Yeah it's been like forever since I blogged. I kind of ...well no not kind of....I WAS completely uninspired to blog . I'm not really sure why..maybe because I've been indulging in my love of anime recently though I've still been perusing the music scene here and there.
But I'm not going to give up on the idea of blogging about music. I've decided to start yet another blog ..this one will be about anime . I'll have to get rid of my K-pop blog because I don't think i can maintain three blogs. Heck i wasn't even able to retain this one.
So my apologies for being far away to anyone who bothers to read my blogs. I'll try to make up for it with a song
Well I was all geared up to start posting in my blog and i got sidetracked by my other love... anime xD Anyways I just watched the first episode of Kotouro-san..cried, laughed and then thought, OMG my blog! xD
So since anime is interrupting my life, I thought I'd do a little post of my favorite anime composer ever Yuki Kajiura. Yuki has composed some of the all - time best OSTs for anime. She has worked on such classics as Tsubasa Chronicle, .hack//Sign , Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Pandora Hearts, Sword Art Online just to name a few.
She is also the brainchild behind such acts as Kalafina and Fiction junction. Yuki's music is often very ethereal or dramatic. But it can be light and airy as well.It's hard for me to just pick one song by her that I like.
Tsubasa reservoir Chronicles came out around 2005 back when i was about 18 and started taking anime more seriously. One could say my love for anime began with that series. OSTs like "I talk to the Rain' "Hear our Prayer" and "Song of Storm and Fire" will always be classics in my heart.
I mean if this isn't epic i guess i don't know what is.
There is a movie I'm going to check out called the El cazador de la Bruja which features her music. Gems like this
I guess that will be my next project after I finish the three anime i'm currently watching xD
Yup, that's right, today we will be discussing an international system of measurements ...NOT! Come on this is a music blog xd
Today I thought I would go all patriotic and Canadiana and relive some of my favorite musical moments as a Canadian. A nice little trip down memory lane and then I stumbled across a song I had not heard for a while by one of my favorite indie bands. I think I was like 16 when this song came out so I was like OMG I haven't heard this in ages.
And it fit well with my mood . Because lately I've just been so tired of the same old same old in the music scene. You know all the U2 rip off bands in the rock scene that are so popular. the same old pop crap. the same old boring indie stuff. the same old Eurovision formula songs. the same old country western yarns. Ok, maybe I'm just bored. But this is my anti-"quit make me listen to the same old crap you music industry freaks"
Well basically I just wanted to use two different definitions of "post" simultaneously xD. I have decided iit's time to rise from the ashes of my blog"s" and revive them. So without any real theme or sense of construction here goes my first post-mortem post.
Subject 1 : AMV Art
Subject 2: Florence and the Machine
Subject 3: when music "looks" better than it sounds.
Subject 4 : Puella Magi Madoka Magica
AMV stands for anime music video. Fans of anime often spend some time and energy to create a music video using clips from their favorite animes. Some of these are very good and there are AMV contests in existence.
Occasionally I stumble across AMV's featuring songs that just fit perfectly for the anime. Though I may not really enjoy the song when just listening to it due to maybe a lack of mental imagery, the AMV provides with me a "look" into the song that can change my opinion of the song. Art is communication and thanks to the occasional AMV i can find myself in communication with a piece of music that may have not touched me before.
Florence and the machine is an UK band that has never really appealed to me. Why? Well they just don't communicate to me. You know like when somebody tries to say something pretentiously meaningful to you and you just stare at them blankly because you don't want to offend them by saying what you are thinking ....which is basically "you're crackers".
But then i found this AMV which was brilliantly made and featuring one of the most epic anime ever produced and I was like...wow ..this fits perfect for the theme of this anime..and ..hey this isn't a bad song by that weirdo.
The anime...Puella Magi Madoka Magica... ..So you want to be a magical girl? Not your typical magical girl anime. it's dark, it's tragic, it's deep. it's somewhat psychedelic. It was a brilliant masterpiece of an anime that shocked me and brought tears and joy. Moving!
And so music and anime clips brillianlty combined and we have this..in itself a masterpiece. Well done to the uploader . I wish I had the time to do stuff like this.
On the path of nothingness, alone without words Down there the ground, up there the sky I should leave, make a move finally But something still makes me stay
Lonely boat in the sea It will survive a thousand storms ‘Cause the infinity keeps calling for it But the other bank is still too far
The road is long through the night Maybe the moon will lead me Flying me to you
Lonely boat in the sea The wind whirls round it, but it keeps on going At the end of the road, it will get rest But a new world keeps calling
Well so much for writing every day!!!. I'll try to keep up in the future.
O anyways, I've been hating on Eurovision this year. Still am, I have like almost nothing to say about it this year. But i do have a favorite. I won't reveal who it is but it will be obvious after this post. So here's how i will reveal it.
