Haven't The Time, But Might As Well Write Something.

Ah, as I simply wrote in my last post three or four days ago, John and I are back from Alaska. We got back on Thursday from our fifteen day trip to the north. So, what can I say, other than that it was amazing! I haven't yet been able to upload all of the pictures, but when I do I'll post them. 

By the way, the state-long driving mixes, worked out perfectly! The timing was perfect and everything. I haven't much time to write anything else, but I'll finish type something up soon, and start to resume the mood music postings. 

Oh My! I'm Back From Alaska!

Oh My! I'm Back from Alaska!

The Flaming Lips: Now Onto The Conventional Stuff, i.e. Why I Love The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips. 

Favorite Song(s): Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pts. 1 & 2 (obviously). 

Favorite Album(s): At War With The Mystics, Clouds Taste Metallic

Now onto the conventional stuff: Why I love the Flaming Lips. My number one reason for this beyond the obvious (and if you can't figure that out, you should stop reading and impale yourself . . . uh, yeah) is that the only thing separating Wayne Coyne and I at the concert here last year was a large plastic bubble (just repeat those last three words in your head . . . to get the full effect . . . and then precede down page for the visual interpetation). 

There's not much else I'm going to say, because I have to leave in a little bit and haven't the time to say more. So . . . search the internet if you're really into reading some drab tidbit about The Flaming Lips . . . I'm sure there are about a million of them out there. 

Sleater-Kinney: Why I've Written About Them Before And Why I'm Writing About Them Again.

Who doesn't love a band that's totally rocking the strong power women trio thing? That's the basis for my love of Sleater-Kinney . . . besides the fact that their music is totally kickin'. I know I have written about them before, so I'll spare you the benign tidbits of my devotion towards female power artists (by that I mean I love good music created strong female leads, who doesn't . . . wait, I know who, misogynists . . . sheesh). Instead, I am going to set the scene . . . as I do for all my music . . . relay the mood. I know this is going to sound REALLY stupid but this power trio makes great as street music . . . now, please let me explain before, one gets to thinking that I'm crazy for making a comparison between this and the music on the urban street scene. 

Picture it: It's sunny. A bright day, the first one in what might have been a week . . . it's August or something like that . . . whenever hurricane season is because the tropical weather has pushed rains your way, flooding the north with cloudy skies and thousands of climate-induced depressed people . . . This day, however, the sky is clear . . . you know, in one of those "the world is your oyster" kind of ways . . . if that makes sense. Anyways, the sky is clear . . . blue with little patches of clean puffy white clouds . . . and beams of sunlight seem to be emitting somewhere from around your head as you walk confident and secure (in some sense I suppose I could say that is because you just listen to The New Pornographers after the scandal (see earlier post for more info) and woke up today to meet the world fully). What are you playing on the headphones? Sleater-Kinney, duh! Those indie punk riot grrrl beats . . . totally make an impact of the first day of sunshine! 

I, of course, totally know about this one from experience. Whenever I go out for a walk . . . to the market or wherever . . . I set the mood with a little bit of this . . . you know it, a little "Heart Factory"  or "Dance Song '97" are the soundtracks to every walk outside (well, not every, because this only really includes city walking where sidewalk is included). 

The New Pornographers: Sing Me Spanish Techno As I Walk Through Streets Of Fire

With The New Pornographers I have the albums Mass Romantic, Twin Cinema, and Electric Version, but I must say that I am quite partial to Twin Cinema over the other two (if you can't get it from the title my two favorite songs of theirs are "Sing Me Spanish Techno" and "Streets of Fire"). I'm kind of stuck on where to place these guys through way of the mood situation. 

What I'm kind of feeling, I'm kind of unsure of, because most of what I say by way of creating mood for music is based of personal experience and trial (like when I say Camera Obscura is good for the shower, it's because I've listened to it in the shower and a whole lot of other places . . . but I get the optimal feeling from it when in the shower . . . it just you know, connects). However, I've not actually tried or experienced what I'm feeling now . . . I'm just feeling that this is what I would do if possible. But anyways here it goes . . . the sitsu:

