floatingleaf | Entries tagged with music

One of my favorite things happened today. A spontaneous, unexpected music discovery. Kiki Rockwell. I was looking for something else on YouTube, and randomly clicked on a video showing a bunch of women in period costumes... and I was totally hooked within the first 30 seconds. LOL. She's just a pure channel for the divine feminine - in its most fierce, uncompromising incarnation. The lyrics give me the chills, because they sound like past life memories and/or ancestral spirits coming through. And the videos are quite creative, as well. Just utterly yummy. Take a look:

And just one more, because it's possibly the trippiest music video I've ever seen:

Current Mood: enthralled

Today I finished all assigned work by lunchtime... then spent the afternoon decluttering some old document folders and downloading music. This wasn't even the plan... but I happened to click on a link to a music video someone posted on NAAS, and before I knew it, I became a hardcore fan of another brilliant singer/songwriter/performer. Ayla Nereo. Her videos are absolute masterpieces (she often directs them herself, in addition to writing the lyrics, singing, dancing and playing several different instruments). I'm just going to post a few favorites:

( more under the cut )

Current Mood: enthralled

Another video from Amigo the Devil, just because. This song is absolutely gorgeous, and it packs an emotional punch. Such raw vulnerability. I've watched a bunch of interviews with the guy, and he actually said it's the most personal song he's ever written, and it makes him feel nervous and exposed to perform it live. But people love it. Of course they do. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't be able to relate all too well. For myself, I just want to hug him and cry. This is deep shadow work. In other words, what most of us need to do a lot more of if we are ever to see a more beautiful outer reality. Why yes - we're still in the thick of Scorpio season. ;-)

Current Mood: indescribable

I had an ambitious plan today to do the 40-question year-end meme that's floating around... or at least an abbreviated version of it. However, in the so-called meantime I happened to discover my latest audio-visual crush... and so this is all I want to talk about right now. :-P I've been more than ready for some new inspiring music for quite a while now... so I'm not really surprised to be swept up in such a powerful fascination all of a sudden. In fact, I've been hoping for something like this to happen soon. I just didn't have the time to deliberately search for it. AND I had a feeling it was going to happen anyway. ;-)

So I took a peek at Dead Can Dance's latest videos on YouTube yesterday afternoon... and she came up as a suggested "similar artist". (Not really similar, but you know how YouTube throws stuff at you, based on what you've watched before? So I'm guessing that the general weirdness of videos was the common denominator here... LOL.) Sevdaliza. First glance at Google search results will tell you she's a "Dutch-Iranian singer-songwriter"... but what it actually means is that her family left Iran for the Netherlands, and she currently lives in Rotterdam. She was born in Tehran as Sevda Alizadeh, and she also has Russian and Azerbaijani roots. Her striking physique is a perfect match for her bold performance style... and it might also amuse you to know that she used to play on the national Dutch basketball team before she decided to devote her life to music (which explains her statuesque, athletic and slightly androgynous charm). She's only been publicly known as a musician for the past few years... but the explosion of raw creativity that she embodies was undeniable right from the start. She would not be contained. In fact, she created her own record label, so as not to be influenced by anyone else's artistic vision. Her videos are bold and surprising, even a little creepy... sometimes in contrast to the songs themselves, which can be piercingly gentle and vulnerable. I know this may sound corny... but I think she is expressing the wounded soul of this day and age. Someone called her a "futuristic traditionalist" (in addition to music videos, I've watched a bunch of interviews as well) - and I think it's a very fitting description. As for her music genre, I've seen it referred to as "electronic", "trip hop", "downtempo", "avant-pop", or even "alternative R&B". I don' really care what you call it. It's definitely unique and captivating. Haunting, even. I just put together a playlist that's almost two hours, and that I am probably going to play to death over the next few weeks. Anyway... instead of prattling on, let me just share a few examples. Here's the first video that caught my attention:

( more under the cut )

Current Mood: enthralled
Current Music: Sevdaliza

Full Moon in Pisces tonight. I had every intention of posting a long entry, but I am feeling decidedly non-verbal. So instead of my typical disjointed ramblings, here's something that expresses my emotional state better than words:

