Archive for Music
May 4, 2008 at 7:01 am · Filed under Music
This was the best shot I was able to get of Adele from sons and daughters.
By the time I decided to pull my camera out (never right away but always during the third or fourth song), her energy was up and even though it seemed like she was still for moments, I couldn’t catch her. But she was so cool - walking on stage with her glass of wine (white) and wearing this pink and silver 70s sci-fi uniform / dress. She was tiny but powerful looking. I was sad that I could only understand half of what she said between songs. On top of a Scottish-accent, her words melted together beyond the point of being able to pick them out. I was hoping the guitarist would translate.
The opening band, Bodies of Water, was a nice surprise. It was like a musical but without dancing save for one person jumping in place. Every song had a portion where the band repetitively chanted in unison and it absolutely worked. I’m horrible at describing music, go listen to them. They acted like Americans who have never visited Canada before. The organist rubbed her stomach as she told us that she filled up on poutine before the show. How do you chant after poutine? She made a few comments about the US/CDN dollar, the last one kind of trailing off because we weren’t with her on that topic. We wondered where they were from (our guess was the midwest) and asked her after the show. LA. Oh - didn’t expect that…but, they could be “from” from the midwest. Later research found that two of the members are from Fargo, ND. I don’t remember where I read this so I could be wrong.
There are other entertaining things created by the band including animations, a quiz, and bit about a Toronto show in their tour notes that says something about Canada that maybe we know but don’t know:
Canada feels like a mixture of America and Europe. At our shows in Canada, people were different. You couldn’t really tell if they were interested in what was happening or not, but then afterwards people were very complimentary and they bought a lot of our wares.
and then some more commentary on the dollar:
Maybe that’s just because of the weak US dollar. 10 canadian dollars is CHEAP for a CD (for them). Wait until they got home and realized that our record is terrible. Looks like we got the last laugh, suckers. Thanks for the weird Canadian money.
October 31, 2007 at 10:46 am · Filed under Music
happiness: caribou
start: dual drum action. I wish I could have gotten a better picture of it. But you can imagine. I wonder how much they are in tune with the other as they sit facing each other attacking their drums.
“hello hammerheads”: incredible, really emotional. I wondered if that was an act or if the songs memories were coming to surface.
I love these guys. If I had to be a groupie, I would want to be with them.
I love their music largely because of the intense atmosphere they create during their shows.
“crayon”: they brought out the manitoba.
October 18, 2007 at 6:14 pm · Filed under Music
I was talking to my roommate about the upcoming Caribou show and he expressed great liking of their recent album. Today, needing some instant gratification to get a few paragraphs of thesis written, I bought it. Wow. He is right. I can’t even say the rest of the album has sunken in yet because I still feel blown away by track 1 “Melody Day”. Absolutely perfect for this gray Vancouver day. I am now doubly excited for October 30th.
October 2, 2007 at 5:24 pm · Filed under Music
July 12, 2007 at 5:17 pm · Filed under Music
I bought the new Stars album today and am a very very happy listener. I’ve been kind of not fully enjoying a lot of music lately and was a little bit sad about that. This is a rush of relief for me. How is it? Well - it is making me feel like I am reminded that there is someone I am in love with who I accidentally forgot about. Like at Christmas time when you discover that last gift hiding behind the tree. Unlike the gift, it gives me shivers when I think about it and makes me wonder if I am blind to something.
June 22, 2007 at 6:03 pm · Filed under Music
One more thing from last weekend. I got to see Jeremy and Yuki and listen to a pianica quartet by Kamagawa (a river in Kyoto). In the picture below is one of Jeremy’s friends, in a state I am currently quite envious us. But I can’t complain given that the day before I was floating on a pond in a rowboat.
Anyway, there is another point to this. In July I am going to band camp. Yes…band camp. Some guys in the music circle at NTT have organized a trip to an inn/music studio in Niigata. We’ve formed 4 bands whose members will drive up there, practice for a day, sleep for a night, practice a bit more, drink, hold a drunken concert, sleep (maybe) and then drive back.
Last week we had to think of what songs we would like to cover (to determine how to arrange the bands). I got a little gutsy and said that I would like to do a song that I wrote - if some people would be willing to spend a little time to arrange parts for it. I also mentioned that maybe some people should hear the song first cause like…I like it but…
No one has asked for my demo tape. We’ll see how it goes. I am half excited and half scared that they’ll hate me for the tune and the effort of having to make it sound good somehow. But mostly excited especially because I would like to learn more about the making music as a group process.
I have a first practice for this year’s summer festival performance on Sunday. Maybe I will test the tune out on those guys.
Hope you all have a good weekend.
March 26, 2007 at 6:20 pm · Filed under Experiences, Music
For 30 seconds my microphone wielding hand shook uncontrollably but that was just me doing my Janis Joplin going through withdrawal impression. High tension. The word that I learnt this weekend was “kincho” (緊張) - tension.
After “Move Over” I felt better and I actually had a little fun. No - it was a lot of fun. Moments where I could break through nervousness to be a little expressive. Yuuki-chan sang the fifth song and I didn’t get around to learning the chorus part. During practice the day before I sat there listening and useless. Will I do this on stage too? But the song - it made me want to run somewhere, do something crazy. So I decided I would throw candy out to the audience while she sang.
