02. “Cross Your Fingers” by Laura Marling
“Cross your fingers, hold your toes / We’re all gonna die when the building blows / And the house that you were born in / Is crumbling at the corners / Sagging skin and feet of crows”
Catchy and a little morbid, quite like The Smiths but with a gentler voice and bells.

03. “This Modern Love” by Bloc Party
“To be lost in the forest / To be cut adrift / You’ve been trying to reach me / You bought me a book / To be lost in the forest / To be cut adrift / I’ve been paid / Don’t get offended / If I seem absent minded / Just keep telling me facts / And keep making me smile / Don’t get offended / If I seem absent minded / I get tongue-tied / Baby, you’ve got to be more discerning / I’ve never known what’s good for me / Baby, you’ve got to be more demanding”
Well-written words, nice melody, and sweet melancholy… what more could you want. I recently realized it was used in an episode of How I Met Your Mother. Way to go, show!

04. “Ceiling of Plankton” by Givers
“It’s that desire over love I have to turn around / And come right back to bay / ‘Cause you’re my ceiling of plankton / You hold the white light much better / And you know / You got that keeping it warm / Not too tight / Just like my favorite sweater / And you glow a purple star”
Makes me think of Mike and Briana’s wedding/relationship. Whimsical flutes, perfect for their pretty wedding.

05. “Oxford Comma” by Vampire Weekend
“Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma? / I’ve seen those English dramas too, they’re cruel / So if there’s any other way to spell the word / It’s fine with me, with me / Why would you speak to me that way? / Especially when I always said that I / Haven’t got the words for you / All your diction dripping with disdain / Through the pain / I always tell the truth”
Baroque pop… need I say more?

06. “O.N.E.” by Yeasayer
“The room’s still now when I’m lying / ’cause the well of the night has gone dry / When they ask to behave, I pay them no mind / Now I doubt if I’d have been so kind / Hold me like before / Hold me like you used to / Control me like you used to”
This and his song “Tightrope” are my favorites… it’s like you’ve stumbled on a secret hipster jungle dance party.

07. “Hello (ft Dragonette)” by Martin Solveig
“I could stick around and get along with you, hello. / It doesn’t really mean that I’m into you, hello. / You’re alright but I’m here, darling, to enjoy the party. / Don’t get too excited ’cause that’s all you get from me, hey. / Yeah, I think you’re cute, but I really you should know. / I just came to say hello”
Good mixing, fun lyrics.

08. “No Love” by Hooray For Earth
“His fire goes / Into our minds / Creating further holes / Construction it / Without plan / Damaging the soul / Violent and bold (it’s a beautiful design) / Watch the light take hold (it’s a beautiful design) / Over and over until (it’s a beautiful design) / Watch the color spill”
“If a wire runs from house to house does it mean we are connected?” Probably my favorite piece of imagery in the whole song.

09. “Where You Wanna Go” by Mischa Daniels ft J-Son
“I can take you where you wanna go, anywhere you wanna go / We can go around the globe, ’round the globe”
Another simple dance track… guess they’re my default for summertime. I think the best summer songs are about travel and good love.

10. “Where Is My Mind? (ft Emily Browning)” by Yoav
“I was swimming in the Caribbean / Animals were hiding behind the rocks / Except a little fish, but they told me / He swears he was trying to talk to me, to me / Where is my mind?”
Pretty re-envisioning of the classic Pixies song, more mellow until the end. I’m a sucker for guy+girl songs, so that doesn’t hurt it, either.

11. “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” by Joe Anderson
“She’s not a girl who misses much / Do do do do do do do do, oh yeah / She’s well acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand, like a lizard on a window pane / The man in the crowd with the multicoloured mirrors on his hobnail boots / Lying with his eyes while his hands are busy working overtime / A soap impression of his wife which he ate, and donated to the National Trust”
Another re-envisioning of a classic song. My iPad kept shuffling Beatles songs into the mix on my drives home after weeks of hearing them nonstop on the radio.

12. “Steam Will Rise” by Silverchair
“Contain yourself / I will compress / What I am too / Replace yourself / With what you have / Your substitute ”
In planning the trip to Australia, Jess and I discovered we both love Silverchair, and that the lead singer lives in her city.

13. “Strobe” by Deadmau5
“ … ”
When he gets it right, he really gets it right. I love this song as background noise to driving with the windows down after class. The ten minutes is a little too indulgent and part of me wishes the sound would have just begun at 4:30. I think most of his songs needs an editor of some sort; he’s often at his best when collaborating with others.

Original photo: here and here.

