Nothing in particular.

To quote the Beastie Boys, “The Hiatus Is Back Off Again.” I was suffering from a little bit of a block, and I was wading through new promos (some of which I haven’t downloaded yet) and dealing with labels and publicists etc. to make sure that I have cool gear to write about, And sometimes that admin stuff and having a mountain of music that you want to write about — and don’t know where to begin — can have a muddling effect on the scribe’s psyche that dwells deep in the recesses of my cranial area.

And there is plenty to write about, from new stuff that’s about to drop, like the upcoming solo album from The Knife’s Karin Dreijer Andersson and Mr. White’s cheeky Aeroplane EP to the stupendous first volume of Brazil Classics, which David Bryrne so deftly compiled back in 1989. And let's not forget the upcoming compilation of tracks that Massive Attack have sampled and covered.

Elvis Costello once said that “writing about music is like dancing about architecture,” but when he said that I don’t think he ever took into consideration that if it wasn’t for writers informing people about his music that he may not have sold as many records or become as popular as he did. The words of rock stars, like those of politicians, should never be construed as a key to living successfully, or living period. Keep plenty of salt handy, my skeptical Scots Irish heritage is replete with salt and saltiness, thank god.

And though writing about music may be second best to playing it, someone has to do it, so I might as well. And anyway when you spend so much time scrambling around with music, new and old, sometimes you get kinda lost in it, like Sister Sledge. Let’s say I’ve been lost in the music for the past week; my head has been swamped by Tropicalia classics, The Bird And The Bee, Burt Bacarach and more new and classic dance music than you can wave a stick at. Disoriented? Maybe just a little, but fueled up with more material to write about. Be prepared!

Orr