Besides providing sweetness to people’s mouth (side note: “sweet sunday lather” was the live show’s name), the candy giving totally helped me get over a lot of my kincho. Often the cause is performing in front of people who stand or sit with no reaction (possibly because they are afraid of dancing, expressing, performing). Attempting or forcing (who’s gonna say no to candy??) a reaction from people helps me find out what they are feeling so that I can learn from/adjust to/feed off of that.
March 20, 2007 at 5:48 pm · Filed under Music, Thinking
On Sunday afternoon we have a live and once again I must attempt my best Janis Joplin. We recorded our last practice and the files were posted today. I had a listen. Ouch. I probably shouldn’t have. Ok no my singing is not horrible but…it does not seem worthy of doing lead vocals. I lack a lot of control. Sometimes I sound like a woman singing and sometimes a girl in a church choir. I can carry most of my notes but some places get stressed more than others. I can’t hear this while I sing…where does it come from? It is possible for me to sound less nasally?
One of the things I am learning from this is how much my voice depends on my emotions or energy. I might start a song pumped up but halfway through I lose attention and get all spacey and I am sure my singing does too.
Ugh…I probably should not have listened to those recordings. It was equivalent to the times I have bent over and looked at my makeup-less face in a mirror on the floor after a heavy night of drinking. Oh well. While I can’t change this head I can possibly listen to the recordings again, practice, and get a little bit better (can I?)
July 18, 2006 at 10:22 am · Filed under Music
I was given a lot of good advice on some new tunes but sorry, I ignored you all. Before the weekend I bought Final Fantasy’s new album, He Poos Clouds.
You may recall that I mentioned Final Fantasy once before. It is an almost one man band named after one of my favorite video games. Might not be as upbeat as I was asking for, sometimes it’s borderline tragic musical, but it is….lovely. No, wrong word. It is magical…but I guess I always think the violin is magical. Also, any time I find it a little too “heavy”, I only have to think of the album title and I smile. Poo. Heh. The third track, “This Lamb Sells Condos”, has been played many times in the past 3 days. I think I will play it many more times. Today it is raining and that song goes perfectly with the rain.
July 10, 2006 at 10:21 am · Filed under I'm a Nerd, Music
I took yesterday off to become reacquainted with my goals here. Got some good thinking and organization done and this morning I am, although very sleepy, very motivated. Unfortunately I find that my current music selection is not quite matching my motivation. I think I need something new. If you read this, can you recommend an album in the comments? Preferrably something not depressing. I also started another personal project yesterday. I will write more about it once I get past the first stages. Still, I would like to share something so here is a poem I wrote:
CRUNCH CRUNCH *slop*
how I love your milky goodness
with comforts of the couch
and voices tuned out
each body unified in my mouth
I wish I could savour your morning moments
but you are quick to retire
I must take before you die or
I’ll be left with one sad bowl of SOG
March 7, 2006 at 10:21 am · Filed under Music, Work
We Are Wolves were amazing. Out of all the wolf-titled bands in the world, I think they most warrant the use of the word “wolf” as they incarnate so many things that “wolf” is used to express. Even with the weak attendance last night, they still kept their energy up.
Vancouver where were you?
Other than that, it is day 4 of user testing. Quite an interesting experience but I don’t know how much I should share, you know…ethics and all. But I will make a remark on how humbling it is to listen to long recordings of yourself. On Sunday I was transcribing my interviews from Thursday and Friday and every sentence I said started with ok, umm, ahh, or so. I’m going to work on that. You can help me by giving me a glove slap if you here me using those words out of context.
February 12, 2006 at 12:20 pm · Filed under Music
Last night I came home and was trying to respond to some text that Jemma sent me earlier in the evening. Trying is the key word. I was using T9 text input and whenever I went to hit “next”, my thumb reflexively went for the “send” button. Strange - they are on opposite ends of the keypad, but at least it resulted in some funny texts.
Text 1: Dude
Text 2: Moss
Text 3: Ok sorry about that..tired and keep on hitting send by accident..was at this jazz concept earlier (…)
I can’t even remember what I was trying to type instead of Moss and I was at a jazz concert, not concept. Andrew scored some tickets to see the Hard Rubber Orchestra. I guess I shouldn’t say jazz concert though…it was more new music. They were really good, as was the Peggy Lee Band. I was thoroughly amazed by the sounds her cello could make. I was also grateful that she still “kept to a story”. Experimentalist are great, but when they give you nothing to interpret, nothing to relate to, listening can be tedious.
There are some other things that I want to write about, things related to my experience of music in general, but I’ll do that later.
December 9, 2005 at 6:28 pm · Filed under Mundane, Music, Reflection
I often have no plans on the weekend. Don’t know why, but my plans are always made Monday to Thursday and sometimes Sunday. Friday and Saturday nights are left quite alone. Even so, in terms of getting actual work done, Fridays usually go to hell because my learned reaction to Friday is one of anticipation. Because I know this to be true, I often make Thursday night my “night with no bounds” (haha, or try to) where you will not hear an “I must go to the lab tomorrow” from me.
