Relapse

When I was in uni, I was one of those quiet Cityrail travellers lost in the music blaring out of my spidery thin earphones.

Back then I had this tiny little black Samsung MP3 Player. To be honest I really treasured that device. It was probably one of the first things I'd ever purchased myself in first year uni after working a few months at my first proper casual job as a medical receptionist. The shape of it was like carrying a USB stick and I liked how the writing on the mini screen was this electric light blue that glowed in the dark. I liked how the words of the track would move across the screen in jerks.

Come to think of it, I remember being really cut when my boyfriend at that time lost it. I guess I was attached it.

Anyway I wanted to post my top three favourite tracks back in uni. The tracks I thrashed hard during those trips to and from uni. The ones that constantly made me nearly miss my stop. I was this arts student lost in a web of sociology and psychology. Feels weird to think about those days.

1. Kids by MGMT.

I absolutely loved this track. The original by MGMT is very kooky and spacey and when I heard it for the first time walking past a careers stall at UTS, I memorised just enough of the lyrics to google it as soon as I got home. To this day I still love this song.

Instead of posting the original track I'm going to post a cover of it by another band I loved in uni called The Kooks. Having this awesome band play this track I love puts me on cloud nine.

2. Walking on a Dream by Empire of the Sun.

This song became really popular right before I went to my two month trek backpacking through Asia. Because we both loved the track, my travel mate and I set it as our alarm so each morning, when we were in Vietnam, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, we'd wake up to the opening chords of this track. Because of that, when I hear this song I think of those adventures, the snow, the heat, the fun. It was one of the most memories I have.

3. Relapse by Little Birdy.

I was in love with this song. I became a fan of this Indie Band from Perth in Yr 12 when they began releasing songs.

I think a bit of it was because I had a girl crush on Katy Steele's voice. Oops...

Try to forget you in my mine

I was listening to similar artists to an artist I love Frank Ocean and came across a young 24 year old artist from Los Angeles called Jhene Aiko.

Her mellowness, wordplay and lyrical dexterity hooked me straightaway. I started listening to tracks off her mixtape released last year titled Sailing Soul(s) and found her really compelling. It was kind of like listening to a voice as soothing and smooth as Cassie but more meaningful, intimate and personal.

Reading some of her interviews and hearing that the motivation behind her mixtape was to make listeners look inwards and reflect on their experiences not to create money (hence why it was free) intrigued me more. I guess in this day and age where the music market is saturated with people keen to create killer hooks to generate money and commercial success, I like how Jhene Aiko is looking to create a project challenging listeners to explore her world by being relevant and vulnerable in her simplicity and lyrics.

One of her standout tracks on the mixtape is Stranger.

Throughout the entire song she remains in the same vocal range, keyboard arrangement looping, complete with backing harmonies but it's so simple to allow you to focus on her lyrics. To her, all men are the same to the point that they all become faceless strangers and whilst many might agree, or just as many disagree that's simply a look into her world and her perception of it - and that's ok.

Another track I loved was My Mine.

If you listen closely to her lyrics, she likens the experience of getting over someone who she was in a broken relationship with to being trapped in a mine. Sitting there, looking upwards. It's funny. If you listen closely to the way in which she talks about the torment of memories in her mind, it's not actually mind she is singing - it is mine.

She's lovely.

Rita Ora?

One artist whose been played heavily on the airwaves lately is Miss Rita Ora, a British singer-songwriter whose kooky fashion rather than her music caught my attention :P

Her hair definitely reminds me of Marilyn Monroe but her actually fashion style is reminiscent of Gwen Stefani during her awesome No Doubt days with a whole lot of vintage and retro happening here, there and everywhere.


Love the black leather, green print and winged eyes.

Simple black leather singlet teamed with a cute printed denim shorts.

Bright red and intricate pattern - kooky :)

Cute throwback to the days of tie-dye and beanies!

Currently crushing on...

You Tube singer JENI and her lush vocals.

Stumbled across her cover of Elle Varner's trippy track Only Want to Give it to You. Didn't think this track could get any funkier but JENI's cover has got me in awe. Currently destroying the replay button.

 



Funky fashion brand Motel Rocks. Created by two American thrift shop lovers this online store never fails to make me salivate. I like that its fresh, bright and big on contrasting colours and patterns.

