My "danceable" music list

I have never taken a liking to dance music, and I usually only find myself on the dance floor whilst heavily smashed. However, just recently I have learned to appreciate good danceable (as I define it) music. My preference has always gravitated towards indie rock and alternative, so I'm really a newbie at this kind of stuff. I'm not good at identifying genres, but I think it would be safe to say that the songs in question are a mash up of electronica, pop, funk, and rock. I just bought myself a decent entry-level ipod docking station and I have been cranking it up full volume and repeatedly playing these hugely enjoyable tracks. Sorry, but hip-hop and r&b songs still remain ostensibly absent from the list. I would rather slash my wrists than be caught dead listening to THAT music (I apologise for having very strong opinions about this. All of us are entitled to be musical snobs anyway).

1. Time to Pretend - MGMT
First heard it from Jim Sturgess' 21 and since then I have been hooked. Love the lyrics too.

2. Electric Feel - MGMT
Totally catchy! And the music video is a complete throwback to the 80's.

3. Must Be the Moon - !!!
I saw !!! (pronounced Chk Chk Chk...check out how they came up with the name) in concert last June and I immensely enjoyed the band. The album this song came from is called Myth Takes - not a five-star quality album but some of tracks are indeed pretty awesome. Must Be the Moon, underrated as it is, is hands down the best thing to come out of '07, methinks. This song will ALWAYS manage to get me in a good mood.

4. Frou Frou's Details Album
Imogen Heap is mesmerizing. I love all the tracks in the album. In fact, these songs have been on heavy rotation in my ipod and laptop for several years now. Pity that the duo only managed to release one album before they disbanded in '03.

5. The Whitest Boy Alive's Dreams Album
For a time I was listening to the whole album on repeat, every single day. According to the band's website, they "started as an electronic dance music project in 2003 in Berlin, but have since slowly developed into a band with no programmed elements". TWBA's vocalist/guitarist is Norwegian Erlend Oye, who is 1/2 of Kings of Convenience. His voice is truly soothing that sometimes you'd be torn between being lulled to sleep and bobbing your head to the music. Note: not all tracks are danceable. Majority are slow and mellow relaxation-ish fare.

6. UFO, and Pictures - Sneaky Sound System
These songs were massive last year in Australia. A bit too loud for my taste but I mainly like them for the nostalgia factor.

7. Sleeping In, District Sleeps Alone Tonight, Such Great Heights,
Nothing Better - Postal Service
I worship Ben Gibbard, so it only follows that I would also love his little side project. Jenny from Rilo Kiley also did guest vocals for them and that's another plus. Electronica has never been this good and listener-friendly.

**HERE'S MORE:
8. You Were the Last High, We Used to be Friends & other stuff by The Dandy Warhols
They've been around for ages (Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth was one of their earlier hits) but I only started to really listen to them after hearing We Used to be Friends on The O.C. (Adam Brody was dancing to the song) . Yes, I know that the series was pure hogshit, but you gotta admit that the soundtracks were crazy good.

Death Cabbing in Singapore

Finally saw my favourite band perform live at the Esplanade two weeks ago. This is the first time that I have flown to a different country just to watch a concert - I guess that only goes to prove that I truly occupy top position in the hierarchy of Death Cab for Cutie fanhood.

I began to get all giddy like a fangirl minutes before the concert started. And when the band went on stage I felt an electric wave ripple through me. Ben Gibbard didn't have his glasses on and he actually looked a bit rockstaresque, nearly the antithesis of his usual geekazoid self. And wow do they sound better live. I was in complete and utter awe for the next ninety minutes.

I would like to believe that I am a very subdued type of person and on regular days I behave as if I'm on heavy doses of tranquilizers, but that night I was shrieking like a deranged fangirl, it was embarrassing. I would yell my tonsils out at the beginning and at the end of each song. And dear lord I was even singing along. Loudly. I was obviously not comporting myself normally during the concert.

And the most awesome line of the night from Ben Gibbard: I'd like to thank our opening act, Dead Air. I found myself letting out a very loud chuckle. Sigh. I heart dorky jokes.

Oh and I would like to mention that there were quite a few things that night which could have potentially ruined the experience for me but didn't, after all: Guy with the Massive Head standing directly in front of me, pretty much obstructing my view the whole night; the girl next to me who smelled like jackfruit (turns out she came to the concert by herself, the poor thing); my not-so-top-of-the-line camera and the fact that I wasn't able to take videos. That night I resolved not to take any videos anymore so I could fully enjoy the concert, and this was the best decision ever. Sometimes we focus too much on getting the perfect angle and not having shaky arms while filming concerts that we often forget to just listen. And watch. And enjoy.

