To be read with a really, really bad Italian accent!

Nothing Italian about the rest of this crap; basically it’s just me talking about, well, mainly a mishmash of old-ish and new-ish music. When I was working in graphics I had a lot of time to listen to music. But you can’t really do that when you’re writing, can you? Unless what you’re listening to is something really slow and steady and background noise-ish.

First up, Deftones. I can’t tell you how much White Pony shaped me in my late teens. Chino is my forever crush, swear to GOD, and he’s still as hot as ever. Hotter, even, in 2025 compared to like a decade ago. Here’s their entire Lollapalooza concert last year; what I would’ve given to be there. Damn, they’ve still got it, don’t they? I mean, the man is 52. White Pony came out 25 fucking years ago. He’s got a healthy heart, my man Chino, to be jumping and screaming around like that for over an hour. Anyhoo, chills!

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You know how I was saying I couldn’t really work with music? Well, I lied! Because I can listen to Surprise Chef whatever I’m doing. I hold this band to a very sentimental level because this was one of them bands I listened to nonstop while walking my foster dog Machi around Shanghai, rain or shine, day or night. It was painstaking to try to find a song to share here because I love them all but I really think everyone should have some Spiky Boi. Because Spiky Boi is life. (Don’t you love their look though.)

I’m also going to throw in their song A1 Bakery Pledge of Allegiance, from their album Education & Recreation (I highly recommend):

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So another concert I’ve got lined up to see is Camel Power Club. I’ve searched high and low for a vinyl of the album with this song in it but it’s like trying to find a damn unicorn. Maybe the whole reason I bought tickets to their concert is the hope that they play this live:

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This is an killer song, and an amazing video to boot. Listened to this over and over while riding around Shanghai at like 2am:

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Natalie Bergman releasing a new album this July, and oh my god the video. Loved her since her Wild Belle days.

Also here’s a really good remake of Lions’ You’ve Got a Woman with Beck:

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A few weeks ago Interpol randomly came on my playlist and it rekindled my insaaaaane crush on Interpol’s music and Paul Banks back in the day. Although I did follow Banks’ band, Muzz, few years back. So I had this 2-day Interpol binge.

(Of course he doesn’t look like this nowadays but the voice is still as good.)

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