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Tag: album review
#061; it’s friday (close enough), I’m in love
I’m back with what is intended to be a Friday feature, “Friday I’m In Love”, but as this week doesn’t really have a Friday, I’m posting it now. This isn’t my official ‘what I’m thankful for’ list, but I am planning on having one (what is it they say about the best laid plans?). Without further adieu, the things I love this week:
- Sam Vasfi photography. Turned onto this incredibly talented DC photographer by the art folks at ReadySetDC and have all ready gone through his entire site in one sitting! Especially as I begin to learn more about getting good shots, I’m hugely appreciative of his DC landscapes and unique eye.
- Kris Allen’s track “Live Like We’re Dying”. I can’t express how surprised I am to like this cut as much as I do (especially considering I don’t find the rest of the American Idol winner’s debut, Kris Allen, all that appetizing). When I first heard it (on Pandora as a random choice) I thought it was a new Maroon 5 song and they were trying something different (slightly huskier vocals, little bit more Jason Mraz in their lyric styling), and so I looked at the info available. Nope. It was Kris Allen. I’m not an American Idol fan – I’ve seen it a few times here and there, really like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, and that’s about it. But this song just got me going, pumped up and smiling and trying to sing along to the slightly scatty chorus (honestly it’s hard to label it as any style… it’s infectious pop with a great beat and staccato delivery). A pleasant surprise, that’s for sure!
- Art and lifestyle blog: Quirky Charm. Quirky Charm is in the midst of a redesign and refocusing right now and so I wanted to highlight it because I love both the old and new incarnations. A great site to visit when you need a pick me up, a new project or hobby idea, a kind word from a tight knit community, or just something to make you smile, I have never been disappointed by the work of the blog’s writer, Erica. To this day I have no clue how Erica and I stumbled upon each other online years ago, but it’s been so great to see her refocus her work and find the joy in working on her blog and growing as a designer, crafter, and writer.
#053; listening at limbo [v.02]
from zooeydeschanel @ tumblr
Afternoon all! What are you listening to on Veterans’ Day?
What I’m listening to at Limbo (aka, my current must-have music)…
The tween in me is ecstatic these days. Not only is it Eggnog Latte season at Starbucks (when I was a tween this was a rare – and yet so addictive – treat thanks to being from the middle of freaking nowhere – no, we didn’t even have Starbucks) but the official soundtrack to the first half of the first season (wow, I know) of GLEE has been released!! I cannot get enough of the Broadway-style R&B, pop rock, and classics that they spit out every week. To have the official, produced, 17-track collection has had me (literally) dancing my way through the metro all week. I think the appeal of GLEE’s music is it’s depth of genre – I had never heard “No Air” or Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” before the show featured their own versions, but have since become fans of both the R&B songstress and have checked out Jordan Sparks’ freshman album to be pleasantly surprised. However, the show balances it’s modern tracks with Journey, Queen, and the best of musical theater (I know I tuned in specifically to see Lea Michele – of the hit Spring Awakening – and Kristin Chenoweth duke it out in a spot on duet of “Maybe This Time” from Cabaret). The soundtrack can get a bit schmoopy at times (the best example of this being the cast’s remake of Avril Lavigne’s “Keep Holding On” – but even that track works to their advantage with amazing vocals from Michele and leading man Cory Monteith), but who doesn’t need a little extra bubble gum in their day?
Elsewhere on my play list (on constant rotation it seems) is Cobra Starship‘s “Hot Mess”, the group’s third studio album and first to hit real radio success with a little help from Gossip Girl‘s Leighton Meester and Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz (who’s a constant cheerleader for them, and even gets a shout out on the new record in the form of the track “Pete Wentz is the only reason we’re famous”), released this past August. The songs are pure 80′s pop joy with lyrics that will startle and charm you all while walking the fine line between a little bit dirty and a little bit concocted. My favorite tracks are the flagship single “Good Girls Go Bad” (featuring Meester), title track “Hot Mess”, and “Nice Guys Finish Last” (a new, fun, very snarky take on a subject that’s been done a million times before).
It seems to me that I use pop beats and hot topics to keep the chill away this time of year – what about you?
#049; listening at limbo [v.01]
Every morning the first thing I tweet (besides maybe how tried I still am?) is “What is everyone listening to? I’m walking to work with ______ .” I love seeing whatever it is my tweetstream is into at that moment: jazz & soul, industrial metal to wake themselves up, indie pop to organize their thoughts, classical. I love every genre of music, so no matter what they recommend, I’m sure I can find something new to love in the ether. And so here I am, with a new feature (one that will hopefully be run more often and more easily than my others, ha!).
What I’m listening to at Limbo (aka, my current must-have music)…
Muse: I have been on a hugely complex kick over the last few weeks. Give me layered, complicated, luxurious music and I’m a happy girl. Is it any surprise that in the midst of that sort of mood, Muse would be at the top of every one of my play lists?
The Kooks: Again with the delicious layering and a depth that constantly takes me by surprise. I discovered The Kooks thanks to the unique music stylings of the first season of Gossip Girl (which, come on, introduced Kings of Leon to the masses), and checked out more of their stuff about a year and a half ago. Their LP’s have been on my rotation pretty constantly since and I hardly go a day without them stuck in my head for some reason or another. “Stormy Weather” is, in my opinion, one of the best recordings to come out in recent years.
In simpler fare, I’ve been relaxing late evenings with James Taylor and Yiruma, both beautiful composers of music that just lifts you up a bit and gently places you back down in a much more calm place. It’s always good to have a backlog of music you can just disappear into, and my favorites for this tend to lean on the classical side of things. Vivaldi‘s “Four Seasons” can always get me through a particularly hard day at the office, and when I’m feeling more blue than calm, I turn to Beethoven‘s “Moonlight Sonata” (a habit I picked up from a boy in high school who was always much sadder than 15 year old boys tend to be).
I guess my listening these days is a bit all over the place, but I never see that as a bad thing. Music of any kinda – world, street, techno, pop, country – tells a story through rhythm and heart; if I’m all over the place, maybe it’s because I feel lots of different stories speaking to me at once.
So tell me, what are you listening to?
#047; where do you hide?
It’s Saturday night and I’ve woken from a post-campaigning-all-danged-day nap and cannot sleep nor concentrate. Thus, I bring you pretty pictures of sleepy things, and I’m listening to Yiruma, which is my ‘hiding from the world music’. Check out the Korean pianist’s best known song via the video below (after the pretty, sleepy photographs), brilliant original composition and very clean playing (please excuse the poor quality of the video, it was the best I could find). It’s wonderful on a night like this, just to hide away from thought. Where do you hide?
[1; themusicdied @ tumblr] [2; photographyis @ xanga]
[3; tailakova @ flickr] [4; thehouseofmilk @ blogspot]
See Yiruma play “River Flows in You” via youtube & vodpod after the jump…