Cute much? :)

You take your heart and walk away

Mess I made by Parachute.

Do you blame her?

Cold, cold water

It's funny how music resonates with you years after the first time you hear it.

Back in 2007 I came across an artist called Damien Rice and hearing two of his tracks today struck me with the strangest feeling. It's so weird to just hear thse tracks and remember the person you were and place you were at when you first heard it and connected with it. But it's even more overwhelming knowing that whilst circumstances change and you're at a very different place right at this time you hear it years later, it affects you in a same way and you realise that in essence, the core of you hasn't changed at all.

I went to see him when he came to Sydney back in early 2007. To this day it's still the best live music concert I ever witnessed. The irony of it was it was one of the simplest performance and stagings I'd seen but his voice, his songs, lyrics and presence captivated all of us and it was so beautiful to just witness how much he put his soul and thoughts into these 3 minute pieces which honestly are timeless.

He somehow encapsulates within a single track an amazing depth and honesty of what people experience every day in their lives and their minds. It's those things you keep quiet, captive in your mind, and when you attempt to tell people, end up faltering because it's so hard. I get that. Understandably he's singing from the sincerest, most vulnerable part of himself - his heart - but I feel like he's speaking about a universal human experience of loss or vulnerability which I feel really really moving. It's challenging. He's like giving a voice, a quiet, faltering voice, to people's experiences and I can't get over it.
 
My favourite two tracks of the night were Cannonball and Cold Water.

Cannonball. In this song he sings about the feeling of just falling for someone deeply and being astounded by that feeling of losing yourself in that potential and their presence. My favourite part of song is when he says You step a little closer to me/Still I can't see what's going. And that's something I think most of us have experienced. It's like being in the presence of someone you're realising that you could, or are falling for, and being so overwhelmed that you can't think straight because you just don't want to blow it or scare them away. Or for those who haven't experienced this, you can get a glimpse of what it might feel like - so when it happens you will know the moment it happens and still struggle to cope with that feeling. You won't be prepared for it and that's the point.

It sounds like such a cliched subject to sing about but it's the way in which he sings the song, composes the music and performs it so understatedly, and just the lyrics, I'm in awe. Watching it live was one of the most arresting moments I can remember because it's like you can't get over how he can articulate that feeling with such simplicity and honesty. You can't take your eyes or ears away from it. You're compelled to look.

Then Cold Water came on and I just felt like crying because it's so sad. Watch this clip and the chills you experience are only a fraction of the experience you have watching it live. It's crazy.

I'm not religious myself and so can't relate so much to the idea of reaching out to God in times when I'm desperate, incredibly lonely or just feeling hopeless but I felt like crying because I'm sad that this is how low people can feel and it makes you realise how important having a faith is or simply something to believe in is. You need purpose, we all need purpose and it's really easy to get disillusioned or lose sight of what's important in life. And sometimes, when you finally realise this, you feel like you've wasted the best years of your life on trivial matters.

This song is so heartbreaking, and everyone who listens to this track regardless of what they are doing at the time, can't deny that. They can understand that and that's what's so sad.
Anyway I'm not so sure why I'm in such a forlorn mood to dig up these tracks from 5 years ago but I wanted to express how much they affected me when  I was 19 and why that hasn't changed to this day.

Softness

Today I did a bit of exploring on an artist my friend had intro-ed me to a few nights ago. By intro I mean that he posted a track of hers on my wall and I've been thrashing this track non stop on my iphone everywhere and anywhere I can (within reason lol).

Her name is Tia London, from Chicago and she is quite possibly the hardest artist to locate any info on.

Google produced jack all about her but reflecting back that's ironically a good thing because that makes those curious about her (like myself) more intrigued about her and her music - and that's what music should be all about right? The music itself, not so much the person behind it.

Anyway I'm not sure what it is about her but I'm hooked. I think it's because there's alot of facets of her music and style that remind me of another artist I really liked from a few years ago. When I first heard Drake's music back in 2009-2010 I was struck by his introspective lyrics and the moodiness of his music which mixed rapping and singing in equal measure which produced some beautiful dreamscape like tracks like Shut It Down. I loved that it was an eloquent mix of candidness and grandeur but more importantly I liked its softness. In an era where rap and r'n'b artists are concerned with delivering their beats and lyrics with brashness and aggression I liked the fact that Drake wasn't afraid to be the anecdote with his softness. Peppered with unexpected drums, guitar bursts and keyboard spikes, it's the kind of music you can chill out to after a crazy long day at work and the songs you loved years ago are still the ones you cruise along to even now.

