End of This Blog

I think you guys already know by now that this blog is dead. I’m not saying that the posts aren’t worth reading or anything, but this blog is dead. Forever. I have another blog though, but I only review books on that, or it’s more of a book journal. So if you’re interested here’s the link to that blog: http://wordsnotesandfiction.blogspot.com/

Triple Reviews #2

1. Absencen by Kammerflimmer Kollektief

Kammerflimmer Kollektief is a German jazz experimental musical group that was formed in 1996. They recently formed a band named Schwarzenbach. Absencen is a gorgeous yet mysterious and noisy album. The album has your typical Nu Jazz structure, the organs, the sax, the drums, and all the jazz instruments. But there’s something about this album that really pulls me in, it’s very dreamy and ambient, peaceful yet destructive. 

2. Heartland by Owen Pallett

Another dreamy, ambient, gorgeous album. Owen Pallett, previously known under the stage name Final Fantasy, is a Canadian musician who has done many collaborations with bands and musicians such as Linkin Park, Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, Beirut, Fucked Up, Guthrie, and many others. Heartland is a wonderful treat for the winter with it’s striking, flourishing string orchestra, and brass, twinkling, bouncy synthesizers, pounding percussion and Owen’s airy voice. I got this album for Christmas, and I really enjoyed it and I listened to it everyday. Since Owen Pallett plays both the violin and a synthesizer, his music sounds classical yet modern due to his styles of playing the violin (he occasionally plays it like a ukulele) and his Nord synthesizer.

3. Sundark and Riverlight by Patrick Wolf

Patrick Wolf is one of many favorite musicians and he will continue to be with his fantastic songwriting and his voice. So in this album, Patrick takes some of his songs from the past and today and strips them down into an acoustic sound. Patrick plays his tenor guitar, his viola, and a string orchestra and his piano to produce a emotional and heartbreakingly beautiful album that has me repeating some of the songs over and over. Some of the songs were stripped into a such a simple and minamalistic way, that you can actually hear the rawness in Patrick’s voice. 

So I’m back, I probably won’t anything new soon though, I’m a horrible blogger anyway. My blog is not dead though.

~Goodbye~ 

Writing Soundtrack

So lately I have been writing mostly short stories and writing bits and pieces of novellas that I plan to finish one day. When I write I  like to listen to music out loud, and drink hot beverages like chocolate milk or earl grey tea. I find this funny though because most writers can’t concentrate when music is playing in the background. For some reason though, music actually helps me write. So here’s a few albums I listen to when I write. I usually listen to alternative and folk music.

1. Bleed American by Jimmy Eat World

I know this is probably one of Jimmy Eat World’s most overrated album. Although, I can’t help it, I love how “happy” it sounds. I love the fast, catchy, pop punk songs and the sweet little ballads. Bleed American also has a good equal balance between ballads and rock songs. Occasionally I do like to delve into pop punk even though a lot of people seem to hate it now.

2. Finders Keepers by 8mm Sky

Post-rock is just the perfect soundtrack for everything.

3. Any album by Nick Drake

Nick tells stories by sitting with a guitar and singing. Another reason why I love his music.

4. Smoke Ring For Halo by Kurt Vile

For some reason I find his folk songs to be really relaxing. His music is also perfect for the winter season.

5. 讓我想一想 (Let Me Think Twice) by Cheer Chen

Another relaxing folk album. It seems to bittersweet sound to it.

6. Either/Or by Elliott Smith

Again, another relaxing folk album.

7. Oceania by The Smashing Pumpkins

This album is amazing, I love the synthesizers. It’s pretty addictive.

8. The Alcatraz Kid by Jeremy Messersmith

This guy is pretty cool, if you like Elliott Smith then I highly recommend him. His songs are very sweet and emotional.

9. Lots of post-rock and Neoclassical music like Ólafur Arnalds or Explosions in the Sky.

10. Any albums by Joe Hisaishi or Ryuichi Sakamoto

If I go any longer, this list would go on forever. Oh, I forgot, I will also include The Bends by Radiohead.

