//MusicInk//

Go-Santigold

2012-02-04T23:31:00.001+08:00

I love Santigold. Collab with Karen O from Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Bad Street by Twin Sister

2012-01-08T15:01:00.003+08:00

I came across Twin Sister through Style.com. There was an article on Andrea Estella, who's half of the Twin Sister band. And I youtubed their music, the instrumental in the background seem to be retro inspired. It's most obvious in the video for "All Around and Away We Go". I think I would describe there music a more mellow version of MGMT injected with a little bit of retro sounds. Maybe it's just me. Check out there video below! It makes me miss summer!

TRON Legacy Reconfigured

2011-09-19T23:31:00.003+08:00

Anyone else here love TRON, especially its OST during the entire film? I downloaded it afterwards, but was kind of disappointed at how the music doesn't work as well by itself. Thankfully a lot of different djs have taken those songs and remixed them for your listening pleasure.

In essence it's still Daft Punk, but 'reconfigured'.

Here is one of the songs:

"How R U Doin?" by Aqua

2011-06-28T23:31:00.001+08:00

THEY'RE BACK! OMG! No lie, Aquarium is still one of my favorite CDs of all time. Just revel in the catchiness!

DJ-Amanda Blank

2011-06-23T00:01:00.002+08:00

I tried to find this song when the T by Alexander Wang Spring 2011 campaign with Diplo came out but I just found it today. I'm obsessed. The ad came out in Feb. The beat and just the pace of the entire ad was so smooth. I know this blog is strictly music but music and fashion go together! Amanda Blank has a similar sound to Peaches.

Below is the ad, gotta watch it! It's just so sexy. Also the full song at the end.

Foster the People-Helena Beat

2011-05-27T00:33:00.003+08:00

Thanks to my dear boyfriend, I heard this song at least ten times before I went to sleep last night and woke up listening to it too. But it is a super catchy song. In fact I think the whole Torches album is quite good. I recommend it. It's a really good feel-good music CD. They have a bit of a MGMT vibe( but I think Foster the People are even better). Their other popular song from the CD is called Pumped Up Kicks. Check it out!

"Anna Sun" by Walk The Moon

2011-04-29T12:26:00.000+08:00

What a fun song! Also, who here knows an actual Anna Sun? I'm putting the over/under at +3/

have a happy wednesday!

2011-04-21T08:38:00.000+08:00

Mumford & Sons "The Cave" Teaser

2011-04-18T09:55:00.001+08:00

I love Mumford & Sons. Do you?

Barbara Streisand- Duck Sauce

2011-04-18T01:20:00.002+08:00

This song is too amazing not to share.

Loves it!

Everblue-Mandy Moore

2011-04-18T01:11:00.003+08:00

This song is perfect for Sundays sitting under the sunshine in front of the window.

Everblue was a song on the Amanda Leigh album. The lyrics are beautiful. It's a gem, I think a lot of the vocals on that album are. It really marks who she is as a singer. People often overlook what a good singer she really is (just like Pink). SO I strong encourage listening to Amanda Leigh!

Yeasayer - O.N.E

2010-09-25T08:55:00.002+08:00

It's got one of those the-future-was-so-sweet-back-then vibes

Apple of my Eye

2010-09-25T05:21:00.002+08:00

This song makes my day. It has good lyrics and is not just your typical love song. I heard it at work today and I had to stop and look up the lyrics. Hope you enjoy it.

Run This Town

2010-09-24T23:04:00.000+08:00

Is this version awesome or is it AWESOME? So much better than the original.

"Chicken Fried" by Zac Brown Band

2010-09-08T12:50:00.000+08:00

My current favorite song. It's on endless repeat right now. And yes, I love country music.

"Slam Crunk" by Holiday Parade

2010-09-07T00:46:00.000+08:00

A Decade in Radio

2010-01-12T03:48:00.011+08:00

Well, the first decade in the 21st century is over. I was browsing on Billboard's Best of 2000s, which ranks the most "popular" songs of the decade (2000-2009) ranked by radio airplay, sales, audience impressions etc. Anyways, pretty interesting list, it really puts in perspective how long ago 2000 was. Here's the first 10 in the list. R&B/Hip Hop/Dance really dominated this decade in radio music.

We Belong Together - Mariah Carey
Yeah! - Usher
Low - Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain
How You Remind Me - Nickelback
I Gotta Feeling - The Black Eyed Peas
No One - Alicia Keys
Boom Boom Pow - The Black Eyed Peas
Let Me Love You - Mario
Gold Digger - Kanye West Featuring Jamie Foxx
Apologize - OneRepublic

*barf* What do you guys think? I'm sick to death of every one of those songs.

*edit: trying out some changes to the blog layout a little, any suggestions? I backed up the old one.

Almost New YEARS!

2009-12-29T16:02:00.006+08:00

I think we've all been to this point before. Anyways cool music video, Ratatat and MGMT are awesome, Kid Cudi is pretty good. My favorite part is where he shows his Jesus piece randomly.

Respect for Beth Ditto

2009-11-05T00:23:00.004+08:00

Heavy Cross

GOSSIP | MySpace Music Videos

I was always curious about Beth Ditto, being a Fashion Design major I always come across her on Style.com etc. Today I watched a video of her about fashion of course (what else?), she's amazing. I will probably blog about the fashion stuff later on my own fashion blog, but that aside her band The Gossip is also fabulous. Their music is categorized as Experimental, Soul and Punk. (Experimental means that they create a specific genre of music in unorthodox ways...I hope I wasn't the only one who didn't know that) I love it. I've only listened to Heavy Cross so far, cause that's the song that was featured in the video I watched. Anyways everybody check it out! =]

Hey guys this is arnold

2009-09-22T06:40:00.000+08:00

Just a couple songs i've been listening to, i added two songs on the playlist thingy, hope you like them.

Music That Doesn't Suck pt. 2

2009-07-28T12:18:00.003+08:00

I need to do a follow-up to Isabelle's Tom Petty post - Why? Because I just bought Journey's Greatest Hits cd from Costco and it's fucking awesome. (And it qualifies for her long hair/before our time requisite) But seriously. "Any Way You Want It"? "Open Arms"? "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'"? "Faithfully"? And of course... "Don't Stop Believing". All so damn aMAzing. Don't even try to convince me otherwise, because if you do, you're wrong. That's it. Bottom line. Don't even try to lie. I know you sing along when they play it on the radio. Power ballads, ftw.

Propper props

2009-07-23T20:32:00.002+08:00

HEY I've been listening to the playlist and it's got some good stuff! I keep forgetting how awesome Knights of Cydonia is because of the loonng intro but when the vocals kick in proper, it's just overwhelmingly awesome. Fancy Footwork is super catchy.

I also very much enjoy Justice, I've heard DANCE before but DVNO is really.. good. Justice's beats sound a lot like Daft Punk's, but they got more varied vocals which is also good

I feel like my english is really getting bad recently from not talking very much.

but anyways jsut want to say keep up the good work.

Recommend Me: Kings Of Leon

2009-07-23T11:54:00.003+08:00

Hey hey!! I need some music-related help! I'm currently loving the Kings of Leon - there's just one problem: I only have two songs by them ("Sex On Fire" and "Use Somebody")! I have damned myself to listen to only two songs on repeat all day. I hate downloading whole albums and there are no cd stores near me so... This is where you come in. Somebody recommend me good Kings of Leon songs!

2009-07-12T23:52:00.003+08:00

You know what's pretty crazy? The fact that we're approaching the two year mark on this blog. It's exciting. let's gather some balloons and pop some champagne. I'm ready to party. Go crazy.

In the meantime, here's some Justice. I found out about them about a year ago, and I do enjoy some of their songs. Check them out below.

Time for me to wake up and find some food. I'm hungry.

UPLOAD MUSIC PLEAASEE

2009-07-09T14:49:00.002+08:00

I'm in HK for a day so I can access blogspot haha.. anyways people put music on the playlist!BECAUSE I'm at the point where I'm swearing at my iPod because I'm sick of the songs it chooses. Unfortunately I'm not on my own computer so I can't really upload any music. UPLOAD UPLOAD UPLOAD

Foreign

2009-05-27T16:44:00.003+08:00

Let's try this again, since I'm up at 5am with nothing else to do. Hopefully this time, one of my posts will survive blogger's lawyers (change links from hxxp to http). Theme of today's post: Music I cannot understand! Alternatively called, music I wish I could sing along to.

Numbers by 8Eight
Trio touted as the Korean Black-eyed Peas. Part of this song sounds a little bit like MIA's 'Swaggas Like Us'.

Quelqu'un M'a Dit by Carla Bruni
Mellow French music by an Italian. Incidentally, she's also the French president's wife. One of my friends kept playing this non-stop last year, so now it's permanently stuck in my head.

Hekkushun by RADWIMPS
Japanese rock. I just found this song and it's so... weird... and... angry... but good. One of the most schizo songs I've ever heard.

Kleva (DJ Zhao Remix) by Mapaputsi
Zulu hip-hop remixed by an Asian. Yes, you heard that right. It's funny what you can find on TV.

Um, okay this is cheating. But everyone should also listen to Rachael Yamagata's 'Elephants'. I was lucky to see her live in Pittsburgh and she is so awesome. And did you know Will Pan did a song with Akon?!

Alice

2009-05-11T16:30:00.002+08:00

This will make your head go crazy. Watch it really late at night when you're sorta sleepy!

http://www.yooouuutuuube.com/v/?rows=18&cols=18&id=pAwR6w2TgxY&startZoom=1

this site yooouuutuuube.com lets you link any youtube video and make it crazy. see above for example

Leighton Meester- Birthday

2009-04-08T00:32:00.003+08:00

I'm really excited about this one. Leighton Meester can sing...unlike the actresses who have previously try to come out with music (cough*Scarlett). There has just been a leak of a song call "Birthday" which is by Awesome New Republic. (Should check them out as well. This is a free download of songs from their album "Rational Geographic Volume 1")

This is the original version of the song "Birthday":

This is the remix with Leighton:

This is another song by Leighton

Rye Rye

2009-04-07T09:04:00.002+08:00

For those of you who loves the tunes of M.I.A. and Santogold, there is Rye Rye. The first artist signed to MIA's record label, N.E.E.T. She's currently 18 and comes from Baltimore. Her album was set to be released this past March, however it still has not arrived in the stores yet. Her new single called "Bang" just came out on iTunes though. So for those of you who are interested, you can check that out. Another one of her songs which is a fav is "Shake it to the Ground". They also did a remix of Busy Signal's "Tic Toc" which is another great song. This is Rye Rye's myspace. Enjoy!

Shake it to The Ground

Tic Toc

Last.fm

2009-03-03T08:55:00.002+08:00

So...i know everyone loves Pandora...but I feel like their playlists are rather limited or in consistent. I think it works best when you're trying to find other songs with the same vibe by punching in the name of a song title. Otherwise if u type in an artist, for example Timbaland in my case, they sometimes sneakily play the same songs over and over again...