Last night I went to this club, Ginger 62 (or is it a lounge?) with Andrew to see the Manvils play for a small group of people. Some young eager band opened for them but I was to enthralled with the Bettie Page videos they were projecting on the wall to listen - they were so historical! Seriously! The metascenario of my night had me considering how disjointed I felt from the flow of activity. I am an observer, I thought. So I wondered, being an observer, how much am I affected by what I observe? Even though I feel numb to things around me, have they collected into my subconsciousness to be packaged and redistributed through my choices at a later date? Probably. But to what extent?
This feeling of being an observer has continued into today. I went back downtown this afternoon to renew my passport. As if being downtown is not overwhelming enough for someone who can’t help but observe everything, I had to wait in a constructed government space for an hour, watching people who were all there for the same purpose being herded into lines and rows of chairs and numbers like good Canadian sheep.
My trip downtown was almost wasted. Turns out I was smiling a little too much in my original picture. A few milimetres of teeth were showing. I had to go downstairs and get another picture taken. I wanted to say, “that is my neutral look! I am always secretly mildly amused by something!”, but being the sheep I am I followed the receptionist’s instructions. It was okay that in the second picture taken I still had teeth showing. I was preparing myself for them to not accept that picture either but they did. Had they not I would have had to point out that I thought my mouth was closed but having crooked teeth, it’s hard to hide the one tooth that likes to stick out. This could be a disability (??) and refusing the picture could be discrimination.
Ha ha no I would probably just get another picture. I am a sheep.
So it’s already late late afternoon on Friday and I have yet to accomplishing much today but get my passport renewed. One thing distracting me is my thoughts on going to Regina in a week. There are many things to look forward to and in an effort to quit thinking about them and get to work I shall list them here (in no particular order):
celebrations on the 15th with just-done-finals folk (that stress release energy is always the best)
horseback riding
miniwheats
kim’s christmas party (and being around girls in general)
electric guitar & piano
friends, family (of course) & visit to grandma’s
piles of snow (does anybody want to go crazy carpeting?)
people to eat things I make
playing video games & general comfiness of family room couch
costume party (yes I still want to do this…better get planning)
fireplace
Star-Wars-athon
uninterrupted time for thesis research (hahaha…yes we shall see)
Oh more could be said but it’s getting late and this is getting long. It’s weird, for the past two days I’ve been narrating my life like it is all going to be written here. Hmm…am I starved for attention? Haha. Need more contact…people…yeah. So if you are reading this, and would like to read it (again) with a soundtrack listen to this: Final Fantasy - “The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead.mp3″
December 5, 2005 at 7:56 pm · Filed under Mostly Hilarious, Mundane, Music, Random Thoughts
1. I sent this picture to Jemma before the weekend. She’s been tackling a big paper and needed a pick-me-up. It was well received and I am sure that in one week the entire University of Regina will have seen it. If you are not in the UR network, here it is for you:
From a photo blog by Andrea. I think she’s in NY. There is a large factory there, and they produce these amazingly funny, smart, witty women who blog and I read and love their blogs. It’s great.
2. I am trying to start running again (yes it’s been six months…this is a cycle that’s been going on for oh about 5 years now) so expect future complaints about knee pains. I get some nasty tendonitis but I absolutely must run a marathon someday!
3. I bought a cd today: Headphones
I’m actually not supposed to buy anything for the next 4 months because I cannot accumulate (self imposed regulation)…but I was in a grey mood and needed a fix of something. Something that would not necessarily break me away from my glum but let me calmly float along with it. It did the trick - quite the remedy. Only synthesizer and drums…very simple. Check out their free song: Headphones - “Pink and Brown.mp3″
4. Then I went to yoga and learned the breath of joy. It worked…made me quite joyous. Well I was also already pretty happy by then because a gloomy day was turning out alright - new cd, coffee with Ali (and awesome gift from her), some research done, and
5. I got a passport photo taken today. Comparing it to my ID picture taken 6.5 years ago, I look quite the same as I did when I was 18. Sure, when I was 18 I looked 25…but, well…it’s pretty funny. Maybe I will post the pictures one day.
6. It’s amazing how agreeable apples are.
September 18, 2005 at 8:38 pm · Filed under I am feeling..., Music
…I feel really good right now. My energy is quite high but not in a restless way that it can often be. I feel capable of doing, outputting which I will as soon as I finish this post. I am happy that I saw a variety of people this weekend so thank you all for spending time that you did with me it was really great. I hope the greatness carries over into tomorrow and the coming week as well. It should. I feel like I have experienced enough in the past 24 hours that I can now buckle down and finish this application. I will work on that tomorrow as well and then off for an afternoon at the art gallery with Andrew after which we may meandre down main. I feel in tune to a little life soundtrack. Thank you Chris so much for an introduction to Your Ex-Lover is Dead. I’ve been singing it everywhere. Sometimes I have a hard time leaving my apartment because I have to listen to it one more time. That’s why I need an ipod hehe. My other current daily soundtrack tune: Born On The Cusp by The American Analog Set (October 26th @ The Media Club).
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