I’ve started to write a new post here a number of times in recent weeks but every time I was interrupted by something before I really got anywhere. Hopefully this time will be different.

I’ve been lucky with my music choices recently and have found some interesting stuff from the likes of Joanna Newsom, Johann Johansson, Cansei de Ser Sexy, Prototypes and Visa Röster (a game music “a cappella” band of all things) and somehow I’ve only just discovered Portishead. Unfortunately some others haven’t been quite so good. I picked up Nerina Pallot’s album Fires based on good reviews and the “If you like, [blah] you’ll like this” kind of recommendations. Most reviews used the term “original” heavily and name dropped artists I enjoy. I wouldn’t claim it’s a bad album by any means but it feels very much like Nerina is staying well inside her comfort zone and not stretching at all to reach the potential that appears to be there instead producing a good but somewhat bland entry into the singer/songwriter market. She is also borrowing quite heavily from other artists but I’m not quite sure why the other reviewers don’t seem to be picking up that. *shrug* So far I’m also a little lukewarm on Yo La Tengo’s “I am Not Afraid of You and I will Beat Your Ass” (That’s album name of the year material right there) but I think I’ll need a few more listens to really know what I think of that one. I signed up with LastFM now that they seem to support iPods although their stats seem a bit inaccurate. Hopefully I might get some useful recommendations out of this given some time.

Gaming-wise, things are somewhat quiet and I haven’t really been playing much (not that I’ve really had the time). I have managed to finally get onto “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney” on Nintendo DS which I had sitting around for ages. It’s a lot of fun if a game about lawyers can be considered fun. It has flaws, mostly related to it’s somewhat dated style of gameplay but all in all those are minor complaints.

I’ve also had few interesting arrivals. First, the Tachibana Ichika “Holy Spirit of Wind” figure arrived a few days ago. I’ve had this on order for almost a year now so it’s nice for it to finally arrive. Also, earlier today my Stax SR-007 (Omega 2) electrostatic headphones arrived. As expected they sound very, very nice and I think my headphone buying days are at an end for the relatively long term. Unfortunately they make it clear that I really do need a better electrostatic amp than the one I have. ^_^; My alternative driver for electrostatic headphones, a SRD-6 transformer box running off a power amp can’t summon up enough voltage to drive them. Ah well, need to start saving again. Oh, and yes, these headphones do come with their own little suitcase.