I've bought my copy of The Strokes new album and despite negative reviews online, I think it's ace. There are a few tracks that don't really go anywhere, which is rare for The Strokes, but most are incredibly creative and exciting. On my first real listen reading along with the lyrics I was amazed at how unpredictable the melodies are. They literally fly around like notes without a home. And Julian's voice is equally unpredictable, sometimes growling, sometimes mumbling, sometimes clear as a winter sky.
The immediate stand-out track for us was, "Ask Me Anything" - where Julian sings the same line, "I've got nothing to say" about 100 times in varying melodies. He took the words right out of my mouth!
And would you believe it, I'm still on holiday. But Naomi's gone back to work so I almost feel like I should be back at my desk too. But I'm not! So Yoski and I are off to Nagano for snowboarding and we'll be staying the night in a forest by a lake. In addition to the joyous fact we'll be staying in a forest (by a lake), the longest run at the resort is over 5km! Previous snowboard trips in Japan have been slightly disappointing due to the lack of long pistes, but on a 5km piste I can listen to a good 10 tracks! Perfect! However, it's been snowing heavily for what seems like the past year in Northern Japan. There's going to be a hell of a lot of white stuff...