Just got back from the Aimee Mann concert, which was quite excellent. Her set focused on her newer material off of Bachelor No. 2and Lost in Space, but there were a few songs here and there from her previous albums + the Magnolia soundtrack. Through the joys of in-between song monologues, I discovered that she thinks P.T. Anderson is a great director that can actually make Adam Sandler (quote: "...fucking hate Adam Sandler...") palatable and that the song Red Vines is partially based on Anderson.

Off the top of my head, the set list included (in no order whatsoever):

• The Moth


• Calling It Quits


• Susan


• Humpty Dumpty


• Invisible Ink


• Save Me


• Wise Up


• That's Just What You Are


• Amateur


• Pavlov's Bell


• Red Vines


• Deathly

There were more songs, but I didn't take meticulous notes like The General does at concerts.

Inspired by A. B. (not our A. B.), I decided to grab some pork for tonight's dinner, which is also my inaugural attempt at steaming with new steamer.

After some slight deliberation, I ended up going with pork slices: 1/4" pork loin slices seasoned with salt, pepper + shallots & steamed with rosemary-accented water on pieces of leeks. The end result was sufficently soft & flavorful, albeit on the simple side. I'll have to experiment with the recipe some more to see if I can keep it simple and clean, but a little more satisfying tastewise.

Hopefully I can ferret out other good steaming recipes a la IRON CHEF....I like having a method of cooking food delicately without added fat or time without leeching certain aspects of flavors away the ingredients.

BTW, that was only a quarter of the pork loin. The rest is marniating overnite in a bath of diluted soy sauce, garlic powder, black pepper, brown sugar and dried chile powder. That should roast up quite nicely with a honey & sesame seed coating to finish.

I'm going to try something a little different and try to do the random one-off album review here and there.

Saint Etienne Finisterre

Finisterre is very much a return to the Saint Etienne of old: a mix of eclectic/experimental electronic & acoustic sounds combined with lead singer Sarah Cracknell's sweet girlish1 vocals + catchy melodies.

Unlike the fairly sedate Sound of Water, Finisterre is generally more lively and includes a number of more dance oriented tracks such as the opener Action and Shower Scene, which has instrumentation reminscient of the balearico mix of Burnt Out Car. However, it still has its quieter moments like the instrumental Language Lab and The More You Know. Additionally, there seems to be a minimalist electro-pop (think Ladytron) running through a number of the tracks, in particular New Thing and B92. Finally, the spoken introductions between tracks are an interesting touch.

Overall, Finisterre is a good "rediscovery" album for Saint Etienne that also makes progress sonically as well, much like U2 All That You Can't Leave Behind.

The Insatiable Meter reads: 8/10

Stand out tracks:

• Action


• Finisterre


• Summerisle

1. No offense intended, but girlish is just the best adjective I can think of to describe her singing style.