Today might be the first day where I feel the transition from summer to fall has actually been completed.
It's good reason to be both excited, and kind of blue all at the same time.
I'm about to start into a large number of articles to read and summarize as well as a gigantic amount of writing. woot (unenthusiastically).
As I sit here in my jogging pants, it's hard for me not to wish I could just listen to my favourite sad songs all f-in day and screw my theoretical understanding of sociological concepts (contemporary or feminist). with some coffee of course and some snacks.
oh music...oh september. How you tease me and tempt me to be bad-ass.
I digress. My post today was a direct result of me being depressed when I was 23...and consequently came upon the latest (at the time) album by Rufus Wainwright. This song, lyrically and structurally completely defined how I felt at the time. In addition to expressing my feelings of regret and heaviness for what I had "...done to myself", I was burdened with the thought that life was brutally harsh and that I was fairly weak in comparison to it's natural state of constant chaos. With all these emotions floating around this particular piece, the structure and the instrumentation is brilliant in all at once reminding me of these feelings, and relieving some of the darkness from my heart and my mind. The throbbing of the keyboard, and the subtleties of fairy-like echoing inside the music transcends all the harsh reality of what he says.
And that my friends, is a true artist. Those who can pull off that magic are responsible for conserving a lot of positivity and love in people they don't even know.
blah blah blah - sounds pretentious, but you get it, right?
The only version I could find embedding for is one with lyrics (a la karaoke) so, try not to pay much attention to the visuals.
xo have a nice, lazy, contemplative evening.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
SadSeptemberSongs: September 15, 2010
Hi Friendieeeeees.
alright - so to continue the post from yesterday, I will put up two versions of an amazingly sad and romantic song by an amazingly cool, not-so-alive man named Elliot Smith.
This is Between The Bars -- and it's one of my favourite songs.
The first version is by the artist himself - and the second is by an artist named Madeleine Peyroux which is the version I heard first that really gave my heart a good tugging.(how did that sound dirty to me?)
My brother introduced me to this wonderful lady. I love her voice and her style.
She does some phenomenal covers and her own songs sound like classics.
alright - so to continue the post from yesterday, I will put up two versions of an amazingly sad and romantic song by an amazingly cool, not-so-alive man named Elliot Smith.
This is Between The Bars -- and it's one of my favourite songs.
The first version is by the artist himself - and the second is by an artist named Madeleine Peyroux which is the version I heard first that really gave my heart a good tugging.(how did that sound dirty to me?)
My brother introduced me to this wonderful lady. I love her voice and her style.
She does some phenomenal covers and her own songs sound like classics.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
SadSeptemberSongs: September 14, 2010
I've never felt like I fit in. Never since I was able to think as an independent person have I felt "normal" and I'm sure this is quite Universal - and ironically quite "normal" a feeling in most people (especially the sensitive ones)
When I first moved to Montreal, the city came down on me. I was never faced with so many people at once, never faced with so much of a glance at what my place was in the world...just a tiny spec of nothingness in a sea of tiny specs.
It swallowed me I think - and I rebelled against it. And it was a love/hate relationship.
When I lived on Lincoln next to Concordia, I ended up with two really cool roomies that were an absolute dream to experience life with. The life I wanted to create was romantic, and whimsical, and melancholy, and full of adventures, conversations, passion, and constant growth. I always strive to create this for myself.
One day as I was cleaning, I found a mixed tape that I assumed came from one of my roommates that was labeled on both sides, side A said: Side Sad, and side B said: Side Marginally Sadder. It was never discovered who that tape originally belonged to. When I put that tape in, I had no track list and so I spent months and months trying to find out who the artists were that I loved the most (ya, the internet wasn't readily available back then).
I remember now that I found out there was some Nick Drake, some Foo Fighters, and my all time favourite on Side Marginally Sadder was a band called Mojave 3 playing a song called "Prayer for the Paranoid".