And another one:

This is the vibrational state I want to stay in, throughout all the uncertainty and turbulation that I know is coming. That is all. *breathes*

Current Mood: indescribable

Guess what? I wasn't done finding new music. Here's today's discovery: Barcelona Gipsy Klezmer Orchestra, which recently changed its name to Barcelona Gipsy balKan Orchestra. The group consists of musicians from Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Serbia and Ukraine. To call their music "multicultural" is a glorious understatement.:) They not only use a variety of traditional instruments, but perform a number of very old songs in languages that are no longer in use. Which, of course, hits the spot for my inner linguistic geek.:P As if that wasn't enough all by itself, I totally just developed a crush on the vocalist, Sandra Sangiao. Just watching her sing is almost as engaging as listening to the music. So, without further ado, here's a sample:

And in case you're wondering what language that song is in... it's Albanian.:)

Current Mood: happy

I guess I haven't talked about music in a while. Well then... brace yourself, dear reader, because I've just spent an entire day downloading a ton of stuff that I am very excited about.:) See, I can go for months without adding anything new to my extensive music collection... but then I sort of go berserk and somehow accidentally discover a dozen new artists/bands all at once. If you've been following this journal for a while, you've seen this happen several times already. It's always entirely unplanned and tends to disrupt my daily routine, much like a sudden bout of fever... LOL. Not that I'm complaining. It's a very pleasant disease, and I wish I came down with it more often.:P

Anyway... I was itching for some new cool summer soundtracks, but I never anticipated the massive avalanche I managed to bury myself under this weekend.;D I think I am currently putting together my sixth (or is it seventh?...) new playlist. Hours and hours of music... most of which sends me either dancing wildly around the room, or nearly stops my heart with its breathtaking beauty. Or both. (Yeah, that sounds kinda dangerous... LOL.) The really exciting part is that apparently I had no idea how vastly trendy it has become to combine various folk/ethnic influences together. I mean, I've been on a massive "world music" trip ever since I became aware of it sometime in the eighties... but these days rooting around the globe for inspiration is no longer just a "new age" thing. It's an all-over-the-place thing. It's awesome. One of today's discoveries is a Polish band called Dikanda (apparently "of international renown", though I've never heard of them until today), who draw their musical inspiration from traditional folk sounds of the broadly defined Orient – from the Balkans, through Israel, Kurdistan, Belarus to India. Their songs are gorgeous - and they also apparently invented their own language for the lyrics.;) (Which is an interesting piece of trivia I found on their website.) Unfortunately, I was only able to download two out of their seven albums. (You'd think a band of "international renown" would have figured out how to put their stuff up on iTunes... but, sadly, most of it wasn't there at all.) Still, I am quite impressed by their fresh, unique approach to the "traditional music" concept. I thought they would be my top hit list for today... and then I found E Muzeki. An incredible instrumental duo who take their listeners on an enchanted musical journey through pretty much the entire Europe AND the Middle East. They released four albums between 2003 and 2008... then split up to pursue separate careers with different bands (which I also need to check out at some point in the near future... LOL). Surprisingly enough, they were both born in the US - but their music is a beautiful marriage of their respective Mediterranean and Celtic roots. In other words, this is the kind of magic that happens when you put together a Greek guy with a bouzouki and an Irish girl with a violin. Absolutely breathtaking. <333 Here is one of their album covers:

E Muzeki

I also downloaded a bunch of other stuff, including an awesome "surf rock" band called Diego's Umbrella, whose style reminds me strongly of Gogol Bordello. They have riotously funny lyrics, including song titles like Drinking in Spanish, Kung Fu Fondu, The Fiberoptic Elflord, The Theme of the Glowing Amigo or Lasers'n'Lesbians (yes, really... LOL). And let's not forget the cute French/Latino kid Kendji Girac, with his sweet and invigorating pop tunes in a mixture of French and Spanish. Absolutely perfect for the summer. I can't wait to play them while walking on the beach...

