This is the New Year!

Hello again at the end of another year! Too fast, way too fast. Too many good things happened this year, and too many things to be thankful for. 

Like every other year, there have been new experiences, new people, hellos and goodbyes and plans that worked and plans that didn't work out. But I know that He has been there through it all. 

I.Can.Guarantee.That.

So, I'm going to skip the retrospecting I usually do in my usual year end blog posts. Instead of the 2000 word essays on life, this year I'm sharing some motivating lyrics by Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino. Here's an exciting song to bring in the new year. :)

Another year you made a promise

Another chance to turn it all around
And do not save this for tomorrow
Embrace the past and you can live for now
And I will give the world to you

Speak louder than the words before you

And give them meaning no one else has found

The role we play is so important

We are the voices of the underground

And I will give the world to you

Say everything you've always wanted

Be not afraid of who you really are

'Cause in the end we have each other

And that's at least one thing worth living for

And I will give the world to you

For December

Season's Greetings!

My favourite month of the year was as perfect as could be this year- from Christmas music programmes at church, carol singing through the nights, a campfire party with orphan kids, family time and lots and lots of cooking and baking.

I've put together a compilation of my favourite Christmas music of this year. It's undoubtedly my favourite music genre. There was so many good songs this year, so I decided to choose the best and make my first playlist on 8tracks.

Listen here

Noted Finds 03

Past posts- Noted Finds 01, Noted Finds 02

One of my favourite things to do is discover new music. I can sit for hours and hours on music blogs. YouTube suggestions let me wander through all possible genres. I start off with alternative or classical or some of the popular sides of indie and always reach this really cool side of YouTube from where I have discovered Marble Sounds, The Narrative, The Cinnamatic Orchestra, Mogwai, The Best Pessimist and other beautiful bands that I wish were not so unknown. Yet, in a way I'm a bit happy that they are unknown because then I feel like part of a small privileged few. 

Today's selection, however is not all from that 'special' side of YouTube, and are not all new groups, but are new finds. My music discoveries the past month has had a few standouts. Here they are:

Arcade Fire- Reflektor / Photograph

I know what you are thinking- this band is not at all new. They have been around for almost a decade. But their new album Reflektor with it's varied track list of great vocals and accompaniment from the talented bunch of seven came out last year with some very good reviews.

But the reason I've included this group in my list is for their amazing soundtrack to Spike Jonze's recent movie, Her. I just loved the simplicity of the soundtrack and how closely it intertwined into the script. I've posted a clip from the movie with the piece 'Photograph' so you can see just how well the two were amalgamated.

Sleeping At Last- Snow

What a beautiful find this was. I was watching some modern choreography one day and this song was what they were dancing to. Sublime. The band is a solo project by the super talented Ryan O'Neill. Sometimes his brother helps out too. I went through some of the older tracks. Such interesting ideas for EPs. I liked 'Atlas' the most. Each track transported me into space. I could fall asleep to them drifting off past stars and planets.

X Ambassadors- Unconsolable

I only found this group yesterday. I was mostly of the opinion that the new alternative rock groups were far inferior to the older bands, but after listening to their 2012 album, 'Litost', my thoughts have changed a bit.

Here's a song from their newest album, "Love Songs, Drug Songs'
Read an interview of them on TheMusicNinja here.

Laura Mvula- Green Garden

What a voice. So soulful. The singles she's released are far from the usual mellowness of soul music commonly tagged retro soul. Her music is the perfect foot tapping initiator. So much so, that I always feel like getting up and dancing. Almost.

'Nobody out there, but it's okay now. Bath in the sunlight, don't mind if rain falls...'

Finally, to complete this list,

LAYLA- Yellow Circles

Totally random find. Only a few tracks to her name, but each praiseworthy. Waiting for more from her. Website- here

(all images are from various sources and not my property)

Noted Finds 02

Some noteworthy music finds from November. This list is quite a mellow collection- the kind of music I like to listen to while I work and when I travel on the bus. Unless I start feeling sleepy- then it's a quick jump to something loud and peppy to wake me up. :)

Half Moon Run- Full Circle

This fresh indie-folk piece is from the only album by the Canadian band. The harmony intertwined with the mandolin and percussion riffs, the vintage overlay video and the deep lyrics, "And the riddles in the pages leave at too much to guess. And the worry cracks a fracture from your hip to your chest" creates quite a beautiful song.

