Mood for January.
music
Bruce Springsteen – New York City Serenade
This is one of my favourite Bruce Springsteen songs. It reminds me a lot of Underworld, by Don DeLillo. (Here’s a post on that novel from almost eight years ago – Christ, eight years.) Clearly both are different; but for me it’s more a case that they zoom in on little street portraits, and those vignettes create something greater than the sum of the parts.
What I’ve been working on recently completely avoids cities, but songs like this really make me miss writing about them. (Or the made-up people who inhabit them.)
Talisk – Abyss
Talisk – winners of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award. Watch the fingers on that concertina!
Anoushka Shankar – Lasya
This is rather sublime, if you happen to be into global music. (Yes, she’s Ravi Shankar’s daughter.)
Sufjan Stevens, “Should Have Known Better”
So glad he’s got a new album, one which seems a return to the style of old. There’s also a really good interview with him, by Dave Eggers, in the Guardian.
Game Soundtracks
Kotaku has a list of the best game soundtracks from last year. I think it’s always worth highlighting some of these, as they make for excellent writing music (especially the Destiny game, which they highlighted). I’ve written a couple of lists myself over the years, largely film-based, but I’ve recently been enjoying a mix of old and new computer game soundtracks.
The Elder Scrolls IV and V (Oblivion and Skyrim) are absolutely superb for writing fantasy fiction, as is the Dead Space franchise and Dragon Age. Assassins Creed knock out tons of soundtracks, but can feel a bit same-y after a while. Some of the old World of Warcraft soundtracks can be fun as well.
Anything good I’m missing out on?