Music Monday: episode two

OK, it looks like my Music Monday series is happening one Monday a month. I'll try to make it twice a month and then once every week. I have no excuse, and I don't want to think of any excuse to give. I'm not perfect so I'll just keep trying to be the best I can. Currently I'm working on coming up with designs for kismet and sending mail to friends, on top of caring for my little 6-month-old cub and cooking and cleaning the house. Oh, and some light admin work for the mister's business. WHEWWW, it's been crazy and I don't think it's ever going to be not crazy. Unless we decide to escape and take a holiday.

Now that you've been updated, here's my song, not just for Monday, but the entire week. Or really any time you feel like listening to a really relaxing but also inspirational song.

I have to say, I'm a little biased. We used this beautiful piece for our wedding video and it just fit so perfectly. Another reason I came back to this song - I just heard it on The Judge, a really good movie. I don't know how, but it just fit perfectly. It's an amazing work of art. 

It's not your typical happy song, but I do believe it can inspire you - to be better, to create, to do that thing you've been wanting to do since last year. 

What better time to start than Monday, right?

x,

D

Music Monday: episode one

Good Morning, Monday.

I've been swamped these few days, with the little cub and the mister's business work, I just didn't have time to post anything till now. Still haven't gotten the hang of juggling everything. Hopefully I get good soon.

Anyways, I've come up with a few weekly posts for a few days of the week. Hope it will get me to be more regular here. 

So Mondays are music days. Only because I believe it can help chase away the terrible blues it tends to bring right after a relaxing Sunday. Sometimes I think it's just all in the mind. And some good marketing skills. Who came up with "Monday Blues" anyway? Whoever it was, they're good. 

My plan is to share some happy music for a Monday to help you get through the day and start looking forward to midweek. Before you know it, it's Friday again!

Okay, ignore Marc Cohn's sad face. The melody and harmony just makes me feel good and ready to seize the day, honestly. I haven't really studied the lyrics, though. Something about men playing the piano. They're just really good, huh.

Happy Monday!

x,

D

The Mixtape Diaries Debut

Mix debut from gaiaWild on 8tracks Radio.

I think I'll be making more mixes soon. 8tracks makes it so easy. There are so many awesome mixes out there, all created by individuals with the same taste in music as you. You're bound to find someone who likes the same music that you do. 

I'm gonna try to make one every Friday. Don't be surprised if you hear "old" ('cos the word old is so subjective these days) music because I'm not the best person to seek for new and good music. I'm lucky I have friends sharing awesome music with me here and there. But I will most likely be leaning towards chilled out stuff. 

peace+love

Dead end

I just discovered alt-J's music today. Thank God I bought Laneway tickets for next year already. (Sshhh I haven't told the boy yet.)

I was browsing the internet yesterday, loads of crafty stuff and pretty flowers and photos and videos of event organizing. It made me feel very small (what doesn't, these days..) and it made me rethink about what I want to do - ultimately - with my life, aside from spending it with my future husband. I realize I have to work, to have a steady (or not) income every month. That is the only way I can afford to buy the things I love, buy concert tickets, buy some nice clothes, nice stuff for the home. I couldn't afford a ticket for Laneway this year because I wasn't working, just teaching part time once a week, which was just enough to pay rent and buy food.

I really want to work with paper, print, anything. I'm considering going into event planning. Or just event decorating, if that's a thing. I want to be able to have free time, not just on weekends. I need to figure my shit out. Again.

Well, I just wanted to mention how this song really demonstrates how I feel now. Mellow but restless. I'm very restless and I can't do anything. Yet. 

Here I go again. On and on about how everything is not right.

I am getting married in a month (!!) and this is what I can think about now. You know how they say 'just relax before the wedding, everything will be fine'? Don't believe them. But if you realize that you can, by all means please lay low and rest up, think of nothing but lazing all day.

They gave Obama a second chance. I guess I should give myself a second chance too. Let's see how this goes.

peace+love

careless

{sadly, I don't know the source of this photo - but I got it from this tumblr}

Just as I put on the Michael Kiwanuka album, Home Again, and the first song started playing, I was looking at this photo. And I felt it was just so perfect. 