London Grammar- Metal and Dust

I'm not the biggest fan of the genre trip-hop, but the sublime vocals of the vocalist, Hannah Reid is quite soothing and the same mood resonates in the other tracks of their first album, 'If You Wait' released this year.

The Neighbourhood- Flawless

I had listened to 'Sweater Weather' many times before. Although I really liked it, I didn't actually check up on the band till recently. The alternative band was formed a few years ago, but their first album came out this year. I love the mellow tones and the underlying tempo in their music. Sounds equally good on low and high volume. 

The Night VI- Thinking of You

Sometimes YouTube knows what music to suggest. This was one of those times. Classified as melancholic pop, this new band has similar soft tones to London Grammar. The group of 6 filmed the video for this song in the majestic ruins of the Tintern Abbey. Perfect setting.

Brian Crain- Dream of Flying

To sum up this list, I chose a piano composer. I came across him just through random YouTube browsing on a very lovely side of YouTube. His music is so soothing, perfect lullaby, bus-travelling music. 

(all images are from various sources and not my property)

Noted Finds 01

It's been a while since I've had a music post. The thing is, I listen to so much music; so many new songs, new bands and new styles and new genres, it's always hard to choose one to feature.

Over the past year, I've sort of kept a track of my new music discoveries by filling up the inbox of several friends on Facebook. But today I decided to start sharing them here once in a while.

Out of the stuff I found the last couple of weeks, these are some that stood out.

Clean Bandits - Dust Clears

This piece is quite a crazy fusion of genres. I didn't fully appreciate it the first time I listened to it, but it has grown on me. The video concept is equally strange- geometric food, Mormon dude ice skating and the percussion in the snow.  

Amber - Hide and Seek

When I was reading up about Clean Bandits, I found this great site for new music- Origin Music, which pretty much satisfied my new music needs for the week. I was most impressed with the calming harmony of Amber in their cover of Imogen Heap's 'Hide and Seek'. I could fall asleep to it.

Usman Riaz - Firefly

This was quite a cool find. We were watching TED talks one evening and ended up watching his (here). Such a prodigy. He totally reminded me of a real life August Rush- the number of instruments he plays, the composing, the tones, and rhythms. Was quite awed.

Lorde - Buzzcut Season

I actually heard Walk Off the Earth's cover of Royals before I heard the original. And since then I've heard the song on the radio almost everyday. She's 17 and reminds me of Birdy, although their styles are different. Her new album 'Pure Heroine' was released this month. I love it.

Pslams 100 - Beautiful Things

And to wrap up the list is one I found today. My cousins and I are singing at church this week and we decided to do Gungor's 'Beautiful Things' and I found this cover. The a capella is just so beautiful. The group from the University of North Carolina does some great covers of not just Christian music. Listen to their version of Mumford and Sons' Cave too (link here)

And for some reason, Blogger doesn't want me to embed the video- so here is 'Beautiful Things'

Hope the next week brings in some more good new music. :) Happy listening.

(all images are from various sources and not my property)

SATB and a Beat-Boxer

I've grown up in a family of singers. We had enough singers and a pretty much equal distribution of vocal parts to form a family choir. In fact, for one wedding all the music was sung by our choir. 

Even the four of us at home love singing quartets. Despite fighting over parts and arguing over what arrangement sounds better, my parents and brother are my favourite people to sing with.

Of late, I've started loving groups that sing a cappella (voices and no instruments). And this isn't just the usual 4 part harmony, but a superb addition of beat-boxing and vocal percussion which often sounds like a full blown orchestral backup. 

Here are some of my recent favourites:

PENTATONIX:

The group of 5 won The Sing Off in 2011 and have since released 2 albums and a number of singles. They stepped out of their a cappella zone recently and added a cello and violin in one of their covers.

My favourite by far is their version of 'Carol of the Bells' It was in my head the entire December.

I am not a fan of the genres; electronic dance or house, but this mashup of two popular songs by Swedish House Mafia is pretty awesome. 

