lorde.

Sixteen-year old from New Zealand. And already 100% cooler than me.

pata pata.

She just seems to be having the greatest time, doesn't she? And check the moves of that little girl (Makeba's granddaughter). She's got some rhythm.

another love.

I feel like this song should be grating and awful, and yet it is tremendously affecting and heartbreaking. This may sound kind of obvious, but it really is the music that saves it. In other hands, the lyrics could be cloying, but Tom Odell brings both a sadness and an aggression to the vocals that lifts them. The build-up with the drums and howling background vocals is stirring, but seemingly drops before reaching the climax, punctuating the predicament of the singer.

(Basically, it's a good song, he's cute and British, and you should totally listen to it.)

sweet relief.

Just finished my midterms, my brain is fried. BUT, it is sunny in London. Which is making me ridiculously happy. It's as if the universe is saying, "Welcome Back"!

this can be a pleasurable phase.

During this week I have three papers due and a presentation. I'm halfway there and halfway dead. Thank god I realized Islands released a new album last year, or else I'd just balled up in the corner, humming to myself.

Ok, at least now I do it to a fantastic song.

happy heartbreak.

Holy cats, she is incredible. It just doesn't make sense how good she sounds live.



(This is actually from Valentine's Day a couple of years ago, but I just heard about it on a podcast (Pop Culture Happy Hour, another good one), so it's new to me.)

2003.

My fifteen-year-old self is like so excited about Postal Service getting back together. My twenty-year-old self has to admit that Give Up is still a great album and congratulates her younger self on having awesome taste. She also admits that maybe Death Cab was just having a bad day when she saw them at Firefly, because Ben Gibbard is pretty impressive in this performance.


Ok, no more third person talk. Gross.

hybridity.

This extended break has been brought to you by Laziness™ and Nothing To Say™. A big thank you to our sponsors.

But really, just dipped out for about four months, some stuff happened, and now I'm living in London. That's about all there is to say.

While perusing the interwebs, I stumbled across a website praising a Miley Cyrus cover of "Jolene" (originally by Dolly Parton). Ugh, I mean it wasn't terrible, but I just thought, "there has to be way better covers of this amazing song out there". And by god there are. For this particular post I settled on the Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons version because I mean, come on; modern British folk stars taking on a classic American country ballad? Awesome. And so apropos for me. I'm an American. In London. Get it? I know, I'm a genius.



Anyways, I'm not exactly sure how this blog is going work going forward. It's probably going to be a combination of travel and London is awesome! posts and just random crap I like. Feel free to tune in, turn off, drop out, drop in, switch on, switch off and explode.

sweet talk.

compromization.

Songza is the best thing ever. If you are really lazy sometimes like me, it is a great way to have playlists pre-made for different moods. It also has the "At a 90's School Dance" playlist, which is obviously the greatest series of songs in the universe.

It is also perfect for working out. There is so much Spice Girls on there, I was in heaven while running, which is saying something. "Come on, Come on" came on and I couldn't help but be reminded of this beautiful and touching rendition from Spice World.

I mean, nothing says classy like purple spandex ass-less suits.

it ain't no good til it hurts a little bit.

In general, I have no interest or use for reggae. This song, however, is just so good.

that wide wild sky.

I saw Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeroes perform a couple of years ago at the Newport Film Festival. And when I say perform, I mean they really put on a show; it was fun, a little raucous, and really illustrated how some bands can actually play music live.

Anyways, I was browsing Spotify the other day looking for new music, and I saw that Edward Sharpe had released a new album, Here. I've always thought that they were a lot weirder than they seemed in "Home", which is a great mainstream indie song, by the way. Here definitely continues and builds on their combination of sing-songy innocence and freak folk tendencies, while adding a little more of the back porch banjo spirit.

"I Don't Want to Pray" is my favorite track on the album, and they all just look like they enjoy what they do so much in this performance.

It is kinda funny that I am attracted to this piece as I am an agnostic, if not an atheist. There is often just so much joy and community in spiritual songs. See Ladysmith Black Mambazo's "This IS The Way We Do".

Also I forgot that Nora Kirkpatrick is in Edward Sharpe. She is awesome in Dorm Life, the best webseries ever. Watch it.

you only funky as your last cut.

Just a great old Outkast jam.

you got me rockin' when i ought to be rollin'.

Do you ever find songs on a soundtrack that are super awesome? Do you then try to pass it off like you just happened to be really cool and stumble upon that song yourself? Me neither.

Here's a great song that I just happened to come across somehow. (It's not at all from Snatch.)

right as rain.

That piano vamp is just too good.

"billy shakespeare wrote a whole bunch of sonnets".

What I'm currently listening to:

90s Awesomeness

How could you pass up a playlist that combines Dre and LFO, the creators of the masterful "Summer Girls"? I mean they name-checked freaking Mr. Limpet in that song. Whaaaaat?

"Dad took off when you were 4 years old
There was a good man named Paul Revere
I feel much better baby when you're near
You love fun dip and cherry Coke"

That is some deep shit.

put a little banjo in your day.

How do they sound so good live?

put me in your blue skies or put me in your gray.

Probably should not be blogging right now. I have way to much work for finals to even be thinking of anything else. But this song is so great, and I love the extended version, so whatever. That was quick at least, right?

it's not about you joggers who go round and round and round.

I'm kind of obsessed with The Onion's AV Club right now. They do really intelligent reviews of individual episodes of television shows, which of course just fuels my addiction even more. Aside from reviews, they also have a running feature entitled "Gateways to Geekery", which give a sort of crash course into things that you have probably heard about and think are cool, but have no idea how to get into. I discovered the column through my fangirly researching of Sherlock, but it has a really interesting breadth of topics. I just finished the one on Britpop, and I thought it was really good, so I thought I'd share! Read the article here.

And listen to my personal favorite Britpop song (and video), "Parklife", here:

the truth.

I feel like I need to stop listening to this about fifteen times a day. Then again, I'm just gonna keep doing it anyways.

(By the way, I was gonna make a joke about the movie Precious and all that jazz, but then I thought it would just be pandering. So, your welcome.)