The Maria Taylor interview just went up (read it here). She talks about the possible break-up of Azure Ray and that band's future, making her new solo album 11:11 and performing with her bro and sis. Was there a definitive answer to the Azure Ray question? Not really. She said she and her cohort, Orenda Fink, are still very close friends, but when I proffered the idea of perhaps a co-headlining tour where both do a solo set and then come together at the end and do an Azure Ray set, she said what amounts to "that would defeat the purpose though, wouldn't it?"

Among the stuff that didn't make it in the story was our discussion about Omaha. When I first interviewed Maria in 2002 she and Orenda had just moved to here. I asked her after all that time if she had any regrets? "I still love it," she said of Omaha. "I have so many great friends here. I'm actually not there very much. I've been traveling a lot, I go visit friends in New York and family in Birmingham. It's my home base. I live in Dundee and I love it." Yeah, but didn't I hear an interview on KCRW about a year after you moved here where you guys were saying you were having second thoughts? "I think that was Orenda. You can put me anywhere and I would be OK. Orenda had a hard time adjusting to the weather and the personality of the city. She hated it, but now she's stuck (having just married The Faint's Todd Baechle now Todd Fink). She's warming up to it. The snow gets to me and I hate being cold. To me, a place is all about the people who are there." But don't you miss Athens? "All of our friends moved away. Athens is a college town, so people don't stay there. Andy (LeMaster, Athens native and member of Now It's Overhead) is rarely there. Sometimes I miss the time that I spent there, though." Maria Taylor plays Sokol Underground Friday night with Statistics and Taylor Hollingsworth.

Tonight, our old, wigged friend Scout Niblett drops in at O'Leaver's with non-wigged Kyle Harvey. Both for only $5. This one could get crowded.

Brazilian Girls, self titled (Verve Forecast) -- Highly lauded critical darlings for their electronic/bossa/reggae style I think of these New Yorkers as Air meets Sade with a slight island lilt. Terrific upon first exposure, but a little goes a long way. The best parts are the dance tracks ("Don't Stop," "Sirenes de la Fete") that make up a lot of it, but there's little here that I'd care to hear again. Rating: No.