I think Last.fm does a better job when u're trying to find new artists, since they'll rate other artists on a scale of similarity (very similarity, high similarity...etc). Instead of pressing the next track button to find similar artists, it's results on a search page. In general, when you use last fm, u just simply add artists of your choice into your library, and when u want to listen to songs, they'll just do a shuffle of all the songs available. When you listen to the radio station with your own library, they'll list similar artists on the side. There is also a recommendations station for artists that maybe of your taste based on your library.

Apparently, they also have an iPhone app for those of you who actually pay $100+ a month for the services. I don't, so I haven't figured out how it works yet.

Either way last.fm is worth checking out.

PS. my entry might just be a tad bit jumbled and in complete in thought...since i'm just discovering this wonderful site.

My Robot Friend - Robot High School

2008-12-15T15:37:00.001+08:00

A quick video post while I'm waiting for Photoshop to finish rendering. Hooray finals.

Ace Enders

2008-12-03T09:07:00.003+08:00

My friend showed me this great singer and songwriter, Ace Enders. He used to be the lead singer and guitarist for The Early December. I find his songs pretty inspirational and they sound very pleasant. You guys should definitely check him out. Down below is a link to two of my favorite songs from him, Bring Back Love and Reaction.

Ace Enders - Bring Back Love

Ace Enders - Reaction

Matt Pokora

2008-11-07T13:42:00.007+08:00

Matt Pokora is a French singer aka M.Pokora...R&B (a lil eye candy on the right =p). He did an album, 'MP3' with 12/14 English songs early this year in March. Timbaland and Ryan Leslie both produced a few songs on it. I quite like it, maybe it has to do with this whole idea of the French..hahahhaaa..right anyways...Its worth checking out. Here are some songs on his myspace player.

He did a song with Verbz (English/American rapper/singer/songwriter/ and apparently actress too. She did the song 'Swaggeriffic') call "They Talk Shit About Me". Its kinda cute, the lyrics. I think the reason I like it also has to do with the fact that Verbz shows her soft side through the lyrics. I think at least...there's a line in there in French, "Je l'aime depuis lycee." Basically translates to "I've liked her ever since high school." There's a line about Ben&Jerry's tooo! LOL.

Oh here's the videooo...it's alright.
Oh another fav song from the album is 'Catch Me If You Can'. He does beatboxing at the end. If you watchh the videoo!

P.S. If you go on his website. There's this picture of him in a suit standing in front of a panaroma view of Paris in an apartment. THAT IS SO HOT. a great city view of the most romantic city in the world with a guy in a suit! =P anywayss....SO CHECK IT OUT!

P.P.S. Listen closely and u'll hear his French accent! HAHA okay i'll stop now.

Mux the Happy Hungry Videobot!

2008-09-05T10:56:00.009+08:00

Thanks to my awesome MIS (Managing Information Systems) professor requiring us to read this 100 Best Undiscovered Websites article, I found a fantastic site called Mux: Happy Hungry Videobot!

The basic gist is this: you either upload a video or type in a video url, and the happy hungry videobot converts into whatever format you could possibly dream of, including iPod, quicktime, mp3! You name it, they can convert to it.

I guess this is sort of music-related because I've already used it to grab a couple of hard-to-find songs from youtube, including Seriously's unreleased new song "Wish Upon" and "Praan" by Gary Schyman (yes, the background song to "Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)").

Jason Mraz- I'm Yours

2008-09-04T04:32:00.003+08:00

Due to the high possibility of my head being chewed off tmrw if i dont do my hmk soon. I'll keep this short and sweet.

New fav song, I put on repeat.

Jason Mraz- I'm Yours

80s Pop Throwback

2008-06-11T20:53:00.004+08:00

Technically, I'm at work right now. Yay for working remotely! While certain things from the 80s just need to stay back there (fanny packs, huge shoulder pads, and oh god mullets just to name a few), I've always been fond of 80s music. So here are two modern bands that have embraced the 80s pop. Coincidentally, both bands are Danish. Kudos to the Danes, you guys have the right thinking. Both songs are positively infectious and so. much. fun.

Alphabeat - Fascination

My new favorite band and it's a cute music video. Get the song here.

PRIVATE - My Secret Lover

Here be song.

Jason Mraz- Lucky ft Colbie Caillat

2008-05-06T06:10:00.003+08:00

I love this song. haha, I just heard it todayyy. so gooodd. It's by Jason Mraz called Lucky. And Colbie Caillat also sings it. It's such a Summmmeryyy song. I think it's off his new album "We Sing We Dance We steal things" which is due for release this month. It's a lovely song. He also sang this song in the concert in Aussieland two months ago with Hayley Sales. Gotta look her up she sounds good too. hahaha, I kinda like the acoustic too. Give it a try.

ohhh Jason Mraz's website is pretty cool too. When you click on the music section he says Music like ten million times until he messes up and the word 'music' starts to sound funny.
*side note: I like Jason Mraz singing with Tristan Prettyman better. =]

FREE MUSIC ON MTV

2008-05-05T10:13:00.001+08:00

MTV has a section on their website which is promoting new upcoming artists. There's a range of different music. Best of all, for each artist, there's one free song for download. How cool is that? Hahah, anyways check it out here.

Buzzin' - Shwayze

2008-04-29T08:00:00.002+08:00

I heard it in a car commercial, it's very nice. listen!

*edit* someone please fix the website

"Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy" by Big & Rich

2008-04-25T23:37:00.007+08:00

Ugh I wrote this once and it somehow went blank. Anyways...

Song: "Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy"
Band: Big & Rich
Album: Horse of a Different Color

Dusa mentioned her favorite peculiar country song a couple of posts ago, so I figured, might as well share mine too! And yes, if this song is playing, I will sing as loud and as off-key as possible. This is the best country song. Ever. Although I admit that the cheeseburger song comes pretty close. The football frat at CMU actually performed this song as the Master Betas -- shirtless, too! (Master Betas? Get it? Get it? :nudge nudge:)

Mmm... sexual innuendos.

Now back to my regularly scheduled programing of ignoring professors and listening to Aqua (Barbie Girl? Cartoon Heroes? Tarzan & Jane? Oh yes please.)

Hong Kong - Gorillaz

2008-04-24T12:34:00.004+08:00

I know this is a couple years late but.. this is an absolutely awesome track from Gorillaz's b-side compilation D-Sides. Even though it has some of the weakest lyrics ever it definately makes up for it with some sick instrumentals. It reminds me of Blade Runner and that whole noir nighttime Chinatown theme. click.

ps. Z-share is such a sellout advertising bitch so if anyone knows any good hosting sites please share!

Kylie Minogue - All I See

2008-04-23T04:27:00.003+08:00

So i have a few songs that make me think of certain things when i hear it. And there's usually a list of songs that i think of sunny summer day, breezy...by the beach and happy feeling. And for Kylie's All I See in particular, I think of that same feeling, carefree happiness..breezy..yes breezy, and then Kylie running along a beach or smth with like scarves/fabric blowing in the wind surrounding her....and perhaps her splashing in the waterr....GOD WHY DOES IT SOUND LIKE A BABEWATCH SCENE...NO...not like thattt....more like the sun is the camera lens and creating light glares type of beachy video...

ANYWAYS, my point is I LIKE THIS SONG AND IT MAKES ME THINK OF SUMMER. AND IT'S THE TYPE OF SONG, (that if i knew how to drive) I WOULD PLAY IN WITH MY CONVERTIBLE ROOF DOWN....

apart from that....you should really watch her acoustic version. She sooo pretty when she sings. I need to stop sounding like some sick stalker...So her album X is her newest album since 2003's Body Language. Although some of us may hate to admit it, but her songs are good and catchhyy. CHECK IT OUT.

BoomKAT-Runaway

2008-04-13T02:44:00.004+08:00

This is officially my new favorite song...it's called Runaway by Boomkat. Boomkat is the band Taryn Manning started with her brother. I love her songs. One of their songs called 'The Wreckoning' was on the 8 Mile soundtrack years ago. They coming out with a new album called 'A Million Trillion Stars'. Runaway is their new single. It can be purchased in iTunes. Meanwhile here's the video of the song.

Check out her myspace for their new songs.

Lettie

2008-04-12T02:02:00.003+08:00

Hmm, kinda interesting how I discover new music nowadays, I guess it's only expected. So just 10 mins ago I discover a singer called Lettie. She's English. Her music are really light hearted I think and I would put her in the category with Bat For Lashes (which I've yet to write about unless someone beats me to it). Although Lettie is still lighter, I guess with Lettie I think of meadows and daisies...hahahahhahaha, I hope that doesn't scare anyone away.

Anyways back to my story, I discovered her while I was reading my dose of WhoWhatWear and I was looking at the H&M tribute to Marimekko fabrics collaborated with Comme des Garcons (sorry to bore you with my fashion talk)...anyways...so I found Lettie through looking through the collection and one of the collection videos had one of Lettie's songs in the background and they had a link. So there that's how I found Lettie. Her website is actually kinda interesting.

And since she's still not that "famous", her tracks are free on her site. Good tracks for summertime =] She has a myspace too btw.
Enjoy.

Old School Cassettes =]

2008-03-03T06:08:00.003+08:00

check this out...you can get USB that look like cassettes tapes =]. Just thought I would share. It's still related to music no?

2008-02-27T06:20:00.002+08:00

I have so much work to do and a grand total of zero motivation to get it done, so a quick share to give the blog a little cappuccino shot. I was cleaning out my music download folder and found some good stuff, but I'll stagger it out. First up...

Song: "I See You, You See Me"
Band: The Magic Numbers
Album: The Magic Numbers (2005)
Genre: Indie Rock

Very pretty song by a duo of British sibling duos. That's all.
Song here

Small post-script: Everyone needs to check out Sara Bareilles' music now (the "I'm not gonna write you a love song" girl) . I got her a bunch of her songs and love them all - highlights: Vegas, Bottle It Up, Come Round Soon. Definately the next CD I'm buying.

Sexyback- Corinne Bailey Rae

2008-02-10T01:56:00.000+08:00

This is one of the better covers which i came across. They were playing it was the runway music for the Fall 2008 Diane von Furstenburg, i like the remix their DJ did for the show slighty better. Here watch it.

"Solsbury Hill" by Peter Gabriel

2008-01-24T10:21:00.000+08:00

Song: "Solsbury Hill"
Artist: Peter Gabriel
Album: Peter Gabriel (1977)
Genre: Folk Rock

One of my music quirks is that I love listening to music that matches the weather, like listening to a gloomy Damien Rice song on a cold overcast winter day or The Killers "Sam's Town"cd as dawn is breaking. This song is like instant spring sunrise and so very bright and shiny, so definately give it a listen. Peter Gabriel, in this song especially, is very Phil Collins-esque. I can totally see this in a Disney animated movie about animals beginning their journey to find themselves. Another cool thing about this song is that in every verse, Peter Gabriel adds another instrument.