02. “The Chamber” by The Last Shadow Puppets
“Leave yourself alone / Can’t you see you’re only here to be torn apart / Based upon a nothingness / So leave yourself alone / Tell your wasted time that I am worse / And I would waste it all / Given the chance I owe apologies / So tell your wasted time / It’s torture / locked inside the chamber / Cornered by yourself / You must admit that you are the instigator / Hanging onto arguments / Cornered by yourself”
To me, the chamber is your mind, questioning yourself and breaking it all down until there is nothing left. It’s also about the blunt honesty you get when you’re alone and facing yourself; this is a theme for the transcendentalist writers (like Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay “Self-Reliance”), though I think the song alludes to more of the negative/extreme aspects. Emerson’s belief was that being around people made you more… dishonest with yourself, basically, in that being around others makes impressions on you, and you conform towards the group more than you act in accordance with your self – thus why being alone for introspection is a necessity to them.

03. “Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl” by Broken Social Scene
“Used to be the one of the rotten ones / And I liked you for that / Now you’re all gone, got your make-up on / And you’re not coming back / Bleachin’ your teeth, smiling flash / Talking trash, under your breath”
Yeah, this is from the Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World soundtrack. I don’t think the song is amazing, but I love the combination of the banjo and violin with the effects they put on the vocals. It’s about losing someone to distance and growing apart, being left behind. Now, I don’t feel that victimized but Spring was definitely a little melancholy without my best friend. That said, I think the song is also hopeful and sort of sweetly content based on the way it picks up and gets a little silly (the effects that get added to the vocals to exaggerate them) near the end of the crescendo.

04. “Left-Handed Girl” by James Yuill
“I can’t think of a decent reason / Why I am here with you / If this is life for the taking / I’ll take and give it to you”
Thinking of this song for Tiffanie & Gareth, though they were married in January and not so much spring. She is, indeed, left handed. It makes me think of the phrase “right hand man”, and I like the implied reliance in the relationship.

05. “Behind the Sea” by Panic! At the Disco
“A daydream spills from my corked head / Breaks free of my wooden neck / Left a nod over sleeping waves / Like bobbing bait for bathing cod / Floating flocks of candle swans / Slowly drift across wax ponds / The men all played along to marching drums / And boy did they have fun behind the sea / They sang, so our matching legs are marching clocks / And we’re all too small to talk to god / Yes, we’re all too smart to talk to god”
These guys can be crazy pretentious, but I love their lyrics; they are very definitely into wordsmithing (though it’s not always good). Something about the acoustic guitar and the melody makes me think of Spring, as it’s light and airy. This might also have something to do with what sounds like pizzicato+sticcato (plucked notes, quick) violins. The song makes me think of toy nutcrackers swimming in the ocean, and I love the phrase “watermelon smiles” that they use.

06. “Billionaire (ft. Bruno Mars)” by Travie McCoy
“Yeah I’d be in a whole new tax bracket / We in recession but let me take a crack at it / I’d probably take whatever’s left and just split it up / So everybody that I love can have a couple bucks / And not a single tummy around me / Would know what hungry was / Eatin’ good, sleepin soundly / I know we all have a similar dream / Go in ya pocket pull out ya wallet / Put it in the air and sing / I wanna be a billionaire
So fuckin’ bad”
The version of grooveshark is the clean version, unfortunately, so all the “so fuckin’ bad”s are all changed to “freakin’”. I like this song because of the charity within it, the idea of having enough to live your life but wanting more to help the people around you and be important enough to be listened to politically one-on-one. Also could be seen as a commentary on celebrity culture, but the song is so light and upbeat that I can’t really take it seriously in that light.

07. “Undertaker” by Wolfgang Gartner
“ … ”
It’s so easy for me to dance to this song, and I see so much when I close my eyes. The baseline is infectious and I enjoy the build. Just a really unique electronic song, which feels like it took a special technique to put together.

08. “White Rabbit” by Emiliana Torrini
“One pill makes you larger / And one pill makes you small / And the ones that mother gives you / Don’t do anything at all / Go ask Alice when she’s ten feet tall / And if you go chasing rabbits / And you know you’re going to fall / Tell him a hookah-smokin’ caterpillar / Has given you the call”
I can’t hate on Sucker Punch, despite shitty plot. The cinematography was beautiful and the musicality was captivating… it was definitely a glorified music video. I wish they’d put more into the story, because it could have been a visually, aurally appealing Good Film, which I think is rare (unless you’re Guillermo Del Toro). I was also in a fantasy fiction class this semester, and we read Alice in Wonderland and a lot of Lewis Carroll so thematically, it fits. Please note, the Doormouse never said “feed your head”, and this version is a cover of Jefferson Airplane’s original off of what is probably their most popular album (Surrealistic Pillow).

09. “Arrival Notes” by Set Your Goals
“ … ”
Another song that reminds me of the ocean, possibly because it has that sort of 50′s wistful-beach guitar filter layered over an acoustic.

10. “Bad Boy” by The Jive Bombers
“I can see all the folks / Laughing at me / Because I’m just naturally crazy”
Love old songs in the right conditions, and the movie Cry Baby is a whole level of ridiculous rather like Sucker Punch. Also like Sucker Punch, it has a soundtrack arguably better than the movie. The plodding beat reminds me of the stagnant, breezy heat of spring.

