ANGUS YOU LOOK LIKE CHEWBACCA !

Soooooooooooooooooo. I went to Angus and Julia Stone on the weekend. It was good...in a way.
What do I mean by in a way? Well, I mean in a way by the music was good and the performance and the majority of the performers but Julia Stone gets on my nerves.
I'm not completely sure what it is. Ok, sorry that was a lie. I know what it is.
She just seems to know that she is different. She tries too hard to be 'indie' and 'different' and all those words whereas, because of all this trying, she is exactly the same as any other indie pop star.
That night she was all 'I'm-individual-and-different-so-I-can-dance-around-my-brother-with-my-hands-in-the-air-Indian-style-and-not-be-judged-'cause-this-is-who-I-am' and it was DO FRUSTRATING. Obviously she was going to be judged (by me) and well, obviously this is who she is (because, obviously, it was her up there and not a fake). That was a bad call, sorry.
I'm not going to say anything else because, knowing me in an argument, I'm just going to repeat myself. But I stand by my word. She isn't that different from other people. Her fashion is the same as so many other singers and when she sings her voice is all soft and delicate and like quite a few singers and she just annoys me. Mind you...she did play trumpet in Private Lawns...like me...thats a bit cool I guess...
However, Angus is a different story. He seemed so distant and not there. He seemed to be really mysterious and I bet he has some deep story behind him that Julia just has to be in because they're related. While his sister took the spotlight, he remained calm and collected in the shadows while stroking his ever-growing beard. Or maybe it was just his five o'clock shadow and it grows really quickly? Maybe five month shadow...
Never mind, I'll have to ponder that elsewhere. But, erm...yeah. I can't remember what I was going to write! Dayum, hate it when that happens. Well, nevermind. He did look all mysterious, and when he sang it was in a voice you would have never expected to come out of his voice. It was soft and sweet and beautiful. Julia's voice is kinda beautiful, but not in the same way. Hers is typical beautiful. You could easily mistake Angus for a girl with a gruff voice but it is soooo nice and calming. I love him a little bit.
I full recorded them singing but something went wrong and I can't get the videos up so thats a bit of a bummer. Proper proof I went to the concert! I've got some shoddy photos of them though. Yours to enjoy:

The Dynamic Duo

Yeah...I love her?

The person who spots Angus wins. 

Okay so I could only find three from that night, but I'll get more and put 'em on 'ere! Enjoying my bad if not horrific photography? Though so :)

Oh! One more thing: GO TO THE EASTER SHOW TOMORROW AT LIKE SIX O'CLOCK AND GO TO THE GREYSTAGE AND MY SCHOOL BAND IS PLAYING !!!! WOOHOO !!!! I'm a good mascot, aren't I?

doremefasolatido

Feeling blue? Bob Loblaw. Say it out loud and laugh. Made my day.

40 day dream

Imma tell y'all a story:
Once upon a time there lived a Little Lady who had a Really Great Friend. This Little Lady was always driving up and down, to and from Wellington and Auckland. Now, Really Great Friend decided to live up to her name (Really Great Friend, in case you hadn't caught on yet...) and make a mix tape for Little Lady.

Little Lady was very happy with this. On this tape was the most incredible mix of songs. It had a bit of Stevie Wonder, a dash of The Mama's and The Papa's, a pinch of Aretha Franklin.
Little Lady used this cassette so much that she wouldn't go anywhere without it. It got all bent and twisted, but stayed faithful and never ever broke.
Little Lady grew up and got married to a Very Nice Bloke and had Three Sweet Kids. They went on many may car trips and many many camping trips which involved a car trip and many many trips which involved getting in the car, and wherever they went, went this mix tape.

