I’m usually the last person to ask about “what’s happening now” in music, or books, or TV. When I was a professional musician, I dutifully kept track of what was popular, what seemed to be the trends, etc. That’s part of being a professional, in any field.<\/p>\n
But then, when I quit, I stopped paying attention and listened to what I felt like listening to. I occasionally know something about current music, but usually after everybody else has discovered it first (I really like Lorde, but I think everybody else knew about her already).<\/p>\n
But I just found out about Kate Tempest, and this time I think there are still a few people who don’t know about her yet, at least in the U.S. I read about her in the Guardian<\/em>, and she sounded interesting. A poet, playwright, “spoken word artist” and rapper. Even apart from the fact that I’m not sure what a “spoken word artist” is, that’s an intriguing combination.<\/p>\n So, I bought her album Everybody Down<\/em> (do we even say “album” anymore?), and when I was listening I just kept hitting Repeat to listen to this song again and again:<\/p>\n