Lazy Days of Summer?

So, my plan was to write an awesome post about some cool things I’ve seen lately but life, in the form of six loads of laundry, intervened. I decided that I should stop procrastinating and get it done… Which I did.

I also finished the last book of the Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy (more on that in another post)…

… downloaded a new eBook called The Black God’s War…

… signed up for the email list for my friend Robin Burks upcoming debut novel Zeus, INC…

… played around with a photo editing app called Pixlr…

edited and added to some of my boards on Pinterest

… checked out the girly glam blog, This Is Glamorous…

… made two playlists on Spotify and listened to Nero’s Welcome Reality…

Um, but not necessarily in that order! Anyway, that’s what I did with my day off. I didn’t really do anything but I feel like that was a lot for one day! Until next time…

ZAMBRI

New York based band ZAMBRI.

I have a musically inclined friend that turned me onto this great new band today. They’re called ZAMBRI, the last name of the two sisters that created and make up the band. I’m still listening to and watching more of their music and videos. They put me in mind of Warpaint a bit and would mesh well on a playlist with tracks comprising that type of sound. Here is a standout track (of the few I’ve listened to so far…) To Keep Back. I hope you enjoy it!

Hope you’re having a great Monday!

Sarah Harmer

Canadian singer/songwriter Sarah Harmer.

I know, I know! This has got to be one of my latest posts ever… but I had to work from the the early am and I only got home an hour or so ago. Plus, everyone is still kinda in holiday mode today so I spaced that it was Monday, a regular posting day.

You Were Here, I'm A Mountain, All Our Names, Oh Little Fire.



So, normally on a Monday I share my movie or music likes old and new. Today is no exception. I got a gift card for Amazon so I decided to use it on my Kindle and my phone’s mp3. I got a romance novel (hey, don’t judge me!) and I bought You Were Here by Sarah Harmer.

Sarah Harmer is a Canadian singer songwriter whose music is a blend of stripped down folk pop perfection. Her voice is sweet but not twee. She writes songs about love and life that are catchy but not gag inducingly so. I adore her music!

I was first introduced to her through a promo copy of You Were Here while was working at Borders Books. I got to keep the copy from the store (and I still own it, it is just stuck in the purgatory that is my storage unit in Seatown). I play it regularly when I have it physically with me… so when I was surfing Amazon mp3 earlier today and saw that the digital copy was only $4.99, I jumped at the chance to listen to it again. I wasn’t disappointed! My favorite tracks include the tracks Open Window (The Wedding Song), Lodestars, Uniform Grey, Hideout, and Around the Corner. Really the whole album is a wonder, as is the follow up record she made, All Our Names. I find myself humming the first track on that disc, Pendulums, at odd times, like when I’m walking to the grocery or waiting for the bus. Her tunes are that good.

She has two newer releases: I’m A Mountain, which is more in the alt-country vein (I’ve only heard a few tracks) and Oh Little Fire, which came out last year. If you like the kind of music that makes you think of coffeehouses and hanging out with your friends in the den and talking all night then you’ll like her. Plus, $4.99 (apparently the price i got today is through the mobile version of Amazon mp3) is hard to beat.

See you tomorrow!

Guilty Pleasures and Unlikely Inspirations

Today, I was sort of racking my brain for what to post about. Attacking it head on was doing little to get me inspired so I took a mental detour or two… had a cuppa, made myself a bite, watched two movies – Fright Night & Crazy, Stupid Love, cleaned the kitchen top to bottom, started sanding the second lamp… and still nothing.

Halfway through my initial bout of sanding I decided to put on some music that never fails to make me happy, that I can sing along to, and that has one of my favorite “pick me up” tracks on it: N*Sync’s Celebrity.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Before you go making cracks about boys bands and how all the talent in that group just starred in a romcom with Mila Kunis, hear me out. I’m not a 80’s baby, so this wasn’t the group I liked when I was a teen (that would’ve been Duran Duran). This was the group that I mocked and made fun of as a late twentysomething for being too cheesy and commercial for words… Until that ill fated moment when I’d heard The Game Is Over for the umpteenth time on the overhead at Borders Books (hard to escape when you work in the music department) and found myself dancing and singing along to it because it was so catchy. I mean, what is not to love about a break up song with video game noises in it? Wait! Don’t answer that.

Anyway, I loved that song so much that I bought the CD. And I loved the whole thing (except for the too cheesy and commercial for words ballad, Someone Like You, that even I think is gag inducing). But the icing is this little track at the end called Do Your Thing. In it Justin and JC and the boys tell me how “there ain’t no excuse for losing your feet, drowning in your defeat on this road of life”… and they’re right. There is no excuse. Get up, dust yourself off, and get back in the fight. Like I told a friend who was down recently: sometimes we have to get bloodied to gain our victories.