It was like I was right there at that bench, and this exact song came up on the radio or player in the shop. 

I was transported to that place, I could hear that little dog moving about. 

I was without a single worry.

You may imagine something totally opposite from this photo, but in that moment, I thought it was just perfect.

peace & love

Ramble Schmamble

{source}

Do you ever feel like you're in a music video when you're in public and you've got your headphones on?

That's exactly how I feel or imagine, every time I put on my mp3 player when I'm on the train. Also because I travel to work alone so it helps when you start creating your own little stories and imaginings so as to not feel bored by the mundane travel situation.

I hope I'm not coming across as crazy or disturbed. As long as I'm not singing along out loud in front of everyone, I think I'm okay.

Wedding prep is finally back on track. Here's hoping everything will be splendid come December 29th.

Work is great, getting really awesome paychecks. The only downside is I'm left with one full free day every week and by then all I want to do is sleep. DIY projects need more than that, so it's bad news. But with a little help from some lovely people, I think we can pull it off. I must believe that.

Sorry about this crap post. I had a few topics lined up in my head to blog about but they were all erased. I think last night's dancing made sure of that. Ah well. I'll just have to wait until something comes back to me.

Just downloaded Wild Nothing's Nocturne. Best decision today, so far. Listen to the first track of the album, Shadow.

Also, I just discovered Frank Ocean. (Yes, awfully late to the party.) Enjoy.

peace & love

Words escape me.

Sigur Rós - Ekki múkk from Sigur Rós on Vimeo.

peace+love

I wish I lived in the scene

Just refreshed my memory of this song. Ahh 90s music. I miss it so damn much. The videos are already known classics. (Sorry no references because I'm just taking a shot in the dark, really). Anyways, what I remember from the 90s and noughties where my friends and I immersed ourselves into 90s music, is the grunge and rock stuff. My brother heavily influenced my taste back then. Lots of Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Mother Love Bone, Soundgarden, Nirvana. The whole Seattle grunge rock scene. It broke my heart when Soundgarden broke up. And then so did Alice in Chains. I could go on, but I'm afraid I might come off as a snobby music fan who says "This is real music, man." (No offence to those who are offended yeah)

Anyway, feast your earmuffs.

Grunge will always be relevant in my life. Always.

For more awesome stuff (photos, songs, history lesson) visit Senseless.

peace+love

Rainbows and butterflies

So happy with myself this week. Started a new "project" so this is a sneak preview. I'm giving it to someone so I can't wait to finish it :) Hope that person likes it. All kinds of goodness happening this week. Tomorrow there's Busco's EP Launch, Thursday I'm meeting up with a girlfriend for lunch, and Saturday it's Halfway Kings' party gig show! So exciting this week is.

I uploaded Hong Kong photos onto Facebook but I'll try and put up some of my favorites here soon (after I edit them to look prettier).

peace+love

Cocoon

I wish I wrote this.

Images for Songs [Part Deux]

I just felt like Frenching up "two".

For Part 2, I don't have as many photos and they're all from the same photographer. I don't know I just like her style and it just goes so well with the song.

Magdalena by A Perfect Circle

I just picture this girl with her secrets but I don't know how she looks like, it's all so mysterious. Yet, you believe she's real and she's there, and not some dream or imagination. You almost worship her or just the idea of her because you feel the need to believe in a higher power, somewhere. 

I guess these images help conjure the gist of the song, who knows what it actually means. I'm not into analyzing every line of the song. It's the song as a whole that I listen to, the harmony, the instruments, the melody.

Plus, Maynard James Keenan's voice is that of an angel. I really can't describe it. It's too perfect. Listen to 3 Libras and you will know what I'm talking about. (It's listen on my sidebar. Checkit!)

peace+love

Simpler Times

peace+love

Ponder

Here's to a good and productive Sunday. Sending positive love-filled vibrations out to the world.

peace+love

Dave Matthews and his band

Okay so I was listening to this exact version in my car and halfway through, I just started tearing up. The goosebumps came before that. It kinda freaked me out. It's not the same listening to it on youtube or even computer speakers. In the car it's all closed up and when you turn it up real loud, oh man. It's like I was right there in Central Park. 

