It's No Bother At All

Going with a different font here, just to see if it works better. The "small" Arial that I was using looked a little too small, but Blogger's "Normal Size" is too freaking huge, in any font. This small Verdana looks to do the trick.

Fascinating stuff, isn't it? Maybe I'll do "Font Talk" every Monday!

OK, just one more bit of housekeeping: Mrs. Arhythmius and I have found a suitable apartment. Thus, we will transition from the stress of apartment-hunting to the stress of moving. *Sigh*. Moving is the only type of major trauma that is not directly covered by health insurance. See, I really hate the act of moving. I hate it. Do you get me? I am using the word "hate" here. About moving.

So, please forgive me if I seem more edged-out over the next few weeks. It's just me, quietly developing an ulcer.

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Fortunately, I've got new music to distract me. Last week, another phenomenal Indie Pop artist sent me her album, and once again I am at a loss to explain how commercial radio hasn't latched onto this thing like a corporate Remora.

Dina Gathe is her name, and she's been rocking L.A.'s classic venues for so long, it's kinda strange I haven't run into her before. I mean, even considering that I don't go out anymore. Well, no matter -- I've got her new album Bother Me now, and if you want my copy, then you'll have to have Chuck Heston pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

Bother Me is a huge album, both in content and ambition. There are 15 tracks, and each song is a work of high quality. While listening to the album, I got the distinct impression that Chrissie Hynde was there in spirit. Then I read Ms Gathe's bio, and sure enough, Ms Hynde was listed as a major influence. But I also heard echoes of everyone from U2 to Faith Hill. Ms Gathe is a strong enough songwriter that she can ease into different genres without sounding like she's stretching.

I'd also like to point out that the album was produced by Gilli Moon, an Indie Pop artist in her own right (also heard on Estrogenius), as well as a producer, promoter, and motivator extraordinaire. Ms Moon runs her own label, Warrior Girl Music, and a publishing company, with the mission of providing exposure to deserving female artists. In other words, it's exactly like what I'M trying to do, but fortunately Ms Moon also has talent.

I've added three tracks from Bother Me to the playlist of Estrogenius: "Solid Ground", a crackerjack album opener with a cool rock riff; "Story", a ballad with a beautiful melody and vocal arrangement; and "Is My Everything Enough?", another rocker, but with some odd synth breaks that make it sound like a cross between Duran Duran, Billy Idol and... Dina Gathe, of course.

The expert songwriting and production on Bother Me also reminded me of my favorite Pop artist of last year, Ana Lovelis. Honestly, these women are making my job very easy, and they're making terrestrial radio programmers look really dumb. Well... more dumb.