Have you ever listened to the Homoground podcast? If not, I highly recommend it. Yes, especially if you’re queer, but even if not. It’s full of amazing music of all genres.
I listen to it a lot when I’m walking the dog. Lately they featured a band called These Knees and I was smitten half a song into it. They’re catchy and fun.
It’s not often I buy a physical CD (the last, and only for years, was Blackstar by David Bowie) of something but I did on Saturday; I ordered the CD from Bandcamp and downloaded the mp3 for myself. I’m going to give the CD to a friend that will enjoy it, I think.
I know this is a craft blog first and foremost but there is so much more in my life that I can’t live without. Sometimes something will come along that I want to throw at everyone I meet in the hopes that its beauty will touch them too and well, that’s usually in the form of music. I have been addicted to music my entire life and I’m pretty sure that, except for some very notable exceptions that usually involved unconsciousness, there hasn’t been a day where a song hasn’t touched me somehow.
The root of it is that I’m not only a nerd for knitting; I’m a nerd for pretty much everything. And today it’s music!
A couple of weeks ago I went to my good friend Soph’s to see her new place. It’s in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere and it’s absolutely gorgeous and of course we went for a wander around it. There was this old empty house that was creepy and intimidating so we couldn’t help but explore. Turns out it does have an owner and they really don’t like trespassers but we didn’t get caught.
It looks like it's screaming.
After some delicious food cooked by the grand Sophie herself we played her baritone ukulele (and her ordinary one too). We’re both big fans of the instrument as it’s just such a versatile one, perfect for playing when you’re looking for something low stress and chirpy. I haven’t played my guitar in a few weeks because all I want to do is strum on Jimmy, my little red uke. Of course I had to have a play with Soph’s baritone which is tuned very similarly to a guitar (but on four strings) and therefore it was relatively easy to play.
Sophie......and me.
One of the results of this afternoon/evening of fun was that Soph introduced me to a band called tUnE-yArDs. Normally I would be put off with a name typed like that, I’m not gonna lie. However I had no literary aversion at this point as I had only heard the band’s name spoken and really, the youtube video didn’t do much for me. Maybe I was just tired but it didn’t really click for me.
However, when Soph got us tickets to see tUnE-yArDs playing live in Bristol I couldn’t turn it down. I’m glad I didn’t.
They were amazing.
I say ‘they’ but all the wonder really comes from the frontperson, Merrill Garbus. She is nothing less than a vocal artist, layering her voice over itself to build up into artfully placed climaxes in her songs (I typed socks…) and spilling out emotion all over the place. I was tired and a little grumpy from working all day but that changed the moment she was on stage and her charisma opened up.
Merrill's mouth is intimidatingly huge when she sings.
It’s probably not music for everyone. She’s a little bizarre and it’s taken a few listens for me to really feel like I understand some of the songs, or at least see how they are relevant to me. That’s not unusual for me though.
The Knitter Nerd 