PERPETUUM JAZZILE:

I would move to Slovenia just to join this choir. Their energy shows just how much they are enjoying themselves. They have such innovative arrangements and some really talented soloists. Their conductor is brilliant (no question where they choir gets their energy from). I think they should do 'Bohemian Rhapsody' next.

Their most famous song is their cover of Toto's 'Africa'. I listened to it with my eyes closed to realise how realistic they sound. 

This cover of Rihanna and Lady Gaga's 'Telephone' is my favourite. I've tried to count how many parts there are, but in vain. What a performance!

Just recently, they released their first music video. A mashup of some of the greatest hits of ABBA.
P.S These people even dress really well!

ECLIPSE:

This group has been singing together for over a decade. So many great covers. I just wish these groups would start composing their own stuff.

In this one they sang along with Jake Coco.

WALK OFF THE EARTH:

This group rose in popularity when their cover of Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used to Know' with their 5 members playing one guitar created a storm on YouTube. I love all their crazy videos and catchy covers, though only a few are a capella. They are quite a fun bunch. 

THE RESCUES:

These indie group is not really an a cappella group, but they have perfect harmony in all their music. Here's one song that is a cappella. Such perfection.

Reasons to Watch the Adverts

I listen to music while I work, but here I am writing blog posts about music. Distractions. Distractions! Sigh...

I don't watch a lot of TV. And the few times I actually decide to while away time watching TV, I end up flicking channels so much, that I probably watch more commercials than programmes. Yes, I'm one of those channel flickers!

Most commercials are easily classified into either 'absolutely ridiculous' or 'brilliant'. But I've found this other classification of 'Okay-ish decent ad, but superb soundtrack'. Sometimes when I need new music, I find them in adverts. 

I've picked out my top 8 (from what I can remember)

1. Nikon: Welcome Home, Radical Face 
Actually, I don't actually remember watching this on T.V. Probably on some website.

2. Sony Bravia: Heartbeats, Jose Gonzalez

They actually used 250,000 colourful bouncy balls on the streets of San Francisco. 

3. Airtel 3G: I Giorni, Ludivico Einaudi

Thank you Airtel for introducing me to the lovely pianist Einaudi.

Ode to Pillow fights

This is where I am now--- working at job applications and reminiscing about college days. Slightly depressing and slightly exciting to summarise the emotions. More on the depressing side, though. 

I'm also enjoying this state of unemployment. It means- more cooking, more writing, more wandering and more music.

Been listening to a lot of Indie Folk this week. Here's my new band discovery- Paper kites. 

Last Saturday night I was part of a pillow fight. Girls against boys- 4 kids below 12 and 3 adults. Crazy fun! Ah, the days of dressing up, walks in the woods and pillow fights!

Sundays in the Kitchen #2

"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius." - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart


Happy Valentines Day. Here's a nice soppy song I was listening to today.

So, back to the kitchen. I actually did bake this on Sunday, it just took a while to post it. 


Another birthday calls for another cake. This is a recipe that I've loved making not because of the taste but more because of how it looks. Even if the top is uneven or if it cracks or looks ugly, you just flip the cake and it's beautiful. Very deceptive, since it is actually a really simple recipe.

"I know my time is coming..."

Yes, my blog has been pretty dormant. Unfortunately, due to my brilliance in procrastinating work, I am piled up way over my head with thesis work that is due in a week. I've wasted time like mad. Christmas was still fun.

One of the few benefits of this is that I find new music and new artists during my work. Today I discovered 'Quiet Company'. Grooveshark was advertising them and I really like their music.

I know the lyrics are not about me waiting for my jury. But it sort of reminded me of that. 


I tried a million times to understand it, and I thought I did. But at the bottom of this there is a panic, and I bought right in. But the problem with me and the problem with you is that we're all just so scared to die. But I know my time is coming.

So let's bow our heads....for something, pray that god is on our side. But the pagan and the pious, they all sound the same, "Oh my god! Oh my god!" The problem with me and the problem with you, is that we're all just so scared to die. But I know my time is coming, I can't keep my time from coming.

