St. John, The Gambler.

Midnight. Sabina and Srin had returned to their hostel and I had just plugged in my iPod. Srin gave me a cigarette before she left. I wanted to smoke it after I had completed my work assignments for the day. Shuffle mode is quite freaky. Out of nowhere, and for the first time ever, it started playing Townes Van Zandt's 

St. John  the Gambler, from the In Bruges OST. 

 Please listen to it. 
You'll know why I had to pause, find a place to sit and finish my last cigarette while it played.
It's THAT good. Seriously.

Alex Turner delivers in Submarine OST

I never got a chance to be a big fan of the Arctic Monkeys, although Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not is supposed to be the fastest selling debut album by any band in the UK. Going off on a totally different tangent, I AM a fan of most of Ben Stillers work, especially when he plays a larger role behind the cam, say in directing or producing something. Very few of us know that Reality Bites, one of the best movies in the 90's with an awesome soundtrack, is actually directed by Stiller. The poster for Submarine says 'Presented by Ben Stiller', which really means here's a big star lending his name to a not-so-mainstream movie so that it sells, and there's nothing wrong with it. At least that's how I got to know this movie existed.
Coming back to the Monkeys, Alex Turner, the lead singer and guitarist from the band, contributes six tracks to what becomes the soundtrack for this movie. it's pretty good stuff. The songs remind me of Badly Drawn Boy's work on another Brit gem, About A Boy. Here's my pick of the lot - a song called It's Hard To Get Around The Wind. The movie seems promising; I'll be waiting for the DVD release.

Here's the entire playlist.

I like the Beatles, but...

.. but then I discovered some obscure bands from the same era. One of these bands was Small Faces. won't make it a long posting about their bio or where they originated. They're Brit. That's enough. Listen to this song and tell me they're not cool. I dare you!

it's called Itchycoo Park. watch it here.

(Any other similar bands, people? I'm sure there are many, but I love recommendations.)

Small Faces