“Who did this to you?” a new friend asked me yesterday when she noticed my near gagging at a couple holding hands crossing the street in front of us. It was followed later by a, “Damn…I would never date you!”.

I come off to everyone as a jaded and heartless b*tch, I guess. But that’s not really it at all. It’s not my lack of emotion that makes me steer clear of relationships. On the contrary, it’s my abundance of emotion. Sound silly?

Well, yeah. It is silly. But it’s how I am. When I really like a guy, I’m f*cking worthless. Every moderately aching emotion makes me want to puke all over everything around me. Love hurts…it’s not just a song, people. Sure, I feel ecstasy. I feel love. To quote songstress Feist, I feel it all. But when the pain comes, it kills me. I lost fifteen pounds in two weeks once after a breakup that I couldn’t emotionally handle. Read More »

I sometimes drift off to this place where I feel very detached. To borrow a phrase from a friend who once witnessed me in it…it’s kind of like “existential despair”.

I think a lot of people out there can occasionally relate with this feeling. It’s like you’re suddenly outside of everything. You WANT to focus on pushing forward with your goals, caring about the train being late, picking which sandwich you’ll eat for lunch…but there’s this one problem: everything just seems too irrelevant to care.

Sometimes, it’s comforting to listen to music that soundtracks this experience. Sometimes it is nice to know that you’re not the only one out there questioning EVERYTHING.

The next time you’re feeling disconnected, spend some quality time with these songs. And then get off the couch and go run…or something.

“Mad World” by: Michael Andrews
“Grey” by: Ani Difranco
“Meets His Maker” by: DJ Shadow
“Each to Each” by: The Gutter Twins
“Dizzy” by: Ours
“Requiem” by: Cave In
“When I Was A Young Girl” by: Feist
“A New Family” by: Colour Revolt
“A Viscious Circle” by: Day One Symphony
“Sweetness” by: Jimmy Eat World

Enjoy your detachment, boys and girls.

I first discovered Leslie Feist when I heard her song “Mushaboom”, a modest indie hit from her second solo album, Let it Die. In the song, she waxes melodic about her desire for a simple life: a husband, a home, kids, and…some mushaboom, whatever that is. It was that mixture of sincerity, simplicity and whimsy that pushed me into finding and listening to everything of hers I could find.

In 2007 Feist released The Reminder, which has since been canonized on VH1 and in advertisements. I’m glad that she has found some commercial success and all, but I hate that I can’t listen to “My Moon, My Man” without wanting a Chocolate by LG phone. But that’s another post.

Anyway, The Reminder is more than just an endless font from which advertisers like Apple can buy songs. It’s an exquisite, heartfelt album and every track is produced to perfection. Her music is lovely as a whole, but the standout aspect on The Reminder, and indeed, in Feist’s whole oeurve, is her voice–there isn’t another one quite like it. Read More »

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Let’s face it. In order to be a female musician, it’s a prerequisite nowadays to be considered hot. Unlike the guys, who can get away with looking like this or this and gorgeous girls will still screw them, women are a completely different story. It’s just the way things go.

So, with all of the ladies putting countless records out, who is the hottest? And what makes a “hot” female singer? There are dozens of lists of opinions; everybody’s got one. I happened to stumble upon one that caught my eye, if for no other reason than Madonna isn’t on it for once (I don’t care how “in shape” she is, people - she looks like hell. Eat a hot dog, woman).

Shoutmouth.com lists their countdown of the 50 Hottest Women in Music, and it goes by 7 different rules:

Rule #1 (The Madonna Rule): This list is based on recent hotness. It doesn’t matter how hot an artist was back in the ‘80s. It’s 2007. What have you done for us lately?

Rule #2 (The Hayden Panettiere Rule): To qualify for this list, an artist must be over 18 years of age. We only objectify of-age women here.

Rule #3 (The Newcomer Rule): Each artist must have released at least one full-length album prior to August 1st, 2007 in order to qualify.

See Photos after the jump. Read More »

From seemingly soft-spoken crooners (Jenny Lewis, Regina Spektor) to loud-mouthed firecrackers (Beth Ditto, Amanda Palmer) it’s no surprise that women have taken the reins from the guys and have proved that, they too, can rock as hard as any man. It’s time to let the ladies take over for a bit, and none too soon. Check out AOLmusic’s top female performers who are currently rocking the stage (and your iPod) right now. Photos after the jump: Read More »

Feist - My Moon My Man

From the album, The Reminder. Buy it here.