“Round of Blues”- Shawn Colvin and My Fetish

Ah Halloween. The day marked by cute costumes when we were younger and now marked by the sexiest costume you can find. I am sorry to say that I perpetuated this fact by re-wearing my Lady Gaga costume (Leotard, tights, and rhinestones everywhere). Thankfully, there are no pictures of the debauchery that went down. But let me inform that it was full of fun.

Anyways, at my school we also have a party in a few weeks that is entitled “Fetish.” Yes, imagine what you want. This party is even more sloppy than Halloween on my lovely liberal arts campus. And I have a great costume too that entailed me wearing dark Gothic clothing, placing fake piercing on my eyebrow and ears, and having a giant dragon tattoo on my back. Can you guess?

Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo!!

Noomi Rapace, the actor that plays Lisbeth in the Swedish version of the film, is probably one of the best actors I know. If you haven’t seen the Swedish version, watch it! It is amazing. Much better than the English version that is coming out, mainly because no one can be Lisbeth other than Noomi. Oh, and they changed the ending in the English version since Steig Larsson’s ending was just too amazing for them.

Okay, sorry. I got a little caught up in my fetish. I promise there is music coming. Today’s song features a women that I love almost as much as Noomi–Shawn Colvin. “Round of Blues” is probably one of her better known songs, and the music video is interesting. I love her dress in the video and how she can just nonchalantly  play the guitar on the floor while still looking great.

Favorite actor? Or your fetish if you are feeling adventerous? 😉

ll

Homesick: “84,000 Different Delusions”- Shawn Colvin and “Fields of Gold”- Sting

I love college. It is the one place I have ever felt accepted for just being myself. While high school was horrible, and I was ostrizisted for being weird, not having the right clothes, not being attractive enough, or (my favorite) “too smart,” my friends here love me for who I am. Thus, my college is my home. I feel comfortable, happy (for the most part), and embraced. But recently I have felt “homesick” for the first time since coming to college three plus years ago. It is just a fleeting feeling, normally when I am listening to music late at night while studying. But it is strong. This desire to be curled up in my family’s living room listening to music with my father with a crackling blaze in the fireplace. To have nothing to do besides talk and laugh and reconnect.

I know I should probably stop listening to music that makes me miss my family so much, but I am really enjoying re-listening to some of my childhood favorites. Here are two that I have recently fell in love with all over again, even though they make me yearn to curl up in a blanket surrounded by my family.

Sorry for the downer post. In happier news, my parents will hopefully be visiting me in a few weeks.

Do you ever feel “homesick” for your family? Please say it is not only me.

ll

“Sophia”- Laura Marling

Thank you Pandora. You are basically like Match.com for music. You  find me music that is perfect for me. Any mood, any situation, any time of day. Plus, you are free! What more could a poor college student ask for. Your only bad attribute is that you only give me 40 hours a month. Those always are used up by the second week. FIX THIS AND YOU WILL BE PERFECT!

Okay, you are probably wondering what, or rather who, Pandora.com has “set me up with” today. Her name is Laura Marling and she is beautiful.

As a brunette...

And as a blonde.

But more importantly, her music is amazing. Fresh, beautifully crafted lyrics, haunting chords, and so pure. Maybe now I will be able to stop listening to Mumford and Sons over and over again. Or at least mix it up a bit.

I love how she seamlessly merges so many different genres of music: folk, a bit of rock, a little country, and some gospel thrown in. And the lyrics are dense, in a good way. I have listened to this song over a dozen times and am still thinking of different meanings or different literary sources she brings into the song.

Be forewarned, I might be featuring another one of her song shortly as I listen to more of her breathtaking music and fall more hopelessly in love.

Has Pandora ever “matched” you with a great artist/group?

ll

“White Blank Page”-Mumford and Sons

I haven’t updated in awhile and I have a little time before my caffeine runs out of power. But I must warn you, I really haven’t listened to anything other than Mumford and Sons in…well the past week. Well, just have a look at my iTunes …

These Plays were all at zero about five days ago.

New favorite song= “White Blank Page.” To be honest, I cry sometimes when I listen to this song. Or sometimes I just sing along angrily. Especially during this part:

White blank page & a swelling rage, rage
You did not think when you sent me to the brink, the brink
You desired my attention but denied my affections, affections

Just listen to the song, preferably loudly so you can be taken by the music. Marcus Mumford puts so much emotion into his song, you just have to respond emotionally in kind.

Also, there is an acusitic version of the song from the Bookshop Sessions. I would give anything to see them live in a bookshop. Heck, I would give anything to see them live anywhere.

Ever have a group you just have to listen to over and over again?

 

“The Cave”-Mumford and Sons

I always find it interesting how a group becomes “mainstream.” How do people go from being everyday people playing at bars, coffee shops, or on the streets to having a record deal and their songs being played on the radio every hour. No, I am not talking about the child pop stars that get their parents to pay for an auto-tuner and a record deal for their 15th birthday. I am talking about eclectic bands that start as friends just playing in their local scene and then gather a following based on their amazing music. Mumford and Sons fits this rise of fame to a ‘T.’ They started in West London in 2007, released an album in 2009, got big in Australia, and finally are becoming known and popular in the States.

Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford and Winston Marshall

What I love most about Mumford and Sons’ music is their lyrics. Unlike many (pop) artists, their lyrics draw from so many literary, philosophical, and religious sources. For example, “The Cave” includes references to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Homer’s The Odyssey. Additionally, the group first album Sigh No More got its name from the Shakespearian play, Much Ado About Nothing. So on top of great music, beautiful voices, and a wide range of instruments, Mumford and Sons’s songs are deep, well written, and have various, layered meanings.

This video is interesting since it adds another layer of meaning. Upon first listening without the video, I thought the song was about getting the courage to come out of one’s “cave” and do something you have been afraid to do. But after seeing the video, I thought it was a statement on Indian independence from Britain with Mumford and Sons (playing the British) handing over the reins to the Indians in the video but promising them that the British will help them “not choke on the noose around [their] neck.” For a better analysis of the meaning(s), see SongMeanings, a great website to get others opinions on your favorite songs. I am not an english major like Alenka so my ability to actually write about meaning, allegory, metaphors etc is lacking.

Have you heard of Mumford and Sons? Or know any other bands that have seemingly risen out of nowhere? 

ll