My copy of the new Garbage album and the extra one I bought for a redheaded friend’s birthday because I thought she would feel like Shirley was her long-lost matriarch.
Listening to the CD in my car today in all of its high bitrate glory was…glorious.
Malukah is at it again. This is her new tribute song for the Mass Effect games. Clint Mansell’s compositions for the third game in the series added an extra level of gravitas, and it’s great to hear Malukah’s voice interpreting the emotions I felt while fighting the reapers.
Another year has come and gone. Here are all the ticket stubs I collected during the past 365 days. Mostly movies, but a few music concerts, baseball games, and other events. I didn’t go to the movies as much as I have in previous years, but I still got to see some quality flicks.
I’ll be posting my favorites of 2011 tomorrow, but for now, Tree of Life, Melancholia, Drive, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Bridesmaids, and Source Code are at the top.
Happy new year!
I heard Metric’s music for the first time on October 24, 2010. They opened for Muse, and totally won me over, especially with their extended version of Dead Disco. But the song that really stuck with me was Collect Call. I’ve used it as my second alarm every morning for a few months now (my first alarm is the track Time from the Inception score). The combination of those two songs has allowed me to slowly leave my dreams behind every morning, and it has been wonderful.
Ever since that day in late October, I feel like a part of me has been waking up. Music used to be a really big part of my life. In fact, it was the biggest part up until about 2003. I had probably spent an actual 10% of my life singing, playing the trumpet, guitar, and piano, and actively listening to music (not in the background but actually listening to it while not engaging in any other activities). And then, all of it went away. I entered a different chapter of my life for very personal reasons, and not only did I lose my passion for creating music, I hardly even listened to it anymore.
Emily Haines and her amazing band changed all that. My hunger for hearing live music has become insatiable. I actually go to sleep while listening to music again. I hadn’t done that on a regular basis since maybe 2002. Once again, I want music to be surrounding me at every moment.
A few weeks ago, a friend told me to check out a cover of Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness” that was done by some girl that I hadn’t heard of. I should explain that I never listen to music on the radio (I hate the way it sounds) so I don’t come across new artists unless they are recommended to me by people I trust. Sometimes I will check out random artists on a whim, but I’m still not that adventurous.
Anyway, I watched the video and was intrigued. I came home and looked her up and proceeded to watch video after video for a few hours. If my life was accompanied by title cards, it would have read “The Awakening, Part 2.” I could not believe how much I was in love with Lissie’s voice. There was just something about it that felt immediately comfortable, as if my ears had been created for it but had somehow gone all these years without it.
I have been listening to her album non-stop. And tomorrow night, I will get to hear the sounds from her vocal cords travel through the air directly to my ears. Ok, that was kind of a weird way to say that I will be seeing her in concert. Actually, I guess the sound will be traveling through many wires, amps, mixers, etc. Whatever. It’s going to be amazing.
Cobb and his team had Edith Piaf. I have Emily Haines and Lissie.
It’s 4:30 in the morning and I’m still thinking about the score for “Inception” that I finally bought earlier today. People criticize Hans Zimmer for never venturing too far past his comfort zone as a composer. I tend to agree but I think his work on this score is his best yet. He is a master of using very simple motifs and building on them. It’s something that James Newton Howard also does really well, and maybe Zimmer picked up a few new ideas from him when they co-wrote the scores for Nolan’s two Batman films.
This video is a live performance of the final track. Zimmer sits at the piano, Johnny Marr plays his guitar, and a full orchestra accompanies them. The only thing I wish the cameras had captured was the entire brass section (especially the french horns) during the second half of the song.
I will repeatedly listen to this track as I go to bed now. I hope it fills my dreams tonight. And I will definitely be setting it as my alarm ringtone so that I can wake up to it as well.
(Source: youtube.com)
human. christian. american. korean. student. teacher. geek. singer. pianist.
and here's my profile picture on flickr (in case you were wondering what it was).
