Whistling through winter cold wonderland

Let's get one thing straight. It's cold outside. It's cold in my bedroom. It took me a lot of courage this morning to get out of bed, it wasn't all that pleasant. It then takes me a while to get dressed, with all the layers and then, after I had my morning coffee, it takes a while to put on my legwarmers, scarf, mittens (I'm currently considering putting gloves underneat) and my hat. And the Doc Martens of course. I'm wearing an incredibly warm workers safety jacket in bright orange with reflecting stripes. By that time I look like an orange Michelin woman. It's -6 degrees. Bring it on! One step outside and the wind blows straight through all layers of clothing. I knew -6 was supposed to feel like -15 today. Scratch that. It doesn't matter how cold it feels like. Freaking cold = freaking cold.

It's a challenge to battle the wind, not because it's freaking cold but the wind is heavy, very heavy. And because of the cold the acceleration on my bicycle doesn't work. I like to cycle heavy. So now, this is quite a struggle but you know, once you got some speed it's actually not so bad. Not bad at all. Sure it's cold but you keep warm regardless. Unless the wind blows straight through everything, you shiver and you keep going. And, there's my walkman and as we all know, music keeps you warm.

In summer I'm known to drive straight into a ditch being in total awe about the music on my walkman, apparently in winter I'm rocking out on my bicycle, whistling (I can't whistle so it's rather a bad idea) and singing along, bopping my head along. Where one should think it's best to pay attention to the road to avoid the slippery parts, I rather move like a groundkeeper in a video of Nirvana. Whether it's In Bloom, the teenage sound of the Rondelles, the Cribs' rage against society or the sweet garage rock of the Bangles (they used to have a life before the artist then primarely known as Prince wrote them a little tune about Mondays you know), I really get into the music and rock my way home. Weird. Shouldn't I not shiver my way home? Or is this a natural reaction to keep warm?

Either way, despite me fully appreciating the music on my walkman (mittens = not being able to use the skip button, you gotta deal with whatever song comes on), you may still feel sorry for me getting on my bicycle and driving through -6 but feels like -15. It's still cold.

Gras driving, forest friends and Corin Tucker

Three days into my working rhythm and I'm still not used to it. Work really needs getting used to, why can't people just take it slow and easy? Work is annoying. It always takes a while to get back into real life after a vacation but I what I really need to do is getting my act together when biking home. So far I managed to drive my bicycle into the gras every single day while I was telling myself what great music I got on my walkman. I either need to get over the fact the music is great or I should pay more attention to the road. Probably the last one.

Just before I went on vacation I noticed that the left top tile at the lady's toilets at work sort of looks like it has a Bob Ross painting on it. While looking at it I could see a forest with animals on that particular tile. Of course when you are tired you are able to see weird things so while thinking it was nice I thought I saw these things simply because I was tired. To my surprise and joy I noticed my forest friends hadn't left the tile. They are still there. The fox sitting in front of a tree which has a owl sitting in it. And there's also a bunny jumping at the right side of the tile. It's these small things that make life a little brighter or maybe I'm just a bit coockoo. I want these tiles in my own bathroom. I wish I had bought these rubber duck tile stickers now at one of Sweden's best stores, Lagerhaus.

Sometimes there are these album releases you just know must be great. Everyone tells you it's great and considering the artist and what this artist has done in the past it has a big, bright, neon THIS IS GOOD STUFF label on it (blinking of course). They ooze GOOD STUFF so much that you're actually scared to touch it, scared to be disappointed because you also read this album is not what you'd expect (but still good). Curiosity won at last and scared I put on this magical album, '1,000 years' by the Corin Tucker Band. In case you don't understand what the commotion is about, she's been in Sleater-Kinney. If that doesn't make you understand the commotion your musical interests differ from mine (but that's fine if you let me be). Still, being excited for an album just because of the name is a very big risk. Your expectations might be sky high, the music is more likely to disappoint you. There is a risk of not liking this artist so much anymore. I didn't want that to happen, even though I know Sleater-Kinney does not equal the Corin Tucker Band, I never expected that in the first place. Still, in a way you do want to like the album by this power woman.

So, I put that album on. After 10 seconds into that album I knew I was listening to something quite incredibly amazing. What a great rock album! I was thrown to many directions while listening (ditch included), she sings gracefully but powerful. The music is so 90s in the best possible way. Especially 'It's always summer' made me think of the band Kindred Spirit, and that band came up a lot of times (I love Kindred Spirit, they were pretty much overlooked and under-promoted) as were (the obvious aside) early REM and the Who. If Tucker singing The Who tickles your fancy you might want to ask the kind people of Quasi nicely if they have a copy of their NYE Who party DVD left, but this on a side note. I had no real expectations for this album, I threw them all aside, but it really amazed me. Now here's an album that shot right into my list of the best albums for 2010. Tucker might be a dedicated mother and doesn't scream out her frustrations, she's a damn good musician and songwriter. This goes right into my favourite alt rock albums shelf next to Pavement, Modest Mouse, the Minders and yes Sleater-Kinney. And so it should be.