The "wow, this is good" award of the past few days goes to 'Angels and Demons' by Cindy Alexander, a very lyrical lady. How sweet her voice is on its own! Luckily, the iPod went on playing when the album was over; the earbuds went straight back in when her "hidden song" came out of my shirt pocket.
 Before writing properly about Alexander, I want to hear and learn more. She's got a gift for catching life's important little details and difficult moments in subtle, concise lyrics. But the hidden song catches Cindy in the way that gets me longing to hear a lot of the women simply being themselves: a sweet-voiced singer practising at home maybe or playing to please a friend or two.
(The photo credit goes to the remarkable Ken Pivak.)
Well great, tonight starts my latest week off completely out of the news and around almost uniquely for friends and for music. It's a new month as well, which means a fresh music budget, though I must remember November's night of greed that ate into it a little. Fortunately, Alexander means that by chance I seem to know so many Cindys I need to name a finger after them.
The "Cindy finger" is the one that knows by itself where to stop on the iPod's list of dozens of names I don't yet know well enough to start telling you their stories. I've got so much music to keep me going for ages that on learning of the likes of this miss and being so greedy for more must be an exception.
Of music reading to catch up on, in French 'Versus Magazine - musiques et (contre) culture rock" is the latest to pass the strict criteria set for any "rag" or site listed on the left. Repeated listening to Cindy Alexander (Amazon France has a couple of good deals, but not this album) reminded me of a lifted eyebrow when Versus pulled the common stunt of claiming one CD hadn't quit the player for days on end in a rave review and stating somewhere else in the way full-time music writers can how awful it is to be inundated with so many new records they don't know what to do with them.
If anybody reading this is getting such dreadful hassle from women vocalists, mail me and I'll send you my address, only too happy to help you out of your misery!
I'll link to 'Angels and Demons', released last February, in coming days when this month's only way past the "m = musicians > t = time" dilemma is with some mixed-bag entries and perhaps some of the other half-dozen in hand I mentioned in 'The Orchard'.
A friend who was today kind about the "music + the person" angle I'm keen to make a hallmark here said he doesn't drop in there. That may be wise; some recent musings have begun to surprise even me.
But the word that rang in my ears when I quit work tonight applies here as well: the afternoon desk editor moaned "Oh yes. It's that time again: "yearenders"!
10:23:59 PM link 
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