I was so relieved that the band's Narrow Stairs songs didn't dominate the set list, seeing as I did not like that album very much. And I was also very pleased that they played good stuff from their past albums, songs from my college days which made me all nostalgic. And the best surprise was them saving my two ultimate favourite DCFC songs for last. How wonderful was that*

*Tiny Vessels is such an eloquently beautiful song. I understand exactly what Ben was trying to say.
**It's funny how everyday snippets of DCFC lyrics find their way to play in my head. As we speak this bit from Crooked Teeth is reverberating in my mind: I'm a war, of head versus heart/And it's always this way/My head is weak/my heart always speaks/Before I know what it will say

Their set list: (from Junk Online)
1. Bixby Canyon Bridge (Narrow Stairs)
2. The New Year (Transatlanticism)
3. Why You’d Want to Live Here (The Photo Album)
4. Crooked Teeth (Plans)
5. Photobooth (Forbidden Love EP)
6. Long Division (Narrow Stairs)
7. Grapevine Fires (Narrow Stairs)
8. A Movie Script Ending (The Photo Album)
9. Company Calls (We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes)
10. Title Track (We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes)
11. Soul Meets Body (Plans)
12. I Will Follow You Into the Dark (Plans)
13. I Will Possess Your Heart (Narrow Stairs)
14. Cath… (Narrow Stairs)
15. Styrofoam Plates (The Photo Album)
16. Expo '86 (Transatlanticism)
17. The Sound of Settling (Transatlanticism)

Encore:
18. Your Bruise (Something About Airplanes)
19. Title and Registration (Transatlanticism)
20. No Sunlight (Narrow Stairs)
21. Tiny Vessels (Transatlanticism)
22. Transatlanticism (Transatlanticism)

I desperately tried to get myself a shirt but the queues to the merchandise booth were massive and they eventually ran out of stuff to sell. The band had an autograph signing after the concert but I had nothing for them to sign (plus there were a bajillion people in the autograph queue) and that left me depressed as hell. Good thing a friend scored a shirt for me during their Sydney concert. Someone's a happy camper again.

Since the place got packed cos of the autograph signing, me and my friends wanted to outsmart everyone else and so we decided to go out of the Esplanade to try and get a good view of the band members from the glass windows outside. We did get a good view of their...backs. Plan:failed.

It was truly a pity we didn't get to interact with the band post-concert because I already had my whole We-came-all-the-way-from-the-Philippines-speech rehearsed in my head. Maybe I can finally deliver my spiel in their next one.

Rudderless

Waiting for something to break
Left my heart out to bake
Nothing there in my glass
Wasn't air meant to last

All the way down to the lake
Found the lake was wet
How much more could I take
Better yet
Walked back home to my place
Tired of getting high
Guess I don't wanna die

Hope in my past
Hope in my past
Hope in my past
Hope in my past

Waiting for something to break
Left my hear out to bake
Slipped my mind that I could use my brain
I'll stay up all night and crash on the plane
Ship without a rudder's like a
Ship without a rudder

I wanna ditch the logical

So denied so I lied are you the now or never kind
In a day and a day love I'm gonna be gone for good again
Are you willing to be had are you cool with just tonight
Here's a toast to all those who hear me all too well

Put your name on the line along with place and time
Wanna stay not to go I wanna ditch the logical

All my time is froze in motion
Can't I stay an hour or two or more
Don't let me let you go

Here's to the nights we felt alive
Here's to the tears you knew you'd cry
Here's to goodbye
Tomorrow's gonna come too soon

Please please let me get what I want

Haven't had a dream in a long time
See, the life I've had
Can make a good man bad

So for once in my life
Let me get what I want
Lord knows, it would be the first time

A very bad habit and Corbijn's Control

Every time I find myself submerged with work, I do either of two things: surf the net like mad or go to the movies. Today I did both. I spent a good bit of the day checking out people's blogs, online forums, wiki, rotten tomatoes, IMDB and Facebook. I also searched for other postgrad programs that I might consider doing in the future (haha). I combed the www for certain 'dream jobs' as well.

Tonight I also saw Control, the black and white biopic of Joy Division's vocalist Ian Curtis (directed by Anton Corbijn). He committed suicide at 23 (sometime in 1980). I wasn't born yet at the time the band got big, but I do know of a couple of Joy Division (which later on became New Order) songs.

My verdict: Control was painfully beautiful. Corbijn reportedly decided to shoot the film entirely in black and white to reflect the atmosphere of Joy Division and the mood of the era. Each scene mirrored Ian Curtis' tortured soul, and his music is now replete with even more meaning as we see how his personal torment and grief compelled him to pen such melancholic lyrics (when asked whether Joy Division's music is beautiful, Curtis replied that "Some of it is...but some of it is not meant to be beautiful"). The haunting words and melody of 'Love will tear us apart' are still playing in my head as I type this.

What's your Friday song?

...mine's still the eternal classic Friday I'm In Love by The Cure, of course. It's been my Friday anthem since high school, and back then, Fridays = Galleria Day with friends (Sigh, to be sixteen again...). The minute I set foot in the mall after we've been let off from school, the opening riffs of the song automatically start playing in my head.