My favorite this year was co written by Lisse Cable. Who also wrote the song "Fra Mols til Skagen" which competed fro Denmark in 1995. It finished 5th despite being wedged in the running order between two of the pre show faves. Denmark's best finish in the 1990's .
Silky sheets, and breakfast on blue balconies There will be no wild swans as long as this snow keeps falling
Well my promise to myself to post every day in my blog is failing miserably. By the time I get around to it during the week week I'm just too tired to say anything of worth.
Well a while go before I deleted all my old posts I featured a portugese band called Xaile. I'm in the mood for some bagpipes so here's a song that has a bagpipe kick later on for some raise your heels dancing. it's called "Pintar o verdade"
Maybe that will make me kick my legs up and start posting more.
I see I forgot to post again yesterday. I went out to a dinner party and was tired and stuffed when I got home :D
So I think I'll take some time on this slightly chilly morning to down a cup of coffee and do an update on my musical interests since it is directly related to my recent restarting of my blog.
I used to be an eurovision fan and participate in internet song contests but I found this was making me negative and since i like music and simply want to enjoy it I'm putting this competitive thing out of my universe. Eurovision is a stagnant contest and not always the best quality music though a few diamonds emerge from it. I'll continue to follow the contest but only to pursue my musical interests and find that odd gem.
I enjoy following the various national finals because it gives me a chance to find some artists and music I may like and allows me the opportunity to further pursue a country's musical industry. So on that note i will continue to feature some songs I discovered in this year's national final season in my blog.
I'm still a k-pop fan though this year the k-pop industry is rather lame and hopefully the year will get better especially since the last few years have been epic. I still follow my own country's music industry a bit religiously (Canada). And I like to sometimes just wander around using last.fm or wikipedia to see what various countries offer musically. SO I guess you could say I'm still on my magic carpet ride world journey.
So I guess you could say I'm still "Craving". So on that note I'll leave you with a song titled such by the Austrian born blues singer Saint Lu (stage name of Luise Gruber) who participated in a contest in Germany this year called
Unser Song für Malmö with the following song.
Do you remember that 'One Moment in Time" when a 10 year old girl walked onto the stage of Sweden'stalent show Talang and wooed the hearts of youtube viewers everywhere? Well if you don't here is a reminder:
That girl was Zara Larrson. What happened to her? Well she is 15 years old now and has released her first EP this year. The YouTube video for "Uncover", a song from the album, received 1
million views in less than three weeks. "Uncover" was also released as
the album's lead single, and on February 25, 2013 the song was certified Platinum in Sweden as a result of the song receiving over 5 million streams.
She's back ske's beautiful and she's got some soul. I love the dichotomy in this song between the verses and the music. Almost like the music doesn't catch up to the lyrics until the chorus and suddenly it's "Uncovered". You'll have to turn up the volume on this vid a bit.
Estonia holds this song contest every year called "Eesti Laul" which selects their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. it's become common for singers to compete who also competed in the estonian idol show "Eesti otsib superstaari".
There has been five seasons of this show so far and up to this year two alumni from the show had already won Eesti Laul and those were Getter Jaani (who finished 4th in the 2009 idol season) and won in 2011 and Ott lepland (who won the 2009 idol season) and represented estonia in 2012.
And once again Estonia will have an idol alumni representing them this year as Birgit Õigemeel (winner of the 2007 idol season) will go to Malmo as Estonia's representative. Birgit had tried out originally in 2008 in the older Estonian format "Eurolaul" and tried out in eesti Lul in 2012 both times finishing third.
This year's Eesti laul featured a number of idol alumni. Including 2012 1st place and 2cd place Rasmus Rändvee and Elina Born. And 8th placer Anisa Vänikver.
Two other idol contestants from 2011 participated this year . making a total of 6 out of 20 acts who were idol alumni this year. The winner of 2011 Liis Lemsalu and third placer Rosana Lints also participated. And these are the two I wanted to feature in today's post.
Liis hails from Pärnu and was 18 years old when she walked away with the idol victory in 2011. her winning performances on the final night included this rendition of the patriotic song.."Mis maa see on"
Rosanna was just 16 when she won third place on the idol show in 2013. One of my favorite performances by her was her rendition of laura Pausini's "En cambio no"
Both had songs that I enjoyed at Eesti Laul this year though I think bad choreography was chosen for Rosanna's song "Follow Me"and personally though I enjoy the studio version I actually prefer the accoustic version.
Liis song was called "Uhhuu" and was a very enjoyable funky jazzy blues song that was my personal favorite of semi final 2. So my winner of the idol fight. Well originally I thought Elina Born and I do love the studio version of her song "Enough" but I found her performance a bit melodramatic. So victory goes to Liis!
