18 posts tagged “music”

I heard "Creator" on Grey's Anatomy last season, then forgot about it.  Then Nora put it on her MySpace, and I got hooked on it again.  I looked up some other stuff by Santogold, and I'm liking what I hear.

Just a little warning about the second video.  There is some heavily stylized and allegorical violence.  I thought it was very creative, but you may not.  Fair warning.

...so here are some funky (but not so fresh) videos for your enjoyment.  Or amusement.  Whichever you prefer.

Once.  Anyone seen it? 

Basically, it's the best movie I've seen in a long, long time, and the best use of five bucks that I can remember.  I'm amazed.  I didn't know that "Falling Slowly" won an Oscar for Best Original Song.  It deserves it.

I find myself liking Simple Plan more and more lately.  I know there are some haters out there, complaining that the songs are generic...whatever.  If a song makes me smile, it's all good.  And dear old Perez makes a cute cameo...heh.

Guess who I'm going to be seeing, and these are just on the main stage (there are two other stages for local and regional acts, I believe):

• R.E.M.
• Nine Inch Nails
• Stone Temple Pilots
• Lil Wayne
• Erykah Badu
• Dashboard Confessional
• Shudder to Think
• Death Cab For Cutie
• DeVotchKa
• The Gutter Twins
• Cold War Kids
• Wyclef Jean
• Panic At the Disco
• King Britt Tribute to Sister Gertrude
• Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
• Reverend Horton Heat
• Lupe Fiasco
• Joss Stone
• Man Man
• Thievery Corporation
• Ghostland Observatory
• Manchester Orchestra
• Old 97's
• Joseph Arthur
• Colour Revolt
• Tokyo Police Club
• Innerpartysystem
• The Vettes
• Big Blue Marble
• Sons of William

I am uber excited.  Only a few more months!

I've been listening to Loreena McKennitt's albums constantly lately, mostly An Ancient Muse and Nights at the Alhambra, and I was struck by how the feel of her music has changed over the past ten years or so, when I first discovered her.  In 1997's Book of Secrets, her influences shifted from a mostly Celtic background to more of a Middle Eastern/Upper African one.  I was hooked as soon as I read the liner notes.  McKennitt is not just a wonderful, ethereal singer and musician...she's one hell of a writer.  Her notes, detailing the research and travels behind each song, are easily worth the price of the CD alone.  I want to write as she does, and I want to travel as she does.  I won't deny that listening to Book of Secrets all these years made me want to visit Morocco. 

Life along the Silk Road

Susan Whitfield

For An Ancient Muse, McKennitt traveled from Greece to Mongolia, with stops in Turkey and China, and delved deeply into the mysteries surrounding the Silk Road.  I have no idea why I never read about this trade route before, except in textbooks, perhaps.  I'd really like to get Life Along the Silk Road...maybe next payday.

I was very excited to find out that she is planning to release a book of her travel writings soon!  If it's anything like what I've read before, it will be a treat.  Here's one of my favorite passages from Book of Secrets:

In casting your inspirational net as an artist, you become familiar with the humility that comes with watching your best-laid plans veer sideways, and recordings becoming something other than what you expected. So, you set out to travel to Rome . . . and end up in Istanbul. You set off for Japan. . . and you end up on a train across Siberia. The journey, not the destination, becomes a source of wonder.

In the end, I wonder if one of the most important steps on our journey is the one in which we throw away the map. In jettisoning the grids and brambles of our own preconceptions, perhaps we are better able to find the real secrets of each place; to remember that we are all extensions of our collective history.

These songs have been assembled like a mosaic, with pieces collected and fitted in one by one. They are also the souvenirs that come of sifting through shards of history and scraping away layers to reveal the fragile past, as I saw in Italy at an archaeological site at Chianciano Terme where ancient Roman layers reveal even more ancient Etruscan layers, or at the burial site of a mysterious Celtic chieftain in Orvieto.

My hope was that this recording might fuel curiosity in the same way as do the best books of travel stories. From all journeys, be they imaginative or geographic, the most important souvenirs to be collected are the reminders that people’s lives are fortified by family and friends; by our ability to create our lives like creating a piece of art; and by our efforts to reconcile our material needs with the importance of our connections to each other. – Loreena McKennitt

My God, I want to be her when I grow up:)

I guess it wouldn't be fair to end this post without a little gem from that album.  Enjoy.

Duffy reminds me of Dusty Springfield.  "Mercy" has been a favorite of mine for a couple of months, and I was really happy to see it used in the Grey's Anatomy finale.  The breakdown at around 2:15 is great for blasting in the car, and I recommend belting it at the top of your lungs...a spectacular method of stress relief:)

VME - New Orleans

Being the complete freak that I am, I'm already planning out my Halloween.  I wasn't able to celebrate last year, and it's my absolute favorite holiday, so this year, I'm going to try my best to go all out.  It's no longer acceptable to go trick-or-treating at my age, unless I have kids, and I don't really know anyone who likes Halloween enough to throw a big costume party, so I think a road trip is in the works.

