Several months ago, my friend Suzanne changed her Google Talk status to the title of this post: Listen to Greg Laswell. 

I thought it was a little strange and didn’t really think anything of it.

A few months later, I posted this status update to Facebook:

Shane is looking for some new music.

Once again, Suzanne came back with the same message: Listen to Greg Laswell.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally took her advice and listened to Greg Laswell. I finally realized what she’d been talking about all along.

You see, Suzanne is married to one of my good friends who is extremely into electronic and house music, particularly a guy named Bill Laswell. I had mistakingly believed that the two were either related or the same guy. And I’m not so down with the house trance music. It’s OK in certain situations (read: never when I’m around), but I’m much more up with sad bastard music like Elliott Smith, Coldplay and Iron & Wine.

When I finally got around to listening to Greg Laswell, I found that he fit perfectly into my wheelhouse of sad bastards. I started with his rendition of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” from the Confessions of a Shopaholic soundtrack. Then I bought his latest album, three flights from alto nido (iTunes link). Then I bought everything else that was available.

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve listened to his albums on repeat and I just can’t stop. Combine Laswell with Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes (which I really just discovered a month ago) and I’ve hit the sad bastard musical trifecta.

So seriously. Take Suzanne’s advice and listen to Greg Laswell.