The not-so-early early part of the year

The first few months are always a bit slow for me in terms of listening to new things. Lately I've just been catching up on my backlog, and I haven't listened to anything beyond the more obvious albums like King of Limbs of James Blake, so here's a quick list of upcoming releases that I'm interested in:

Asobi Seksu - Fluorescence
Hahaha scratch this it's already out. I've been living under a rock. 
The Strokes - Angles
Singles so far have been a mixed bag, but I still have hope.
Boris - New Album/Attention Please/Heavy Rocks
That's right. Three albums. Because Boris is ridiculous and awesome like that.
Matryoshka - Untitled/TBD
Free download of demos on last.fm, and they're fabulous. One of my favorite electronic/post rock acts. They're also on Virgin Babylon, the record label created by Katsuhiko Maeda of World's End Girlfriend. :D
Streetlight Manifesto - TBD
It's been four years since Tomas Kalnoky's last proper album. One of the remnants from my ska and punk phase, but I still love them so.
Madvillain - TBD
Madvillainy is possibly my favorite hip hop album of all time. I'm expecting great things.
Ishibashi Eiko - Carapace
Avant Pop piano based music ohgodI'msoexcited.
The Avalanches - TBD
'bout time.

My story is reallllllllll

What have I done?

Layla v2

Minor edits, really not worth posting except just to mark the fact it's the second draft. Starting to slightly dislike how derivative/reliant it is on influences and references now, but it is what it is.

Reflection Eternal - Tribute by clammbon with yamazaki, mino & yamane from toe

The emotions that music can bring out are absolutely amazing. It's been almost a year since Nujabes died, but this hearing this tribute come up on shuffle still makes me choke up. Enough to make me drop everything and post this. At this point I've already realized that I'm absolutely horrible at conveying what I feel through my writing, so I won't say any more than this. I know this won't have the same impact on everyone else as it did on me, but even if you aren't a fan of Nujabes, take a few minutes to just relax and appreciate the beauty of his music.



Hair piled up.
Piled up high.
Your hair piled up.
Piled up high.

You're a flower.
You're a river
You're a rainbow.

Titus Andronicus - The Monitor (2010)

So I finally went and listened to this to see what the fuss was all about. It's also been forever since I've written a post on an album.

Jazz Pianos and Why Didn't I Type This Up Last Night

So I was hanging around Bell Square trying to kill time before my Princeton interview, and there was someone playing piano near the Center Court area on the second floor. I only stayed for a short time before I had to leave, but it was one of those random small moments that can make a day amazing.

I couldn't recognize any melodies other than the super obvious jazz arrangement of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, but for the fifteen minutes that I just sat and listened, it was great. I heard some energetic pieces, some slow emotional ones, in that short period she played songs that seemed to span a whole range of emotions. Saying it was magical just doesn't feel right, but it's the best I can do.

I really really really should have typed this up yesterday. It's hard enough to recapture the feeling of being there and listening to a great performance, but to do it a day after is just... blah. It was like letting myself totally zone out and forget about everything for a little bit. I guess this is the feeling I get from a good performance - sometimes it's easy to forget how amazing hearing something live is, especially when a CD or mp3 is so much more convenient, but there really is a huge difference.

Yup.