Anyway... gotta hit the pillows, but here's a tiny sample of what I've been raving about. Dikanda:

And E Muzeki:

Yes, that would be my favorite musical instrument in the entire world. I'm pretty sure I used to play it in several of my numerous Greek past lives... LOL. You're welcome, and good night.:)

Current Mood: jubilant

I have something to share today. While going through my old emails, I came across a mention of an inspiring young artist who had just released her first album. It was buried somewhere in a newsletter from one of those "spiritually conscious" organizations I subscribe to (like the Chopra Center etc.). There are quite a few that somehow managed to get me on their mailing list - and while I don't necessarily want to unsubscribe, I often tend to just let those emails pile up for a while before I get a chance to sort through them. In fact, I've been dealing with a massive backlog ever since last fall, when I had no internet access for several weeks right after I moved into my new condo. So yes, I am currently going though some emails I had received back in November 2016. Call me crazy... but I like to deal with things in chronological fashion (and I tend not to delete stuff unless I've at least opened and skimmed through it; and then sometimes I decide to come back and read it later - even if "later" happens to mean next year, LOL). So the abovementioned "new album" isn't quite so new anymore... in fact, she's currently getting ready to release her second one. But, as they say, better late than never. The download page still works; and as soon as I started listening, I knew I was meant to "discover" her at this exact moment in time. It's just... one of those "coincidences" that send the deepest chills down your spine. Because the lyrics to each and every one of her songs describe precisely the emotional/spiritual state of being that I am moving towards. In fact, they resonate with me at a level I feel powerless to convey in words. Let me just say I have randomly burst into tears several times within the past few hours. Those songs open up something within me that is both beautiful and terrifying. They seem to show me what it's like to feel truly connected to your soul - and, apparently, I've never felt it before. Not to such an extent, anyway. But enough of my babble. I'm gonna let the artist speak for herself:

She's just so... radiant. *blinks rapidly* Her name is Fia, by the way, and she's from Sweden. Not that it matters. All that matters is that she's clearly channeling The Divine:

You can sample and/or purchase the entire album here:

https://fiasmusicofficial.com/music

Current Mood: indescribable

Still working on updating my music collection. <3 Yesterday, I accidentally discovered this glorious piece of insanity:

Goran Bregovic, better known as an international film score composer than as a former rocker from the former Yugoslavia, in cooperation with Eugene Hutz, best known as the Ukrainian Gypsy punk rocker from New York.:D I had no idea they wrote (and performed) two songs together - though they are obviously a perfect artistic match, in many ways. Too bad they didn't do an entire album...

I'm too tired for a proper post tonight, but I just wanted to share this, because it made me LOL and basically turned a gray, murky December Sunday into a world music dance party.:) If you are too new to this journal to remember any of my enthusiastic posts about Hutz and his band Gogol Bordello, just take my word for this right now: I am a HUGE fan. *points at icon* ;D

(And a link to their website, just because: http://www.gogolbordello.com/)

Current Mood: exhausted, but happy :)

So, like I mentioned, several of my favorite musicians have new albums available for download on Soundike.com. One of them is Mirel Wagner. Her first album came out a few years ago, and captivated me instantly with its unique style. This - second one - is even better. She is clearly maturing as an artist, honing her seemingly effortless ability to create a powerful atmosphere with very minimalist arrangements (in most of the songs, the only two instruments you hear are her deep velvet voice and an acoustic guitar). She is, without question, my favorite type of singer/songwriter: one who can tell rich, complex stories with very few words. A true poet of amazing depth. Fortunately, I found some clips on YouTube, so I can illustrate my point.:) Here's a live performance from a Seattle radio station:

This is actually one of the "happier" songs on this album. A few others are very, very dark (just like on the first one). Looking at that fresh, young face, you can't help but wonder how she can possibly have lived long enough to have such intimate knowledge of so many aspects of human suffering. But since I have come to believe in reincarnation (and I have; which probably deserves a whole separate post, much like several other topics I haven't had a chance to touch upon in this journal so far), I can only conclude that she is an old soul.:)

Case in point - another excerpt from the same live performance:

And one more. Just a sweet little lullaby... or is it? More of a seductive epitaph, perhaps. At any rate - two minutes you will never forget:

