Anyhoo (yes "anyway" was already taken).

I blame Dan, or Az, or well, pretty much anyone. Today I managed the extraordinary feat of listening to the radio, hearing a song on the radio, liking the song enough to Google it, finding MySpace, playing the songs on it, and turning off the radio to cut out the clashing background noise. I'm guessing that means the radio was slightly too successful at defining my tastes.

Anyway, the song was Relax, take it easy by Mika, who I'd never heard of before and who, and this is going to sound clichéd, but, well, describes himself as a bit Rufus W, presumably Wainwright, which is accurate, even if in another song called Grace Kelly, he manages to do Freddie Mercury, albeit intentionally. Other influences (or subjects of rampant pillaging) include the Beatles, er, and I've just broken MySpace [bloody Murdoch], so I can't say who the others are. Lots of people; it sounds like a mix of a lot of stuff I recognise and like but can't necessarily place.

But perhaps the breaking of MySpace isn't completely coincidental, as I attempted a little bit of cache-based experimenting earlier, so maybe it's retaliating. Not having anything as hideously modern as iTunes, I can't get a legal copy of the songs, and only the first single is out at the moment anyway, so trying to gain a copy of what's not for sale can't be proper bad copyright infringement*. I look on it as if I still like it by the time the album comes out and gets down to a reasonable price, then I'll buy it (and if one thinks of the intervening time as the no-questions-asked returns period, then it's just like buying a jumper. I suppose the fact no record shop will ever offer a full refund, coupled with the stacks of assorted expensive mistakes, probably makes me more reticent, less inclined to spend money on music). Which is pretty much what I'd do if I didn't have access to the mp3s, except I tend to be a bit squirrelish about things, and so usually forget what I have liked, and don't get reminded unless it's right in front of me. So actually having illegitimate copies of the music increases my likelihood of buying it.

So guess who failed despite following woefully complex instructions. MySpace didn't come up with a 404, but neither did it come up with a file as all attempts timeout after apparently failing to connect. Here are what purport to be the links to the raw files, but I haven't got anything out of them yet, but that might be browser and connection based. So in lieu of the liberated mp3s, here's a zipped special bonus track available to people who sign up for the newsletter, and any of those who read the blog of someone who realised that there is no protection for the special reward file at all other than it's not immediately apparent, but of course you'll all be good little boys and girls and submit your best spam-free email address to them.

So go to MySpace to listen, or watch the video below, but the sound quality isn't very good.

Anyhoo,

* Yay for Bad AIDS. Well, not yay for AIDS obviously, but for Chris Morris.



PS. According to MS Word there's such a thing as a squirrelfish. How very odd.