Here’s a Playlist.

Oh hi guys! Here’s a playlist I recently made. There will be reviews someday!

1. Jesus Fever by Kurt Vile

2. Summertime Clothes by Animal Collective (Ironically it’s not summer anymore)

3. The Gypsy King by Patrick Wolf

4. Ghost Towns by Radical Face

5. Sun by Two Door Cinema Club

6. Sleep Alone by Two Door Cinema Club

7. DEAR FREEDOM by ACIDMAN

8. Life On Mars? by David Bowie

9. Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead

10. Gravity by Vienna Teng

 

Hello! Again….

Well, this blog isn’t dead, I just haven’t really been in the mood to review anything and I’m in school now. However, I have a last.fm account so if your curious, here’s a link to my profile:http://www.last.fm/user/HeadphoneGirl11. We can talk about music and blogs and all that wonderful stuff.

-tsukihana- by Nana Kitade

1. -tsukihana-

2. Kagami no kuni Aria

3. Manon

4. -tsukihana- (Jigoku Shoujo Mistuganae Opening ver.)

5. -tsukihana- instrumental

Nana Kitade is a Japanese rock musician known for her Gothic Lolita fashion. “-tsukihana-” is her 12th single and is featured on her last album “Bondage”. She formed a band called Loveless a few months after “Bondage” ( Bondage was released in 2009). “Tsukihana” is one of my favorite songs by Nana Kitade, it’s probably one of the few songs by Nana that I actually like. Nana Kitade is indeed a very talented musician but her only flaw is her singing which she seems to have a hard time controlling. Tsukihana is a very catchy rock song that starts off slowly and speeds up as the chorus comes in. The lyrics are pretty sad when you read the translation and it fits the Jigoku Shoujo anime very well (the anime is also known as Hell Girl). Nana Kitade sings in a whispery and almost lonesome sounding voice in the verse but in the chorus, she seems to lose control and sings with rather a shaky sound. Despite her shaky singing, it is still a wonderful song and it never seems to get old. “Kagami no kuni” is also another solid rock song, but this song is a lot harder and darker than -tsukihana-. The song has an overall creepy and hard rock sound to it and Nana’s voice is pretty good until the chorus where she seems to produce high pitched yells. I’m not going to go into any detail about “Manon” because it’s a pretty typical pop rock song for Nana. But nonetheless, -tsukihana- is a pretty solid single that I can listen to without getting sick of it. By the way guys, I’m typing this post on my itouch, for some reason I find this more comfortable than typing on my computer despite the autocorrect. I also get it done faster!

Why Hello There!

Hey guys, I haven’t been here in awhile, I had a pretty busy summer, and I kinda miss wordpress but school is starting soon. I hope to review Jack White’s solo album, “Blunderbuss” before school starts.

Songs That Make Me Say “Aw!” #1

Yes the title is a little dumb, but anyway here is yet another list.

1. Ni Oh! by Sodagreen (蘇打綠)

Sodagreen is a wonderful Indie pop/rock band from Taiwan. They have six band members, in my opinion, that’s a lot but they are the ones who make a refreshing sound in the Chinese music industry with their brit-rock inspired pop rock, folk rock, and ballads. The singer, Qing Feng, is well known for his high pitched, innocent, and slightly effeminate singing voice. His wide vocal range is what gives Sodagreen’s unique music a dreamy sound and innocent sound. For some reason, one of the bands members are missing in the music video.

2. Yong Bao by Mayday (五月天)

A sweet love song by the awesome Taiwanese pop rock band, Wu Yue Tian, which is Mayday.

3.  House of Cards by Radiohead

Radiohead doesn’t write cute songs but they do occasionally write sweet love songs.

4. 沒時間 by Milk@Coffee

These guys always make sweet and cute songs about life. (I reviewed one of their albums months ago.)