Current Mood: enthralled
Current Music: Mirel Wagner

This is just a FYI post. I have a new favorite singer. Wendy Rule. She's from Australia, and her music is simply magical. To quote her official website: Wild, passionate and empowering, Australian Visionary Songstress Wendy Rule, weaves together music, story and ritual to take her audience on an otherworldly journey of depth and passion. Drawing on her deep love of Nature and lifelong fascination with the worlds of mythology and Magic, Wendy’s songs combine irresistible melodies with rich aural textures and a rare personal honesty to create spiritual music. For once, this marketing blurb actually doesn't exaggerate.:) Here's a sample:

Just listen to THAT VOICE. It's fucking intoxicating. And some of her songs truly are a religious experience. She has a whole album titled Meditations on the Four Elements, which consists of precisely that: deeply calming, atmospheric soundtracks for the contemplation of air, fire, water and earth. Funny I should discover that just as I am beginning to explore my own interest in meditation and pagan spirituality. I wasn't necessarily looking for a guru or priestess... but it looks like I might have found one anyway.:P

Current Mood: enthralled
Current Music: Wendy Rule

Looks like it's been a while since I went crazy over a music band. I don't usually click "play" when people post music videos on Tumblr... but I did this time, and it was a case of instant fascination. The band is called Huldre. They play Scandinavian folk metal, and they're from Denmark. Their debut album, Intet Menneskebarn, was released in 2012. They don't seem to be well known outside of Europe, since my initial Google search didn't bring up much... but eventually I found their website: http://www.huldre.dk. You can listen to a few tracks for free on there, if you're interested. Strangely enough, I couldn't even find them on iTunes - until I clicked on the iTunes link from the band's website. That's when their album suddenly turned up in the store. It has now been purchased, downloaded and synced to my iPod - presumably to be played to death over the next few days.:)

So what's so special about this band? To me, it's mostly the vocals. Or, rather, the perfect harmony between the vocals and the instrumental arrangements. In a lot of similar bands, the overall effect tends to be ruined (for me, at least) by a male vocalist who shrieks as though he was being flayed alive. Here we have a strong, powerful, but clear female voice with amazing range, carrying gorgeous melodies that enhance the primal sound of traditional instruments (the hurdy-gurdy OMG). It's pure folk, served in metal sauce.:) Not the other way around. So, high points from me. Oh, and the lyrics are in Danish, too - which, again, sounds more authentic than the ubiquitous (and often poorly translated) English. Very refreshing.;)

In other random announcements, the new conditioner I just bought at Whole Foods (Nutrafix Hair Reconstructor by Giovanni) makes my hair look AWESOME. Now all I need is a facelift... and I can almost forget which birthday I celebrated last week.:D

Oh, and my most popular piece of Aragorn/Legolas fanfic on AO3 has reached over 3,000 hits. I mean... I can't even. I thought LOTR fandom was mostly dead by now, except for the dwarves. Just knowing that people still read A/L so much makes me almost wish I could write it again... *nostalgic sigh*

And just a tiny reminder to self before I sign off: never ever boast of the fact that your sinuses have cleared. You should know by now that as soon as you say that, they instantly become congested again. It's either due to the cold, or the heat, or the humidity, or the change of seasons, or the dust, or the pollen, or any other random trigger you can think of. There is always SOMETHING. Boil or freeze, rain or shine, the mucus production never stops. It's a fact of life. Get used to it. *weary sigh*

Current Mood: impressed

OK... here goes another Muse video. This one is actually fan-made, and it won a competition launched by the band. Pure genius. I couldn't resist sharing.

This is how the world works, and it needs to end. That is all.

Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: Muse

You know how YouTube would "suggest" similar videos to the ones you're watching? Even if they're not really similar? In this case, there was one feature in common: the song was in French.:) I clicked on the pretty girl out of pure, shallow curiosity... and boom. Her voice pierced my insides with inconsolable longing.;) She sounds almost too angelic, too perfect, to the point where it borders on the saccharine... almost. But not quite. Or it doesn't quite cross that line for me, at any rate. You're welcome to judge for yourselves:

Wikipedia says she's a French singer, born in Paris, but of Algerian, Indian, Cambodian AND Egyptian descent. Ooookay. Sounds pretty uncommon - which is right up my alley. I just downloaded the full album (which appears to be her first one) from Soundike.com for $1.20. And it's all enchanting. They classify her as "Oriental pop" or "R&B", which sort of fits in places - but for the most part, I would say she's a French version of Enya.:) Which, from me, is a compliment.

