This Sunday Comes With Music

Just some stuff I'm listening to these days, ^_^!

Emily Wells -- Symphony 1: In the Barrel of a Gun linked from YouTube
Brooke Fraser -- C.S. Lewis Song linked from iLike



Talib Kweli -- Ms. Hill linked from iLike
I miss Lauren Hill so much! I will swear to the day I die
that 'The Miseducation of...' is one of the most perfectly
crafted albums, of any genre, of all time. So whenever
I'm in the mood to mourn, and not to do so alone, I listen
to this song.
Big Scary -- At The Mercy Of The Elements linked from ArtistDirect
This song is purely instrumental and this particular
listen is only a 30 second click.



Regina Spektor -- No Surprises (Radiohead cover) linked from MusicVagabond
What a gorgeous cover! Apparently not many have gotten
on the Spektor train but I have. I find her voice and
instrumentation beautiful, and her approach to song very
different from the standard fare. She belongs to the
category of Tori Amos, so if you don't like the latter, you
may not care for Spektor. Plus she's Russian and
occasionally drops a Russian lyric in a song.
Nina Gordon -- Pure linked from iLike
The Heavy -- How You Like Me Now linked from YouTube
Yes, from the car commercial. Shut up. ;) This video
is so weird.

Pausing our regularly scheduled English language songs for a much needed foreign music injection...
Coffee House OST linked from YouTube
Its the soundtrack for the Korean television rom-com,
'Coffee House', and it's damn good. So, here's the
foreign portion of the list. Sorry but I can only share
the artist name since the Korean characters won't show
up on my post.
1. SG Wannabe, Ock Ju Hyun
2. Jo Sung Mo
3. So Yeon (of T-Ara) and Ock Ju Hyun

Now resuming our regularly scheduled English language songs...



Nas and Jay-Z -- Black Republicans linked from iLike
The Cardigans -- My Favourite Game linked from YouTube
Kid Cudi -- (Pursuit of) Happiness linked from iLike
and for good measure, here's the video. linked from VeVo
This song is such a damn good groove. Like a caramel's
warm sweetness on my tongue this song just makes me
want to sit back, nod my head, and relax.
Rihanna -- Te Amo linked from Clutch
Uh, Ri-Ri is much more progressive than I would have
initially assumed. That video is something different
from your standard Mistress of R&B/Hip-Hop fare.



Kanye West -- Power linked from Clutch
Oh, Kanye! Why can't I quit you, for you surely are an ass!
Then again most creative types are jerks so, okay, in that he's
just following the prescribed pattern.

A Girl's Open Thread

You know what to do. Comment on stuff. Whatever you like.

Me? Today I made a cherry clafouti and a Mexican chocolate cake with butter-cream icing. I guess I was in a baking mood. Clafouti is a French dessert and it turned out okay. Someone on Saveur -- where I got the recipe -- described it as a cross between custard and cake. I'd go more with custard, like a bread pudding type custard. It's a tea-time snack so I enjoyed a slice with a scalding hot cup of tea which I forgot was scalding hence my now scalded tongue. I am an idiot, ha!

The Mexican chocolate cake (from Real Simple) is quite delicious. It has cayenne pepper in it which, to be honest, is the driving reason behind why I made the cake in the first place. The recipe called for a chocolate glaze but knowing myself and family not to be chocolate people, I decided to avoid a chocolate-on-chocolate disaster and instead pilfered an icing from another Saveur recipe. I now know how to make a passable butter-cream icing. Huh. While I don't feel precisely accomplished, I don't feel precisely unaccomplished, so yeah, I'm good heading into this weekend.

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'allo! Today a few new recommendations:
Regina Spektor, a Russian-born singer of pretty talent. When sampling her work might I recommend skipping her album, 'Soviet Kitsch', and beginning with 'Begin To Hope' -- it has a better flavor of songs in my humble opinion. She recently released another CD, 'Far', and her musical maturity really shines through every song. I'm currently listening to it (via Rhapsody) and so far 'Far' is fantastic! My favorites off the album as of now: 'Blue Lips' and 'Human of the Year' and 'Laughing With' and 'Dance Anthem of the '80s' is a fun little diddy.

*

Going through the site, Ffffound, and came across this JPEG; the Rilke quote reminded me of the feeling the pic evokes. "My eyes already touch the sunny hill. / going far ahead of the road I have begun." (Rilke); click on the quote to see the pic. Speaking of evoking feelings, I'd love to have this piece. Isn't it gorgeous?

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"The lover whose soul shaken is
In some decuman billow of bliss."
~ Francis Thompson; The Way of a Maid; c. 1890.

Courtesy of A Word A Day, a mailing group dedicated to expanding the vocabulary of the masses by sharing the wonder and eccentricities of words. The italicized word within the quote, decuman, is A Word A Day fare. Do not be fooled by its noun like appearance -- it is an adjective; its meaning? 'Very large'. What I find so interesting about it is A) it is an adjective and B) its etymology. Rooted in the Latin decumanus, itself rooted in decimanus... decimus... and finally decem... each a variation on the theme of 'ten'. Decumanus was used many times by the Romans in conjunction with waves because they held to a belief that every tenth wave was the strongest. It also referred to the main gate of a military camp; the tenth cohort of the legion was stationed at that gate. Since it shares a root, decimate is also a relation and the word, dean, literally means 'a chief of ten'. Isn't that last part just fascinating?

Did you know atone is nothing more than a contraction of 'at one'? Is that not weird?! At least according to A Word A Day. I have my doubts.

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currently running through my mind: Bertie Blackman's 'Heart'
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I am Otaku: welcome to my manga-driven world

Claymore
girls manifest their inner monsters

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Midnight Secretary
because vampires are hot, duh
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BLEACH
it's got everything - Death Gods and a kickass soundtrack!


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[ best source ever ]

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Bitter Virgin
a trip to the tragic side, well worth it
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Deadman Wonderland
this world is seriously fucked. up. I mean, FUCKED UP - it's awesome!


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Listening to a little bit of everything. Sweet, somber and slow still has my number.
Currently, *Regina Spektor's Field Below; kind of bluesy.

*download - song link in bold