I've been away from school and home for a few days now but somehow I've come down with some ungodly virus or other and have lost my voice. Ugh. Now I have lost my voice and I can't record anything for Triple J until I get it back, which could very well be a long time.
Luckily for all of you readers out there, I can still type!
This week's song is a Triple J Unearthed song and the video is so Australian it hurts. I can imagine this being played at some indie bush doof while people play the c, s and f words (cricket, soccer and football. I promise I won't say them again) and drink Cottee's cordial and eat TimTams and fairy bread. The song is 'Told You So' by Brisbane band Cub Scouts.
The piece has such dreamy, ethereal vocals, yet the bass line and guitar twerk work to ground the song. The melody is great and the chorus is oh so catcy. Honestly, whenever someone says 'told you so' or even 'told' I break into song like it's Annie or something. Although I am honestly allergic to 'Tomorrow'.
I think I would really like to see these guys live, or see them at some kind of festival. Even as a support act. I remember a friend told me she went to a concert just to see the support act (her mum knows the girlfriend of the drummer of the band of the support act) and then they left. Actually quite a few of the concerts I've been to people do that. Bit of a waste, really. Music as a general rule is awesome.
So this video is perfect because it has Bubblegum Bills and a Mighty Ducks jersey and a curly dog. Need I say more?
Honestly this is my favourite song from their album even though everyone is always raving about 'Do You Hear' and 'Evie'. I think it's just easier to remember and as a general rule that constitutes how good a song is to me.
And as we can see in the video, when you knock over somebody's ice cream you face a Cuboom and retribution from the girl's band in the form of Angry Berries.
It's another Music Haul and I'm here again to bring you some cracker tunes.
Straight in, shall we?
1. Those Dancing Days - Fuckarias
So some of you may be a bit iffy about the title of this song, paired with the fact that it's labelled explicit on iTunes. But never fear! The word is never dropped in the song and they're a Swedish band so it probably doesn't mean what we think it does. I still find it hilarious.
It's such an energetic song, though!
2. Empire Of The Sun - We Are The People
In preparation for their highly anticipated second album, I thought I might have a song from their tremendously spectacular album Walking On A Dream. We Are The People has a great acoustic guitar backing track but my favourite part is the sort of bridge - different chord progression and a more complicated melody. I love it.
It was amazing. Although Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore went a little bit overboard with the costumes.
3. Electric Light Orchestra - Don't Bring Me Down
It's the 70's and you're bopping in your car with your poofy hair and bell bottomed pants (shudder). This song recreates those old vibes and your parents can probably sing along (I know mine can). It's a fun, driving song that it a lot of fun to dance to with friends on old movie marathon nights. Oh, and it was in that alien movie Paul.
DON'T BRING ME DOWN (OOOOOOOOHOOOHOO!)
4. Panic! At The Disco - The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage
Their debut album, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, is infamous for it's extended song names that have nothing to do with the songs. This song has genius lyrics and a melody of an interesting composition. What, however, grabs you the most is the energy and movement you can sort of sense in the song - have a listen.
5. Imagine Dragons - Radioactive
Imagine Dragons have a spectacular 'big band' sound that you could imagine being blasted from every household in the world then bouncing off the ozone layer and reflecting everywhere. Basically, it's a very big sound. When you listen to Radioactive, you can imagine it being sung by everyone in the stadium at the top of their lungs and the electricity in the air buzzing around you. I love the song way too much.
Only problem with it was that it was used in the ads for 'The Host'. Ugh.
It's that often forgotten time of the week again and I am here to feature another great song! Actually there's so many good songs and since I keep throwing new/old songs around the place things get complicated. I actually make a Top 5 playlist on my phone as well as the normal listening playlist so I have a lot of musical weighing up to do. Or I could just do another Music Haul.
Ugh I feel all bloated like an overstuffed sheep because I made dolmades and they're so weird yet somewhat addicting:
It's me.
So this week's Song is quite an old song - okay not really. It's soooooooooo 2011 though.
It's 'Best Of Tomorrow' by Trial Kennedy.
