Archive for the ‘music’ tag
Unwelcoming 2010
Hostile on the new year, eh?
That’s not as hostile as my first choice for blog title: 2009 You Bastard, 2010 You Bitch.
Though now that the holidays are over, expectations of daily life has normalised, and there’s none of that bloated, hopeful feeling, I now finally possess that settled feeling. December was the hardest, considering its where my birthday, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve converge.
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Like most difficult predicaments this year, music was there to the rescue. I’ve always found it corny when people say music saved their lives blah blah, but now I understand: music doesn’t disappoint, people do.
On my sickbed this August, there were the dancing ladies of Perfume. On those overly emotional commute to work, there was the hope-laded pop-rock anthems of Kaela Kimura (I’ve discussed both acts on a previous post). On New Year’s Eve, the last chance that anyone could really cheer me up, I discovered ukulele geek-girl Tsuji Ayano.
There’s a more elaborate post on Ayano on my music blog here.
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The first half of New Year’s Eve was at work. I had expectations, but then I had a backup plan: buy pansit, make that festive food that night. However, after confirming via a phone call that this pansit place was open and was located where I would usually pass on the way to the bus terminal home -it was still listed as part of the now non-existent Fiesta Carnival on online directories- and locating the place, I resorted to doing the groceries to cook my own pansit. The pansit restaurant, which normally had the usual chairs and tables, was converted on that day to look like a busy phone billing area in the mall, an offsite horse-race betting place, an airline ticketing office on peak promo days. I was too tired and emotional to bother.
I cooked a Quezon special, sweet pansit chami, too much of it that I still have a plateful of it on the ref. Got sugar-free vanilla ice cream, too, which I realized was almost double the expected price on the checkout counter. No matter, I deserve this ice cream.
I damn well deserve that ice cream.
Music Profile Podcast of 2009
toe – After Image Feat. Harada Ikuko
I don’t think its believable, based on the music I listened to this year, that I could come up with a music list for 2009. Most of the music took a sidestep to all the Perfume and Kaela Kimura kitsch I wallowed in. What I sought out instead, just today, would be to come up with some songs from records released this year, and do a podcast on it. Sans rankings.
This is my profile of 2009-released music, in two parts. The differences are not so distinct, but the first one includes the more conventional songs, while the second one has a handful of brooding instrumental music, electronic/dance, and pretty brutal rock.
Stream Music Profile 2009 Podcast – Part 1 using the player below:
Download this part (Part 1) of the podcast here.
Videos of the Week – 11/22/09
Burial -- Fostercare
Burial is a monster in the hyberdub arena, which is one of those labels I just recently discovered. Untrue is an amazing record, and if you are like me who likes electronic music, but is not necessarily the dancing type, this is one atmospheric trip.
ZOMG November It Is And Nothing Is Really Happening
First off, Meshuggah was my beautiful music backdrop for this week’s mid-week office restdays:
I do try to listen to all the newer metal releases, but as for now, nothing really appeals to me as much as Meshuggah material: extremely heavy music without the need to resort to overbearing metal imagery (but as seen on video above, they are in that boat). And despite the term technical cropping up every time you mention the band, the technique doesn’t take over the song, and goes over to guitar-god territory.
Some geek talk for ya:
I’ve installed Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala beside the splendid Windows 7. Not very impressed. Annoyed that it won’t save my resolution settings, and yes, that’s even after I’ve consulted multiple threads on the support forums. You won’t see me taking it out of my system though, since I’ve had Windows screw me before.
I Don’t Think It’s A Phase Anymore: On J-Pop
My entry into Japanese music came in the form of awesome post-rock/instrumental rock, with band names like Toe, Te’, Mono, and Miaou. Some pop-rock came along with it, like Base Ball Bear. All this started about two years ago, and I’m still discovering new and old music from that part of the world.
There’s something shameless that has been running a good few months, until now, though: I’m getting addicted to J-pop, which I’ve known to be a sure sign of an otaku. I’m far from being one though, as I’ve no intention to cosplay, don’t think I’d buy the latest-and-greatest anime toy figures, or glue my face to Animax on cable TV. Like any of my varied interests, I tend to shun away from scenes, and just like things based on the creation’s merit.
So, let’s start here:
Perfume – One Room Disco