I’m getting really tired of posting emo, depressing rants on this blog. So how about some jazz? Old jazz standards, Billie Holiday, any artist whose name ends on Cole are my go-to when I am cooking. I was driving home one afternoon when this came on the radio. It’s a song from a series of albums called Verve Remixed. The idea of the albums was to update classics with a little electronic – basically, drop “Who Needs Forever” into the hands of Thievery Corporation and see what happens. The result is an ear-tastic experience.
Category Archives: Music
Teach me how to hipster
The boxes are back. Just three for now, but in two weeks there will be more transporting all my belongs once again. Like clockwork, for the past five years, when the last days of May trickle into summer, I move. From school to home, from Europe to the United States, from Pennsylvania to Illinois. This time, from my first Chicago apartment to my second. For the first time though, I am moving into a space that I think I will be able to call my own.
My life has been very nomadic, moving from place to place and taking up residence in houses, apartment and dorms that I was never able to call home. Its hard to make a sterile dorm room homey, or more recently, find my own identity in places that were already decorated and lived in by roommates. However, my new apartment on a quaint corner of Bucktown, I plan to nest a little – maybe hang up my jacket and stay a while.
The Civil Wars
Let me make one thing very clear before we proceed. I am not a country music fan. Sure I went through a Dixie Chicks phase as a child, but like all fads of the 90s, I grew out of this. Despite The Civil Wars country twang, thanks to simple arrangements and a lot of soul, their talent is undeniable. This beautiful video is for the title track off their debut album “Barton Hollow.” But I encourage you to listen to the album in it’s entirety – multiple times. Their melancholy voices meld in perfect harmonies over acoustic guitar, the occasional violin – is that a banjo I hear? – and basic percussion. (The lead male singer also looks a lot like Johnny Depp, don’t ya think?)
Boy with a Coin
I saw a lot of things when I lived in Europe: snake charmers, The Queen of England, dogs made out of sand, but the most incredible thins I saw was live Flamenco Dancing in Madrid. As a one time (and still wannabe) dancer, I get oddly sad and choked up when I see amazing dancing. It’s like that moment in “Save the Last Dance” when the main character goes to see the Joffrey Ballet and she starts tearing up (but not quite as intense). Flamenco was unlike anything I had ever seen in all my years of dancing. The performance took place in this cramped basement where none of the chairs matched and people were drinking wine out of mugs. There was a stage of the dancer, with some chairs in the corner for the musicians. Flamenco is about telling stories through music and movement. The story, the guitarist and the dancer are all pieces of a single entity that creates the intense effect of flamenco. Take away one of the elements, or do it poorly, and the whole experience suffers. But when the music is right, the dancer is precise and the story is true, watching flamenco is one of the most beautiful, creative expressions. Which brings me to this video I stumbled upon. The song always makes me smile whenever it come on my Pandora, and then I saw the video and it could not be more prefect. No more words, just watch.
Sing it girl!
Another music post has been long overdue. I think it’s because I still have to figure out why all of my music didn’t transfer from my PC to my Mac, so I’m stuck with the tired playlists on my iPod from the end of the school year, and therefore have been musically uninspired. However, that has changed (still need to figure out the computer thing) because of an artist I discovered on Vh1′s “Artist You Oughta Know” series.
My music taste is fairly eclectic. I like the crap they play of the radio that is so catchy you want to stab a stake into you head just so the latest Britney Spear’s song will stop playing on repeat. I get nostalgic over my favorite 90s boy band and wish I was older in the ’80s so I could have rocked out in my leg-warmers without it being retro. I am familiar with show tunes from almost every musical to grace Broadway. I run to hip hop or marsh-ups and lift to Linkin Park. The quality I really appreciate in my music is talented voices.