Trial Kennedy are a raw, rough Aussie garage rock band but they broke up last year or so because of finance or something annoying like that. The song is a melodic, anthemic number with a brilliant vocalist - Tim Morrison - and it's a great song. The tune is catchy, especially the chorus, but it's not annoyingly catchy. It's fresh, kinda sounds Australian and is just a great song to listen or rock out to.
I know. It was good, wasn't it?
Enjoy your song. I'll probably have a small Music Haul lined up for next week :) any song requests, please comment! Till next time.
So last post I mentioned that I have a few favourite YouTubers that I would love to share with you guys. Most of these people with no lives do vlogs and stuff so yes. And I have a strong bias towards English accents.
So the YouTuber I'm going to blog about today is the beeeautiful KickThePj, or PJ Liguori, or Peter Jasper Liguori. He's brilliant, funny, talented, British and plain awesome.
OH MY GOSH THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL
Pj's videos are hilarious and random and I just love the way he does these random twenty-second clips. It's quite complicated actually without showing you a video of his spectacular brilliance so here it is (don't worry I'll pick short videos):
Oh dear it was so corny it was hilarious. Although when his eyes went red he looked like some demon or C'thulu figure.
He also is a singer-songwriter thingy or other and there is something about it that makes you want to explode with happiness and ARGH
Actually his album (which contains the song Happy Birthday (?)) was released on my birthday so I am superbly excited whenever someone plays it or mentions Pj - OH MY GOLLY GOSH HIS ALBUM AND SONG WERE RELEASED ON MY BIRTHDAY AND THE SONG IS CALLED HAPPY BIRTHDAY IT MUST BE AN OMEN WE'RE MARRIED I JUST NEED HIS AUTOGRAPH TO TRANSPLANT IT ONTO A WEDDING DOCUMENT
I'm sorry. Continue.
Wait, I'm the one continuing. Continue.
So there's heaps of videos that he's done, and with the other three of his little posse (Crabstickz (Chris), AmazingPhil (Phil) and Danisnotonfire (Dan)) they are the best British YouTubers. And JacksGap. I think you can sort of see my line of British YouTubers.
So I might do another of these features so you guys can see the other brilliant YouTubers I subscribe to. Or you could just stalk my YouTube. Where was that occasional stalker I found the other day?
On another note, thanks to everyone who has read the blog or passed it to friends/strangers/captives, and thanks for commenting! It really does mean a lot to me :) I'll be away this weekend and given the way my week looks probably not on till Friday.
So to all of you lovely people out there:
Also applies to cyborgs, Venus flytraps and sentient pets.
So I came across this diagram that sums up everything I am:
and I realised that I'm a bit of a geek. Not hipster. Geek.
I also remembered what I left out in my Bubble and Squeak post from Monday - my favourite YouTubers. I might cover them in separate posts - I have Songs of the Week, Music Hauls, Cover Fests, Bubble and Squeaks and now Reeling Stones! Whew. I might have a Tube post soon - remind me by sending out a hot air balloon with my favourite actors and musicians in it and a Great Gatsby sweater. Also, my favourite lollies are Peaches and Cream and those banana things. They're pure deliciousness omnomnomnom I actually don't make that sound when I eat.
So my Reeling Stone posts (yes, it's a terrible pun. Neigh the horse be with you.) will be about some great flicks that I've seen. It's not really a movie review, but more like a movie rambling. Basically I'll talk about some fun films I've seen while you point and laugh.
This first Reeling Stone is on the short film Scenes from the Suburbs. It's quite a cool number from Arcade Fire - their concept album The Suburbs had a music video for their lead single 'The Suburbs' relating to this short film. Look, director Spike Jonze hooked up with Arcade Fire and they made a short film to go with the great album, with the album as the soundtrack.
It's a really good film about life in the suburbs, only if you lived in a world where suburbs were like countries - militant and segregated. There's a bunch of teens growing up there and behaving like good little morons like they should. It focuses on protagonist Kyle (he's a bit of a dork)'s interactions with his group of friends, including best friend Winter. Things start to unfurl and fall apart when Winter's brother comes home from a different suburb and this changes Winter until Kyle just doesn't know who he is anymore.