11. “Greek Song” by Rufus Wainwright
“All the pearls of China / Fade astride a volta / Don’t sew beelines to anybody’s hide / Save your poison for a lover who is on your side / One way is Rome and the other way is Mecca / On either side on either side / Of our motorbike”
An adventure about travel, love and beauty. I love the instruments: the Chinese violin, the imperial snare drum and piano… the whole thing makes me think of England’s control of Hong Kong, though I know the title says Greece and the words refer to Italy and Saudi Arabia.

Original photo: here and here.

Carrots and hummus
Disproportionate carrots
Gotta buy hummus

Over Spring Break of this year, my windows laptop broke. I used it mostly for playing video games, as I am sort of in love with Apple products for day-to-day use, at the moment. My solution was to build my own desktop. It was an absolutely awesome experience; thanks to Google and some tutorials, I purchased my parts, built her up and plugged her in. She’s a little monster.

I skinned Galactica using CustoPak Tools (for the log-in screen, which I couldn’t screencap or photograph properly) and Rainmeter. Wallpaper. More pictures behind the jump…

01. “Introduction to Romeo” by Nellee Hooper
02. “I’ll Take Us Home” by Matt & Kim
03. “U.R.A. Fever” by The Kills
04. “Black Sheep” by Metric
05. “Dance Yrself Clean” by LCD Soundsystem
06. “Collect Call (Tom Wrecks Remix)” by Metric
07. “Word Problems” by deadmau5
08. “Fire In Your New Shoes (ft. Dragonette)” by Kaskade
09. “Sofi Needs A Ladder” by deadmau5
10. “Animal Rights” by deadmau5
11. “Empty Streets (feat. Becky Jean Williams)” by Kaskade
12. “Fin Song 8 (orange River Remix)” by Gregory & The Hawk

Original photo: here.

and now I must away,

for I did not get shit done today

/

“Templars for you all day is it?”

“They love dwarves, I don’t ask why; probably don’t want to know. At least they tip well.”

How many songs total: 5116
How many hours or days of music: 13:03:57:23
Most recently played: “Your Hands Are Cold” by Jean-Yves Thibaudet
Most played: “She Brings New Water” by Head of Wantastiquet
Most recently added: “Oh You (Christmas Blues)” by LCD Soundsystem

Sort by Song Title*
First Song: “1 2 3 4″ by Feist
Last Song: “Zoot Suit Riot” by Cherry Poppin’ Daddies

Sort by Time**
Shortest Song: “Phil” by The Bird and The Bee (00:10)
Longest Song: “Bad Smells” by Glenn Branca (16:29)

Sort by Album
First album represented: (A)spera by Mirah
First full album: Absolution by Muse
Last album: Zoot Suit Riot by Cherry Poppin’ Daddies

First song that comes up on Shuffle: “Twilight” by Elliott Smith

Search the following and state how many songs come up:

Death – 29
Life – 128
Love – 194
Hate – 16
You – 522
Sex – 11
Space – 18

*My iTunes organizes numbers down at the bottom. I loathe this and choose to reflect my music accurately here instead. Otherwise, it is “A&E” by Goldfrapp.
**Not counting any old, damaged music files I have that inaccurately represent the song length in iTunes.

I am at “Janis Joplin” in my music collection. Reverse alphabetical.

From my party one year ago. Written by Olly, who is now in Chicago being all exciting and such.

Happy Birthday to Me! Miss you, miss.

In honor of Halloween time there are organs, ghosts, witches and strange, often discordian arrangements.

01. “She Brings New Water” by Head of Wantastiquet.
02. “Year of the Dog (arr. Rob Moose)” by Osso & Sufjan Stevens.
03. “New Clouds, Hot Clouds” by Spiral Beach.
04. “In the Room Where You Sleep (feat. the Silverlake Conservatory of Music Children’s Choir)” by Dead Man’s Bones.
05. “Your Rocky Spine” by Great Lake Swimmers.
06. “Strange Love” by Slim Harpo.
07. “Crystalised” by The XX.
08. “Ain’t It Strange” by Dr. Dog.
09. “Cuddle Fuddle” by Passion Pit.
10. “Walking With A Ghost” by Tegan and Sara.
11. “Witch” by The Bird and The Bee.
12. “Small Town Witch” by Sneaker Pumps.
13. “Sleep Alone” by Bat For Lashes.
14. “Do You Know What I’m Seeing?” by Panic! At the Disco.
15. “Creator” by Santigold.
16. “Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff (feat Rob Swire)” by Deadmau5.
17. “Little Bit (AutoErotique Bootleg Remix)” by Lykke Li.
18. “Speed Rail” by Tiesto.
19. “Galvanize the Empire” by Party Ben.
20. “Demon Rock” by Letters To Cleo.
21. “And Darling” by Tegan and Sara.