I don’t know what’s worse – that Aimee Mann should have just released a new album or that no one saw fit to mention it to me. If I wasn’t such a crumbling wreck of proto-senility of course, then I’d have known about it etherically, like all “young people” do about the things they care about. Aimee Mann’s always been a bit of a guilty pleasure for me – the icon of the emotional and insecure female singer-songwriter being a bit of a Big Gay Cliché and everything. But over time I’ve come to accept that you’re allowed to listen to music like this and still retain some grasp on your masculinity if you balance it with a good heady dose of the Sex Pistols, The Pixies and some relatively hardcore dance stuff. Quite how this meshes with my current Bobby Darin obsession escapes me…
In related linkage, it’s worth checking out Aimee Mann’s new site – it’s all a bit Flash-heavy, but it’s quite stylish and includes large amounts of well-assembled audio clips and the like – plus it looks (although I don’t believe it is) partially designed by Daniel Clowes of “Ghost World” fame.