What's on the iPod... more?

My iPod is a broad church... in fact its very broad! Been listening to:

(1) "Homogenic" by Bjork. Love this album for its futurism... Its the kind of thing a pedestrian in LA circa Bladerunner would have been listening to. Hunter is such a fab track because it has an excitement about it and uses an interesting use of the cello.

(2) "Sweetback" by Sweetback. I have loved this album since it was released. Sade's backing band (keyboardist Andrew Hale, bassist Paul Denman, and guitar/sax man Stuart Matthewman) have crafted and structured beautiful audio textures, using soul music and dub as a foundation. Amel Larrieux, Maxwell, Bahamadia and Talvin Singh are involved. I have tender memories that this album reminds me of, and for that it will always be important.

(3) "Shield of Thorns" by Shawn Smith. Big fan of Shawn Smith, although I'm not big on the whole rock thing just now. I love his voice and rate some of his work with Satchel and Brad highly. This is an album that I got a while back and it kind of got lost on the iPod... buried under other more urgent stuff to listen to. I have rediscovered it and am enjoying it. It feels older than it is... kind of acoustic and bluesy. Nice.

(4) Nicola Benedetti's first album. I'm not a big classical fan but I love lush orchestration and strings... Nicola expresses herself beautifully and makes her violin sing. Some of the tracks sound like backing to movies I have never seen and that fascinates me.

(5) "Medula" by Bjork. This is a hard album to listen to but it does capture my attention and create an other-world. Her amazing use of the voice as an atmospheric tool is a credit to her. It lacks the accessiblity of "Homogenic" but will stand the test of time.