top of the treeeeeeeeeee

i'm just going to ignore the massive blank space that was the month of february, pretend like nothing ever happened, and plow straight on through to the writing: my current top three music picks. 

i go through stages in music listening where i will listen to one song for ever, before slowly coming to the realisation that that band actually has a whole album rather than just that one song, but that hasn't happened in my recent ""discoveries"". so after listening quite religiously to an abundance of girl bands for the past three months (definitely will write about these fantastic ladies, if i ever get round to it...) i have moved on. my 'recently added' playlist on itunes has been on repeat for the last two weeks: solange knowles, the rubens, and broken bells.

1) Solange Knowles: first of all, can we talk about her name: solange knowles. amazing. perfect. beautiful. slightly awkward to say for someone with a bit of a lisp but it sure don't stop me. moving on! i'm so, so in love with solange. i don't know why i've only just jumped on her bandwagon, but i wish i'd gotten there sooner. her music is vastly different to that of her sisters, but there's defo hints of the same inspiration from beyonce's earlier albums. i've been listening to solange's EP True (2012), which i am thoroughly enjoying. i always have shuffle on, so when i first heard the EP it sounded a bit mixed-up-muddled-up, but then listening to it straight through from track 1 to track 7 it all fits together seamlessly. a couple of the songs are a bit samey, and i tend to drift off listening to them but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. its difficult to find music you like that you can just ponder to, so double thumbs up from me, i say.

2) The Rubens: the rubens! the rubens! the rubens! the rubens! same go with solange...why have i only JUST started listening properly? growing up in a musical family, constantly being surrounded by my brother jamming with his friends and singing with my sister, a family band is all i have ever wanted. the three brothers and their childhood friend are basically what i aspire to someday create. i like the diversity in sound that their songs offer, keeps you on your toes. my absolute favourite song is "elvis", gives me shivers all down my spine. sam margin, the lead singer and guitarist, has a voice of absolute silk. or melted chocolate. or marshmallow. ugh, i could go on for days about these guys...(so could my manager at work, thankfully, so he doesn't complain when i play their self-titled album The Rubens at work nonstop, sorry but not sorry at all). basically, if you haven't listened to them already because you're slow at life just like me, then DO IT. you will not regret it. go and buy their album. please. it doesn't hurt that their all good looking either.

3) Broken Bells: last n final n most recent ha. i am a massive shins fan, so naturally i was keen as beans for broken bells' second album After The Disco (released just earlier this year). they get so many thumbs up and kisses and gold stars for this album. really, really top notch. sick hooks leading into even sicker choruses, and constantly leaving me wanting just a little bit more...the obvious solution to this is that  i've gotta play the album over and over and over again. danger mouse (aka brian burton aka the other half of this dynamic duo) produced this album, and did a truly spectacular job of it. a couple of the songs are rather shins-esque (listening to you, Lazy Wonderland) especially from their last album Port of Morrow, but falls short of being too similar in just the right way. i adore this album. that's probably the wrong word, but at the moment that's how i feel about it. i'm completely smitten with the songs and the musicians...namely you, james mercer, always you.

so thats THAT - i've set a reminder on my phone for my next post...sad, but necessary. i have so much i want to write about and absolutely no time, as it turns out. adult life is hard but incredibly, unfalteringly fun and interesting. if you haven't already - go and LISTEN TO THESE THREE ALBUMS. you won't regret it. 

war is over! if you want it

back agaaaaaaaaaain and so sooooooooon ! (kind of)

on saturday i ventured out into the world for the first time in a LONG time, being physically impaired is very trying on ones body. i went with a couple of friend to yoko ono's "war is over" exhibition at the museum of contemporary art in circular quay. i'd heard so much about it, and was extreeeeemely excited to see what she had to display. 

i hobbled my way up the stairs - took me at least ten minutes longer than it would have had i not been injured, and i now completely empathise and sympathise with old people who take so long to walk up and down stairs, its scary! - and we bought our tickets and went in.