That's how I instantly felt when I heard the first few tracks on Tia London's EP Love Junkie.

Her beats are simple and commercially catchy in the conventional sense but I like that she's subtle and doesn't try to match it with the outrageousness of the Rihannas and Nicki Minajs out there. I think there's depth to be found in whats understated and the mood created track by track and I guess that's why I'm currently obsessed with milking her EP dry at the moment haha. There's also a graceful ease in the way she can break into rap and then sing with a sincerity and swagger that not many female artists these days possess.

Not only that but the production of the EP itself is outstanding with moods and tones changing effortlessly from track to track. This is by no means a reflection of her inconsistency but shows her ability to be flirtatious and stepping it out to the guys out there in tracks like Go! and changing gears to show moroseness and self reflection in tracks like Love Rollercoaster:

I Got It - Mikkey Halsted featuring Tia London.

It's funny. I think that if you fully analysed different aspects of her music separately like her lyrics or her hooks you'd find there is nothing overly remarkable about what she's doing. However it's the combination of these elements in the form of the completed tracks that makes she someone worth looking out for.

Hugging a hot man

It's been getting pretty chilly lately so it's time to bring out the big guns I say!

One of the best inventions of all time (in my humble opinion) is hot water bottles. For those not so familiar with what that is, it's basically a container filled with hot water and sealed with a stopper or in my case, a kiss haha. People use it for warmth, usually while they're in bed or when they're cramping due to ahem *lady problems* and it's quite possibly the next best thing to hugging an actual warm body (or even better cos it's warmer haha).

I remember as a kid using them and hugging it foetal styles :D But I always had a scary thought that maybe one day if I hugged too hard the bottle might just explode and start leaking in my bed. Alas, that's yet to happen - yet :P

Oh the other hand, a less risky option is to use a heat pack. Basically these are more danger friendly and all you have to do is place this gel based pack in the microwave, nuke it for a few minutes and when you whip it out, it's warm as warm can be!

Not only is there no chance of leakage (as water is not actually used) but these heat packs come in a variety of styles which I find pretty cute.

One that I bought from a novelty store in Melbourne is my favourite little man Herbie the Love Hug. And that's basically what he is! A little man that you nuke to heat up and can hug all night long. I love love love hugging him and he's so soft and flexible that sometimes I just place him on my shoulder or stomach haha.

I also love the bottle below in the shape of a fish. Kooky much?



And finally my obsession with dots...

On the music front I've been checking out tracks from my uni days... who remembers Omarion? Haha, I love this track Ice Box.

And Mr Mario Vazquez with Gallery.

Epiphany in the club

This is going to sound terribly embarrassing but I'm pretty sure I had an epiphany while I was in a club last weekend.

It was the weirdest feeling but I was in the club and a song came on and I was struck straightaway. I can't explain it but I was arrested by it. It's funny, I'm sure I've heard it a couple of times in my life on other occasions but I could never, ever catch who sang it and what the song was - and this fully irritated me.

Anyway, I was determined to find out what it was. For some reason I could hum the singing of it but it came out as gibberish. When I texted my mate to see if he knew what it was, what little clues I gave him just made him laugh as it made no sense.

So I was driving home last night fully trying to recall what this song was and I had an epiphany. I suddenly remembered like five words of the chorus and that's literally all it took. Googled those words at a red light and there it was! Sean Garrett, singing a track called Feel Love featuring none other than J. Cole. 

Ahahaha, yes. I can't even describe how fulfilled I currently am based on this lol.

It's the tune. It's the rapping. It's the lyrics. It's cute and I'm hooked by the entire package. I mean who can overlook a track where the artist mutters that you pull an emotional vibe from my soul, look at me you got my heart beating like my back is filled with batteries.

If a guy ever said that to me, especially the part about the batteries, my heart would melt. But that's just me :)

In other news, I just wanted to say that I heart eggs. Eggs the food and eggs in the form of inaimate objects like toys.

Here is my eggman. I love him to death :)