still trying

I'll be honest, I've felt rather uninspired about most things lately, including writing. I've still been scooping up new music and I've been trolling through my collection trying to get things organized on my brand new, super-sized iPod but I haven't gotten much out of the music. I'm not sure what's happening. Maybe I'm getting old and growing out of the "music speaks to me" phase, although I doubt that's it. Maybe they aren't making music like they used to. There might be something to that. I think the more likely reason is that I've felt particularly stressed and down in the dumps lately. I have found myself in a continuous battle with me about when and how I should become a newer me. When will this post-divorce funk wear off? When will I stop thinking about doing things and actually do them? Fortunately that still small voice that whispers in my ear "waiting is not wasting time" gets heard most days and at least once a week I get a healthy reminder that I'm not doing nothing, I'm growing even if it's often too slow for me to see. I've never been more grateful for Sue Monk Kidd's When the Heart Waits. If you've ever experienced crisis, if you've ever felt impatient with your own personal transformation or if you've ever felt a little lost inside your cocoon read this book and know that you are not alone.

Today I remembered this blog and I decided I need to keep writing. It would be more like the old me to forget about it, or pretend to forget about it and casually abandon it with some lame excuse as to why I couldn't do it any more. So, here I am, being new by continuing something I started a couple of months ago. I've picked three more albums to spend time with, in the hopes to get to know them a little better. Somehow it makes sense for one of them to be Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon: The End of Day. Kid Cudi, as it turns out, is a new breed of sad, sappy rappers with a Kanye West sized ego. No doubt, Cudi took a cue or two from his fellow mid-Westerner's 808's & Heartbreak (on which Cudi performs) and makes an attempt with his first solo album to appear vulnerable, flawed and prone to sadness. I haven't spent much time with it, but I'll at least give him credit for trying something a bit different. The third single "Pursuit of Happiness" features new wave, electronic dance bands MGMT and Ratatat. That's a welcome collaboration, in my opinion. Steve Aoki's remix can also be heard in the following Cudi narrated Vitamin Water advert:



For my other two selections I've chosen Best New Music dubbed Big Echo from The Morning Benders and the third full length from Kings of Convenience - Declaration of Dependence.

PS. Apple sucks and has pulled the plug on Lala.com so, I can't share audio with you at the moment..boooo


Try out the album opener "Excuses"


My favorite so far is "My Ship Isn't Pretty"


The aforementioned "Pursuit of Happiness" is the one that catches my ear.