So yes, give this song a spin.

Classic Rock from 21st Century TV

2008-01-22T04:17:00.000+08:00

Happy MLK day! More TV music, this time courtesy of October Road (starring Bryan Greenburg --- the only good part of One Tree Hill)! I watched the whole first season (only 6 episodes) over winter break and it's been helping me expand my classic rock music collection. Every now and then (and then some more), retro is good.

Note: Click the song titles to go to zshare and spin a listen.

Song: "Don't Look Back"
Artist: Boston
Album: Don't Look Back (1978)

This is the stuff Guitar Hero is made of, even though it's never been on Guitar Hero. Whatever. Minor detail.

Song: "The Boys Are Back In Town"
Artist: Thin Lizzy
Album: Jailbreak (1976)

I really don't know what to say. It's classic. It's rock. It's fun. And it's a little cheesy. Yay cheesy fun!

Song: "Flagpole Sitta"
Arist: Harvey Danger
Album: Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone? (1998)

Okay, so this one is actually not classic rock, but it follows the trend of the other songs. If you watch October Road, a fun part of the show is how the main characters have their own air band. So these last three songs have all been songs that they have air banded on the show.

Song: "That's The Way (I'm Only Trying To Help You)"
Artist: Culture Club
Album: Colour by Numbers (1983)

You have no idea how hard it was for me to get this song. And because I'm so proud to finally have it in my possession, I'm spreading the love. It's just Boy George, Helen Terry, a piano, and awesomeness.

Song: "Every Rose Has Its Thorns"
Artist: Poison
Album: Open Up And Say... Ahh! (1988)

Did I mention cheesy fun yet? I think it should be a rule that every music collection must have at least one song from a hair metal band (or the more P.C. version: glam metal). I just happen to have several, because... well... it's hair metal!

Song: "Oregon"
Artist: Dan Zweben
Genre: Folk/Rock

Of all of these songs, this would be the one I would most recommend you guys to check out because he is of the up-and-coming whereas Boston, Thin Lizzy, Culture Club... they've already made their mark on the world. "Oregon" is in a much different vein from these other songs; all modern and folk-rocky. Dan Zweben is more Jeremy Fisher, less REO Speedwagon (which is, incidentally, another song featured on October Road). So yes, check out it out.

Yael Naim (it's not a typo)

2008-01-19T11:44:00.001+08:00

Okay so I know someone's gonna eventually post about this so I think i'll post it before everyone else does just to be a jerk. I don't even recommend this song, I'm just doing this so no one else can post about it.

So Apple's hyping up their new thin-as-sin Macbook Air; and inevitably Apple has to be a big jerk and release another generic white-background-with-only-hands commercial that has a ridiculously-catchy-yet-completely-unrelated-song playing in the background. THIS time, Wikipedia has informed me that it's a song called New Soul by some French Israeli artist by the name of Yael Naim. It's pretty catchy, I'll just post the mv cuz i don't have the song on my computer.

If you check out her myspace linked above... you can listen to her cover of Toxic! yes.. THE toxic. Bspears Toxic. It's interesting

On a final note I'm not looking forward to seeing all the annoying Mac nuthuggers with their new Macbooks swarming every Starbucks so they can sip on their java and let people watch them write their novelle. GR

Karmina-The Kiss

2008-01-17T23:27:00.000+08:00

I've been doing some cleaning of my music library latelyyy...and I always come across songs that I never remember downloading or where/why I found them in the first place.

One of these songs is by a band called Karmina, who are two sisters:Kelly & Kamille...hahah, yet again. I guess i just really like my girly music. I found their website...but perhaps it's blocked in China...so i'll check again in the states. so I havn't been able to get that much info on them. But so far i found out that they've only come out with an EP with 5 tracks. One of the sisters sang with Josh Groban? And they've won some vocal competitions before...oh yea...they've won 27 times. Anyways the only song I've got from them atm...is "The Kiss".

Enjoy!

Au Revoir Simone

2008-01-17T10:09:00.000+08:00

I think I mentioned Au Revoir Simone earlier but I just need to show these two videos.

Fallen Snow

and Sad Song. (For some reason it won't let me embed this.)

I love them.

The Amazing Andrew Bird

2008-01-15T15:48:00.000+08:00

Seeing Nicole's post about Imogen Heap inspired me to post about Andrew Bird. Mr. Bird is actually an alumni of Northwestern's music school. Pretty cool huh? I was introduced to Andrew Bird by my current roommate, but last year. He's seriously amazing. All of his songs are done by recording 10-15 second clips, and then playing over them with a new lick (thus reminding me of the video Nicole posted). Using violin. And his voice. And whistling. And whatever else you can think of. He came to my school last year... its even better live. If you can scoop up tickets do it. Seriously amazing.

I'm posting two links to two different songs of his. My favorite song is "Nervous Tic Motion of My Head to the Left" but the video of "Palindromes" shows his technique better. He steps on this machine's pedals to cue the different recording tracks.

Enjoy! I'm going to bed, I've been doing sorority rush all week... sigh.

Palidromes
Nervous Tic...

PS Bonnaroo is this HUGE music festival held in the Midwest. Check it out, it may seem a little expensive, but its worth it. Concerts all day long. Tons of hippies everywhere. I don't know if that's necessarily a selling point.

SCHOOLLL

2008-01-14T00:01:00.000+08:00

SO Incubus AND Nine Inch Nails are gonna be in Bei-fucking-Jing this Spring which is just fantastic. But instead of being a negative nancy and moping, i've been checking out who's gonna be coming to DC this semester and RADIOHEAD is coming to DC! WoohOO

Here's a live recording they did with steady cams taped to bicycle helmets that they wore on their heads. Radiohead recently released a physical copy of their previously digitally released album In Rainbows and it's at the top of the charts (for now). I downloaded their B-side for the album and i'm working through that right now, it's pretty good and a couple tracks are really trippy.

I've been relistening to a lot of their stuff and oh em gee. it's like you go out and listen to a bunch of other music cuz you want to find somethign new, but then you forget how ridiculously sweet the music you have already is. I got this song stuck in my head, it's got this really cool drum/bass line and some really trippy lyrics about getting lost in forests and sinking ships and shit.

On a seperate note my Spring Break is March 17-22! anyone else have the same one?

"Just For Now" by Imogen Heap

2008-01-11T15:48:00.000+08:00

I was directed to this by a college friend the other day. If you're an Imogen Heap fan, you have probably already seen this. It's Imogen Heap singing her song "Just For Now", live and acappella. This is clear proof Imogen Heap is a genius. She is freakin' harmonizing with herself! This is beyond multi-tasking. It's just jaw-dropping. I don't understand how she manages to do it.

Grab the original song here.

"Song 4 Tricia (Princes & Frogs)" by Superchick

2008-01-10T12:47:00.001+08:00

Song: Song 4 Tricia (Princes & Frogs)
Artist: Superchick, formerly known as Superchic[k]
Album: Last One Picked (2002)
Genre: Pop/Rock

A short and sweet song that I found while browsing through multiply. It's 1:45 minutes of cuteness, although I would really love if it was longer.

Note: Tricia is one of the two lead singers for Superchick (Melissa Brock being the other one), but this is actually sung by their bassist Matt Dally.

Download here.

[edit]
It looks like my wishes were granted. I did some digging around and I found a longer version from Superchick's remix album, Regeneration. It's not quite as charming as the original, but that doesn't make it less awesome.
Superchick - Princes & Frogs (Underdog Mix)
[/edit]

Rough Idea

2008-01-09T20:50:00.001+08:00

Really really rough. So far it looks kind funny. Thoughts?

Spring Awakening

2008-01-07T15:56:00.000+08:00

This is music-related, right?

I haven't seen a Broadway in a really long time and I've been wanting to see "Spring Awakening" ever since I saw the highlights for last year's Tony Awards. So last week, my mom went to the city and scored us two awesome seats for today's matinee. Anyways, "Spring Awakening" is set in 1890s Germany, and it is about teenagers trying to deal with all those typical teen issues (sexuality, homosexuality, abuse, suicide, all that fun stuff) in a society that refuses to acknowledge anything of that sort. Did that make any sense? It's a pretty straightforward plot for a complicated play. Aaand it won 8 Tony Awards last year. Impressive, no?

Guys, this show is amazing, if but a little awkward to watch with my mom since it's pretty forward, i.e. mimicking masturbation and sex on stage --- and not in the way that Avenue Q does it. The only complaint I have is that the main guy spat every word (he was like a human sprinkler) and that was a little gross, but that's besides the point. Bottom line: "Spring Awakening" is pretty damn awesome. All the actors are incredibly talented (and ridiculously young, most of them are around our age and at least one of them is still in HS) and the music is phenomenal. Duncan Sheik wrote the music!!! I love Duncan Sheik. "On A High" is one of my favorite songs ever. I bought the cd (of course, damn my cd addiction) and so if you guys would like any songs, leave a comment.

Below I've posted two videos, courtesy of youtube. Check them out. You won't be disappointed.

The Tony Awards performance that hooked me in, featuring a medley of "Mama Who Bore Me", "The Bitch Of Living", and my personal favorite "Totally Fucked".

"Touch Me" on The View
(this is a really pretty song)

Spring Awakening - Official Site
If you guys are in New York, go see it.

FUN

2008-01-05T16:45:00.000+08:00

SO, we need a bg, website revamp.

Who's going to design some saweet image to put on the background?

I'm coming up with one, but I think more options = better.

OK! GO!

January Twenty-Second & Ninth

2007-12-30T09:35:00.000+08:00

January 22nd/29th, 2008 are two very important dates, so mark your newly purchased two-thousand-and-eight calendars, iCal, whatever... because it is the release dates of general awesomeness topped with sprinkles and a touch of fanfuckingtastic.

01/22/2008

Artist: Flight Of The Conchords
Album: Flight Of The Conchords
Genre: Folk, Comedy
These guys were nominated for a Grammy! You've probably seen the videos on YouTube, such as Business Time, Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros, and Jenny. Before Flight of the Conchords, no offense, I honestly thought nothing good came out of New Zealand besides Crowded House, lanolin, kiwi (fruit and bird), and Mr. Rolls. This thought was only because my dad had always threatened me that if I didn't get good grades, he's going to send me to a boarding school in Auckland... and now my brother is suffering miserably at some all boys boarding school there. Anyway, back to the original topic, they're amazing and Bret McKenzie is kind of cute...?

