since we can’t all be about poetry all the time. well, maybe you can.

what kind of music are you into? any perennial favourites you want to push, or tips for the year ahead?

last night i saw cataldo supporting laura veirs, and he was awesome.

i love los campesinos! like no other band. romance is boring is out in february, it’s incredible. and there’s a reference to the faber book of love poems in one of the songs, so you know, almost relevant. right?

and lady gaga is so good. one of my housemates loves this medley of her songs, and it’s pretty great.

Well, essentially, if it’s either in the charts or extremely cheesy, I love it. I exist on music such as the Macarena.

And Lady Gaga freaks me out slightly, I’m not sure why? It’s almost like if Britney Spears and Ozzy Osbourne had a lovechild, she’d be similar. She gives me the heeby-jeebies, but I do have a few friends who love her, so I’ll recommend the link.

Owen Pallett is so incredible. Here is evidence.

I’m going to see him in London tomorrow! Yess :)

I love Laura Veirs and I am dead jealous. (And everything I can hear of Cataldo’s on myspace is wonderful.)

My recommendation is the same as always: Billie the Vision and the Dancers, a phenomenally good Swedish pop band. You can download all their music for free here: http://www.billiethevision.com/music.php (The album at the bottom of the page is the best.) If you like this lot, Hello Saferide is another brilliant Swedish band.

Oh my goodness, I saw Owen Pallett live at the Union Chapel last night and it was incredible. Far and away the best concert I’ve ever been to.

Laura Veirs scares me! She sings about rocks far too often to be trusted….

I love Cocorosie and The Dresden Dolls at the moment - they have interesting lyrics and a flair for the inventive. Is it wrong to love Lady Gaga?

David x

Dresden Dolls! I love Amanda Palmer, have you listened to her solo album? Deffs recommend. I also got excited when I found out she was going out with Neil Gaiman… I’m not usually into celebrity couples, but this caused a little hyperventilation.

Harold Budd’s music is my favourite to listen to at the moment. He’s an ambient/minimalist composer and pianist, and has collaborated with Brian Eno and The Cocteau Twins.

This piece is beautiful, as are all his pieces really: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWILQBVDHf4

And in contrast to Harold Budd I’ve recently discovered the work of avant-garde saxophonist and composer John Zorn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7jyzXY1JAo&feature=related

Few people seem to have heard of Emmy the Great - she released her debut album, First Love, last February and I’m really hoping she’ll release something new. Her style’s kind of “girl and guitar”, but that sounds a bit dismissive and it’s really good. She’s got a beautiful voice and her lyrics are very well written. The lines “I pray for rain because I’m trying/ To find God and make him cry/ Because I’m dying in a fire beneath my covers” in her song “Dylan” seem to me like an accurate and original reflection of adolescence at its worst.

http://www.emmythegreat.com/

I will happily push Lloyd Cole and the Commotions and Prefab Sprout on anybody and everybody. They were two incredibly literary 80s bands, and Lloyd Cole and Prefab’s frontman, Paddy McAloon, are quite possibly the greatest lyricists I have EVER heard. I grew up listening to and therefore hating this stuff, but in recent years, since I’ve started taking my own writing more seriously, I’ve realised just how much they’ve influenced me. Ta, mum and dad!

Oh, and if you’re into Stars, then just go and buy “Steve McQueen” by Prefab off Amazon, RIGHT NOW.

In terms of modern stuff (what’s this modern nonsense?!), I really like The Winks, a cellist/mandolinist fronted Canadian band who are shockingly unknown. The girl’s voice is a little like Bjork’s, and their lyrics are wonderfully bizarre and obscure.

I can’t reccommend a “listening list” for poets without mentioning The Indelicates or The Wave Pictures, either. The Indelicates come across as furious, revolutionary, well-read post-modern yoof, taking it upon themselves to dissect the pitfalls of the modern world, and The Wave Pictures are charmingly kooky story-tellers with a wonderful sense of humour.

Owen Pallett is incrediiiiible live, most wonderful gig I’ve ever been to also, despite joyless thirty-somethings in the crowd insisting my friends and I pipe down. (Apologies to any hopefully joyous 30 year olds reading…)