How did they split the phone bills?

An odd common thread in descriptions of the lives of trendy musicians that we've read in the last couple of weeks: roommates. Consider first the formation of Damon Albarn's hip-hop/rock/cartoon fusion outfit Gorillaz:

Gorillaz got started when Blur's Damon Albarn and [graphic artist] Jamie Hewlett shared an apartment after each of them had long-time romance break-ups.

So: the productivity boost from having a roommate. And they weren't the only ones. In a short interview segment in Sunday's New York Times where a musician is asked what they are listening to these days, the playlist was provided by Feist:

After a decade of playing in rock bands, the Canadian singer Leslie Feist, who goes by her last name only, has been reborn as a chanteuse

and she was keen on M.I.A. (Maya Arulpragasam):

I met Maya Arulpragasam about four or five years ago in England when I was on tour with the rapper Peaches, who was also my roommate. We stayed with Justine Frischmann, from Elastica, and she and Maya were roommates.

Hard to keep straight: Peaches & Feist, Maya and Justine. They've nearly got a sitcom plot right there. And mention of Justine marks the fact that this is not just a weird coincidence of rock star roomies, because of course Justine and Damon used to be an item. Consider this description of the Elastica breakup:

[bandmember] Holland left shortly after the band's return to the Lollapalooza circuit, and about 18 months after her departure (and on the same weekend Frischmann broke up with longtime boyfriend and Blur frontman Damon Albarn)

We haven't quite pinned down the timing, but it looks like Damon moved in with Jamie soon after he hit the rocks with Justine , during which time Justine roomed with M.I.A. and entertained houseguests Feist and Peaches. Yes, the Damon-Justine breakup occurred at the nexus of the universe.