P.S. This is the list of list series I’m making so far:

Beautiful Songs (#2 coming up)

Covers (Covers vs Originals) (#2 coming up)

Songs That Make Me Say “Aw” (1 so far)

Triple Reviews (#2 coming up)

Best of Chinese Albums (1 so far)

Awesome Music Videos (1 so far)

Beautiful Songs #1

So here is a blog series. These are songs that touch my heart. I haven’t had much inspiration to write lengthy album reviews so I’m continuing with the lists.

1. Glass Skin by Dir en grey

By the way, there is an English version and a Japanese version.

2. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

3.  一絲不掛 by Eason Chan

4. Jòga by Björk

5.  Dee, It May All End Tomorrow by My Little Airport

6. Ain’t Afraid to Die by Dir en grey

7. After the Gold Rush by Neil Young

Now that’s an odd number to end a list with.

Occasionally, I Enjoy Metal or Hard Rock.

I was never really a huge crazy fan of metal, but lately I have really enjoyed it. The many sub genres of metal makes it a very diverse genre, so you can always find a metal band to enjoy no matter what. So here are some of my favorite metal albums (in no particular order).

1. UROBOROS by DIR EN GREY

‘

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes guys, the title of the band and the album are written in capital letters. Dir en grey is a Japanese experimental metal band from Osaka (or originated from Osaka). They were originally a visual kei band but later changed out of the image and left the scene in recent years. Although Dir en grey will always be a metal band, visual kei or not. What I love about this album is pretty much everything, the guitar work of Kaoru and Die are just wonderful, I love the middle eastern theme that was going on through the album. There was also some of Toshiya’s jazzy sounding bass here and there and the usual pounding drums of Shinya. Kyo’s voice was also beautiful, he does everything, from the whispery falsettos to the powerful vibrattos to the growling, and screaming, he even sang in a way that resembled scat singing (RED SOIL anyone?). The album had plenty of headbanging songs and of course a beautiful ballad (GLASS SKIN) to show Kyo’s emotional side (well he puts emotion into everything really, his voice and his lyrics). Dir en grey is actually one of the bands that got me into metal music.

2. An Ocean Between Us by As I Lay Dying

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I lay Dying is a metalcore band from San Diego, California. I hate to say it, but I can’t really describe this album very much other than the fact that the songs are really catchy and there is a lovely mixture of harsh and clean vocals. Some of the songs are actually really touching and this is the first album I heard by this band. I’m still pretty new to this band. Dir en grey and X Japan are actually one of the first metal bands I enjoyed and I knew about them for quite a long time.

3. The Discovery by Born of Osiris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Born of Osiris is a progressive deathcore band from Chicago. The album has a beautiful mixture of crunchy guitar and dreamy ambient synthesizers. Oh by the way I really really love the synthesizers. I also love that funky guitar riff in “Recreate”. The album kinda has a fantasy atmosphere to it.

4. Kongoukyuubi by Onmyo-Za

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Japan has a lot of awesome rock bands, just letting you know that.  Onmyo-za are a Japanese heavy metal band known for wearing traditional kimonos that were worn during the Heian period.  Their music is a lovely combination of fast driven heavy metal songs, reminiscent of metal bands from the 80s, that sometimes verge on to symphonic metal due to the keyboards. The singer, Kuroneko, is the only female, she is the main singer while occasionally one of the guitarists joins in (I forgot his name). The two vocalists give variety to the sound, Kuroneko sings like a lot of females in symphonic metal bands. The two vocalist sound great together though, I love when they sing duets. The fast metal songs are catchy and have awesome guitar solos and the ballads are beautiful and emotional. The album art contains Kuroneko with fox tails. Oh and here’s a fun fact, Kuroneko means black cat.

5. to the next by Dazzle Vision

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dazzle Vision is another Japanese band with a female vocalist. Their music often verges on to hard rock or metalcore. The singer is what makes the album unique, her death vocals are awesome but her clean vocals are kinda shaky. Her shaky vocals remind of Nana Kitade, but I don’t mean this in a bad way because she sounds drastically different from your typical Japanese pop idol female singer.  Her voice contains power but the power occasionally makes her clean vocals shaky. But i do love the combination of metalcore and pop, the music fits the singer quite well without trying to be cute.