the exhibition was truly amazing. i've never been one for completely understanding all the symbolism behind art and such, but yoko's work was presented in such a way that you didn't really have to dig too deep to understand the message that she was trying to display. 

she had tons of interactive artwork which was super cool. there was a bunch of kids at the gallery that day, and they looked like they were having the time of their lives getting involved with the different artworks. 

there were two huge walls covered in maps of the world and maps of different countries and maps of everywhere ever, and these maps were covered in stamps that said "imagine peace" over and over again, all in different languages. 

it was prett awesome to see how people refused to be limited by what they were given: someone had stamped all over the walls and another person on the surrounding tables. you could see how people had made patterns on the maps with the stamps, and how that contrasted with other peoples higgledy-piggledy own stamps. altogether it made for a rather astounding piece of work!

another one of the interactive pieces was the "my mommy is beautiful" wall, which invited the onlooker to write something about his or her mum and stick it on the wall.  there were some really sweet letters, apologising for past wrong doings and hoping for forgiveness, and some really creative ones. 

 when it came to me writing my own letter, i drew a complete blanke and ended up writing my mums last text message to me: "Oh no, have a  panadol and rest it xx" (i was complaining about my foot). 

my friend, grace, wrote hers and said "my writing is awful! it looks like a kid wrote this!" and not five seconds after she had stuck it up, i started giggling because i thought her note was written by a cute 5-year old...oops.
one of the last interactive artworks were hanging helmets with puzzle pieces of sky in them. i spent a while looking through all the different pieces, trying to find some that joined together but had no such luck.
the other installations were just as impressive as the interactive pieces. the exhibition was so incredibly interesting, and yoko's ability to stretch the her creative tendencies over so many different mediums made sure that my attention was solely focused on each different piece.  each room had a refreshing new change, but kept with the overall message that yoko was trying to impress upon the viewer: that war is over (if you want it). 

(NEXT UP: japanese funk band mountain mocha kilimanjaro at the basement, supported by afro-beat band the liberators - truly one of the funnest gigs i've been to in a while)

disclaimer: all photos taken by my lovely best friend grace manolas, used with her permission, or by me on my crappy phone :-)

rising from the dead?????

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so its been THREE YEARS,
which is 36 MONTHS,
which 156 WEEKS,

which is 1095 DAYS too long since i last blogged...

but now i am over all the humps of life (aka school) and ready to explore n expand and pick up where i left off before i got sucked into the whirlwind of ""studying"".
i feel as though i should reintroduce myself, but if i do that one of two things will happen:
1. it will be very long, full of nonsensical nonsense and most definitely put you to sleep
or
2. i will get three sentences in and get so bored of my own life that i fall asleep
so im going to do neither of those, and simply let you know this: i have officially entered adulthood, i'm a grown up ready to do grown up things (97% of the time), and i couldn't be more happy with 2014 so far.
i got a call from the australian business academy the other day asking me what my study plans were for 2014, and if i needed assistance in choosing the right course of action for my future studies.
"no, thank you." i had said, very, very politely. "i'm not going to study this year. i'm going to do what i want."
"oh yes, we understand. but let us help you with that." the man, luke or something, responded.
"no, sorry. i'm late for a gig. if you feel like having a groove, luke, you should go." and i told him where it was, then (very, very, extremely politely) i hung up.
so i went to this gig, and i had a really bloody fantastic time. luke didn't show up, or maybe he did, but whatever the case, i had an over all good night.