Don't mind me, btw. I frequently self-medicate with music. I seem to be going through a French phase at the moment. It may or may not be coincidental. And just because I gush over something like a giddy schoolgirl, I am not automatically happy - but I am coping, and that is good enough for now.

Current Mood: enchanted
Current Music: Indila

I wasn't planning on another post this weekend. But I must have spent hours today stalking this Stromae guy all over YouTube... and I absolutely HAVE to share this video. It's got to be one of my favorite songs of all time. Like, on my personal Top 40... or something. The amount of raw emotion this guy puts into his voice gives me the shakes. And there are English lyrics provided... which adds a whole another layer of awesome. <333

Of course, it's a heartwrenching song about a breakup. I have always had a soft spot for those. Or at least since my mid-twenties. Can't think of why..... *massive snort*

Current Mood: enthralled
Current Music: Stromae

So, I spent most of yesterday with the two friends mentioned in one of my recent posts, playing tourists in our own city. First we went to the Art Institute of Chicago, for the Magritte exhibition. I hadn't been to the Art Institute since 2006, so I took my time revisiting the permanent exhibits as well. There is a ton of interesting stuff to see in that place. We were there for a good few hours... Then we had late lunch/early dinner at the famous Exchequer Restaurant, which is nearby. After that, we strolled towards Lake Michigan and settled ourselves on the waterfront to wait for the 4th of July fireworks display. Which wasn't as grand as we expected, but still... I had never actually been to the official Navy Pier 4th of July fireworks, so there goes one item to check off the list of obligatory things to do in Chicago.;) After the show we all needed to use the loo, and there were no public restrooms nearby... so we went to the Miller Pub (another famous Chicago landmark) for desserts. I had an obscenely giant piece of tiramisu (which both my friends were happy to help me conquer, LOL) - and Agnes had a shot of cinnamon-flavored whiskey, which we also shared (it went perfectly well with the cake, I might add). By the time I got home, it was well past midnight...

I do hope we are going to get together more often in the near future. It feels good to hang out with people who pretty much take you as you are, with no veiled judgments or unrealistic expectations. Yes, we are all middle-aged women with various silly quirks and a lot of baggage. We are far from perfect and we know it - but we respect one another. No ego trips, power games or high drama acts in sight. What you see is what you get, from each of us. I always appreciated that, I think... but now I appreciate it more. For reasons, as some people like to say. *wry smirk*

Oh, and my friend Adriana introduced me to this awesome singer/songwriter/performer from Belgium - Stromae. He sounds like a modern, gender-fluid version of Jacques Brel. Simply delectable:

Current Mood: hopeful

I just realized I never finished my 30-day-meme - the one I've been doing, on and off, since 2010 - and there is only ONE topic left to finish it, and it just so happens that the topic fits with something I felt like sharing anyway. So, in the vein of happy coincidences, there you go.

( Day 30 – One last moment, in great detail )

On an unrelated note (or perhaps not really), I have been rediscovering one of my favorite bands. The Waterboys. I just realized I only had an old, creaky cassette tape with some tracks from that legendary first album, Fisherman's Blues. So I looked them up on my fave download site (Soundike.com), and found a few gorgeous songs I had never heard before. Including this one:

I have a feeling a few people on my flist might really love it.:D

And another one - a live performance this time, because it's amazingly vibrant in this particular clip:

The sensual and the spiritual, combined. The very essence of the universe. I must be attracting some incredibly good energies lately for some reason...;)

Current Mood: jubilant
Current Music: The Waterboys

We had another massive snowstorm last Tuesday night. So massive, in fact, that I didn't make it to work on Wednesday morning. Public transit just wasn't up to the task. *sigh* I did make it two thirds of the way there, eventually, but then was faced with the exciting prospect of waiting about an hour for the next bus... and so I hopped on the train back home instead.;P At that point, I was able to say that I had made and HONEST EFFORT, and felt no guilt about enjoying an unexpected day off.:D Which was, incidentally, a blessing, because I'd been up until about 2 a.m. the previous night. Unintentionally, of course - it's never intentional with me, I swear. It just HAPPENS. The fandom discussion on Dreamwidth was just too stimulating... LOL.