Artist: Foxy Shazam (Previously Foxy Shazam! with a !)
Album: Introducing
Genre: Experimental, Alternative, Progressive Rock
Personally, I am pissed off that they're dropping the ! in their band name. Originating from Cincinnati, Ohio, they released The Flamingo Trigger in 2005 with the exclamation mark and now I guess their new album is Introducing... Foxy Shazam without the exclamation mark. I've never heard anything like this before and I'm a little bummed that I'll be missing their show at the Knitting Factory because I'm going to see Scary Kids Scaring Kids vs Haste The Day instead. Their music is basically made up of the piano you would hear in Jerry Lee Lewis' Great Balls of Fire, drums of an O-K band at a high school prom, and a various mix of guitar licks and schloppy bass. It's great.

Artist: The Audition
Album: Champion
Genre: Pop Rock, Alternative
It's finally here! It's been what like, three fucking years since the release of their debut album Controversy Loves Company? If you've seen them live in 2007 or watch the video for You've Made Us Conscious and compare them with their recent photographs you can see that Fatty McGuitarist lost a lot of weight while lead vocals Danny aged/matured a little (kind of looks like a douchebag now) and said "like" about 50+ times in the most awkward interview ever during the London stop of the Victory Records Tour 2006. Nevertheless, the music is still awesome and getting better.

Artist: The Mars Volta
Album: Bedlam in Goliath
Genre: Experimental, Progressive Rock
TMV is progressive rock band with a touch of jazz and latin influnces, sounds kind of like Muse in Spanish and on acid/shrooms, slowly. After the so-so release of Frances The Mute comes Amputechture in 2006, which was more ambient and sounded less-like-everything-else than the previous album. Oh yeah, like the 2006 and unlike the 2005 release, not all the track titles cascade from Cassandra Geminni I to Cassandra Geminni VIII...

Artist: Jet Leg Gemini
Album: Fire The Cannons
Genre: Classic Rock, Pop
I first heard about JLG from Doghouse Records, the label that many other bands like Meg & Dia, The Honorary Title, and The Get Up Kids are signed to. These guys are from Jersey, a "tropical paradise" where "there are more bands than people and cars put together," quoting their bio on Last.fm... Funny. They're first tour of 2008 will be with Red Light Green Light and Lady Radiator... I don't know either of these two bands but I will look into it because they have interesting names, not as interesting as previously mentioned Formerly Known As Oedipusaurus Rex, but good enough.

Artist: Cat Power
Album: Jukebox
Genre: Folk, Indie
I don't think I need to elaborate... but for the hell of not screwing up the layout I will continue. This is her second covers collection including a new song - Song For Bobby a song for yes, Bob Dylan. The rest of the track list includes Bob Dylan's I Believe In You, Billie Holiday's Don't Explain, Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival and et cetera. Yes yes... be very excited. Her show in NYC is in March, yes, be even more excited.

Artist: Scapegoat
Album: Zombie Dog
Genre: Metalcore, Experimental
My roommate's favorite band, I think. Not gonna lie, they sound pretty good, heard they're even better live. This isn't just another boohoo boring emo band from the South... okay South-ish since it's North Carolina, but yeah you know what I'm talking about. Their previous album Let Our Violins Be Heard was pretty good, strangely beautiful, and their new song The Hurricane sounds minty fresh, so there you go, Mary-Lauren.

01/29/08

Artist: The Morning Of
Album: The World As We See It
Genre: Pop, Rock
Being in the same record label (Tragic Hero) as Scapegoat, My Hero Is Me, A Skylit Drive, Ghost of a Fallen Age, and Akissforjersey... TMO sounds nothing like any them. This is a group of very cute babyfaced girl and boys. The lead vocalists are Jessica and Justin, they are probably on Nickelodeon, not pregnant (Jessica), but catchy nonetheless.

Artist: Protest The Hero
Album: Fortress
Genre: Hardcore, Metalcore
The new album art and layout is sweet, especially the merged photographs of PTH band members. I don't really know what else to say except for... they're from Ontario and will making the second US stop of their Bros in the Snow Winter Tour opening for Silverstein with The Devil Wears Prada and A Day To Remember... and I am going!

Artist: Xiu Xiu
Album: Women As Lovers
Genre: Experimental, Indie
Influenced by The Cure and Joy Division, Xiu Xiu is a band based in San Francisco. Here's a track from the new album, I Do What I Want When I Want. Ever sine the release of The Air Force in 2006, they've been busy doing collabs/a book; Xiu Xiu: The Polaroid Project: The Book (any reason why the cover looks like Andre Kertesz' The Polaroids?) that comes with the CD, A Soundtrack for a Polaroid of Two Trees in Indiana featuring Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Parenthetical Girls, and Greg Saunier from Deerhoof.

This is one long bitchin' hell of a post. Isabelle/Tink whoever mans this webbiebloggityshindig, how about a layout change? I suggest some wicked graphic stuff like exploding speakers, swimming headphones (no sperm pun intended), and mingling vinyls. Oh and lastly, my apologies for not most of these music, but if you're interested enough, go to their MySpace and one or a few of their new tracks will be on it. Happy eargasming!

Real Quick Before I leave for Lake Tahoe...

2007-12-24T02:22:00.000+08:00

1) Thanks for the Isabelle song Hannah.
2) Speaking of Mash-ups... Girl Talk anyone? They're fantastic. I'll link some music when I have more time. Probably the most consistently awesome mash-up group ever. I like "Hand Clap", check it out.
3) Movie soundtrack to listen to? Across the Universe, probably the best conglomeration of Beatles covers ever. Seriously. Best song? "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sung by the character Prudence, who is asian, and lesbian, and an "eargasmic" (to steal a phrase from Hannah) singer.
4) I love Wilco, check "Hummingbird"
5) Oh my god I don't have my music on hand right now... this is really difficult, trying to remember all the music I wanted to suggest.
6) I <3 Regina Spektor (seen her in the IPod Nano commercials maybe?), who was inspired by the works of Fiona Apple. Both FANTASTIC artists. Try "Honey" by Fiona Apple, and her cover of the Beatles song "Across the Universe".
7) Thinking under pressure is difficult, and my parents are yelling for me. We were supposed to leave half an hour ago... "Interstellar" by Paola. I'll link the song later, its really hard to download, my friend downloaded a mix of 300 German Techno songs to find it. For now listen on Myspace Music. The lyrics make no sense, but somehow its amazing.
8) Elliot Smith, album title "XO", song "Waltz #1"
9) Imogen Heap "Hide and Seek". Used in the OC, and then on SNL making fun of the OC. Its an old song, but its great.
10) Shiny Toy Guns, several songs are great, I like their sound overall, its like synthetic pop rock punk... I don't know, kind of techno-y, definitely upbeat, all good. "Don't Cry Now" is a great song, they have many others though, just browse around!
11) Because I watched the Dolly Parton True Hollywood Story, "Jolene", its amazing how a gorgeous voice can come out of a plastic, immobile (BOTOX. TOO MUCH BOTOX. DON'T DO IT.) "face" (ps. also, huge boobs).

OK must fly! Enjoy, and Merry Christmukkah!

Christmas Music, part deux

2007-12-17T08:52:00.000+08:00

It's snowing again outside! And I'm proctoring an exam inside which means I get to stare at the snow for three hours. Yay for winter even though it makes driving a hell of a lot scarier. Maybe we'll finally get a white Christmas?

You may remember that I mentioned in my earlier Christmas post that "Carol of the Bells" is one of my favorite Christmas songs, but another favorite of mine is "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)". And so begins part deux of the Christmas caroling, starting with three versions of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)":

Mariah Carey (I wasn't kidding about this being my favorite Christmas album ever)
Death Cab for Cutie
U2 : the original cover

More music!
Jason Mraz - Winter Wonderland
Damien Rice - Happy Christmas (War Is Over)
Ok Go - Father Christmas

I can't wait to get home and decorate the place. Of course, I'll lose interest after ten minutes and Diana will do the rest, but the Christmas spirit will stay with me all day long! Yay!

New York Newbies

2007-12-15T18:36:00.002+08:00

Some local (New York) bands/artists/friends that I love and you should love too.

Artist: Gregory and the Hawk
Album: The Boats & Bird EP (2006)
Genre: Indie, Acoustic, Pop
Recommended: Isabelle, Boats and Birds, A Wish
Isabelle, if you're reading this, finally... an Isabelle song! I remember I was listening to that song one day, it showed up on MSN and you asked me about it. GATH is a folk music project formed by Meredith Gordreau (really cute, by the way) in 2003. This is EP is their second album, they released a full-length this year called In Your Dreams so check that out too. I have yet to seen a live gig but hopefully she'll be back on tour and I'll be indulging myself in my own drool puddle while she melts my ear. It's an amazing feeling. Just looking back at some of my older posts... I can't believe this is the first time I mentioned eargasms.

Artist: Reni Laine
Album: American Baby (2007)
Genre: Indie, Alternative, Rock
Recommended: Ghost Inside, American Baby, Choices
Sophomore at Columbia University, writes her own songs, released her debut full-length CD this year, age 19, toured Europe, made an appearance on MTV, featured on Nylon Guys Magazine, geeky (yes!), beautiful voice, gorgeous face... basically makes everyone else looks like shit. I saw her live twice at Pianos and it just keeps on getting better. If you really want to know, her music pretty much makes one feel like they are searching for unicorns and all things pretty in an urban rain forest, yeah it's kind of like that. There's also a river on the left where all the salmon and baby bears mingle/swim.

Artist: Living In Polaroids
Album: Not yet released
Genre: Indie, Acoustic, Pop
Recommended: Beyond Good And Evil, A Song For Crystal
Living In Polaroids is a one girl band formed by Kristina Stapelfeld. She will be playing at The Creek and the Cave up in Long Island on December 28th. If anyone is in town during that time, you should come with. I've never heard her sing but her talking voice pretty much "had me at hello" to put it in a really, ridiculously cheesy way. I guess if you really want a comparison (voice-wise) with other artists, I would say that she's the potential love child of Tracyanne Campbell & Carey Lander (as Siamese Twins) from Camera Obscura and Tegan & Sara (as Siamese Twins, again). But if you want to get all scientific and want an example that's humanly possible, she could be Joanna Newsom and Stuart Murdoch from Belle & Sebastian's child ...and Jenny Lewis can be her babysitter. Haha it doesn't get any better than that.

Anyway, it's 5 in the morning and I don't think I can go on with this. Next time I'll probably be in my metalcore, emo screamo extremo mood so put on your pants and get ready for some hardcore shiznit.

As I Am -Alicia Keys

2007-12-15T06:13:00.000+08:00

It's funny I've been having lots of convos about marriage and career lately subjectively--generally about the future in life. And i thought Alicia Key's As I Am is quite appropriate in this way. Not that she mentions anything about getting married or anything. But in a way this album is what represents her in the way she's grown as a person. Quote on quote: [it's her] becoming a better person.