The Voodoo Music Experience is the weekend before, in New Orleans, and if I buy my tickets soon, I can get in for all three days and it only costs $100.  Then I have to get a hotel room (I'm not hardcore enough to sleep in the park) and pay for gas, food, etc.  It's going to be a costly trip.  I could tuck away my plasma money.  But how cool would it be to hang out in New Orleans so close to Halloween?  In my mind, it would be second only to Salem, Massachusetts.  Ghost tours, the legendary cemeteries, the voodoo....I'm getting chills just thinking about it!

I don't know the lineup yet, except for the Big Three: R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails, and Stone Temple Pilots.  Wow, that's worth the price of admission, and then some, and then more.  I just wish it was on Halloween.

As I sit here, eating my cheesecake chimichangas from Taco Bueno (oh, they're like an orgasm wrapped in a warm, deep-fried pastry), I realize how incredibly awesome it is that Jess figured out over beers and cigarettes tonight, "Hey, we're like a low-budget version of Sex and the City!"  And since we're all fans, we figure this is, as Martha Stewart would say, A VERY GOOD THING.

I also realize that I have completely canceled out the past two days of strenuous walking with the girls over at UT by eating the above-mentioned better-than-hot-sex-with-a-stranger (giggity-giggity) goodies.  Shit hell.

How cool is it that Ugly Betty sampled a crapload of new Madonna tracks in last night's finale?  I have a theory, and most people seem to agree: Betty picked neither Henry (boo) or Gio (BIG YAY!  I LOVE GIO!), but instead decided to strike out on her own and discover herself.  Well, I would have been all for Rome, but I would rather her ditch both of them than go to Tuscon with Henry...boooo-ring!  *checks watch* Is it time for the season premiere yet?  There was one track at the very end, by Madonna, that was actually on her last album, not the latest one, and it was so awesome that I might have to buy it online or something...badass.

From "Jump":
There’s only so much you can learn in one place
The more that I wait, the more time that I waste

I haven’t got much time to waste, it’s time to make my way
I’m not afraid of what I’ll face, but I’m afraid to stay
I’m going down my own road and I can make it alone
I'll work and I'll fight, Till I find a place of my own

Are you ready to jump?
Get ready to jump
Don’t ever look back, oh baby
Yes, I’m ready to jump
Just take my hands
Get ready to jump!

We learned our lesson from the start, my sisters and me
The only thing you can depend on is your family
And life’s gonna drop you down like the limbs of a tree
It sways and it swings and it bends until it makes you see

Are you ready to jump?
Get ready to jump
Don’t ever look back, oh baby
Yes, I’m ready to jump
Just take my hands
Get ready to, are you ready?

There’s only so much you can learn in one place
The more that you wait, the more time that you waste

I'll work and I'll fight till I find a place of my own
It sways and it swings and it bends until you make it your own

I can make it alone(my sisters and me)

Are you ready to jump?
Get ready to jump
Don’t ever look back, oh baby
Yes, I’m ready to jump
Just take my hands
Get ready to, are you ready?

Fairytale
Sara Bareilles

Cinderella’s on her bedroom floor, she’s got a
Crush on the guy at the liquor store
Cause Mr. Charming don’t come home anymore, and she forgets why she came here.

Sleeping Beauty’s in a foul mood for shame she says
None for you dear prince, I’m tired today.
I’d rather sleep my whole life away than have you keep me from dreaming.

I don’t care for your fairytale
You’re so worried 'bout the maiden,
though you know she’s only waiting on the next best thing.

Snow White is doing dishes again cause what else can you do
With seven itty bitty men?
Sends them to bed and she calls up a friend, says will you meet me at midnight?

The tall blonde lets out a cry of despair says
Would have cut it myself if I knew men could climb hair
I’ll have to find another tower somewhere and keep away from the windows.

I don’t care for your fairytale
You’re so worried 'bout the maiden,
though you know she’s only waiting on the next best thing

Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom, man made up a story
Said that I should believe him
Go and tell your white knight that he’s handsome in hindsight
but I don’t want the next best thing
So I sing and hold my head down and I break these walls 'round me
Can’t take no more of your fairytale love
 
I don’t care for your fairytale
You’re so worried 'bout the maiden,
though you know she’s used to waiting spent her whole life being graded on the
sanctity of patience and a dumb appreciation
The story needs some mending and a better happy ending ‘cause I don’t want the next best thing
No no I don’t want the next best thing.