burnadette_dpdl can attest to that. We both happened to be participating at the same time, seeing each other's comments pop up as we refreshed the page... and so, inevitably, at some point around midnight I received a text message telling me that we really should go to sleep.:) To which I replied that I honestly had no CLUE how it got to be so late... or something to that effect, LOL. And that I had actually meant to go to bed early that night, not having slept too well the night before. To which I received the following reply: SAME HERE EXHAUSTED WANTED TO GO TO BED EARLY AND THEN I WAS HELPLESSLY AT THE MERCY OF THIS ADDICTION.:D So yeah... we took some time discussing this obvious problem we have, and other things. ( Read more... )

Current Mood: giddy
Current Music: IAMX

Well... looks like my obligatory weekend post will be very brief this time. I meant to make it last night, but somehow that didn't happen. What did happen was cooking, catching up with some comments, organizing iTunes playlists, and Tumblr. Today was laundry, more traipsing around the interwebs, and a pleasant phone chat followed by some texting. Anyway... the VC community over on Dreamwidth is livening up again, due chiefly to the fact that we are starting a group discussion of The Vampire Lestat next week. Yay!!! So I may be more active on there than I am on here from now on. Also, there may have been another bout of pseudo-RP going on via text message last Thursday, which became quite intense. In a good way. But we just got to the point where we had to stop. Uncharted territory... LOL.

So, that's my news in a nutshell. And before I sign off, here's a sample of my recent music discoveries. Or, to be precise, re-discoveries. I finally dug up some of the CD's with music saved from my old computer... and while I was at it, I downloaded a few more tracks by this awesome band. Artrosis. It's Polish black metal, or gothic metal, or darkwave... or whatever you wanna call it. In one word, it's beautiful. Seriously... check out the vocal. If there is a heaven, that's what the angelic choirs should sound like... for me, anyway.;)

Current Mood: accomplished

Ahhh, Gods... life is a whirlwind of crazy at the moment. Work is getting hectic, and it shouldn't be, not at this time of year - I wasn't expecting that, and I do not approve. *scowls* We have a fucking PHONE CALL PROJECT (my favorite thing, right next to pushing a boulder up a steep hill, or poking myself in the eye with scissors, or... well, you get the picture). I may not actually feel suicidal because of it... but I am certainly pissed off. I almost wish the boss hadn't returned to the office after her surgery; it was so blissfully quiet while she was gone...

That's the bad crazy. The good crazy is my new enthusiastic VC friend, who is almost single-handedly trying to revive the semi-catatonic fandom, and doing a pretty good job of it, too.;) ( Read more... )

Oh, and another thing before I sign off: I've been itching for some new music, and I've found a perfect cure for that particular affliction.:) Abney Park. As recommended by

meathiel. I just finished downloading over 40 tracks from Soundike.com. They are AWESOME. I have a feeling I'll be playing them to death over the next few weeks...:D

Here's a lovely fanvid to illustrate my point:

So thanks again, Kerstin. And feel free to throw more recs at me, whenever. Your taste in music is exquisite...;)

Current Mood: crazy
Current Music: Abney Park

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Floating Leaf

Entries tagged with music

the goddess exists :-)

love at first sound :-)

I thought I had more to say... but this song is enough

new year, new music :-)

moon vibes ;-)

I'm on a roll, savvy? ;)

the songs of my people ;)

I am made of stars :)

and now for something completely different...:P

one of the things I am thankful for this weekend :)

why have I never heard of this woman before???

Danish folk metal for the win :)

wow... look at this

and then I found this

why yes, I have to fangirl SOMEONE, apparently - and this nice young man works just fine :)

wherein I find myself in suitable company, for once

positive energies

am I starting to sound like a broken record?... bites lip

briefly and to the point :)

a condensed little pill :)