When the first song of her fourth album came out, "No One" I was slightly disappointed. Her vocals were not as impressive as i always thought they were. But as i continued to hear it over and over again on the radio, on the internet...i thought it was a very interesting approach to the soulful sounds she's known for. I think "No One" is a interesting attempt in mixing a bit of reggae into the RnB.

The second single that she came out with is "Like You'll Never See Me Again". A decent love song. It touches base on the vulnerability of love and more importantly love. Recently, there seems to be events putting life on the line. And this song, especially the video, is appropriate for reminding us of how fragile life can be.

Artist Site

Dave Barnes

2007-12-13T14:25:00.001+08:00

Okay.. so Nicole's been bugging me to write a blog although I suck at describing music. But you guys should check out Dave Barnes. I really like his slower songs, with a solo guitar, especially "More Than a Man" and "Nothing Fancy". It's really soothing music. Check it out.

Music Mash-Ups

2007-12-11T23:53:00.000+08:00

Today's topic in lieu of exams: Music mash-ups. They are all over the internet. All those budding DJs with way too much access to pretty electronics and audio programs seem to find it necessary to showcase their skillz by plugging several songs together. But if you look hard enough, there's a couple of gems in there. I'm pretty sure everyone here reading this has heard Usher's "Yeah" vs. Britney Spears' "Toxic" and most of the ones from Jay-Z & Linkin Park's album. How about some of these other ones?

Interpol vs. M.I.A. - Mammoth Boys
The reason I've been inspired for this rec. I think the best attribute of music mash-ups is that they make songs good. I'm not really partial to any of M.I.A.'s music (Have you heard of her? Her story is pretty cool. Sri Lankan-British rapper who's father is a Tamil activist-militant), but this song is very get up and go and totally awesome. Give it a listen. Actually, give it two. The first time I heard it, I was like "eh?". It's a little weird. But now I play it every other song. I just might get sick of it soon, I've played it so much.

The Arcade Fire vs. Black Eyed Peas - Hump My Tunnel
Okay, I have to admit. It's partially because the title cracks me up. I absolutely HATE "My Humps". Totally and utterly. I swore everytime it came on the radio --- it's like "Hey There Delilah". I have absolutely no clue in hell why it's so popular. But this version? It almost makes up for it (my hate is pretty strong). The Arcade Fire is amazing like that.

Jay-Z & The Verve - Dirt Off Your Shoulder (Bittersweet Symphony Remix)
Someone somewhere had too much time on their hands and realized that "Bittersweet Symphony"and "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" have exactly the same beat. Not that I'm complaining. It totally rocks. I mean, who doesn't love "Bittersweet Symphony"? I totally faked out my roommate the other day when I played this song because she was singing along to the Verve part, only to be completely confounded when Jay-Z started rapping.

Desert Island Discs

2007-12-08T17:30:00.000+08:00

I was reading something and it reminded me about that one radio show Desert Island Discs. (longest-running music program since 1942 to the present). Essentially it's a show where famous guests are asked to choose eight pieces of music they'd bring with them if they were to become island castaways. And I was thinking how ANNOYING that must be to hear those same eight songs for the rest of your life. Just imagine listening to A Bay Bay and Crank That for the rest of your life. I'd kill myself within a day.

BUT after much consideration and thought I DID think of one song that I wouldn't mind. It was released back in 2001 by the supergroup (it's a real term) A Perfect Circle. The song's called 3 Libras and it was released on the album Mer de Noms (Latin for "Sea of Names" mysterious isn't it?). The funny thing is I don't even like APC very much, but I'd have to name this song one of my favorites of all time. Apparently the songs of the album are dedicated to people that the lead singer knew; and 3 Libras was dedicated to 9 people with birthdays around that time and is about "being overlooked". Anyways it's a wonderful song and anyone that appreciates rock at all should definately check it out if they haven't already. *EDIT* listen to the last bit starting at 2:45 cuz it's the best part!

LISTEN TO IT i'm serious.

By the way, the most requested song in the show's history was the Fourth Movement of Beethoven's Ninth (for the woefully ignorant, that's Ode to Joy) which gets ridiculously SICK at around 4:15.

The Pierces

2007-12-08T06:37:00.000+08:00

In one of the recent previews of Gossip Girl "Hi Society"(video quality not that great...go to www.thewb.com for a better version), they used one of the Pierces songs' "Three Wishes". I think the sounds of the song really fits well with the Romantic period. That melancholy, hoplessness and all (yea i'm learning about that in my fashion history class, it's pretty interesting).

The pair are sisters; Allison and Catherine were raised in Alabama. Their voices are alluring. Some of their songs are like a mixture of that class from 1930's and this gypsy mysteriousness. Check out their myspace. Their entire album Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge is available to listen to on their site.

Do They Know It's Christmas?

2007-12-06T16:17:00.001+08:00

Today was wonderfully white. Exactly what I needed to put me in a Christmas mood. So I spent the last hour or so grabbing Christmas music off of the net. It seems like every band and singer ever at some point in time has recorded at least one holiday song. All the better, I say!

A couple of my sources:

savvy_elf on livejournal is running a Christmas music meme where people are uploading and sharing their favorite Christmas music.
sideshowkat (also on livejournal) uploaded an awesome amount onto box.net (note to self, consider using box.net instead of zshare.net. It's so pretty!)

Some of my own personal favorites:

Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)
I only wish I could have gotten tickets to go see them when they were here in Pittsburgh...
New York Philharmonic - Carol of the Bells
More orchestral music, but Carol of the Bells is my most favorite classic Christmas song.
Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas
The one everyone knows and there's a reason for that!!
Mariah Carey - Jesus Oh What A Wonderful Child
Mimi gets double because I used to have her Christmas cd when I was a kid, and you know what? It's still my favorite Christmas cd. I still remember how ridiculously skinny she looked on the cover.
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip - O Holy Night
New Orleans jazz musicians with their take on O Holy Night. It's beautiful.
Robert Downey Jr. - River
Got a problem with that? He's IRON MAN!

Add your own in the comments!

I really really can't wait for Christmas. Gotta love the Holidays. (By the way, Happy Hanukkah everybody! It's the second day! The menorah painted on the Fence told me so.)

"I Love The Nightlife"

2007-12-05T17:11:00.001+08:00

Let's go old school.

Song: "I Love The Nightlife (Disco 'Round)
Artist: Alicia Bridges

There are some nights where you just need some good disco music. Tonight is that night for me. And what's better than one hit wonder Alicia Bridges? Everyone has heard this song at one point or another, there's no way you haven't, but damn, I love this song. No joke, I am dancing in the hallway to this song right now. Like, right as I type this. At 4 am. Very suiting no?

I've got to boogie!

My Two Favorite Things

2007-12-03T14:49:00.000+08:00

are videogames and music so it's a wonderful thing when they're put together. Like every good asian guy, I keep an eye out on game trailers and get ridiculously hyped up for games. If you watch TV you might've seen this trailer for Assassin's Creed.

And I was pleasantly surprised by the song choice. None other than Teardrop by Massive Attack. It's such an odd dreamy song. I first heard it ACTUALLY through a cover (or as they like to say "a song we wish we wrote") done by the greatest band in the history of bands. Incubus. It's a live recording but still AMAZING.

btw Michael and I started a new blog, it's gonna be on whatever the hell we feel like, so expect a lot of gaming related things. Check it out at http://dingiblog.blogspot.com

BOO It's raining in DC tonight

2007-12-02T16:46:00.000+08:00

Song: Bran-New Lovesong
Artist: The Pillows
Album: N/A
how dreadfully gloomy.

The Cake is a Lie

2007-12-02T14:40:00.000+08:00

On October 10th, Valve released it's gaming trifecta of goodness inside what is revered as the Orange Box. One of those games, Portal, manages to include one of the best songs ever. Very cleverly written and amusing to gamers and non-gamers alike, it essentially tells the story of a poor artificial intelligence named GLaDOS and her final thoughts of your progression in the game. Gamers rejoiced as almost no other ending could have fit this game as perfectly. The song itself has a catchy tune and enjoyable lyrics that will tickle your funny bone.

One thing I'd like to say first is that if you want to enjoy this song in its full glory, you need to play through the game Portal (takes approximately 2-3 hours to complete the entire storyline, fairly short for a game). After that the song gives you an exponentially higher amount of joy and satisfaction. For those of you who haven't played the game are listening for the first time, I'll provide a quick synopsis

**Spoiler alert for those who haven't played Portal yet**

Basically you are a cyborg in a test chamber who has to complete a myriad of puzzles involving portals. Narrating and watching your every move is a highly intelligible AI named GLaDOS, of whom has a very sadistical and evil, yet robotic attitude and nature. The entire time GLaDOS offers "delicious cake" to you as a reward for completing a puzzle. All the puzzles are solved with something called the portal gun, which basically allows you to shoot 2 portals at the wall, an orange and blue portal. If you go in one portal, you come out the other. This creates really neat situations like infinite loops. Near the end of the "exercise course" you find out that GLaDOS is trying to kill you, and you manage to get away and use the portal gun to escape from the underground facility and destroy GLaDOS.

**End of spoiler**

And now here it is, Still Alive as performed by Ellen McLain, the voice of GLaDOS.

Breathe Me- Sia

2007-12-02T05:06:00.000+08:00

I love this songg...another sad-ish song. It's one of those hopeless, helpless songs. The beauty of sadness. 'Breathe Me' was used in the show Six Feet Under. The video for this song is really crazy.

So the song is by Sia, who is an Australian acid jazz singer and she's known for her work wit Zero7.

The Scientist-Covers

2007-12-02T04:35:00.001+08:00

I'M BACK...i haven't post forever. But I've decided to do a new entry before all my old ones. =p

Okay so I was listening to Coldplay-The Scientist. Love that song. It's such a sad song. And the video just kinda makes it a little sadder. But I was trying to sing it by myself in my room, and i realize I can't sing so low, so i wanted to find a cover by a female singer.I end up finding out that Natasha Beddingfield did a cover of it and so did Avril..which i can't find. But a singer called Johnette Napolitano also did a cover of it. Natasha Beddingfield's cover is more Indie...i like to think. And then Johnette's is more...goth-y. At least that's the vibe I get, see what you think. I still prefer Coldplay, no one sings it as heartfelt as Chris Martin does.

On a side note...go to the Coldplay website and look at the video under 2007 November. It's a bunch of PhotoBooth(Mac picture taking app) pix linked together..it's kinda cool.

Ps: what ever happend to Daniel Beddingfield?

In Rainbows

2007-11-28T05:16:00.000+08:00

Huzzah for Radiohead! The English rock band formed all the way back in '86 have finally released their new album after Hail to the Thief was released back in 2003. What have they come up with in their 4 year break? An album that many critics say rival Radiohead's best work OK Computer, which was one of the most widely acclaimed albums way back when.