This song was so perfect for my state of mind at the time. It captures a city swallowing two people, changing them, discouraging them, making them feel "abnormal", alone, ill-fitted.
At least that's what I got from it. I think that tape was meant for me, and I was meant for it.
I lost it a long time ago, but I still think of it. We had a real relationship and it opened me up to a grey area of sad that I didn't know existed before.
So, here's Mojave 3 with Prayer For The Paranoid. And over the next few days I will post some more songs that I remember from "Side Sad and Side Marginally Sadder".
xo
When I first moved to Montreal, the city came down on me. I was never faced with so many people at once, never faced with so much of a glance at what my place was in the world...just a tiny spec of nothingness in a sea of tiny specs.
It swallowed me I think - and I rebelled against it. And it was a love/hate relationship.
When I lived on Lincoln next to Concordia, I ended up with two really cool roomies that were an absolute dream to experience life with. The life I wanted to create was romantic, and whimsical, and melancholy, and full of adventures, conversations, passion, and constant growth. I always strive to create this for myself.
One day as I was cleaning, I found a mixed tape that I assumed came from one of my roommates that was labeled on both sides, side A said: Side Sad, and side B said: Side Marginally Sadder. It was never discovered who that tape originally belonged to. When I put that tape in, I had no track list and so I spent months and months trying to find out who the artists were that I loved the most (ya, the internet wasn't readily available back then).
I remember now that I found out there was some Nick Drake, some Foo Fighters, and my all time favourite on Side Marginally Sadder was a band called Mojave 3 playing a song called "Prayer for the Paranoid".
This song was so perfect for my state of mind at the time. It captures a city swallowing two people, changing them, discouraging them, making them feel "abnormal", alone, ill-fitted.
At least that's what I got from it. I think that tape was meant for me, and I was meant for it.
I lost it a long time ago, but I still think of it. We had a real relationship and it opened me up to a grey area of sad that I didn't know existed before.
So, here's Mojave 3 with Prayer For The Paranoid. And over the next few days I will post some more songs that I remember from "Side Sad and Side Marginally Sadder".
xo
Monday, September 13, 2010
SadSeptemberSongs: September 21, 2010
Here's an old one...Dave Matthews.
Alright, it's true, I have been, and always will be a HUGE Dave Matthews fan.
I had sort of abandoned him after a few years (in terms of the amount of listening I invested in) and then watched this awesome documentary called "Go Further" starring Woody Harrelson. This was an exceptionally entertaining documentary about sustainable eating/living and it really effected me.
The brilliance and impact was magnified by the great choice of artists performing their songs to bring out some of the themes within the film. I can't for the life of me find the live song that Dave Matthews plays at the end of the film, but I have found the album version.
In any case, I sat in silence crying at the end - during the credits when Dave put his heart and soul into this last message.
The idea of nature being the womb - the earth mother - that we go back to this and envelope ourselves in how big and how beautiful that is. I just felt so much from that particular performance and there was a sadness and love emiting from it that fully seeped into my heart.
so if you're interested in the documentary, pay attention to the credits at the end and see if you feel similar. It's a great movie to watch. and it's funny and light too - not all preachy, but a little preachy.
Alright, it's true, I have been, and always will be a HUGE Dave Matthews fan.
I had sort of abandoned him after a few years (in terms of the amount of listening I invested in) and then watched this awesome documentary called "Go Further" starring Woody Harrelson. This was an exceptionally entertaining documentary about sustainable eating/living and it really effected me.
The brilliance and impact was magnified by the great choice of artists performing their songs to bring out some of the themes within the film. I can't for the life of me find the live song that Dave Matthews plays at the end of the film, but I have found the album version.
In any case, I sat in silence crying at the end - during the credits when Dave put his heart and soul into this last message.