Back in college, Fridays meant hanging out with orgmates after class and/or seeing films at the UP Film Centre. When I started working, Fridays meant after-work dinners and drinks with friends. Nowadays my Fridays mean no uni, since Friday's the only weekday when I don't have class.

With or without romantic interests in my life, that song will forever be My Friday Song. It sucks that I might have to share it with probably a quarter of the people on this planet, but the fact remains that it is still my Friday-pick-me-upper. I wish I could just acquire the rights to the song so I can charge everyone royalties everytime they'd play my song on Fridays.

Incidentally, my flatmate's Friday song is Lauren Wood's Fallen. What's yours?

Am I right side up or upside down?

Dave came to Sydney! Waah! Like I told Roanne, Joy and Edwin last night:
I can die now.

Highlights of the DMB Concert:

- The first song they played was Crush, my all-time, desert-island favorite song. It was probably their longest rendition ever since it went well over 12 minutes, and I patiently recorded the whole song on my digicam (though at one point my hands and arms were beginning to shake involuntarily...and my nose started to itch!). God really knows how to balance the universe. After a particularly bad week and the recent series of unfortunate events which befell me, He decided to compensate for it with this!

- Dave kept doing his cute "monster voice" in between songs (Thank you for coming!). Think Cookie Monster.

- Dave's dance moves throughout the night were basically a combination of "scissors" and an LA-walk sort of move. Haha!

- At one point though, I started to get annoyed by the fact that it was taking them forever to end a song, due to the requisite "solos" each band member had to have so they could display their wicked guitar/saxophone/drum/violin/piano/trumpet playing skills.

- Unfortunately, they didn't play my other faves like Space Between, Crash into Me, Satellite and Lover Lay Down. Good thing they performed their other hits Stay (Wasting Time), Jimi Thing, Ants Marching and Tripping Billies.

- They were selling DMB merchandise at the venue and I set my sights on this gray hoodie which had a "Dave Matthews Band" print, though it cost $80 and I had second thoughts about the price. Some people who bought the exact same hoodie were already wearing it after the concert, and upon closer inspection the material didn't seem that thick (wouldn't keep me that warm in winter). I mentioned this to Roanne, and I told her that maybe I can just order other DMB stuff online. Haha, what a way to console myself. Sucks to be a cheapskate.

- One of the burly security guards at Hordern approached us and ordered (ordered!) us to empty our bags. He then confiscated our water bottles and my half-finished bottle of iced tea and proceeded to dump them straight into the bin. The rationale behind the no-food, no-drinks inside the venue policy was to coerce people to buy stuff from the vendors inside. And wow, they really jacked up the prices of everything. Poor Roanne was forced to buy a teeny tiny cap-less bottle of water for $3.

- The lady guard allowed me to bring in my jumungous shoulder bag while Roanne had to leave her significantly smaller-sized backpack in the cloakroom. Weird. Note to self, always bring feminine-looking bags to concerts in Sydney, regardless of size.

- We decided to sit at the back row of the middle section since Roanne and I were scared of stampedes and rowdy people in the standing area. Because of the Wowowee tragedy, I will now perpetually fear stampedes. I mean, I love Dave and all, but he's just not worth dying for.

Overall, it was an excellent concert. Thanks, DMB.

Death Cab for Cutie, I am waiting for you guys.

Snippets

Here are fragments of songs, poems and movies (even advice!) which have been reverberating in my head for the past few days. Just a disclaimer, there is no coherent theme binding them all together. For some inexplicable (or explicable hehe) reason they have just been tormenting me, creating a totally bizarre cornucopia of melodies, images and dialogue in my head. Oh, and some of them are just frighteningly sappy, and I apologize. My tastes can't be discriminating all the time, and my mind apparently has a mind of its own...

1. Smashing Pumpkins' Try, Try, Try (along with its hauntingly beautiful music video)

2. MJ telling Spidey "We have to forgive each other or everything we ever were will mean nothing" (the trailer keeps playing on TV)

3. Neruda's "Es tan corto el amor, y tan largo el olvido" from Puedo Escribir Los Versos Mas Triste Esta Noche

4. Go West's King of Wishful Thinking (haha!)

5. Sylvia Plath's Mad Girl's Love Song

6. That Neil Gaiman quote which starts with "Have you ever been in love..."

7. Rilke's You Who Never Arrived

8. Karen Kunawicz's Sound of One Heart Breaking

9. That awful theme song from Neighbours: "Neighbours should be there for one another...that's when good neighbours become good friends..." (I'd really love to explain why, but I don't want to jinx anything yet. All I can say is that it's this little project that's been making me and someone else so excited as of late. I think I'm gonna call it Operation N.H. hehe. Will divulge everything when the time is right.)


10. Charlie reminding me the other day that I once told her back in college that she will just laugh at *everything that happened* in the future (I'm nearing that stage now, Charlie...!)

11. K's Choice's Almost Happy

12. The plot of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind