New article for The Japan Times, this one about Caroline’s upcoming live performance in Tokyo. Read it here. Verdugo Hills remains one of my favorite albums of the year so far, a gorgeously constructed electro-soundscape that is like Bjork keeping one eye on the ambient scene instead of the dance clubs. That said, I still probably wouldn’t put this album…or Maia Hirasawa’s album, which seems poised to follow Feist and Neko Case’s footsteps and end up my “Best Album That Should Be Playing In A Starbucks Right Now” award…because it doesn’t seem that Japanese? That sounds absolutely ridiculous – yet there it is! – but I’ve seen Caroline’s latest stocked in the “Western” section of Tower Records and maybe that’s influenced me a bit too much. If I were counting it, Verdugo Hills would be hob-knobbing with the top five. And “Swimmer” would be pretty high on a song list as of now too.
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTQT-g9U_88″]