Music and stuff

So I downloaded/bought the new Cat Power album The Greatest today. I think I've already listened to it ten times.
Yeah.
I think it's that great. (I don't know what this guy is talking about.)

I don't have a lot of her stuff, just What Would the Community Think and a few tracks off Moon Pix. I've always like the sparse instrumentals and her eerie, soulful voice. The Greatest is different, fuller, more diverse, more complicated in parts, but just as (or maybe more) soulful. Maybe it's the fact that (as I keep reading) she's gone back to her southern roots, because I definitely feel something like "home" in this.
The first time I put it on, the first (title) track started, and I thought "oh, she's stepping up the instrumentation/arrangment," which immediately made me think of the latest Fiona Apple album, Extraordinary Machine, which I found quite disappointing (title track good, the rest is kind of ho-hum, good enough, but not new and exciting in any way). Thank *goodness* Chan didn't live up to that depressing expectation. This album is *way* better than Extraordinary Machine, not only in listenability, but also as a reflection of the artist's progression.
I think.

Anyway, in other (not quite on par with Cat Power) music news, we recorded ourselves in the rehearsal studio using my iBook and Garageband. The quality's pretty crummy (just ask Fuji), but I think, given what we were working with, it's not bad for a first try. I still hate my voice, but you can listen for yourself.

Today I wrote a draft for a statement of purpose to apply for a master's program at 上智大学 (aka Sophia University). It's just a draft, but I already feel like my writing has vastly improved and my goals have become way better defined since I applied for the ITO Fellowship. I just hope the ITO Foundation is okay with this plan... *sigh*