Out of Aestivation

Aestivation is like hibernation, in that an organism slows its metabolism to a trickle and avoids all activity, but during the summer months. As such it usually refers to animals who take a break in especially arid environments to avoid the most scorching months rather than people who work summer jobs with insane hours, but it's close enough. Will this blog now return to "regular" updates (as much as that term ever applied to it)? I'm not sure, actually. But in the interest of catching up a little, here's a song that was stuck in my head on repeat a month or two ago; enjoy.

MS MR - "Hurricane"

I quite enjoy this song—the verse in particular—and have been listening to it over and over. If you decide to check out more from the band just be ready for things to get kinda weird/creepy/dark in their official videos. :P

Grimes - "Oblivion"

I think part of what originally drew me to this song was that the second half reminds me of the old GoldenEye and Perfect Dark soundtracks from the N64. :P

Even apart from that I like the song, though, and quite a few others from Grimes. Both she and her music are cute and goofy, with a nice hint of creepy.

(If you want a comparison for the old N64 games, I think the similarities are especially obvious in this one from GoldenEye and in this one from Perfect Dark. It's actually to the point where I really wonder if it can be a total coincidence, but even if it's not I'm totally okay with that; I think those games' soundtracks are an excellent place to draw influence from. Their music [by Grant Kirkhope] was one of the better parts of games that were already fantastic to begin with.)

The Temper Trap - "Fader"

It took me a while to realize how much I enjoy this song. It doesn't really have anything that reaches out and grabs me and so for a time I'd only half-listen when it played on the radio. But soon I realized that I always found myself feeling like it had ended too soon, that I wanted to listen to it some more. And upon closer listening I found that even though it is perhaps a bit subdued, it's quite enjoyable. Hope you enjoy it, too. :)

It's been far too quiet around here

This song always seems to flow right up inside me and makes me drop what I'm doing for a moment of carefree contentedness. Good stuff. :D

Another great cover and original

I've been listening to both versions of this song incessantly in the past few days. I think both deserve appreciation, so I've been considering the order in which I should embed them so as to foster such a reaction. I've decided to post them in the order in which I discovered them, starting with the cover version.

It's the first video released as part of Ingrid Michaelson's side-project Army of 3:

I love Ingrid, and I'll probably post some more stuff from her in the future. And dear god, that little look she gives just after the 2 minute mark sorta turns me into a giggly pile of stupid.

And here's the original by Gotye (nekkid people but no naughty bits, but still probably NSFW):

Both have a great sound to them. I really like that the original is a duet—it makes things a lot less black-and-white, and thus more interesting.

I've been throwing a lot of long videos at you...

...so here's some nice, short, sweet entertainment. This is no excuse not to watch the recent talks I've posted below, though. They're enlightening and entertaining and worth your time, I promise. But for now, some Beck:

I dare you not to snap and flail like an idiot

You heard me.

Bloody maths

Ladies and gentlemen—a view of Canobie Lake in Southern New Hampshire, if it were filled with blood instead of water:

I tinted the clouds red because I figured they'd reflect the lake a bit,
not because I was trying to make the scene even more sinister. :P (original image)

You may be assuming I'm a bit of a creep for creating that image (and I am), but lemme explain:

I was listening to the song "3rd Planet" by Modest Mouse the other day, when I was inspired to take one of the lines far too literally. Dozens of browser tabs, piles of conversions, and way more hours than I'd planned later, and we get the image above and this post.

The line goes, "When it occurred to me that the animals are swimming around in the water in the oceans in our bodies; and another had been found, another ocean on the planet, given that our blood is just like the Atlantic."

It's lovely imagery, but it got me wondering: how does the volume of blood inside all living human beings compare to the volume of large bodies of water like the Atlantic Ocean?

Best cover ever?

I'm a person who enjoys a good reinterpretation of a song. And while I'm also a person who tries to avoid using superlatives, it's hard not to want to declare José González's take on the song "Heartbeats," originally by The Knife, the best cover ever.

In the interest of fairness, I'll put up the original version first, because I do think it is a good song on its own, and so deserves to be heard without the bias of having heard the cover:

It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but like I said, I do think it's a good song. But now we come to José González's version:

No disrespect to the original artist, but goddamn does that sound like the way the song was meant to be played. It's absolutely beautiful, and if not worthy of my zealous declaration then damn close.

Agree? Disagree?

A couple ice-cold songs to warm you up

Both these songs have themes that aren't too cheery, but the music wouldn't give that away. One deals with the harsh dumping of a golddigger, and the other with a kid shooting up a school (or at least thinking about it). But the first will warm you up by virtue of getting you moving (I know I can't help but start to flail violently whenever I hear it), and that hot actin-on-myosin action will hopefully get your temperature and spirits up. And the second just has the sound of a summer night, the air thick but not oppressive. Both methods of warming are much appreciated here, since it's cruelly dipped back to freezing temperatures in New Hampshire after a brief taste of spring.

  

The other thing the songs happen to have in common is that while I enjoy each one greatly, I'm not really interested in the remainder of the artists' catalogs. For Fitz and the Tantrums (great name) the entire album seems to be about being spurned by women, and it only takes a couple of those before it just sounds whiny. For Foster the People, the rest of their stuff simply doesn't seem to be up to the quality of the song above. Of course, give both the artists a fair listen for yourself if you like their stuff above.

Hope you enjoy! :)

The xx

I was in love with these guys as soon as I heard them. They're minimalism at its sultriest. Their songs are haunting and beautiful, and carry real emotional weight. And her voice melts me, basically. And of course this video in particular is pretty sweet. [And by "pretty sweet" I meant heartbreakingly beautiful.]

If you're wondering, the "The" is capitalized while neither of the "x"s are, and you pronounce both of them as the letter ("The ecks-ecks").

I like to keep you on your toes...

So from Feist, here we go into Fantomenk:

The genre is chiptune, which basically makes use of a lot of the sounds that can be created on an old gaming console. If you can listen to this song only once at a time, you're stronger willed than I am. Same if you're able to restrain yourself from flailing around in your chair while listening to it, because I sure can't. :D

Great song, great video

Though I do cringe a little when she holds the sparkler that close to her face.

Phantogram - "Running from the Cops"

Check them out.

Some music to appease you

Since I'm reposting a bunch of old content, I figured I'd include some quick new content in the form of a song that I enjoy. If you haven't listened to the Cold War Kids before, give them a shot. I think they've put out some excellent music.