Stakeout

So, apparently, today is going to be the day that hell freezes over. Since I have no fireplace to roast me some chestnuts, I had to make sure I had other companions to get me through the blizzard. Of course, a few Irish and Scottish distillates will get you a long way, but something was missing. Whilst the stew was gently simmering away, I put on all of my clothes and walked out into what seemed Hoth. Two steps out, I sank ankle deep into the snow (then again, one should remember I have flat feet, so about an inch would do the trick). Destination music man with the voucher we got at work to get me a few companions for the coming winter.

Unsurprisingly, some of the usual suspects made the cut. David Sylvian, an all time favorite, with his latest effort, Sleepwalkers was the first one to join me. Sleepwalkers offers a panoply of collaborations and hides little gems like the gospely Ballad of a deadman, featuring Joan as a Police Woman and former Japan partner in crime Steve Jansen or Wonderful World, that’s been haunted by Stina Nordenstam. An early live album by Tom Waits came a close second. And when Loudon Wainwright III and Joe Henry team up, do I really stand a chance? To warm things up a bit, I finally bought Jamie Lidells Compass. And I will never ever walk away from a Neil Hannon who’s going cheap in the sales, especially since the Emerald Isle is in such dire straits.

The weather outside pointing my compass firmly North, some new shores were to be beached upon. So new to my audio cabinet: German Get well soon, who made the perfect winter version of my drunken adolescence soundtrack Born Slippy. Since the music man was all out of Wendys, I got me two Lisas. Lisa Germano and her Magic Neighbor and Lisa Gerrard, of former Dead can Dance-fame, teaming up with Patrick Cassidy for Salem’s Lot soundtrack, Immortal Memory. And to round things of a bit of jazz. Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin must be one of the most inspiring jazz bands around since the untimely death of Esbjörn Svensson. It might not last ’till spring, but it might just get me through a few snow packed nights.