I don't know how but I am definitely going for a Dave Matthews Band concert before I die. I have to. And if they were to perform this song, I might just die or maybe cry and scream and pee my pants. I don't know.

Oh and for an almost equal effect, listen to this. It's from their latest album. Sad they didn't make a video for it.

peace+love

Listen

Listen to Eisley 

Telescope Eyes (my favored version)

{photo source}

I started listening to this band at 17 or 16 I can't remember. And after that I lost touch and just got back to listening to them this year because I missed the songs a lot. I can't explain it but listening to Eisley made high school better and easier to deal with. Also I remember covering their songs with my best girlfriend Daphne. Good times. I don't remember much else because I have an awful memory.

peace+love

{photo by Harper Smith, edited by me}

Aled Lewis (site + tumblr)

Easter was good much-needed family time. And it was so fun getting my boy a present for his birthday and seeing his reaction while opening it. It was such luck that the tshirt I got him had the number 10 on it. His favorite. Awesome. (cos I kinda forgot about that)
And heavens, this NPR thing is good. I've definitely visited it before but I've never listened to albums on it. Right now I'm listening to Fleet Foxes. God knows what I'm going to be listening to next. The list is (almost) endless.
In other news: nothing much has happened, since I'm on a short break 'locking' myself up in my house, getting spoiled with lots of food and TV.

peace+love

Inspiração [numero dos]

Poking Smot is a hell of a website to discover music you'd never come across if you weren't following Poking Smot (yes, it's a sneaky wordplay. Who doesn't love wordplays?).
Honestly, I've never really listened to any of Chick Corea's works. And it's my first time experiencing his awesomeness. Feels like I'm diving head-first into this alternate realm of musical goodness. And I don't wanna come up for air. Sadly I don't have a link to the masterpiece: 'Spanish Fantasy' from the 1977 album My Spanish Heart. There're four movements. I can't seem to find a good copy on youtube. Poking Smot used to have it but I guess it all got lost when they changed their web address (boo).

photo courtesy of Poking Smot

paz y amor

I smell a trip

Oh yes. At last. (...my love...has come along....) But seriously, I'm gonna be singing this song a lot come November (sadly it's a long way ahead but then time passes really fast) when I get off the plane in Hong Kong. My crazy-time friend Daphne invited me to stay at her place in Hong Kong so my accommodation is pretty much covered (phew). Oh rainbows, we're going to have so much fun! I'm going to make sure I plan my trip really well i.e. visiting important and interesting places, not just touristy sights. Oh goodness, now I just hope it doesn't distract me from my main goal this year - pass my graduation recital. And most importantly - practice the piano religiously diligently.

While the usual trip-to-celebrate would be to Europe, I guess that can wait a little while more (plus I'd like to travel Europe with the boy...that is if he'd like to..). All I can say is that Hong Kong would be the next best thing.

I love the colours

-Across the Universe (source: IMDb)-

peace+love

Jeff and his story.

Well, maybe there's a god above
But all I've ever learned from love
Is how to shoot someone who outdrew you
It's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah.

-Hallelujah (1984), Leonard Cohen 

I know this is an old song to talk about because it's been covered by so many musicians (and still continues to be). I have to say, with all due respect, that I relate to Jeff Buckley's interpretation the most (also because I think his voice is amazing, just too amazing). With a little research, I learned that Cohen's version has a more upbeat and joyous sound. Buckley's is more sexual and sad.

I don't know how many times I've listened to this song (mostly the Buckley version) but I never tire of listening to it again and again. And it touches me somehow, I can feel the sorrow from his voice. Quite moving. 

I can't explain why it's taken me so long to write about this. Oh yes, because I'm not that much of a talker. Especially about music. Which is not too good for my line of work. 

The Smiths There is a Light that Never Goes Out

source: music philosophy

peace+love