31 Days of Happiness: Day 4

New computers. I love new machines, whether mine or someone else’s. Whenever someone is setting up a new computer I want to jump in and take over and do everything, install some cool little programs and run all the updates. I don’t know why. I’m weird that way. Even today I enjoy doing a fresh system install because it means I can set up my system again. Like I said, I’m weird.

Something else that makes me happy, since I’m feeling chatty at the moment, is downloading an album and discovering that it’s excellent. Such is the case with Nicole Atkins, a young singer/songwriter from Neptune, New Jersey. Her album, Neptune City was recommended to me some time ago and I downloaded it. Today I spend some time merging my MP3 libraries, and rediscovered the download. I’d listened to one or two tracks and put it aside. Atkins’s voice has Stevie Nicks’s resonance and tone, but not quite her whine. The songs are dense and romantic and dreamy. She reminds me of Katie Melua, another aspiring young singer (from Russia by way of the UK). She also reminds me of Feist. It’s a crime that performers like these ladies go mostly ignored while slaggy attention whores like Amy Winehouse get all the press, but such is life.

Nicole Atkins - The Way It Is
Katie Melua - 9 Million Bicycles
Feist - My Moon, My Man