Like Oxygen

This is going to be a cheesy post...you've been warned!

I've ben in a funk the past couple of days, but I felt a LOT better after I sang for a while. I'm starting to wonder if I don't just enjoy singing but if I actually need it. In the past few years I haven't really thought I'm talented enough to do much with it, but I guess that doesn't mean that it's not something I don't really need to have in my life.

PS my favourite song to sing right now:

A Playlist for Monday

A few old favourites I have stuck in my head :)

Country

For the love of god, I like country music!

I spent the majority of my life totally panning it, and now I'm rocking out to Caitlin Rose and Lady Antabellum. I think Dolly Parton's version of "I Will Always Love You" is probably one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard.

Maybe it was just that weird rejection thing I have...it's so mainstream in Canada so I avoided it, but now that I'm away, I can appreciate it more.

Vinyl

I got my amp working again. I bought it a while back on ebay....it was sold as "defective" and advertised as decoration, but it's a great Marantz from the 70's, which are apparently collectors items. So I got it repaired, and it worked for a while but a couple of things were still loose so it started to go dead on both channels. I got it fixed again though and it works!

There's something different about listening to records. Digital music can sound pretty good now, and I don't think it's so much the quality. I think it has to do with a few other things. For one, they're so big. If you have a record, you don't just have a piece of music, you have cover art, and an object of a decent size. Also, they're split into two sides, so you have to listen a little more actively, because you're going to have to turn it over at some point. You can't rewind it, and you can't easily repeat or skip a track. You just listen through the way it was mixed. Lastly, I think it also has to do with acquiring the records. They do some new pressings now, but to find an old album, you have to go hunt for it. You can't just look it up on iTunes and click and pay, you have to search, and you have to dig around for one in good condition and a good price. I guess this is a big reason why I feel that my records are just a little more special than my CDs even. Since mp3s have been around, I'm not so into CDs. I'll still buy them sometimes, but I don't really feel that I'm missing out by not having the physical disc. Even though they're physical objects, they just don't represent the same thing that records do. They're somehow less tangible. Maybe it's because if I lost one, I could burn another copy, or at least easily buy one, and the sound quality doesn't feel that different to me than an mp3 (though I don't have a stereo system that would make a difference). If a record is lost or damaged, it's not so easily replaced.

The Sound of Music

I was watching it this afternoon, and it's making me miss my family. My mom always cries at the part where Christopher Plummer sings this song at the end (unfortunately the clip from the actual movie is not available, so here's the Vienna Boys Choir instead), and apparently I do too now. My dad hates the movie, but I have really fond memories watching it with my mom, and it usually plays on or around Christmas on TV in Canada (or maybe it's an American channel?) My Oma loved it too....it combined two of her big loves: musicals and the Alps. The movie reminds me of her a little bit and always will.



Missing everyone in Canada!

You Can't Always Get What You Want

This song was perfect for the end of the 60's I think.

Creatively lackluster

I'm going through the creative 'blahs' the past few weeks. I keep starting things and then not knowing how to finish them, and I find most of my ideas a little bland. I keep trucking through things, just in the name of keeping up the habit and hoping something pops up (in music, writing, fashion...ANYTHING) but so far little luck. I thought I got a good guitar riff going the other day, but it didn't really turn into much, so I just tried to remember it and put it on the back burner.
I suppose we all go through this, right?

In the mean time, I'm going through a re-found love of exercise. I hope this leads to my body's re-found love of fitting into a size 0. My clothing is still a little tight after a year of being a bit lazy (in the exercise department.)

Crap from Germany

*Disclaimer: I do NOT hate German music. There is lots of great music that comes out of this country. I could make a big list of German artists and bands that I love, but I’ll save that for another post.*

Since I moved to Germany five years ago, I’ve heard a lot of shitty music. Like most people that move to a foreign country, sometimes I just don’t understand why certain things are popular. But every once and a while, a song comes out that makes me wonder how anyone…ANYONE…from anywhere can possibly like it. Germany isn’t alone in this; Sean Paul reached #1 internationally. I think I notice the crap more in Germany though because I’m on the outside looking in.

Anyway, this song is one of those songs. How it has reached #3 on the charts, I have no idea. I suspect that someone has sold their soul to Satan. And yes, one of the guys’ names is ‘Frauenartzt’, which means ‘Gynocologist.’ Classy. It's actually so bad, it's kind of funny.




Oh, and to be fair and not seeming to rag on German music, I hate that Ke$ha song that I can't escape, no matter where I go. It's not that it's particularly awful. It's just that it's so repetitive and insipid. And it is played 10000000000x a day. ProSieben uses it in their promo spots, it's on the radio, MTV, cafes....it's everywhere. When I hear that song, I feel sad because I know that I wont be able to get it out of my head for the rest of the day, which is unfortunate because I don't like it.