It's about 7:00, and you're going out for a night on the town with this wonderful guy (this situation is better suited if you're a female) and you're liked expecting this night to be totally cool, you know cause you've been out in the past and it was like . . . awesome, total connection, you know. So you're going to meet up at the cafe down the street and then go out for one of those dusk lit picnics in the quaint garden/park across the way. Obviously it's May or late April . . . still spring, but it feels like everything's on the brink of summer, but not quite yet because you still have to wear a light jacket for the cool nighttime. Anyways, you're at the cafe to meet up. You've been waiting for 20 minutes . . . you wait some more . . . then 30 minutes into your wait, you see a familiar someone walking along the street carrying the same basket he wooed you with on a previous date, except now on his other arm some other totty is chatting is up. You've been a) stood up and forgotten about, b) tossed aside for this complete lesser version of yourself, and c) totally hungry because you wanted to save some space in your tummy for that nasty food he always packs on the picnics anyways. Completely bashed, you walk back saddened and disheartened to your flat back down the street. Go up the flights of stairs; unlock the door. Throw down your jacket, purse . . . grab an apple from the bowl on the table . . . switch on the sound system . . . put on your headphones . . . crank up the volume . . . and listen to some New Pornographers. Now, everything is better. 

Wasn't that, like, completely picturesque. Don't you wish it had happened to you so, I don't know, you could actually know what the experience feels like and know if The New Pornographers actually does turn your frown upside down. Wow, that was a lame thing to say. Whatever. 

St. Vincent: What We Put On The Speakers For Some Good Ole Cooking And Babka Baking Bliss.

The next in the line up is St. Vincent. This is cooking music . . . baking music . . . babka making music.  It sets the perfect mood for anything you would ever want to make. John loves Annie Clark's voice so much that he puts it on every time he cooks or bakes . . . anything.  So, yeah, I suppose I am a little biased since I hear it every night (basically) while someone is cooking. However, even before he started doing such, I would put "Paris is Burning" on repeat while baking babka . . . it has the best rhythm to knead dough to . . . the same goes for chopping up fruit, veggies . . . it just kind of put you in this beat where everything flows just right . . . and when I'm in that beat I'm less likely to chop off a finger or get put off by kneading dough. 

Anyways, on I haven't mixed St. Vincent into the "Ultimate Alaskan Road Trip Music Mix" (that's the tentative name for it at the moment) . . . I'm figuring it'll be placed somewhere for the nighttime . . . with mountains . . . maybe another "Montana" . . . or maybe "British Columbia" . . . I don't really know how it is feeling for me right now. I'll figure out later. Hm. 

Yo La Tengo: Music For The Twelve O'Clock.

So yeah, I've been slacking with the musical selections, so today I'll be posting like a million of them. Starting today off, Yo La Tengo! This is music for the afternoon, you like some music is great for waking up and then other selctions are better for when its evening and dark out.  This is "it's twelve o'clock outside and the sun is shinging brightly and there is nothing that can stop the day from . . . being" music. Recently I put on the Yo La Tengo "I Am Not Afraid of You and Will Beat Your Ass" while I was slicing fruit in the afternoon . . . doing laundry . . . making gourd birdhouses.  You know all those multiple mid-afternoon, 12-4 pm activities you did when you're not at work. You turn the Yo La Tengo up really loud (because you can) and everything goes a little quicker.

Also, in the Alaskan Road Trip mix (John and I leave one week from now! EXCITED!), I've placed Yo La Tengo in the "Montana" part of the trip (I've divided the musical selections via state to make the task easier for me . . . we currently have the "Kansas," "Nebraska," "South Dakota," "Wyoming," "Montana," Idaho," Washington," "British Columbia," and "Alaska!" music mixes . . . they're not all finished, obviously). Anyways, that's all I have to write for now, goodbye. 

Le français est plus dur qu'il regarde : J'essaie ma main à l'écriture dans une langue étrangère et il ne résout pas très bien. Evidemment.

J'essaie de traiter mon français, donc j'écris cette poste en français. Je ne sais pas, mais je ne pense pas que ceci résoudra pour moi. Je suis un cours dans lui parce que je ne l'ai pas parlé puisque j'étais seize et je vais en France sur l'été l'année prochaine. Mon patron pense que j'ai besoin d'être préparé. Je ne suis pas dans lui qui beaucoup de mais essaie de ne pas faire ces sensations connues. De toute façon, je suis excité du voyage en France. Je n'ai pas été à l'Europe depuis ma période là-bas pendant un deux stage d'an. Bien sûr, pendant cette période que j'étais dans Autriche, donc ce n'était pas tout à fait le même comme ceci sera. J'ai apprécié l'Autriche tout à fait beaucoup, bien que. C'était un pays merveilleux avec les quantités abondantes d'histoire et de vues pour voir. Bien, je dois arrêter l'écriture maintenant. Je peux me sentir que ceci sera plus dur que j'ai pensé. Seulement la moitié de ces mots est correcte.