i've been listening to a so much more different styles of music than i did when i was 14 - australian hiphop, pop, ska, funk, rock, the really weird genre's that come automatically filled in on itunes like "fucking awesome" (odd future) and "electric sex" (the jet age of tomorrow) ... just generally lots more good, new different music. my brother is heavily involved in the sydney music scene, which is awesome, so i'm constantly being spoon-fed all these incredible new beats and being introduced to amazing musicians and bands.
looking back on what i used to write about, i was incredibly wrapped up in not becoming one of those teeny boppers, listening to MTVs hottest 100 hits and fawning of justin beiber. i constantly trying to discover new bands and artists by myself, reluctantly accepting help from others and rarely giving praise where praise was deserved. i was incredibly uptight about my music, despite my own beliefs, and probably thought i was really cool to not listen to jessie j or whoever was the most popular artist. lemme tell you something now, my most recently played artists on itunes are these: the fugees, little mix, james blake, beyonce, jessie j (!!), chance the rapper and amy winehouse (just to name some).
much like myself, i think i've mature somewhat over the past three/four years and i'm an avid watcher of MTVs hottest 100 and unashamed one direction fan (can't help it, have you seen their faces?).
i've come to the understanding that, even if people give me a massive stink eye when they realise my wee obsession with british boy and girl bands alike, their opinion on what i like isn't going to truly affect the way i live. anyhoo, enough of that!
so this year, when making my new years resolutions, i came up with these:
NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS:
#1. remember more shit
#2. vegetarian
#3. be more healthy, eat less food from the bakery
#4. read more/write more/sing more
#5. relate song lyrics to things people say in everyday life
i've succeeded in 1/5 of those - #5, i have such a catalogue of previously useless song lyrics in my mind that now have an every day use and, according to my mum, it's helping with preventing early onset of dementia - and, due to recent foot injury rendering me as limpy lou, #4 is underway. #3 is a bit helpless now, i can barely walk let alone run or even think about exercise, so that's on hiatus until further notice. #2 is happening slowly, can't go cold turkey (ha) straight away but i'm working on. as for #1, i was telling my resolutions to my friend the other day had counted four of them, and was quite happy that i had only forgotten one...until i realised that i had forgotten #1, the irony was a bit too strong there and i made a mental note to eat more brain food.

right ok cheerio laddies, i'll be back this time i promise.
(i'll put a reminder on my cellular device...coz it's 2014 and i can do that now)
in the meantime i'll leave you with this gem:

sick cover, sick singer, sick band, sick song. enjoy mwa

super trooper

i'm finding my roots kiddies. after a week and a half in windy wellington and way to much time spent away from this blog i have decided to return with only one thing on my mind, the ultimate collaboration: snoop doggy dog and pharrell williams 







i love you guyz

"you have bad music taste"

right now i want to sit everyone in my life down and just tell them that the things they do aren't that cool. they're not that hip and they're not fucking alt. idk its like they think that they're better than everyone out there because of one thing that they do or something they wear. more than that though its like they think they're better than me. that sounds really uptight and whatnot but idk they tell me that my music taste is crap, that my blog awful, but i wear nice clothes and i'm like okay wtf who are you to tell me that? i don't care what i wear (okay lets be honest thats a lie, i do care, but it's not my main priority) i'm proud of what i listen to, at least i listen to a variety of music not just one genre. at least i try things out instead of sticking to what everyone else does, sticking to the norm. i just wanna poke them in the eye and swirl my finger around in there and tell them to listen to themselves and to what they are saying. 
everybody these days gets to comfortable with life. they find a music genre they like, one that isn't too radical and too weird, and listen purely to that. occasionally they might wander out of their comfort zone and listen to a snippet of jazz or funk, god forbid if they enjoy it! then they're straight away back to their original music. i'm kind of aiming this post a certain group of people. 
it just really annoys me when someone won't listen to something different. it's not going to kill you, is it? it's not like listening to a short classical piece will break your back. 
i'm tired of people not stepping outside the box. if you're gonna tell me you have better music taste than me then at least listen to something other than pop/folk/rap shit. then i'm gonna reply with "how about listening to jazz or classical or funk? i'm gonna blog about this. ON MY MUSIC BLOG YOU TWAT."


i'm very aware that is an awful post, gramatically and just in general, but i had to get it out. i wrote this in about five minutes. bibi :)

brassed off

right now there are five trombones in my living room playing the most beautiful music. i think its an adagio, but its gorgeous. the trombone has such a warm sound and the harmonies are amazing. it makes me wish i didn't give up trumpet, kind of. but trumpet is so clangy and with me i could never get the right sound.
if you could only hear this! it's so gorgeous.

