i surprise myself

portland is not the best place for someone who already had hipster tendencies. wait...i'm revolutionizing the term "hipster" so that it is seen as a good thing. the word itself is an enigma wrapped in a conundrum.

i digress.

what i'm trying to say is that before portland, i was a music snob. and a food snob. now i'm also a coffee snob and a beer snob. i'm a HIPSTER.

part of my music snob-ness used to cause me to turn my nose up at solo artists. i was all about the harmonies and trading vocal duties of full bands. i blame eisley. beautiful eisley.

it's already the middle of april and there's only 3 albums that i've actually listened to on repeat this year. confession: and their all solo female acts. can you see my mind opening?? my horizons broadening?? i've decided these 3 girls sort of represent a "easy, medium, difficult" situation.

for "easy," we have the painfully eye-catching lana del rey. i've listened to her album on repeat, repeat, repeat since january. i like every song and love almost every song on Born to Die...particularly "off to the races," "lolita," and "summertime sadness." those were the first 3 that came to mind. i could've kept going. and look how pretty...i could land a helicopter on those lips.

for the slightly more adventurous, i offer the "medium" option of alex winston. quirky and happy and dark and a little angry. i could actually just listen to instrumental versions of her songs and be happy because it's just great melodies. but her voice is too precious for words. she wants so bad to be angry. obsessed with "sister wife," "the fold," and "host" off her album King Con...........someone give the girl some blush.


for the reeeally daring, we have anais mitchell. sleepy, folky, glassy, dreamy. HIPSTER. portland would most likely scoff at my mention of lana and alex and then let me redeem myself by including anais. listen to "wilderland," "young man in american," and "dyin day" off Young Man in America.

we've only been to one live show since we've lived here. PATHETIC.