Weblog
Thursday, 29 October 2009
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Becoming heat, becoming steam
So Dan Deacon was unbelievable live. I went in thinking his music was pretty good and came out thinking he is absolutely one of the raddest musicians ever. His music isn't exactly the traditional idea of what dance music is, but it sure lends itself well to it. So it was pretty much an hour and a half of jumping and dancing like an idiot in a mass of joyful, sweaty people. Not to mention he has some of the most fun and nontraditional crowd interaction I've ever seen. [Failed] Dance battles, human tunnels (you know, where you run through a tunnel of arms and then form a new part of the tunnel once you're through), calming therapy (for lack of a better description), and group interpretive dancing were all part of a wonderful night. The opening acts of bizarre beat poetry over claymation videos and weird neon shark people made me worried the night would suck, but it was well worth it for him. If you like dancing and having a good time I would definitely recommend checking him out if you ever get the chance.
Also, in completely unrelated news, it's weird wondering if maybe you're not quite going in the right direction. For two years I've been taking classes to get me a degree in Network Technology and now I'm starting to wonder if I should have been going for web developer this whole time. It's not like it's a huge turnaround in interests, they've both computer related, but it takes a somewhat significant difference in classes. It's always come pretty naturally but I guess I always figured that I could never cut it because I didn't have the artistic chops. Getting more work in web in my one required course has taught me it has a lot less to do with being a capable graphic designer and a lot more to do with making intuitive and enjoyable user interfaces, use of existing assets (public domain and creative commons designs), and strong and visually interesting typography choices. All of which are things which are totally interesting. Not to mention I know web designers with less skills than myself who make a decent living, so I'm sure I could be successful. I'm pretty sure though that I should focus on finishing what I started and worry about pursuing web stuffs after that. For my final project in this class I'm hoping to make a music blog type idea, which has been done a million times I know, but I'm hoping the design can differentiate it (if I can achieve my vision it has the potential to) not to mention coding the dynamic content (grabbing the most recent entries from an XML file that I can post to in an interface much like most blogs to avoid constantly messing with the HTML) would give me a lot of good experience in coding practical web content. I guess I'll see how things turn out this quarter.
Wow, forgive me my rambling internal dialogue.
Saturday, 10 October 2009
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Dear Lord it's Beautiful
So I know the last 3 posts have just been music posts, but I had to do it again, these guys are just too wonderful. Even if you didn't like the last one (I can understand how his voice could be grating) you MUST atleast try this one out. Two Dancers by Wild Beasts could be my album of the year in what has been a fantastic 2009 and judging by the near flawless "Professional Reviews" section on Wikipedia I'm not the only one who thinks so. Not to mention their album cover is wonderful.
Ahhhh, they must announce a US tour this instant!
Tuesday, 06 October 2009
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Lust for Life
Love at first listen!
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
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Lions!
"Lions make you brave
Giants give you faith
Death is a charade
You don't have to feel safe to feel unafraid"
I need to find my lion -- it's too hard being afraid all the time.
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"The night is deafening when the silence is listening
And I'm down on my knees, and I know that something is missing
Because the back of my mind is holding things I'm relying in
But I choose to ignore it because I'm always denying them
I'm a bit of a manic when it's not as I plan it
'Cause I start losing my head and then I get up in a panic
Remember when we were kids and always knew when to quit it
Are we denying a crisis or are we scared of admitting it?
I don't want to know
I just want to run to you
And break off the chains, and throw them away
I just want to be so much
And shake off the dust that turned me to rust
Sooner than later, I'll need a saviour
I'll need a saviour
It won't ever change if you want it to stay the same
I really hate it but I know it's hard to choose if you're chained
And when it's all you control cause you've got nothing else to hold
You're getting tighter and tighter, it's getting harder to let it go
I don't want to know
I just want to run to you
And break off the chains, and throw them away
I just want to be so much
And shake off the dust that turned me to rust
Sooner than later, I'll need a saviour
I'll need a saviour
Stand me up and maybe I won't be so small
Free my hands and feet and maybe I won't always fall
Save me"
Friday, 25 September 2009
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Becoming luminescent glee
So Lights new album just came out in Canada yesterday and dear God is it wonderful. There a couple moments of auto-tune excess but overall it's just a nonstop ride of rad, spacey synths driving her dream pop space ship. That didn't come out nearly like I wanted it to but suffice to say I love it. Favorite songs are probably Second Go and Lions! (this song is gorgeous). Not to mention she's coming here in November, so I'm super excited. Hopefully I can tone it down when I get a picture this time so I look slightly less creepily giddy.
Also, Selena Gomez & The Scene (ugh) had an album leak too which is pretty damn solid. Certainly way better than I expected.
And since my title is ripped from them I should mention that River by Akron/Family is awesome.