Scenes from the Suburbs is a really great coming-of-age piece, giving an insightful lookout into the cultures in society and just peering into a random teenager's life. Only he lives in a mobilized system and has a crumbling social group.
I absolutely adore the charaacters - Kyle is so relatable through his inaccessibility and the processes and experiences he has. And the cast perfectly pull off that casual disregard for authority that teens have, yet when it comes to crunch time their sensitivity is turned on and you can see their young vulnerability. Kyle is amazing. Winter was pretty cool at the end of the film but at the horrific diner scene I wanted to bash him up with a chair. And the party scene when they all just looked at each other made me want to cry. WHY CAN'T THEY JUST FORGET WINTER actually it's an extremely accurate representation of teenagers.
Here it is. Oh yeah. I watch some of my films on my phone so you should be able to watch these for free on your computer/PC/Mac/phone/iPad/iPod/newfangled gadget.
So yeah. I don't own anything and I will report copyright to the nearest responsible adult. Whatever.
This is a short film (30 mins) but look out for the soundtrack - Arcade Fire's warbling is exquisite. Listen for the song 'Suburban War' - it's brilliant.
I know that you guys probably don't have too much time to just watch these movies so I won't post them often - maybe some weekends and holidays. I just want to share these really cool flicks with you all :)
This will only be a short bubble and squeak post because I have a bit of work to do :( and also because I have had such a boring week that there is nothing much to write about.
Let's go.
1. Great Gatsby Sweater
If you have read a few relevant posts, you will know that I am a great fan of The Great Gatsby especially with the Baz Luhrmann adaptation coming up. I also am a huge fan of Modcloth so you can probably imagine the carnage when I saw this for sale:
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Oh my goodness. This is my life. More than anything I know. MY LIFE IS A LIE.
This is my shining beacon of fire, the reason for living. I have not known existence until now.
You can picture me tearing out clumps of my hair when I found out that the best deal for this sweater is around $40.
Why must my life be so hard?
Any donations will be kindly put towards a fund for the charitable dressing of girls in warm, well-rated jumpers that demonstrate literary prowess.
Turns out the guys who make it have an epic Great Gatsby online game and a whole heap of awesome stuff so I know exactly what I am getting for Christmas in July. That's right. Nothing.
Check them out here. I love absolutely everything in this store.
2. Generationals - Ten-Twenty-Ten
This is a really great song that sounds like it was whisked out of some trippy 90's bush doof somehow held in the States. Basically it has a really old vibe and all but the tune is just brilliant. The vocals are a bit like a rougher, less refined Tame Impala but the guitars give the song guide and drive.
It is amazing, I know.
3. Teacup Candles
So of course this is from Martha Stewart dot com, but this project looks stunning, channelling shabby chic and DIY at the same time.
Martha Stewart
This one is from Grace Sheppard's website. I liked the candle colour.
4. Ashkenazy
Being the music nerd I am, the other day we went to the Sydney Opera House to see Ashkenazy conduct Beethoven's Pastorale (as well as the Grosse Fugue and Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano). It was the first time I really enjoyed classical music, and to hear the oboist's solo made my night. Basically it was awesome (a word probably not commonly associated with Beethoven). Ashkenazy was a pretty great conductor and the Sydney Symphony was spectacular (as always).
Yes everybody I am a dork. I'm surprised it took you simpletons that long to work it out.
5. Cupcake Cones
I love to bake. I'm a tremendously better baker than I am a cook. It seems that when I cook I make a huge mess (not that I don't make one when I bake) but my mum's cooking is always better so I don't bother having to clean up when I make a second-best meal.
These are quite old news but I still adore how cute they look. It's my friend's birthday tomorrow (yes, I have friends) and although I don't have time to bake these I thought these would be pretty cool for a birthday party.
I can't shake the feeling that I have skipped something - I was about to write point 6 but the thought fleetingly disappeared from my mind and now I am sad. That's this Bubble and Squeak, folks.