The idea of nature being the womb - the earth mother - that we go back to this and envelope ourselves in how big and how beautiful that is. I just felt so much from that particular performance and there was a sadness and love emiting from it that fully seeped into my heart.
so if you're interested in the documentary, pay attention to the credits at the end and see if you feel similar. It's a great movie to watch. and it's funny and light too - not all preachy, but a little preachy.
SadSeptemberSongs: September 13, 2010
Well - it's Monday, and there's nothing more discouraging than a Monday morning...
so finding a sad, woe-is-me song was not too hard today.
Death Cab For Cutie...Brothers on a Hotel Bed.
(don't be a hater, have an open mind and soak it in)
and if you liked that, see them playing it live in the studio:
and may you get through the crappiest day of the week with some inspiration and energy left to spare!!!
xo
so finding a sad, woe-is-me song was not too hard today.
Death Cab For Cutie...Brothers on a Hotel Bed.
(don't be a hater, have an open mind and soak it in)
and if you liked that, see them playing it live in the studio:
and may you get through the crappiest day of the week with some inspiration and energy left to spare!!!
xo
Sunday, September 12, 2010
SadSeptemberSongs: September 12, 2010
IT'S FINALLY THAT TIME!!!
Ladies and Gentleman, a long long time ago there was a band: Splashdown that created some wicked 90's poptastic electronic inspired songs. I had a huge hard-on for this band thanks to a guy who worked at my friends local college radio station in Ottawa. Actually I started liking a crap-load of music thanks to this awesome fellow and my friend.
However, a few years later they broke up and I was devastated. I hoped with all my heart that something would come of them again in some form, and luckily, something DID come of them all...
The lead singer, Melissa Kaplan went solo doing some video game vocals and I believe a few movies/documentary gigs as well. When she finally put out her first album, I was most definitely one of the first to order it.
Pretty much every song on the album is amazing and I urge you all to get a copy of it ASAP. Her project is called: Universal Hall Pass, and her two albums are "Mercury" and "Subtle Things".
Here is my favourite sad song on the album, "Misdirected"
http://iacmusic.com/artist.aspx?id=14259
If you need a little sampler, this is the song that first got me excited about the album...it's not sad, but it's BRILLIANT and I've never grown tired of hearing it time and time again. It's called Dragonfly. LOVE IT!!!
Ladies and Gentleman, a long long time ago there was a band: Splashdown that created some wicked 90's poptastic electronic inspired songs. I had a huge hard-on for this band thanks to a guy who worked at my friends local college radio station in Ottawa. Actually I started liking a crap-load of music thanks to this awesome fellow and my friend.
However, a few years later they broke up and I was devastated. I hoped with all my heart that something would come of them again in some form, and luckily, something DID come of them all...
The lead singer, Melissa Kaplan went solo doing some video game vocals and I believe a few movies/documentary gigs as well. When she finally put out her first album, I was most definitely one of the first to order it.
Pretty much every song on the album is amazing and I urge you all to get a copy of it ASAP. Her project is called: Universal Hall Pass, and her two albums are "Mercury" and "Subtle Things".
Here is my favourite sad song on the album, "Misdirected"
http://iacmusic.com/artist.aspx?id=14259
If you need a little sampler, this is the song that first got me excited about the album...it's not sad, but it's BRILLIANT and I've never grown tired of hearing it time and time again. It's called Dragonfly. LOVE IT!!!
Saturday, September 11, 2010
SadSeptemberSongs: September 11, 2010
I will hold this post to be "Self-Evident" and appropriate for the date.
I know it's not quite in the standard song format, and well, Ani Difranco is getting much attention this week...however, there couldn't be a more necessary reflection for today.
I'm sending out all my love and hope into cyberspace today. xoxoxoxo
Ani Difranco - Self-Evident
I know it's not quite in the standard song format, and well, Ani Difranco is getting much attention this week...however, there couldn't be a more necessary reflection for today.
I'm sending out all my love and hope into cyberspace today. xoxoxoxo
Ani Difranco - Self-Evident
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