*on Spotify or YouTube
We actually got to the part 2 of something, yay!
This project is also a good place for small updates. Skip to the next part if you're not interested.
Update 1
I feel like I'm behind on many things like finishing S=0+, replying to certain friends, enjoying their recommendations. I try not to feel too bad about the last two since I fortunately have very understanding friends.
And in fairness to myself, I don't think I've been using my time that unproductively; I've been focusing on things that are also important to me.
I'm currently on vaccation and overestimated how much spare time I would have amid other activities. However, I've got a free afternoon now so I'm going to spend some time on this project.
Update 2
Considering making a new blog site ... I feel like I have enough experience with HTML that I don't want to be restricted by blogger any more. But this is something that's at least three weeks from even starting (and I should finish S=0+ first).
Songs!
Rewind featuring bladee by Charlie xcx, added 16th December 2024
I think when I listened to this and added it to the playlist I did it because I felt I finally "got" this sort of music. Apparently this was not a permanent effect since I don't really get it this time ... I do find it sonically pleasant but I don't really react to it beyond that.
Ramona by Jukebox The Ghost, added 2nd December 2024
I actually really like the name Ramona. I also really like this band's whole ouevre. Musically delightful and one of the few bands whose lyrics actually resonate with me; in this case those lyrics are fairly simple but I really enjoy "Take a little, take a little, take a little time, from the world". It's not an entirely original idea to wish the entire world just stopped/you could be separated from it for a bit, but it is one I often come back to. It's also very sweet (and comforting?) that the perspective of the song is from someone who wants to provide that for someone else.I suppose part of me finds the idea of taking the people you love away from all the harshness of reality romantic but I also feel hestitant since, at least right now, I believe it's more important to confront and subdue that harshness.
Inked in Blood by Sigh, added 11th Feburary 2018
Intense, relentless and dynamic, how do they do it? I think it's the fact that they switch between very different feeling types of intensities: from shredding guitar solos, dramatic laughter, right into melodies. I'd say the melodies are possibly the weaker part but I appreciate that they're included anyway (and to be fair, I'm comparing to Dir En Grey's Kyo who has a somewhat unreal vocal range).Forgot how much I liked Sigh.
[Okay so the next 12 songs are Kero Kero Bonito's entire Time 'n' Place album. I think it's best to comment on the entire albumn in that case]
Time 'n' Place by Kero Kero Bonito, added 2nd October 2018
This is one of the few times I felt like I was part of a cultural moment. The day this album came out I was shocked that the band that made songs like Flamingo and Pocket Crocodile also put out something like Only Acting. It's the sort of thing people posted about immediately in the Facebook groups. I had to message my friend who also a fan to ask if it was real. I remember asking "Is Sarah [the lead singer] okay?"
[Hope you're doing well Harpreet]
Memories are vague and often incorrect but I do remember shivering after listening to it. Is there a French word fo desiring an abyss into which to release the echoes of an incredible experience (to avoid the alternative which is that they'll after reverberate and destroy you?) L'appel du vide (pour le raison de self-presevation)?
Take Me To The Sugar by Electric Six, added 22nd November 2024
It certainly scratchs the Electric Six Itch. Sonically interesting, fun word play "Gravity, the solar wheel = brevity, the soul of wit" and bizzare visuals "Today's child actors are tomorrow's evil clowns". I'm actually not sure how interpret this song, but I appreciate the attempt to approach more obscure topics (or at least to have more cryptic lyrics) compared to their older albums. I think I didn't enjoy this as much eas their earlier work at first, but coming back to it now, I really like the cool confidence and low-key vibes.
Turquoise by Electric Six, added 22nd November 2024
Similar feelings as to the previous song. I'm impressed how the vocalist is able to embody quite different characters. I get a strong impression of a very cynical old man whose too confident in his own opinions (e.g., wearing Turquoise to protect himself and assuming others ought to do the same if they want to live). I think what this song is getting at is media-induced despair and how people cope with it. Possibly how easy it is to believe you're doing something when you're not? Or, a more optimistic interpretation, that we find ways to cope (even if they're not that directly useful) and that's independent of actually doing anything about the world.
