I’m still trying to get the hang of making time to blog again. I hope you’ll bear with me. The past week was super-busy. I’m working on a new website for a massage therapist friend, making lots of stuff for the shop (nighties available by Tuesday at the latest, I PROMISE), managing a ton of house and finance stuff (including refinancing our car – FUN!), and getting repeatedly bitten by the spring cleaning bug (before & after shots may be coming soon). Plus, there’s that little matter of spending most of my waking hours with an extremely busy toddler.

This is a post I started almost a week ago…

One of the best things about sewing more is the opportunity to really listen to music. I listen to podcasts sometimes too (especially This American Life and the New Yorker fiction), but lately I’ve mostly been blissing out on indie pop and folk. I have to thank our extraordinarily talented PT nanny Shenandoah Davis for introducing me to a lot of it. Her music has been such a fantastic bonus to having her in our lives, and DandelionBoy loves her so much.

I thought I’d share a few of my recent faves:

Laura Marling – I’m warming up to her new album but the original EP and first album are amazing.

French Quarter – I had never heard of Stephen Steinbrink until his band played in a show at 20/20 Cycle with Shenandoah and some other folks. So young and so talented, and this little album is such a gem. I love every song. I’ve probably played this more than anything else the past couple weeks.

First Aid Kit – These Swedish sisters can SING, and that’s pretty much all I have to say about why their music is awesome. Thanks to Lori for the heads up about their show at the Vera Project, which was fantastic.

Samantha Crain – She blew me away when she opened for First Aid Kit at the Vera Project. She’s considered folk or even country (!) and some songs definitely fit that bill, but there’s a lot more going on here. Her MySpace influences give you a bit of an idea: radiohead, berry, sam cooke, jason molina, sleater-kinney, anais nin, breece d’j pancake, fritz scholder.

I’m also joining everyone else in loving Janelle Monae’s new ArchAndroid. I’ve even been trying to get my legs to cooperate in doing the tightrope dance. And, after burning out on it a few months ago, I’ve revived my love for the dreamy, exotic Suburbs of Goa stream on somafm.