So many notes!

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You may know that, despite owning an MP3 player and an e-book reader, I prefer physical media. Today I used one of my remaining Xmas gift cards to buy a handful of CDs. Hooray!

• LP, Forever For Now: I was one of the people who resisted learning about LP after she made a huge impression at Folk Fest last year. Silly, silly me. A few weeks ago I discovered her song "Someday," which I've been playing obsessively since. (Lesson: Don't resist the recommendations of people whose taste I generally trust.) Today I picked up the full-length CD and am listening now. Her styling really appeals to me, and I love her voice. Tasty!

• Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magik: I didn't buy this one back in the 1990s, though I should have. Now that CDs are so ridiculously cheap, I've been filling gaps in my collection. This one is iconic. (Earlier this year I bought Californication, too.) Crunchy!

• Tori Amos, Unrepentant Geraldines: I was drawn to this disc because of my long, long history with Ms Amos and my dogged sense of loyalty — loyal to a fault, sometimes. Haven't listened all the way through, but the first two tracks were pretty solid. Hopeful!

• Passenger, Whispers (deluxe edition): New discovery. Sensitive, intelligent song-writing and thoughtful musicality. Again, I haven't listened all the way through the disc yet, but I like what I've heard so far. And the deluxe disc is worth the extra four dollars: Disc Two provides acoustic versions of album tracks, and the booklet is breathtaking. Dreamy!

OK, but I also have to cop to buying Beyonce's "Run the World (Girls)" on iTunes the other day. Yeah, that's me bouncing in the driver's seat with the speakers turned way, way up ...