3.29.2007

Music/Threads { ...or Why The World is Conspiring to Get Me To Like Imogen Heap

So I'm going through the websites and myspace sites of my favorite musical artists and groups, not having checked anything out for a while. Mostly I was looking for RSS feeds for news and tour dates by the artists (musicians - please use RSS feeds on your sites). Most of the 'official sites' have plenty of info but no feeds, which means I have to periodically check the sites to see what is new, which I often forget to do. But most of the artists I like seem to have myspace sites as well (ugh, what ugliness has that foisted onto the internets?), and along with it blogs and automatic feeds for said blogs. Best I can do, I guess.

Well, as I'm checking out Joshua Radin (folk musician, had a couple of great tracks on "Scrubs", [Zach Braff is his old roommate]), so I thought I'd check out his site. Seems he's dating Schuyler Fisk [Sissy Spacek's daughter, she did a film with Rachael Cook, who I used to work for years ago]. Anyway, as I'm checking out his tour dates, etc., I also see that he lists Imogen Heap under his top friends. The seed is planted.

So I'm off to check out other artists I like, Brian Transeau (bt) being one of them. So sad, looks like someone stole a whole ton of his equipment including his computers that had a ton of tour stuff on them. Well, there in his myspace page is a link to Imogen Heap.

So a folk musician from Ohio and an electronica musician from Maryland both like Imogen Heap. Not a huge leap, but its a nice little thread between my musical tastes.

So I'm off to check out what Kate Rusby is up to. Wow, she has a myspace page too. And there, third times a charm, is Imogen Heap in her friends list. Now granted, they are both British artists, and may know each other (Rusby is a folk musician from Barnsley, Heap a London artist).

Further, it appears that Heap covered a Radin song at some point, Heap was in the band "Frou Frou" that I loved their 'Let Go' track, which was on the 'Garden State' soundtrack (which Radin's roomie Braff directed), along with "Lebanese Blonde" by Thievery Corporation, which was another one of the bands I was checking out.

Observation: Many of the artists I like have these little connections to one another. I wonder if that means my tastes are more consistent than I think they are (i.e. not as eclectic), or that great minds think alike, or maybe my tastes are becoming insular.

Now I'll know there is a conspiracy afoot if I can find major links between Heap and Weezer, Tool, Muse, and Lisa Gerrard.