[...music...]: 2008-03

2008-03-31

camera

yay-yay!

i got a new camera today, the canon sx100is that i've been wanting since october. it is on special right now at futureshop. (the salesguy turned out to be a classmate from elementary school; what a coincidence.)

a picture taken in the mirror:

~~~

Labels: other

2008-03-28

thursday + nada surf

i checked out this tiny used book/cd/dvd shop on my way home from school. their cd selection is not large, but i found a couple of albums.

thursday - a city by the light divided
yesterday, i randomly dug out thursday's earlier album "full collapse" to listen, and it reminded me of how much i used to love this kind of music. it was like discovering a band all over again. coincidently, when browsing through the shelf today, i saw their more recent "a city by the light divided", and so i got it. listening to it now, it's good, but not as good as "full collapse". the newer album doesn't have any of the hardcore influences i love so much. there are more melodic songs, and one even has a slightly post-rock opening...

nada surf - high/low
this is the album that contains the song "popular", their big hit from the 90's. i loved that song back then, i still love it now. i'm kind of disappointed with the rest of that album. it sounds dated, typical rock from that post-grunge period; uninteresting. i much prefer their more recent material.

~~~

edit: there is a track on the thursday album that i didn't pay much attention to, until i heard a different mix of it. the difference is subtle, but i actually like it more. i'm slightly disappointed that they did not include this mix of the song instead, on the album... eargasm begins at around 2:13.

thursday - telegraph avenue kiss (rich costey mix)

~~~

Labels: cd purchase, nada surf, thursday

2008-03-18

devotchka

i still remember that one email rox sent me, with a devotchka song "how it ends" as an attachment. hearing that song, i immediately liked it.

devotchka are back, with a new release today, their most recent album "a mad & faithful telling". listening to this, i am not as impressed as i was with their previous album "how it ends". there are no surprises; they're still playing their balkan-inspired type of music.

however, overall, i find that the new album sounds somewhat "happier".

my favourite part of this album is during the song "the clockwise witness", at around 3:54, when the violins start. almost an eargasm, but not quite, because that part reminds me a little of final fantasy.

they've some tour dates in support of the new album, but none in montreal. boo...

~~~

Labels: cd purchase, devotchka

2008-03-13

my little airport

i first heard about my little airport in a music blog. i saw the words 'hong kong' and 'indie pop' in one of the blog entries, which immediately piqued my curiosity, so i checked out some songs.

they sing mostly in conversational cantonese, with a few english songs. their cantonese lyrics are cute and quirky, and often quite hilarious.

they released their most recent album "我們在炎熱與抑鬱的夏天，無法停止抽煙" (we can't stop smoking in the vicious and blue summer) last year. i was about to order it online, from a hong kong website. then cousin e brought me to a couple of shops in chinatown. one of the stores ordered the disc for me. i picked it up today. i am pretty happy about this, as it is my first chinese-language music cd purchase. (the reason it took me so long to finally listen to some chinese-language music is because i had previously only been exposed to canto-pop, which is not too interesting to me...)

on this album, there are a few songs i especially like.

"japan實瓜" and "je pense à toi" are essentially the same song, but done in different styles and with different vocalists. the lyrics consists of mangling the phrase "je pense à toi" into "japan實瓜". hahaha...!

"我愛官恩娜，都不及愛你的哨牙" is a love song, and includes the name-dropping of several celebrities.

there is the song "讓我搭一班會爆炸的飛機" (let me ride the airplane that will explode) that i like for the title alone.

in "indie悲歌", she sings "我要這首歌，在大氣電波飛行，讓DJ可播另一種聲音。但佢地沒有責任，肯播是我的運，只怪我的聲音太啃，只怪我的公司無銀，我與大眾永不會拉近。" (i want this song to be broadcast. [...] if it does, it is my luck. [...] i can only blame my sound for being '太啃', i can only blame my company for lacking in funds.) which i find quite funny, (some self-deprecating humour). (er, the cantonese lyrics are better written and funnier than my pathetic attempt at translating). the song concludes with "出碟你記得幫襯" (remember to buy our albums).

and finally, there is "畢業變成失業" (graduation turns into unemployment), where she sings about the difficulties of finding a job after graduation. something i've dreaded while in my last undergrad year, which i still dread about now...

~~~

Labels: cd purchase, my little airport