing Off Clouds - Tori Amos

Bouncing off of clouds we were
Is there a Love Lost and Found

Make it easy
Make this easy
It's not as heavy as it seems
Wrapped in metal
Wrapped in ivy
Paint it in mint ice cream

We could be bouncing off the top of this cloud
I'll put on my silver
We could be bouncing off the top of this cloud.

If you know me for any length of time, one of the aspects of my personality that becomes quickly outlined is that I harbor an intense love for music of almost any genre. One of my most treasured possessions is my iPod. I can't get to sleep at night without listening to something. I had to send my iPod to Apple for repairs several months ago, and I thought I was going to die.

Therefore, due to my insatiable desire for music, I frequently find myself having wrung my audio library a little dry. Often there are long stints wherein I have no new or particularly absorbing albums or artists, and I find myself browsing my iPod looking for songs I haven't listened to in quite some time, in the hopes of refreshing my auditory cells. These states can stretch anywhere from several days to several weeks, and basically end the moment I get my hands on some intoxicating new material.

One of those stints came to an abrupt end yesterday morning.

Two of my favorite artists, Tori Amos and Björk, recently released all-new albums, a fact that somehow entirely escaped my notice. Fortunately I have good friends who bring such facts to my attention. I spent the majority of Monday night downloading said albums, whereupon I loaded them onto my iPod on Monday morning and listened to them while I walked to Wal-Mart to meet Benji.

I think I am in love. I still haven't had the opportunity to drink both of them in as deeply as I would normally like to, but I'm in deep enough to know that these two albums are some of the best work their respective artists have put out in a while.

First of all, Volta. Björk's latest album has been expected by her recording company One Little Indian to be the biggest-selling of her entire career. I'm a Vespertine fan through and through, but Volta is definitely ranked up there in the annals of awesome. Some of the tracks bear closely to her deep entrancing sound, such as Vertebrae by Vertebrae, while some, like My Juvenile, are more whimsy and fun in nature. There's a lot of fresh sound on the album (I'm becoming steadily more addicted to tracks like Innocence and Earth Intruders) but it's still very undeniably Björk. I'm hopelessly besotted with it.

American Doll Posse is the ninth studio album produced by Tori Amos, one of my all-time favorite artists. It follows up her album The Beekeeper, which received a lot of chilly reviews and raised questions as to whether the songwriter was losing her touch. ADP puts even the pickiest critics to rest. Tori never lost her touch to begin with.

Warning: Rant Ahead.

I'm not a die-hard Little Earthquakes or Under the Pink fan, I can accept it when things don't sound the way I think they should. I've never understood that about Tori's fans. Just because she's putting out a different sound, they think the world's coming to an end for some reason. That seems to be a problem with a lot of artists who try something new and their fans crucify them for doing it. Get a grip, people. Songwriters aren't there to cater to you, they're trying to be creative and let their work be heard. Don't turn into a lynch mob because you don't like the sound of a new album. Just accept that songwriters and artists are people trying to express themselves and you're being intolerant and shallow about it. Try listening to an album as it is, and don't rank it up against earlier works that you feel are superior. I mean, was Beekeeper really so bad? Did Ben Folds Five turn against their fans by putting out Brick? Why take this stuff so personally? Get a life, seriously.

End of Rant.

Now that that's out of the way, getting back to American Doll Posse. Even the Tori fans who felt she was losing her touch should be appeased by this album. ADP has been received with rave critical reviews. I can say as an earnest fan (who doesn't foam at the mouth on a regular basis) that this album portrays her array of personalities and styles beautifully. Songs like Smokey Joe and Dragon savor very strongly of her earlier work, while newer sounds can be heard in the addictive Big Wheel and Teenage Hustling. I've been stuck on this album for two days now, with no end in sight. I think I was shock-numb when I listened to the whole thing the first time. I've been trying to go through it slowly, a song at a time, since then, but it's seriously like trying to slowly drink a lemonade after a week in the Mojave desert or something.

Tori's ADP world tour comes to North America right around my birthday. Do I want to go see one of the shows? You bet your ass I do.

That being said, my brain is starting to hurt from the overload of amazing music on these two albums. I honestly can't do anything without thinking something like "Wow I'd like to listen to Roosterspur Bridge" or "Wow some Dull Flame of Desire would be great right now". To get my focus off of my obvious addiction, I've been trying to drown it in South Park, which is another brand-new addiction of mine. Somebody ruined my life by showing me this site. I've been too addicted to sleep, these past few nights. And when I do sleep, I listen to American Doll Posse and Volta. I think it might be time to get me some help.

Between my friends, work, and dealing with my new addictions, I haven't had a lot of time to do much in the way of creativity. When I do, however, it's to colour original lineart of a breed of adorable fuzzy things called Lonesomes. All things considered, I could be using my time more wisely, but they're simply too cute for me to ignore for very long.

That pretty much wraps up the majority of my news. I am in the process of looking for a new job, but there's no telling how effective the search will be. Keep your fingers crossed for me, kiddos.

Adieu!

Icarus did this post in response to a taunt by Jam. Slackerhead, indeed.