Ahhhh! I know my time is coming in just over a week! :(

Stop Motion + Music

This is sort of a recent interest. It was also my brother's first college project and I loved how a couple of thousand pictures played super fast became a movie. I mean, I knew that this is how animated movies are made, but it was fun seeing it happen. 

Stop motion is probably the most primitive form of animation. No need for a video camera to make the video. It definitely seems a lot more painstaking, but it's the uniqueness of the outcome that keeps stop motion animation as in-style as some of the hi-fi graphics used presently in the media industry.


Right from the movies- Corpse Bride, Coraline, Wallace and Gromit, etc etc. to the numerous short films and now increasingly popular in the advertising industry, stop motion animation is all over the place.


Many music artists have used stop motion in their music videos. More specifically- pixilation- where humans are used as part of the animation as apposed to just drawings and clay figures. In India- the recent MTS MBlaze data card ad uses this type of stop motion. 

Music for the Soul

Ludovico Einaudi. Only one word- Wow.


One of the few classical composers who's work is famous while he is alive.


I discovered him only recently. Was sent a link by a friend a while ago, but don't remember it striking a chord with me. I looked him up after listening to the music 'I Giorni' on the Airtel 3G add, 'Endless Goodbye'. And after that, I couldn't stop listening.

My favourite I think is 'Nuvole Bianche'- utterly sublime. His style is known as a minimalistic approach to piano composing. Rightly so, because he uses variations of the same 4 chords throughout Nuvole Bianche.


I love how he has restricted the music to a combination of a maximum of 2 or 3 instruments. Really allows you absorb the uniqueness of the instrument, as apposed to 20 or 30 different ones in an orchestra.


I also downloaded sheet music. Another of my summer projects- learn them! :)


Listen to Primavera and Rainy Mood together. So awesome. 


Blog Post of someone who witnessed one of his concerts. I envy you, Meg! 

"And if you told me we were dreaming I would pinch you to prove we're awake."

I have a LOT of work to do, but this internet is too distracting. And I found new cool music. Happiness.

Pomplamoose-- weirdest name (means grapefruit in French), but super cool arrangements. They do a lot of covers. She has a very mellow voice, and he is one musical instrument genius! Good stuff.


And most of their music videos are VideoSong, a new Medium with two rules:

1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice).
2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds).

Ok. Now back to work. Sigh*

Summer Dresses and Wedding Cake

1. 'I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.' ~George fox 


2. 'I've been getting enough advice over the last few months. I don't want anymore of that now. So, lets just skip to the food' *loud applause* 'Everyone please wait for sometime before you wish the couple. The bride and groom would like to eat first' (Wedding of Ashley and Renu) 


2 1/2. 'Aaahhh' ~Everyone, as the top layer of the cake went 'Splat'! 'Who orders cream cake in 35 degree weather. Now we all have to clear it up' ~person with mouth stuffed with pineapple cream cake. (I benefited too) :)




3. 'Our dreams and they are made out of real things like a shoebox of photographs with sepia-toned loving...' (Nice music for a sunny summer wedding)


4. 'No good with faces and I'm bad with names' ~Jack Johnson and Tanisha Christo. Met someone who remembered a bit too much about me from 8 years ago whom I had no clue even existed. 


5. This song makes me all jumpy! (especially from 2:21)

6. 'I want to go swimming' ~Me

Doorways

I've listened to this song, 'Doorways' by Radical Face about 20 times today. It's making me feel a bit sad because I'd rather be playing tribal games in the forest than designing a shopping complex right now. 


I'm having those flashbacks followed by wishing too often these days. It wasn't that long ago that I'd long to be 'grown-up'. I'd rather be care-free. (I'm saying all this and I know at the back of my head that I haven't seen anything yet. Things are only going to get less care-free!) Now I see children playing hide and seek and wish that hiding and searching was only part of a fun game. 




"When I was just a boy still owl-eyed
I liked to drink the rain to taste the sky
I tried to count the stars while in my bed
to keep the thoughts of monsters from my head

and I believed the stars were wishes
I believed the world was good
I believed things hid in the dark
and that all would turn out just how it should
I believed in all your stories
I believed you'd never lie
I believed if i could climb the trees behind the house,
I'd touch the sky

I believed the skies were doorways home"