This mix tape never ever failed the Lovely Family. Until one day when they all realised that it had started to slowly die out. The oldest of the Three Sweet Kids decided to take action and quickly put all those songs from the cassette onto a CD. This CD is still with us today. This CD is still rocking out in the Three Sweet Kids' computers and is yet to make its way to their Three Sweet Kids.This CD is the Ultimate CD: The Ultimate Funk 'n' Soul

The End.

blue lips

Iiiii ccccaaaannnntttt tttttaaaallllkkkk. I have officially lost my voice for ever and for ever. I sound like a donkey. The only thing left to do is squeak out the last couple of sounds I can while singing along to Regina Spektor (who, btw Jake, I rather like now, so completely disregard anything I told you last year concerning my feelings towards her, please, she's rather amazing.) and then sit back and watch That 70's Show & Friends and pray that the home remedies that the lovely T-Wah fixed me up with work like that.
Wish this little sick bird luck, much as she dislikes school doesn't mean she don't miss it now, does it? Before I run off to repair my throat, let me leave you with some words of wisdom. Listen to Lykke Li. She will change your life forever. Dad's promise, honest! 
Or just watch"When the World Comes to an End" by the Dirty Projectors and prepare yourself to be blown away by their amazing harmonising skills. Pretty flippin' mad. They're guitar player/lead singer is a lefty. Babe right there.

ttfn, tata for now !

i'm good, i'm gone

So, I have a question...what happened to the good ol' days when you saw that someone had released a new CD and you immediately ran out of the house to get one? I dunno, either. Now it's all about the iTunes and buying the album from there. 

I was sitting in my room today and was just pondering lifes quizzical things (?) and I realised that I own no CDs. I mean, excluding the excessive amount of Beatles, Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, Nanci Griffith, Thelonius Monk and Bonnie Rait CDs that my absolutely spiffing mother and father have managed to gather over the years, I own no CDs. 
What has happened to the world? I want to be part of a world where a band or artist releases a new single and you don't immediately glue yourself to the computer and download the songs, but you make it an outing, and you go out and enjoy the fact that they have released a CD, an actual thing that you can buy from a proper shop with proper money, instead of credits or credit cards or iTune gift cards. 
I'm not saying that iTunes hasn't benefited us all in someway or another - because it most definately has! - but I'm just saying that there is something a whole lot more special about holding a brand new disk in your hand and sighing over its beauty and gazing over the cover art than staring at a screen while you slowly become square-eyed and try and imagine what the CD would look like in real life. 
And to all those fahb-you-luss Rockerz out there who grew up with vinyls and cassettes, oh how I envy you! Whenever my family and I are doing the odd op-shopping on a family trip or just for fun, I always end up flicking through the vinyls and wishing I was alive when they were all the rage. 
We have a couple at home, a bit of Rolf Harris, a bit of Sergei Prokofiev/Peter and the Wolf. Who else gets chills down their spines when they here the wolfs sound? Anyone? Creepy but brilliant. I was at my brothers school a couple of weeks ago, and I was in his library. He goes to the Conservatorium of Music so his library is pretty jampacked with everything. So many CDs and cassettes I could've died, and he knew where exactly everything was. Bit of a genius/mastermind to navigate his way through that, ain't he?
Ok, so just though I'd put that out there. Next time you're thinking about what you want for your birthday/Christmas/Chanukah/Valentines Day/Anniversary/Somekindofcelebrationwhereyougetapresent and your a music obsessed human bean like I am, ask for CDs! It's most definately what I plan on doing. 


P.S Has anyone heard Regina Spektors new album Far? So so so good! 'Specially her song 'The Calculation', it's pretty wonderful, as is herself. 


P.P.S I've decided to start a game. For the next couple of weeks or so I'm gonna make my post title either a quote or a song title, guess it and I'll...um...tell you a joke?


P.P.S For your amusement: Laddergoat! Look it up!

wincing the night away

I'm going to take the time to describe my love for a band that has the most amazing talent for writing songs and just being plain cool. Yes, yes, that's right. I'm talking about The Shins. 
There is something about their music, something similar to home. Do you get what I'm talking about? If I've got my iPod on shuffle, and I'm just sitting there listening to random music and The Shins come on, I'm immediately calm. They are pretty much just amazing.  They bring so much more to their music than other bands. It's all incredibly subtle, but it's there. They're the jam to my scone, the Lennon to his McCartney, the, erm, cheese to my macaroni! I don't know how to explain it.
Their talent for writing songs is something to be jealous of. Listen to/read this:

'Cause when the dead moon, rises again, 
There's no time to start a protocol to hem us in. 
When the dog slide, underneath the train. 
Theres no cry no use for searching for the mutts remains. 

If you didn't know that was by The Shins, and didn't know it was their song Sea Legs, you would think it was some whacked up poetry by some mad poet. But no, it was written by none other than James Mercer. What a ledgend. Anyway, back to what I was saying before. 

They have this ability to make my mind go completely blank and I manage to forget everything that I want to forget, and they send chills down my spine, somewhat similar to the chills you get when someone scrapes their hands on your scalp *shivers*.

Was that really creepy? Sorry. 

Anyway. I don't know what I'm trying to say here. I'm trying to sound smart and spiritual and musical and intelligent at the same time but I'm failing. So I'll be quiet. Next up? My rant, (finally!) about rap. 

P.S  

My dog Offenbachs at Debussy Haydn round the Korner

Carl Friedrich Wagner

Soooo, I just came back from Meet the Music, which is the amazing and freakin' awesome thing where all these schools get to go to the Sydney Opera House and see the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) play all these incredible pieces, and tonight it was Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung. You probably are just like, wait what is she talking about? 

WELL, let me explain. Do you know the Ride of the Valkyries? Cause if you don't your missing out. Anyway, basically, The Ring of the Nibelung is 20 (!) hours of music (spread over four different operas) and is based largely upon Norse mythology. There wasn't any singing tonight, and it sure wasn't 20 hours long, but it was still amazing.
The effort put into these shows is just insane. It was so loud and exhilarating and magnificent and insane and brilliant and loud and amazing and loud and loud but so so so good! Eight double basses, nine french horns, five trombones, a bagizzilion strings, and sooo much more. We were right behind the horns so we got the full blast, it was pretty insane. But the way it all just clicks together. It just makes me wonder, how can people write things like this? Take Beethoven for example, he was deaf for most of his career but still carried on. When he began to go deaf, he still had seven of his nine symphonies unfinished! What a ledgend, yeah?
Anyway, apart from MTM, I have another question. What are y'all who live in Sydney doing on the first of April? What's that? Nothing, you say? Oh, well, I can change that. If you are like me and get excited every single year for the Royal Easter Show, then this is for you. My school's Senior Stage Band, which I'm in, is playing there at night. So, perhaps, I think that you should all come and hear us! We're playing late, around dinner time if you want, but it will be a show you'll never ever forget, ha! So round up, round up, for maybe not the show of your life, but a damn good one that will totally be worth. You know want to!

lets get randy

Sitting here attempting to write 500 words on WW1 and I have Randy Newman playing. Who can write with him singing in your ear about harps and angels? No one, thats who. He is a genius and I cannot believe he didn't win for best song at the Oscars! I was completely gobsmacked, to say the least. He has this way of captivating the listener. What I would suggest to prove my theory is that you make yourself a cup of tea, sit at the kitchen table and play his song Louisiana 1927.  Close your eyes and I will be proved right. 
His voice sinks into you and mixtures of the instruments are kinda gorgeous. He writes about real things, real happenings and manages to make them into something beautiful. Don't agree? Well, never mind. I do, and I guess thats all that matters. Let's just laugh and be happy.  

jealousy at its worst

Okay guys, don't get jealous. But...

ME AND MY FRIENDS ARE GOING TO BE THE NEXT 70'S SHOW PEOPLE!

Not in real life, of course. But my friend is moving and he has a basement and it's going to be completely hectic. And seeing as their taste in music is impeccable and we pretty much were just born into the wrong era, it all seems natural that we should just chill like they do on the show. Jealous much?! 

I am so so excited, I cannot wait. Not at all. It's going to be so so good. 

However, while we wait for that to happen, lets talk music. Any good songs? As in Fiona Apple? Or the Yeah Yeah Yeah's? Or, perhaps, Nanci Griffith !??!!?!?!?

My mum is going to see her this week...she is so damn lucky! I am so so jealous, but (of course) it's voer 18. I envy - or, if we wish to be appropriate, am so jealous - of those of the appropriate age. I am lucky enough to be seeing Angus and Julia Stone, but that was a special U18 concert. 

Never mind, when jealousy is in the air something exciting is bound to happen. Perhaps The Pixies, who are playing in Hordern Pavillion, won't be over 18? Doubt it, buts its worth a shot. 

Love and Jealousy for the win !

whats with today, today?

Home during school, I am hurting that much. Honestly, I don't even know why. Pretty sure my shoulder is about to die from pain because the stupid muscle has decided to go ape on my and hurt like billio! But, with uke in hand and Fiona Apple's "Paper Bag" chords in front of me I should be healed in no time. 
Meanwhile...
I am craving some hard rock. Or some Kanye West. I know, I know. A couple of days ago I said rap wasn't music. It isn't really, but doesn't mean I can't like a couple of rappers, does it? If it does then I am sorry. I just don't like rappers that can't think for themselves and write only about what's popular nowadays. It pisses me off. 
I know heaps of music out there is about sex, drugs and not so much rock'n'roll but some bands have got the feeling, like The Shins. I'm rambling about nothing now. Sorry. I'll shut up. I'll got get some cranberry juice!

P.S Is anyone else in love with Carey Mulligan? I think another girl crush is coming on...

post script

P.S Yo, check it brother. My sista from anutha mista got a blog, y'all. Her name is Mashita, she's a bit of a babe. and you should check dis out braaaah. I love her to no end, therefore I'm pretty sure you will too if you have so far enjoyed what I've written. 

I'm feeling spayshal today because I told her should make one, and she did. She's a babe. I love my Mashito the Burrito !

letter to the queen of cool

Dear Sia,

I believe you are undeniably the coolest cat out there.  

Your voice is kinda amazing, your face is kinda gorgeous, and...well...your whole being is pretty much ace. 

Semi massive girl crush on you I reckon. The lyrics to your songs are completely and utterly amazing and make me love you even more. 

You're one of the most awesome people out there in world and I look up to you. Whenever I listen to you, I want to immediatly pick up my uke and start writing songs about everything. Especially your song Lentil. 

I had a singing lesson the other day and my teacher asked me who I wished I sounded like. I immediatly said you and, shock horror, she had never heard of you! 

I immediatly shoved an earbud in her ear and you now have another follower. 

The things I would do to see you live, not even funny. The list just goes on. 

Lots of love,

your fan for life, 

cocojennifer xx

my enemy

The perfect music to listen to when writing a speech on your alternative ending you made up for Spirited Away:

1. Andre 3000
2. The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra
3. The Vignettes
4. Ben Harper
5. The White Stripes
6. Spoon
7. The Shins
8. The Pixies
9. Modest Mouse
10. The Kinks

Very different music, but trust me, it helps!

Mucho love xx

not just a hat rack my friend, not just a hat rack

I've been thinking about what to write. All I can think of is how in love I am with Devendra Banhart and how Sia is bloody amazing. But then, thats all boring, so why not write about something interesting for a change, like how this new decade is going to change the way people listen to music. 
I mean, sure, all the rap and hiphop that is out there now will still be there, but I feel that the Indie/Folk/Rock genres will make their comeback.
Does anyone agree?
As will Big Bands...but only because their awesomeness rules the schools and is clearly the bees knees and the cats pajamas.
Hissy fits aside, who else agrees that most bands that begin with the letter 'S' are just as cool as Big Bands?
One day, soon I hope, I'll go all indepth as to how I truly feel about bloody rap in all its similarity and other hiphop, but I'm too tired to do so right now and I have an english assignment due too soon. Not good! And seeing as Sydney has decided to go Arctic on us and I'm freezing my butt off here, I really gotta skidaddle.

P.S "Click me! You know you want to ;) Who gives if she hasn't figured out all the bits and bobs to getting a video on her blog, just click me and you'll get it all better. Come onnnnnnn !"