I feel better now. I sang my little heart out. I’m about to spray paint (my new FAVORITE thing to do) and put on some Justin. Timberlake. Not Bieber. Hey, a girl’s got to have her standards, right?

Civil Twilight

I do not listen to the radio. I may have mentioned this before… I say that because I’m usually late to the party, musically speaking. As an example, I didn’t “discover” Jeff Buckley until a few years after his death (oddly enough, it was because a customer mistook Chris Martin from Coldplay for Jeff Buckley while I was playing Parachutes on the store overhead… she got into Coldplay and I got into Jeff Buckley. It was a win win… but I digress).

I’m talking about Civil Twilight today. I watched this cheesy movie called I Am Number Four. The only thing it had going for it was the double eye candy of Timothy Olyphant (before he was precipitously dispatched by alien foes) and Alex Pettyfer (who is so young that my drooling over him officially qualifies as a cradle robbing crush) and this absolutely gorgeous song by Civil Twilight called Letters From The Sky. Listening to that song play on the end credits raised the hair on my arms. I whipped out my handy Android and SoundHounded it.

The trio hails from South Africa and consists of two brothers, Steven and Andrew McKellar, and school friend Richard Wouters. According to the wiki, they’ve been compared to early U2. I can’t see it but it doesn’t matter. That one song has me sold. Their debut record is my next mp3 purchase. If Letters From The Sky doesn’t sell you on Civil Twilight then nothing probably will. 🙂

Happy music hunting! Hope your Monday is shaping up like a Friday! Have a good week, y’all!

Click the pic to watch the video for the song!

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

In A Bossa Nova Mood

So you may have noticed that I’ve been gone for a while… I apologize for that but I needed a mental vacation from blogging and the blogosphere. Hope I wasn’t gone too long!

To make up for my absence, I’d like to share a recent buy from Starbucks: In A Bossa Nova Mood. It’s a compilation of old and new Bossa Nova tunes served up in an absolutely gorgeous package. The beautiful watercolor spectrum on the cover, by artist Victor Melendez, was what initially drew me in. While I was waiting for my extra hot, extra caramel, Caramel Machiatto… I couldn’t stop picking the CD up and looking at the cover. When I finally flipped it over and saw the list of artists on the back, I was sold.

Stand out tracks include Bebel Gilberto’s take on So Nice (Summer Samba), Beck’s Tropicalia, Los Amigos Invisibles’ Los Lycras del Avila, and THE classic Bossa Nova song: The Girl From Ipanema with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Astrud Gilberto, Joao Gilberto, and Stan Getz… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! The whole disc is amazing, with no ill tracks on it at all.

If you’re looking for cool, sexy, laid back music to play while you’re having a sultry summer evening grillout – this CD is for you!

On a design note: designstILes drew a comparison to Miles Redd’s work that was recently featured in House Beautiful with this CD cover. What do you think?

The Bird and The Bee

Happy Monday, everyone! The sun is out, the air is hazy and hot, but the IKEA gods have seen fit to have the air on. Whoot!

Monday Music Pick: The Bird and The Bee.

This duo hails from Los Angeles, CA. They met when producer/keyboardist Greg Kurstin began producing singer Inara George’s solo album. They decided to form a duo instead and The Bird and The Bee was born. They have a cool, jazzy-synthpop sound that is totally easy on the ears. This is fun music, a little hipster-ish… but not so much your eyeballs will be rolling.

I have Hall and Oates to thank for introducing me to this band. I was looking for song by that venerable 70’s duo when I ran across a clip of The Bird and The Bee doing “I Can’t Go For That”. I loved it!

Check out this video of them doing an original song at an ASCAP showcase.

The Bird And The Bee – Again And Again (Live – ASCAP “I Create Music”) from The Bird And The Bee on Vimeo.

Over the last two weeks, I tried to come up with a slightly more coherent posting plan and today is day one of that plan. On Friday, I posted about self taught British singer Andreya Triana… and that was just a taste of the new regular feature here: Music Mondays. Yep, every Monday I’ll be sharing my faves and new discoveries. (FAIR WARNING: I like most genres of music, so there’s bound to be something for everyone!)

I can’t stop listening to:

11th Dimension – Julian Casablancas
The Most Certain Sure – !!!Chk Chk Chk
Love Dealer – Esmee Denters
Bird 1 (Mark Broom Vocal) – Underworld

I know all the songs aren’t brand spanking new but… they are to me. And I’m really enjoying anything that gets me moving!