anyway thats not what i want to write about. i want to write about the influence of fans on an artist. i was playing lady gaga tap tap revenge and the it was all really different to her new stuff. this was all electronic and monotonal, not boring but it just didn't have any oomph. it really could be classified as dance music whereas her new music i feel you can listen to. lady gaga has really grown into her own being and, while she responds to her fans and in a way gives them what they want

- sorry, pause to comment on the trombones again. this is beautiful, having them right there. the sound is so invigorating and dramatic, gah i cant get over it! -

she is still really writing and singing for herself. her newer songs seem more modern but they have more of a voice and tune to them, unlike the previous ones. i'm not saying that her old stuff is bad and i hate it and its boring and unoriginal...i'm just saying that it doesn't really seem very her. mind you i'm not really bffl with her or anything idk i'm just talking nonsense.

but yeah, they're my thoughts. basically, i think that her new stuff is better than her old stuff. before i think she was writing and composing what was "in the now" and what was "hip" and, while it was her, it wasn't all of her. now she's really writing about what she believes in and all that jazz and what she really enjoys blah blah and it's getting an amazing response. i love her. i look up to her. i think she's amazing, the way that she's just ignored all the rumours and everything floating about her.

she was born this way fellas! alrighty that was a tad lame but idc. heres her latest video (not judas, i dont like that song, but born this way cause i do like that song. skip to 2:40 for the actual song part.)



i'm sure you've all seen it but again, idc. it's awsum.

Angles, The Strokes

can i just say...macchu picchu needs some kind of award. i can't even. when i listen to it i just wanna boogie down and get groovy. lord. okay so it starts of with some kind of rocket take off, yeah? so its like the take off of a brand new album (so good) and then in comes the keyboard and then JULIAN CASABLANCAS JUST BLOWING OUR MIND WITH HIS VOICE. idk the mixture of everything is so perfect, they have the most amazing beats aswell. i can't describe it without exaggerated hand movements. but seriously, their timing throughout the whole album and the guitar riffs are so outstanding.
julian describes it as 1970s rock and "music from the future" and i can't describe it any better. i played macchu picchu to my dad and he liked it and this is coming from someone who has a group called "the living hamsters" and write the most crazy and wild electrondigitialsoulfulidontevenknow music (that i love, btw, daddy) so julian got it right on.

i was going to give some crazy lowdown on every single song but i'm to tired and lazy to do that, so maybe i'll just post a video of "undercover of darkness" and just watch it with whoever wants to watch it and listen to it with every atom in my body. i cannot get over the opening guitar sequence. i've never like dissonance but in a way have. it gives me shivers and i could just listen to it over and over again.

each song in this is so different from the next. comparing macchu picchu (the first song on the album) and "life is simple in the moonlight" (the last song) there is quite a change. the futuristic aspect is till evident, but not really in the same way. when i listen to lisim i think of flying through the nebula like a badass and just flipping and somersaulting everywhere, but with macchu picchu i imagine myself dancing on the moon with vince and howard from the might boosh and julian and just sidling up to nicolai fraiture and staring at his fingers, yeah? but like thats just off the top of my head.

and then gratisfaction kinda reminds me of belle and sebastian (truthfully quite a lot of the strokes music reminds me off upbeat B&S, not sure why but it does?) and i just wanna eat cookies with fabrizio moretti and (duh) julian casablancas.

i can't actually fathom disliking a strokes song/album,but "two kinds of happiness" i don't really like. you can't hear the vocals and it's a little bit messay. everything just runs into eachother and you're not sure what to really listen to...the drums or the umming and aahing at the beginning and then idk it's just confuzziling. but apart from that it's really quite impossible to abhor anything about the strokes. even their names are quite magical. i think i give this album a 9/10. the -1 comes from "two kinds of happiness" and the album cover art. it doesn't really look like angles to me...but i'm picky that way.

OH OH OH I FORGOT TO SAY ONE THING: "you're so right" sounds crazy like a franz ferdinand song, i likey though. here's "undercover of darkness" for your pleasure: