There’s something incredibly satisfying about building this musical journey from scratch, imagining it to be the perfect soundtrack for a movie that I’ve dreamed up in my head. Often, I don’t quite pay attention to the lyrics of the song and just try to fit them all together based on the music. To me, it’s all about evoking emotions and creating the right mood.

Hope you’ll enjoy this. :)

Inside These Lines, by Trent Dabbs
Windows Are Rolled Down, by Amos Lee
How Come You Never Go There, by Feist
Feeding Line, by Boy & Bear
Be Yourself, by Graham Nash
Maybe, by Ingrid Michaelson
Bloom, by The Paper Kites
Love Love Love, by Avalanche City
Travelling, by Paper Lions
You Already Know, by Bombay Bicycle Club

(My other Friday Night playlists can be found here and here.)

Hand painted on an LP, they’re US$75.00 each and you can get a custom one for the same price. I’d really, really love to get one (or two, or three!) but can’t for the life of me decide on what lyrics I want! :(

Any ideas?

. . . . .

Song of the Day

First of July, by Foy Vance

Thanks to The Sing-Off, this genre is finally getting the recognition it deserves. And this season, one group really stood out for me.

In all the three seasons that have aired, no other group has been more smart about their arrangements than Pentatonix. Listening to them, you wouldn’t think there’s only five people, but because they have a sick, sick bass, a CRAMAZING beatboxer and three vocalists who are so tight together, Pentatonix has been able to work around everyone’s strengths and KILL almost every performance.

Here are my top 5 performances thus far:

5. Your Love Is My Drug (Ke$ha)

4. Video Killed The Radio Star (The Buggles)

3. Stuck Like Glue (Sugarland)

2. Let’s Get It On (Marvin Gaye)

1. Love Lockdown (Kanye West)

The Sing-Off will crown the Season 3 winner in a couple of weeks (which I get to watch, live on TV, IN NYC!) but I’ll go so far as to say that this competition is totally theirs to lose.

Because I need a soundtrack for everything, I’ve put together a mellow playlist for this highly unexciting Friday night for me to chill out to.

Her Morning Elegance, by Oren Lavie
Bitter Heart, by Zee Avi
Lost In My Mind, by The Head and the Heart
Is It Done, by J Mascis
The Grand Optimist, by City and Colour
Mykonos, by Fleet Foxes
Hear The Noise That Moves So Soft And Low, by James Vincent McMorrow
To Build A Home, by The Cinematic Orchestra
Holocene, by Bon Iver
By This River, by Brian Eno

(My other Friday Night Playlist can be found here.)

Back to work then. *yawns*

(Previous posts about The Sing-Off are here and here.)

Let’s talk about this performance for a minute. I don’t usually like female groups so I didn’t expect much from Delilah, and even groaned when I found out they were performing Grenade (like the song, but it’s overplayed). But this performance is crazy, crazy, AMAZING:

Right? I totally got the chills too.

This one came along next. Rap + A Cappella = SICK.

The last performance was so fun and put a silly, silly smile on my face.

I love that Sara Bareilles has taken over Nicole Scherzinger. She’s so much better, mostly because GIRL KNOWS HER SHIT.

The talent on The Sing-Off is undeniable. So why aren’t there more people watching this show?

You can listen to the rest of the performances here.

Seriously, OVARIES EXPLODING.

. . . . .

Edit: Link to the father’s story.

Can I just digress for awhile and talk about how much I love this show? Not only is it home to many of my TV boyfriends, it also features plenty of gorgeous routines, and has introduced me to a lot of really good singers/bands that I would not have heard of otherwise (Sia, Stars, The Irrepressibles etc).

Which leads me back to the band.

The Civil Wars is such a beautiful pairing and they make me have all these feelings listening to them. Along with Angus & Julia Stone, and Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová, it makes me want to find my own Damien Rice to my Lisa Hannigan. Minus the whole break-up bit. And I’m not saying I sound anything remotely like Lisa Hannigan, but y’know what I mean. Anyway.

Here’s my favourite track from their debut album:

The title track is good too:

And, of course, here’s the one that started it all:

You’re welcome. :p

With our air tickets and accommodation settled, Dia and I decided it was time to book our tickets for the musicals so we could work the rest of our itinerary around it. And because we wanted the certainty of having good seats, we decided not to go the way of TKTS, and booked everything online. No, that was not the collective sound of our pockets burning up. Or, was it?

Fresh from its Tony win, we heard that tickets for The Book of Mormon were running fast despite soaring prices. But we knew we had to catch it. Convinced it’ll never hit Singy, we bit our lips as we clicked on “Submit” and saw my credit card being charged an exorbitant amount of money. The most we’ve ever paid for any musical.

We didn’t care that we’d already watched Wicked in London mostly because we have MAD LOVE for it. And even though it’s coming to Singy this December (and we’re likely to watch it then, too), we both agreed we had to catch the Broadway cast in the famed Gershwin Theatre. We were sure we’d majorly regret it if we didn’t. Like I said. MAD LOVE.

Our last musical on Broadway is a feel-good one, with songs we were already familiar with. Having watched Grease in London the last time, we figured it might be fun to watch a musical with songs that we could sing along to. Besides, the musical-loving cousin kept raving about Jersey Boys, so we were pretty much sold.

So there you have it. Three musicals in the span of eight days. Crazy? Nope. Just how we like to get it done in NYC. ;)

. . . . .

Song of the Day

If I Die Young, by The Band Perry

Back in ’96, when I was still an impressionable 14-year-old, I remember watching my first VMAs in my parents’ room. Alanis Morissette was big that year, so were the Foo Fighters and the Smashing Pumpkins. My dad walked in to the room, saw Billy Corgan all made up in Tonight, Tonight, and wondered what kinda “druggie music” I was listening to.

Oh Dad, trust me, music then was MUCH BETTER.

15 years on, I am amazed at how much MTV and the VMAs have evolved. For example, did you know that MTV is now all about reality TV programming (How the heck is Jersey Shore still on?!), and other programmes that appeal to their teen demographic? Which loosely translates into: it’s so full of crappy shows that it doesn’t really play music videos any more. And today, while I sat down to watch the second half of the VMAs, I realised that heaps of music videos (and even the VMAs) today are all about the spectacle, and have almost ceased to tell stories/enhance the actual piece of music itself. It was a very disappointing moment for me.

Don’t even get me started on popular music today.

And after that disaster of a song I just put you through, I won’t.

At least the Beasties are still recognised for making hilarious videos.

/rantover

His EP is available for digital download (you can name your price) from the website. :)