And after finally finishing their 6 album contract with EMI, they've decided to do something pretty damn cool. They're letting you pay whatever you want; that is, however much you think they deserve. Up till now, around 62% paid nothing (me included) for this new album; but with downloads already exceeding 1 million and ALL the money going straight to the band's pockets instead of a record company, they must be pretty happy with themselves. Radiohead must be filthy rich anyways.

You can get the album digitally on http://www.inrainbows.com/. Right now the song stuck in my head is this one. It reminds me of fancy swimming pools and colorful fishes.

Everyone Needs Dance Music

2007-11-19T04:56:00.000+08:00

Song: Love (ft. T-Pain)
Artist: Flo Rida
Genre: Hippity Hop

I <3 this song. When I hear this song I start bouncing and bobbing out of reflex. Its already at spot number one for popularity of download in the iTunes store. Which is where I bought it coincidentally. Which tells you that its REALLY worth it because lets face it I'm Chinese and I'm stingy. It has all the necessary elements of a rap/hip hop song: some hAwt "shorti", degrading comments toward women, sex sex sex [appeal], grillz, a club, dirty dancing, and of course "that big booty". Another song that instantly got #1 in iTunes was Crank Dat by Soulja Boy. And this is infinitely better.

Watch the official music video.

"apple bottom jeans... boots with the fur (WITH THE FUURRR!!)... the whole club lookin' at her. she hit the flo, next thing you know, shorty got low low low low lowwwww..." haha yes.

"Storm" by José González

2007-11-08T04:17:00.000+08:00

I should be studying, but I've got a streak going here.

Song: Storm
Artist: José González
Album: Crosses (2003)

Despite his name and how he sounds, José González is actually SWEDISH, born to Argentinian parents. If you watch as much tv as I have, you probably heard "Heartbeats", the cover song that made José González semi-famous, in the Sony Bravia commercial that had a million bouncy balls going through San Francisco (Side note: bouncy balls are amazing). José González's music has a very quiet sound to it which I like -- it's just him and his guitar. Acoustic guitar, complicated rhythms, soft voice, what more do you want? His new CD "In Our Nature" is definately on my ever-growing list of cds to buy. "Storm" is just one of those short and sweet songs that you just need after a long day/week/month/year. I know I can use one of those right now.

This way to the music.

One more side note: I really fucking hate "Hey There Delilah". I'm sorry Plain White T's, but that's one TERRIBLE song.

"Raindrops From The Sun" by Imani Coppola

2007-11-07T09:03:00.000+08:00

I'm at office hours where I know no one will come. Oh, boredom is me. Song of the Day! Yeah!

Song: Raindrops From The Sun

Artist: Imani Coppola
Album: The Black & White Album (2007)

So who watched last week's Grey's Anatomy? I did. I don't like to admit it, but I totally marathoned Grey's Anatomy last Tuesday and didn't sleep until 6am. That was stupid. Not to mention, Grey's managed to get it's nasty soap-y hooks into me and I'm addicted again. Like One Tree Hill, Grey's Anatomy has a knack of choosing good songs in their episode soundtracks, and that was exactly what stuck out to me in the beginning of episode 406. In fact, it's one of the few things that I liked about that episode. Unfortunately you only hear it for a little more than a minute (Yes, I actually went back and timed it --- it's playing for exactly 1:16 minutes and it's behind dialogue for about 1:14 of it). Of course, I sped immediately to Grey's Anatomy radio to find the song.

Imani Coppola hails from NYC and guys, get this: she plays the violin! Like she went to SUNY Purchase and studied violin performance, and does both the violin thing and the singing thing. She has her own label, and writes, produces and records all her music by herself. She's like a superwoman or something. As for the song itself, it's such a bright, I'm-waking-up-happy song. Like those Saturdays where you naturally wake up at 9:30 am all refreshed (instead of those Saturdays where you have to wake up at 6:30 am to push a little girl in a buggy up a hill) and you HAVE NO WORK to do! I love those days. :] Do you love those days? I really truly do. The beats in the back have that kind of 90s hip-hop feel to them, and Imani's music style and voice reminds me a lot of Esthero (Another sorely underappreciated singer. One day I will do a post about Esthero, I promise.)

Grab the song here.

"Sort Of A Protest Song" by Matthew Good Band

2007-11-06T03:14:00.000+08:00

I'm locked out of my room and waiting for my roommates to show up. So time for another song of the day before my laptop batteries run out!

Song: Sort Of A Protest Song
Artist: Matthew Good Band
Album: The Audio Of Being (2002)

Very quick short description (only 14 minutes left on battery!). A late 90s/early 2000s Canadian Alt-Rock band fronted by (who else?) Matthew Good. Apparently, Matthew Good was very dissatisfied with The Audio Of Being album on the whole, but considered "Sort Of A Protest Song" one of the few good songs. At the very least I like it. (It should also be noted that since the band's disbanding in 2002, Matthew Good has become pretty active politically. Suits the song, no?) AHHH. Low Battery warning!

Here's the song. Check it out. Another good song by him is "Weapon". It was in Alias. Pretty good. I'll upload it some other time. Gotta go now! BYE!

"Brightly Wound" by Eisley

2007-10-31T09:35:00.000+08:00

Happy Halloween everyone!!!!!! It's been a long while, so it's time for some good ole music reccage.

Song: Brightly Wound

Band: Eisley

Album: Room Noises

I don't know how you guys organize your songs, but I'm a little OCD. I have one folder for my music, and a seperate folder for recently downloaded songs to be listened to, checked for quality/likeability, relabelled, and then moved to the regular music folder. It's suffice to say that I usually let that temp folder build up quite a bit before I start looking through the music. I found this song buried in that folder from a fanmix for the British show "Skins". I know, I know, I'm a loser, but you have no idea how much good obscure music I find through fanmixes. (or at least, obscure to me).

I've had this song on my computer for a couple of months and only just listened to it yesterday, and I found it great. Eisley is a family indie rock band from Texas. They're pretty interconnected with the music world --- one of the sister's is married to the lead guitarist from New Found Glory and another is engaged to Adam Lazzara of Taking Back Sunday. The song itself reminds me a lot of Rilo Kiley, with their drawn out melodies and surreal lyrics. Its all about dreams and innocence ("I shall never grow up. Make believe is too much fun") I mean who doesn't want to be a kid forever?

Give the song a spin.

Change by Monkey Majik

2007-10-15T13:24:00.000+08:00

Artist: Monkey Majik
Song: Change (w/ the Yoshida Brothers)
Genre: j-pop

Band bio: In a snapshot: they're Canadian, they moved to Japan, learned Japanese, and now they sing Japanese pop (in both English and Japanese). How sick (sweet) is that. Plus their music videos are pretty cool too. Wiki them for more details, I don't have time.

Just listen.

Procrastinate a little, watch these other music videos:
Fly
Around the World
Picture Perfect (w/ m-flo)
Sotsugyo Soshite Miraie (w/ Seamo)

**side note: props to my brother (Justin) for finding this band

Album Cover Art Extravaganza

2007-09-21T13:47:00.001+08:00

You know what they say... "never judge a book by its cover" or in this case, "never judge an album by it's cover art." I say screw that, it's all about first impressions. While going to a record store to discover some new stuff for your baby ears, of course you'll pick up what catches your baby eyes the most. Here are some of my favorites...

Artist: Architecture in Helsinki
Album: Place Like This (2007)
Genre: Indie, Electronic, Lo-Fi
Recommended Songs: Red Turned White, Heart It Races

This Australian band previously labeled as "twee pop" should now be a possible nominee of the mtvU Woodie Awards for a Left Field Woodie Award... "no idea what section of the record store to look for them in." This new album is quite very different from their previous albums, more electro-rocky than twee-folkish-funky-poppy. Still very incredibly awesome, just like its cover art.

Artist: Venetian Snares
Album: Hospitality (2006)
Genre: Drum & Bass
Songs Recommended: Frictional Nevada, Duffy

This EP is basically my favorite VSnares cover art, next to Horse and Goat (2004) and Cavalcade Of Glee And Dadaist Happy Hardcore Pom Poms (2006). Frictional Nevada is five minutes of beatoragasm and Duffy is six minutes of earsex. That's total of about eleven minutes of wonderful D&B action and it's only one third of the album.

Artist: Neutral Milk Hotel
Album: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (1998)
Genre: Indie, Alternative
Songs Recommended: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, The King Of Carrot Flowers Part 1

Not only do I judge this artist by it's album cover art, I also judge it by its name. It's pretty much fantastic, my day-dream music where I doze off in the aeroplane over the sea to the land of the kind of carrot flowers. Or it could be my Coney Island Carnival soundtrack. Yet, I still don't really know if that's a zucchini or cucumber for the woman's head.

Artist: The Unicorns
Album: Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? (2004)
Genre: Indie Pop
Songs Recommended: Let's Get Known, I Was Born (A Unicorn)

Anything related to unicorns + rainbows is a given. Other than that, it's one of the good products of Canada, joining the top five with maple syrup, Leslie Feist, beavers, and... Mike Myers.

Britney VMAs performance

2007-09-11T05:39:00.000+08:00

Nicole, i can't help it but i have to post about her!

(the mtv video wont work for some reason..oh btw check on wat sarah silverman says abt britney..it should be the clip after the disastrous performance when u click the 'mtv video' )

DOUBLE BTW, CHECK OUT WAT PEREZ SAYS...FOR U NON-PEREZ HATING PPL..[NOT NICOLE]

Britney....hmm...what can i say...well for starters, she's a mess...and really needs a stylist DESPERATELY. Second, she's very good at making controversial VMAs performances. If you haven't watched already, she was the opening act of the VMAs 2007 of last night. I give her credit for landing herself such an awesome performance slot in the VMAs, esp since the recent series of events/gossip about her. I applause her for getting off her drunk ass and finally doing smthg about her career going down the drain. Unfortunately, her comeback performance was one of the most horrifying...okay fine, not so dramatic....most disastrous then..thing i've ever seen her done....well i guess this weekend. HAHA...but yea...seriously, i mean people have been hyped about her comeback for awhile now and the fact that she started out like that...is not a very good omen. Yes, you could say that i have quite a thing against her, but you know what before i watched this performance i was really hoping that she would blow me away and prove me wrong. Did you see that confuse face of 50 Cent?

