Rowan Tree and Red Thread

leedy dragged me into this.


1. Total volume of music files on my computer: 36+ GB on an external hard disk. Scattered elsewhere, who knows?

2. The last CD I bought was: This Is The Tycho Brahe from Tychonaut (previously known as Tycho Brahe). I loved The Plague Monkeys as was, and this is what they've turned into, or so leedy told me when I mentioned them over pizza a couple of months back.

3. The last song I listened to before writing this was: Sky Blue by Peter Gabriel from his last album Up. I know some people regard Gabriel as a poseur or past his best, but I never fail to find something puzzling and rewarding in each of his albums.

3b. Song playing right now: Belfast by Orbital. Still my favourite odd bods noodling with sequencers and samplers band, and this particular track has a beautiful sense of climax and relaxation to it. That it's playing right now is no accident. It's high up on my most listened-to tracks list.

4. Five songs or albums I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me: Ach, always with the hard questions, no?

• Jazz by Queen: The very first album I bought, on vinyl many, many years ago. I got it second-hand in Caroline Records at Portabello in Dublin. I remember later being really disappointed to find my copy was missing the fold-out poster of the nude women on bicycles. Music is important, but nude female cyclists are TEH BUSINESS at age 13.


• The Dreaming by Kate Bush. Any red-blooded male of my age can explain Kate Bush to you, but this album is just perfect.


• The Very Best of the Jam by the Jam. Rowan dances like a proper mod to Going Underground. How could I resist that?


• Secrets of the Beehive by David Sylvian. A voice of molten honey and wood smoke, and a mix of Orphic myth, magic realism and a post-Japan pop mode. I love it.


• Never Be Mine by Kate Bush. This one is from the Sensual World, one of Kate Bush's later albums (Hah! later? 1989 it came out. It only feels later 'cos she never releases anything.) This particular song is about parting, lost love, and the way life has of making choices for you. No one sees, but I usually cry a tear or two when listening to this.

In general this sort of list is ephemeral. I'll change my mind about 10 seconds after hitting 'Post'. And where's the harm in that?

5. Which five people are you passing this baton to, and why?

I'm going to pick

• alaimacerc to see if it rouses him from his blog-slumber.


• purpletigron because she got me with a film meme recently.


• mytholder as he doesn't have enough to do already.


• doc_mystery because I can always blame Canada if I don't like his taste in music.


• purplecthulhu because Great Old Ones have rhythm too.