mood: giddy as a fuckin’ school boy. 

just got two packages in the mail - both containing new music.  doesn’t get much better than that does it?

the first package included the brand-spankin’ new cd (autographed no less) ’scarred’ by the divine, amazing johnette napolitano (featuring 10 new tracks + two cover’s; coldplay’s ‘the scientist’ and the velvet underground’s ‘all tomorrow’s parties’*).  for more on my love affair with johnette go here or here.

from my first cursory listen of scarred, it’s a beautifully-dark record; equal bits acoustic  and electric.  the key here (as always with the great concrete blonde & pretty & twisted tunes) is johnette’s lyric’s and her deep, throaty voice that’s on the verge of cracking with pain (and more infrequently, joy).  she’s tortured, that’s for sure - but the music is so cathartic, it never feels terribly heavy. 

johnette turns 50 (yes, 50!)** this year (it must mean your getting old when your teen-aged idols are hitting the half century mark), and from my initial listening, her lyric’s are much more self-assured, confident and poetic than perhaps she has been in her youth-full past. 

the reason i’ve always loved johnette is at her core, she’s a storyteller - whether the stories were under the concrete blonde banner or pretty & twisted, it didn’t matter - the stories were still amazing tales of characters and happenings.  i can’t wait to dive into the new one and learn every note.

the second package was a complete and total surprise.  a few month’s ago i had mentioned in passing to my friend ian from london that the creatures (siouxsie’s post-banshee’s project) put out a cd in the u.k called ‘tivoli utrecht 06/03/90′ a live recording from their boomerang world tour in 1990. 

well low and behold i got a lovely package from london containing the box set (also featuring a postcard and 3 badges):

 

as a complete surprise, ian also got for me the cd release of the creatures first post banshee tune ’sad cunt’ from 1998 (it was a fan club only release back in the day).  now, i have ’sad cunt’ on vinyl 45, but i’ve never heard it as i do not currently have a turntable set up - very excited to finally hear this rarity (+ it’s two b-sides).

here’s a shot of the actual cd - can i just say i’m in love with the man-graphic.  that would make a great tattoo!  i’m just sayin’:

so there you go - lots of new music to listen to for me.  happy me!  life don’t get much better than gettin’ new (surprise) music in the mail!

* interesting side note, the creatures have also covered ‘all tomorrow’s parties’

** siouxsie sioux also turns 50 this year