So what was really the problem with the perfomance? Firstly, please, dont show off your bod with sparkly bra and panties if you no longer have the body. I don't have a problem with ppl having a less than ideal body...but please dont wear clothes flaunting it like it's HOT when it's NOT. Second, she really needs a new choreographer...her moves are the same as like 5 years ago...unless it was really her fault that she didn't rehearse. She kinda tripped over herself a few times. All she did across the stage for those 4 minutes...was strut back and forth and flip her hair. Stop being a ditz. On top of that, if you're gonna lip sync, learn to do it properly. She started lipsyncing fine...and then i think she just forgot she was spose to be "singing" and she just stopped like she lost the ability to speak or smth. so wat else...oh yea...it seemed like she either couldn't walk in her heels or she was having trouble walking. period. i really felt sorry for her dancer that she got to step on to get off the stage though. the best thing about her performance was her dancer. they outshone her. it musta been the juxtaposition of her naked body next to these clothed human beings that just made her flabby stomach stick out more (not that there's anything wrong wit flabby stomachs if you clothed them). yea i guess the issue with the costume is that she shoulda just put some clothes on. she woulda been more respectable that way. Apart from that the song is really catchy. So here it is Gimme More.

*PS: i guess the stripper poles were pretty hot too.

A Little Bit Of Everything

2007-09-09T13:53:00.000+08:00

Artist: Blaqk Audio
Album: Cex Cells (2007)
Check Out: Stiff Kittens, Bitter For Sweet, Semiotic Love

Whatever you would like to call this, electronic, darkwave, gothic, ebm (electronic body musik, apparently a genre now describing artists like Front 242 and Apoptygma Berzerk because you cannot categorize them as both industrial and electronic?), techno, alternative... I would like to call it RRGM, which stands for really really good music. I went to their third concert ever yesterday at the Grand Ballroom NYC, it was definitely worth the half an hour wait in front of the doors then one hour wait on the floor. For those who haven't heard, Blaqk Audio is an electronic project created by Davey Havok (gorgeously beautiful) and Jade Puget (not so photogenic but incredibly stunning in person) from AFI. Basically, this is the type of music you will see blue shirted middle aged glasses-wearing short mom standing from the balcony, blonde Laguna Beach-like girls with glowsticks, a bunch of goth kids, and yourself dancing to. Cexy.

Artist: Rilo Kiley
Album: Under The Blacklight (2007)
Check Out: The Angels Hung Around, Silver Lining, Close Call, Dejalo

Rilo Kiley's fourth full length album, after most of the band members "returned" from their solo albums (Jenny Lewis with Rabbit Fur Coat and Blake Sennett in Sun, Sun, Sun with The Elected in 2006). This new album is a new sound for those who have listened to their previous albums... it the adventurous album. I suggest you purchase this album not only because 1. Jenny Lewis, 2. Sounds like a mixture of Jenny Lewis' solo work, drums, country, folk, yet a little bit of mellow rock, 3. Jenny Lewis... but also because the album's jewel case is tinted purple! What more can you ask for?

Artist: Au Revoir Simone
Album: The Bird Of Music (2007)
Check Out: The Lucky One

My new found super mellow indie ambiance meditation music. Just imagine a set of harmonious triplets and while you look at the album art and you will get a good picture of what their music might sound like. Sounds like sunsetting gradually, leaves turning from kelly green to a medium kind of sea green, and summer going by really slowly. Except summer has gone by too quick for me and I need to start writing a paper instead.

Feist- The Reminder

2007-09-09T07:47:00.000+08:00

So I recently got this CD The Reminder by Feist, I was gonna get Tristan prettyman...but i found Feist. I've got to admit I came across Feist from Perez =p. At least that's how i remember it. I think her music really reminds me of gap commercials, just coz of how light spirited the songs are. I mean not all her songs are "happy"...but just how simple and raw it is. the instruments are not dominating the sweetness of her voice. Speaking of commercials...the song "1234" is actually the song Apple is using for the commercials for their NEW ipod nanos. yea you should definitely check out both the song and the new designs by apple. (personally im not sure wat exactly i feel abt the new designs...i like how they now play videos...but other than that from a designer's point of view iono...) The above link is a remixed version of it, which i'm not too fond of compared to the original. but you can listen to the original on her myspace. Oh she's Canadian btw.

2007-09-08T07:10:00.000+08:00

Boy bands certainly have their target audience, those suffering from post-break up grief, lusty prepubescent girls, and screaming fanboys (did anyone see the JT concert and how he obviously avoided the outstretched hands of his male fans?). However, for those of us that don't have a tissue box permanently attached to our person or aren't looking for an emotional tsunami, boy bands certainly do not fulfill our every musical need.

In celebration of my recent unemployment, allow me to share with you two tunes that tickle my pickle and pump me up! ;)

Good Luck by Basement Jaxx

This dance/electronica group hailing from the UK been around for quite some time now. According to the all knowing Wikipedia, they rose to popularity in the late 1990s. Of course I didn't hear about them until well past the end of the millennium, but apparently they're in high demand as remixers (used by the likes of JT [he's EVERYWHERE] and N.E.R.D.) .

This song is about a break up, only instead of being reduced to inconsolable rubble, the girl moves on with a big "FUCK YOU" to the guy. Fantastic. Of course, its not really the back story of the song that makes me love it so much, its the beat/mood/emotion. Listen to it, you'll see what I mean. Makes me feel like I can do ANYTHING.

The NFL Themesong

Duh. Sorry, I can't find a link. But trust me on this one guys, if it pumps football players up, it'll pump you up.

OK, time for a celebratory slice of cheesecake!

Boy Band Music

2007-09-05T06:34:00.000+08:00

Yeah, I said it. Boy bands. You all know the famous ones N*Sync, 98 Degrees, LFO (ugh. they were beyond terrible) and I know Tink remembers Westlife. Of course, the Backstreet Boys reign at the top of that pyramid (best concert I've ever went to, for realz) with a new cd coming out this fall! Here are two songs from two boy bands you might not remember.

Song: Faded
Boy Band: SoulDecision
Album: No One Does It Better

This is, hands down, the best boy band song EVER. Honestly speaking, I have never heard of anything else by SoulDecision, but no boy band, not even the Backstreet Boys, can touch this song. It is just pure guilty boy band pop and it is awesome!

Song here

Song: The Hardest Part About Breaking Up (Is Getting Back Your Stuff)
Boy Band: 2ge+her
Album: 2ge+her: Again

I don't know how many of you remember 2ge+her, but they were a boy band formed by MTV to parody boy bands. They even had a movie! I only remember seeing the opening credits, but that in itself was good enough. All the band members had labels - the cute one, the heartthrob, the bad boy. They even have a pseudo rapper! Just like the real boy bands! Haha, I love it. The song is so corny and the lyrics are all sorts of hilarious.

The hardest part about breaking up.... is getting back your stuff.

I realize my descriptions are really brief and crap, and I know it's been a relatively long time, but I'm actually in stats class right now. No really. Worse college student ever, I am.

Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) by Mika

2007-09-03T00:50:00.001+08:00

Song Title: Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)
Artist: Mika
Album: Life in Cartoon Motion
Genre: Pop

So its been a while since I've listened to pop. Other than classics such as the Backstreet Boys and (maybe) the Spice Girls, I've mostly turned my back on this genre. Yesterday I rediscovered why pop songs are great: they're perpetually happy and they make you want to dance. You'll find no emo here.

Mika is a solid candidate for pop stardom because of his ambiguous sexual orientation, oh and his music too. Of all the songs on Life in Cartoon Motion my favorite song is "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)", you might recognize it as the new Ugly Betty Theme song and fittingly so; it gives the finger to beauty norms... but in a really subtle, nice, positive way. Who says silly can't be meaningful? Its happy, catchy, and fun; if you love to hate, this isn't the song for you.

Give it a listen on Mika's official website.

As an afterthought... I was thinking of other songs that make me want to dance: try "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Vitamin C (courtesy of YouTube, and the movie it was in... whatever its called). Huzzah, I'm going to close my door and play it full blast.

BTW... FIRST POST OF SEPTEMBER!!!!

"Insensibilidad" by Ska-P

2007-08-26T23:40:00.000+08:00

Song: Insensibilidad
Artist: Ska-P
Album: ¡¡Que Corra La Voz!!
Genre: Ska Punk

This is really short because I just got back to CMU and I have a ton of shopping and box shelpping to do, but I felt that it was time for a foreign song that isn't french. Ska-P is a ska punk band from Madrid, and if you can't already tell, Ska-P stands for ska punk. I don't understand a word of this song, because I suck at even languages I know, but I have stinking suspicion that "Insensibilidad" means "Insensible". All in all, it's just another crazy fun song. And crazy fun songs are awesome.

Song here!

The Best Music Video of All Time. Ever. Period.

2007-08-26T19:44:00.000+08:00

I love watching music videos. Official ones, fan ones, even AMVs can be interesting sometimes. Music videos can just bring so much more out of a song (aka Gorillaz) or can totally ruin it (aka EVERY INCUBUS MV except this one).

Recently an online music and film magazine by the name of Stylus posted their "Top 100 Music Videos of All Time". Personally I find the idea of ranked music videos about as stupid as ranked music... BUT i just had to see what they were ranting on about. Naturally I cut through all the crap and went straight for what THEY deemed the best music video of all time.

Rabbit In Your Headlights - Thom Yorke

"It's almost impossible to say what it means, but it's equally hard to find someone who can watch it, really watch it, and remain unmoved." HM. I dunno man, I'll definately say it's better than your cliched meaningless average rock music video that attempts to be deep but fails miserably to be engaging on any level... But the best of all time? I think one of the problems stems from the fact that the song itself isn't particularly amazing (especially for Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke) coupled with a message that's just a bit TOO cryptic. Anyways make sure you watch till the end cuz that's the "interesting part". It's a lot better if you watch it as a "short film" instead of a "music video".

I guess this is as good a time as ever to share some my favorite MV's, so in no particular order:

Feel Good Inc. - Gorillaz
Everyone's seen this one before so I won't bother to explain why this music video is so great

Hurt (cover) - Johnny Cash
Originally Johnny Cash didn't want to do a cover of a Nine Inch Nails song, stating that NIN wasn't "his style"... imagine that... Anyways it's good that he did cover this song. It's often lauded as one of the greatest music videos ever created, and I can see why.

1979 - The Smashing Pumpkins
If you listen to alternative rock music, this song should sound familiar. It's often considered the best song that one of the most influential bands of the 90's ever wrote. It's about how great it is to be a kid and how carefree life is. It definately has a nostalgic feel to it... Makes me wish I spent my teen years in the 90's. The song is pretty much summed up in the lines "And we don't even know/just where our bones will rest/to dust i guess."

"Bathwater" by No Doubt

2007-08-18T12:46:00.001+08:00

Song: Bathwater
Artist: No Doubt
Album: Return Of Saturn
Genre: Ska Punk

I was listening to this song recently and it reminded me just how much I missed Gwen Stefani when she was back with No Doubt. Despite all the success she seems to have with radioplay and all that, to me, her solo career has been just ma-ma hu-hu, except for two songs -- "The Sweetest Thing" which was pretty damn catchy and "Hollerback Girl" which was beyond terrible. "Hollerback Girl" is the main reason I blame Gwen Stefani for the horrible music that is Fergie (there's another woman who should not have gone solo, even more so than Gwen Stefani).

Apparently this song didn't do so well in the charts when it was released as a single, but I like it nonetheless. The dark undertones, the funky beat, the bouncy chorus, and Gwen Stefani sounds great! Give it a listen and please tell me No Doubt are gonna get off this damn hiatus already.

Mandy Moore's Umbrella

2007-08-17T12:55:00.000+08:00

aka How "Annoying" got bumped up a notch.

"Man when I heard that Umbrella song.. I was just like "that really is something"... Annoying lyrics, annoying melody, SUPER annoying chorus... it's a guaranteed commercial success! But.. the thing is.... Rihanna just isn't ANNOYING enough. It's just.. she doesn't live up to the rest of the song. I mean the concept is gold, repeating "umbrella -ella -ella -ella" like she's pretending to be her own echo? Hell that's more annoying than paying 2% royalties to my "artists". LOL. It's just... I felt the execution was lacking.

The second I heard it, I knew. I knew that I had a shot to make an irritating song into the most bothersome song ever. So, I called up the most annoying singer I had access to, and essentially turned the song into a melencholy ballad. I cut out all the less annoying hip hop synthed beats and put in a god-awful acoustic guitar and bass/drums from an 80's ktv machine. I told Mandy Moore her parents died right before recording to give her a slight "sad" sort of emotion, or something. THEN to top it off, I made the backup vocals for the chorus male singers! Then I kicked them in the balls repeatedly to get a slightly "hurt" tone out of them. I am confident that I have helped in the creation of the most annoying song ever."

- Mandy Moore's Songwriter/Manager

I fucking dare you to click here.

"Walkie Talkie Man" by Steriogram

2007-08-17T03:39:00.001+08:00

Song: Walkie Talkie Man
Band: Steriogram
Album: Schmack!
Genre: Pop punk

A brief little pimpage while I wait for comics and knock back advils by the handful. This song is just so crazy and fun with fast verses that take you a few listens to catch the lyrics. I used to always put it on our softball warmup playlist because it had the best line - "He's fat and he don't run too fast/But he's faster than me". It applies SO well to my running capabilities.

Courtesy of youtube, I found out that this song was also used for an iPod commercial, which just further supports my "Apple has a knack for choosing awesome songs" theory. But what rocks even more? The music video was directed by Michel Gondry! That man is genius. He's like the Wade Robson of directing.

For just listening purposes, click here.

English Invasion Part I

2007-08-15T20:09:00.000+08:00

lol...i was trying to think of some corny name for the title to summarize what it's about. i'm sure if you're into the contemporary music scene, you'll notice that recently there's been a sudden appearances of female singers from the UK. Two of the most well known UK female artists rite now is Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse. If you don't know either than shame on you. But then again i guess if you're of the male gender, you're somewhat dismissed. After all, i guess they're somewhat accepted artists that go under the genre of 'girl music'.

Lily Allen's songs are characterize by a sort of quirky girl power. I like to think of her as a more appealing version of Lady Sovereign, more pop and more feminine. Take 'Smile' for example, it's basically about taking pleasure in watching an ex bf fall in despair as she secretly destroys his utmost prized possessions (well that's the video anyways)! The song lyrics is more about how she smiles when she sees him sad. lol...well either way it's a lil cheeky and devilish. I love it ( it used to be my ringtone until i dropped my phone in the toilet....so sad)! It's really catchy. She has a few pretty humorous songs, like 'Alfie' (about lil bro smoking weed..well not only that...but that's one of the lines of the lyrics =p) and 'Nan, You're a Window Shopper' (about Nan ENGLISH>'s strange habits). They're fun songs. Then there's another one of my favs called 'Littlest Things', a slower and more serious song. Reminiscing about an old relationship. It's really catchy too..heh. Give her a try if u havn't already, she's cute style-wise and vocally too!

Okay here's a transition for you...Lily Allen is related to Amy Winehouse through Mark Ronson! They've both done tracks with him...and Lily Allen was seen photographed with Samantha Ronson recently when she was in the 90210. And both Lily and Amy have recently cancelled shows/concerts...well for v. diff reasons...both health reasons though...anyways...

So Amy Winehouse...hmm, she fits under the category of blues/jazz. A lot of songs are about her previous disastrous relationship and hints at her alcoholism. She recently went into rehab with her hubby...and she had a heroin overdose a week ago? smth like that. So apart from 'Valerie' off Mark Ronson's cd (which i posted on the Mark Ronson entry), 'Love is a Losing Game' is another one of my fav. There's 'Rehab' and 'Back to Black', those are her most well known tracks but i'll let u find those yrself. She's quite a character, her entire image is pretty intriguing. Did you kno that she's jewish too? Anyways give that track a listen!

More UK female artists coming up!

An apology that is... not really an apology?

2007-08-15T02:51:00.000+08:00

So if you follow mainstream music you'll probably know about Akon's new song Sorry, Blame It On Me. It's a good move on his part, putting out a song where he can give some sort of apology to anyone he's offended.

I've liked a lot of Akon's songs and I do like this one too, but I really do have some gripes about it. In a way you can say it's his song to apologize to everyone about all the recent events that have happened (dry humping a 14 year old and throwing a fan at a concert to name the ones I know the best). Although these events might not have been entirely his fault, he definitely has some part in them. If you follow the lyrics it seems more and more like he's trying to make himself look like a saint:

"I'm sorry for the hand that she was dealt
And for the embarrassment that she felt
She's just a little young girl trying to have fun
But daddy should of never let her out that young"

I definitely agree if the club is supposed to have an age limit that someone underage shouldn't be there. Then again he was holding a "contest with a trip to Africa". It ends up the prize is really just dry-humping his fan, which is quite extreme and crude. Given that the club should have people at an age where it wouldn't be completely unacceptable, I think Akon should have at the very least stated his true intentions. A perfectly innocent woman who got caught up in the whole "trip to Africa" thing could've really been hurt. It also ends up the 14 year old girl who "won" had family who were public figures. ( Her brother is the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Crime Watch)

I don't feel like citing more examples, but I just feel this song is trying to sanctify Akon a little too much. Nevertheless, I still like this song and will continue to listen to Akon.

Akon - Sorry, Blame it On Me

Tristan Prettyman

2007-08-11T07:31:00.000+08:00

Tristan Prettyman is one of my favorite artists ever! She is one of those artists where you are just like “I can’t believe she isn’t more famous”. (The Rocket Summer is another one, but that is for another time)

Her music in three words or less: acoustic, mellow, and amazing. She is a singer-songwriter from San Diego, California. I like to describe her as a female Jason Mraz, although she is more mellow and softer than him. Incidentally, those two used to date. They even have a kickass duet together called “Shy That Way”. Tink also came up with another comparison of a mix between Norah Jones and uh... someone I'll think of later. But really, she is just her own unique sound, all quiet melodies and mellow lyrics. Love it all. Random trivia tidbit: Tristan Prettyman is a surfer girl and she used to be Roxy model. Oh, the things you can learn on the internet.

I absolutely love her cd “twentythree” and I can't wait until she comes out with another album. One thing to note is that the difference between her live music and her studio music is quite palpable – songs recorded for the cds tend to sound more upbeat than when they are sung live. It could be because of additional/increased instruments. The live versions are also pretty great, because they sound so stripped down, just Tristan Prettyman and her guitar.

So to sum up, listen to Tristan Prettyman! Or at least give her music a spin. You’ll fall in love with her right away.

Recommended Songs: "The Kiss", "Smoke", and "Love, Love, Love"

Those are only my absolute favorites, otherwise I’d be spamming you guys with song titles. But other great ones include "The Story" and "Electric" and practically everything else she sings. Oh, and also the Jason Mraz duet "Shy That Way"

Official Website (currently under construction)
Myspace (a lot of her songs can be found here, including all of her twentythree songs)

Buy twentythree! Trust me, it is completely worth it. Especially for all you downloading fiends, because most of the stuff you will find online is only her live music.

"Henrietta" by The Fratellis

2007-08-11T06:43:00.000+08:00

Song: Henrietta
Artist: The Fratellis
Album: Costello Music
Genre: Rock/Indie

You probably heard of this band before. Their song “Flathead” was featured in a recent iPod commercial. Say what you will about Apple and iPods, you can’t deny the fact that they choose great music for their commercials. Personally, they remind me of Scissors Sisters and a little bit of Franz Ferdinand, but the Fratellis have also drawn comparisons to The Libertines and The Ramones (although that is mainly for adopting the same last name).

Like “Flathead”, “Henrietta” is just one of those get-up-and-dance-stupid songs. Totally upbeat and quirky and happy! I love happy music. Just ignore the fact that the song is supposedly about an older woman stalker. I think I'm usually better off being completely oblivious to what songs are talking about anyways. I mean the lyrics in the middle become totally nonsensical (Wah-wah-wah-WAHHHH and Shing-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling, anyone?) It’s like the musical equivalent to those times when you are so excited you can’t think coherent thoughts and all you can do is babble.

These are craaaaazy times.

DHT- Listen To Your Heart

2007-08-10T18:07:00.000+08:00

I'm sure a lot of you will kno this track. It's one of the most classic dance tracks. I decided to post this song coz I stumbled over some prettty interesting stuff about it.

First of all the...band...no duo...no, uh group(gah band is not the right word, nor artist...i keep wanting to use the word band with all these groups...) consists of 2 singers Edmée Daenen (she's like 2 years older than...uh.. me, so she was 15 when she joined) and Flor Theeuwes who is also known as MC Jerky along with two other DJs: DJ Base and DJ Malone. DHT originally stood for Danger Hardcore Team (uh, interesting choice of name) but later changed to Dance House Trance (btw they're Belgian). They are most famous for the cover hit "Listen to Your Heart" which was originally by Roxette. When Edmée joined, the image of the group also changed from an underground happy hardcore (yes happy hardcore is a type of techno apparently, go figure...) music to a pop image which was more widely accepted by radio stations. There's also more that goes on with the image change, but i'll spare u guys of the info, which u can find elsewhere. But here's the original graphic that DHT took on when they were Danger Hardcore Team (right). In comparison check out their present website (link above).

On top of that...did u kno this song was used in the commercials for Czech Civic Forum elections in 1989? (...which then lead to collaspe of Communism....kinda...u can read up on it on wiki) LOL, yea the original goes way back baby!

Anyways my favorite mix of this particular song is by DHT and it's the Edmee's Unplugged Vocal Edit. So here it is =] ('I Go Crazy' is really good too...by DHT again..)

Last random post

2007-08-10T09:34:00.000+08:00

Okay I know I haven't been the best contributor in terms of recommending music... so this is it. My very last random post. Anyways, foreign music. Some music in foreign languages are really really good, but some things I don't think I can ever understand completely. For example I couldn't stop laughing when I watched this, it's the catchiest thing ever:

The link is here if your proxy site doesn't support flash