Songbird
Mar
10
Head Pounding
By Rachel | Music Mix Up | 4 Comments
Yeah, no joke I have a really bad headache and I have had it since mid day. The first thing I did when I got home from work was just whine all the way to the shower because basically that is the only time when it doesn’t feel like a hammer is banging on my head. So tonight I must keep it short and sweet, no new music this evening but Dustin O’Halloran is perfect, gentle and beautiful.
mp3: Â Variazione Di Un Tango
Dustin O’Halloran on myspace
Piano Solos available HERE
Mar
8
Personal Update
By Rachel | Music Mix Up, News & Info. | 10 Comments
A lot has been going on behind the scenes…2007 was a tough year for me work wise. After the company I was working for sold and everyone lost their jobs, I had a really hard time finding work that challenged me and kept me busy and I also had a hard time finding people I enjoyed working with! That is a big deal for me, because quite frankly I am an only child and I just don’t play well with others. Anyways I was even considering going back to school full time to finish off my BA but I just couldn’t do it financially (but that doesn’t mean I won’t be going part-time). In January I got a job working on websites in LA and I was working there for a few weeks but the traffic was killing me and I didn’t feel challenged at all and I knew I was not going to be happy there in the long run.
So I went South to the OC and I found a job working at a printing company, as an account executive doing a little bit of everything and I immediately felt I fit right in, I am happy. This is why it has also been so quiet around here, since I have been adapting to this new job but I will find the groove. :-)
In the mean time I wanted to just post a cover of Arcade Fire, done by the lovely Calexico. Enjoy! I will be back tomorrow with some new music.
mp3:Â Ocean of Noise
Intervention Single (Merge Records)
Mar
5
The Savages
By Pip | Film Box | 3 Comments
Hey look it’s Pip with another extremely late review! Oh! It’s my main man Phillip Seymour Hoffman workin’ it wit’ my main woman Laura Linney! Holy crap! Who is this old guy, he’s awesome! Yeah that was pretty much my thought process while watching The Savages. Make no mistake based on my enthusiastic overuse of exclamation points, this film is serious business. It’s about death and family, or lack thereof in this case.
Linney and Hoffman play a brother and sister family. That’s pretty much it since both of their parents basically checked out a long time ago. When I say checked out I don’t mean died, I mean checked out of their lives. Needless to say they both deal with abandonment issues. Both brother and sister are working or want to be working professionally as writers, both revolving around theater and sociology. They’re both smart, articulate and very involved in their fields of interest, just not really with reality and real social interaction. There are oblique conversations about a childhood gone terribly bad thanks to parents that should have never been parents to begin with.
When we finally do meet their father, it’s quite obvious that they have no idea how to be a family since they never have been. I found myself torn between the siblings and their father as far as where my sympathy would lie. On the one hand I can understand a father that just wasn’t there, but on the other I feel for the true loneliness you can see clearly in the father’s eyes. This is all mixed up with my deeply held personal beliefs to never allow my parents into a nursing home, or whatever they call themselves these days, made the film’s core theme complicated for me. I love stuff like that!
Hoffman is, of course, flipping brilliant especially when he cries about eggs. Linney is one of my favorite working actresses, and although I’ve heard this role compared to one she played in You Can Count on Me, I think there’s no real comparison except some similar situations. I expect brilliance from the two leads, but what I didn’t expect was the amazing father played by Philip Bosco. His performance made this film heart wrenching and funny all at the same time. Hoffman is in love with a woman that has to go back to Europe since they won’t get married. Linney is involved with a married man that’s really more in love with the idea of Linney’s character than anything. There’s poop on mirrors… it’s a mess. The ending though, once we get through it to the final shot, really will leave you with a smile that comes from inside.
In short, I hope you check this out on disc if you missed it in the theater as I highly recommend it.
Mar
3
Waiting For Radiohead
By Rachel | Music Mix Up, News & Info. | Leave a Comment
Yeah I am waiting on pins and needles for Radiohead’s Los Angeles or San Diego shows to go on sale…This gem: Radiohead performing Bodysnatchers, off their 2007 album In Rainbows, at BBC2’s Later… with Jools Holland.
Feb
28
What Did You Say?
By Rachel | Album Picks | 5 Comments
The President of United States offends me on a regular day basis…I didn’t think it was possible but he manages to pull it off daily. And I am so done with him…
And what perfect music to accompany this mood…Plants and Animals kick some major ass! And another band which hails from Canada…I really need to consider moving there. This three member band can make some great funky indie rock that has just enough original attitude to make you get up and start dancing. Dance away the day! Dance away frustration! Dance away this President!
I would just like to add that I am seriously dancing right now in front of my computer and loving every minute of it! Puma is looking at me like I am nuts though…This album is awesome!
mp3: Bye Bye Bye
Plants and Animals on myspace
Parc Avenue 2008 (Secret City Records)
Feb
25
Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
By Rachel | Music Mix Up, News & Info. | 12 Comments
I was actually in tears after watching Markéta’s acceptance speech at the Academy Awards last night. I was so thrilled to see this duo win an Oscar for their song, Falling Slowly. So well deserved and that makes me smile. So I had to post their acceptance speech, actually Markéta got cut off but they brought her back out so that she could actually have her moment and boy did she shine. So in honor of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová…
mp3: Falling Slowly
Feb
21
Bon Iver is Yummy
By Rachel | Album Picks | 11 Comments
Sorry it has been so quiet around here this week…I noticed this week has been a strange one, eerily quiet. Like for instance yesterday there was no traffic on my way home from work and I thought how is this possible? In the middle of the week that is just…Scary. But there was not a brake-light to be seen. Ok so I am going to go listen to some music…Care to join me? Geez my posts have been rather dorky this week as well. I’m the odd one.
I know Bon Iver (Justin Vernon) is all the rage at the moment and that is because his debut album was just released, For Emma, Forever Go and DAMN it is GOODNESS…A gentle but passionate album that has a cohesive mellow vibe that just makes me feel good inside.
mp3:Â Flume
mp3:Â Skinny Love
Bon Iver on myspace
For Emma, Forever Ago 2008 (Jagjaguwar)
Also available from emusic
Feb
18
Halou, Sawtooth EP
By Rachel | Album Picks | 2 Comments
Halou is another project by Ryan and Rebecca Coseboom (R/R Coseboom) And if this all looks somewhat familiar to some of you that is because I have previously mentioned this duo HERE.
It is President’s Day here but not everyone got a holiday, sadly…But everyone I seem to know right now is either just getting over being sick or is sick currently…I have to be honest I am a little scared my immune system won’t be able to fight this all off. I mean it is coming from every direction! So I am in a kick ass kind of mood, it will be a fight till the death!
And I couldn’t ask for better music to accompany. Stay healthy everyone!
mp3: The Professional
mp3: It Will All Make Sense in the Morning
Halou on myspace
Sawtooth EP 2008 (dynamoPHONE)
Feb
14
Love And Stuff
By Rachel | Album Picks | 2 Comments
It is Valentine’s Day. It is really not all that exciting…People should be spreading love year round. The best thing about today is that I woke up to a cloudy sky and some rain drops on the ground. That made me smile and Pip’s post made me smile…Cute-ums indeed!
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day I thought I would post Ida, Dan Littleton and Elizabeth Mitchell are a husband and wife team who make up the core members of Ida. They have just released a new album, Lovers Prayers and it is an album filled with gentle melodies and hushed vocals perfect for cuddling up with your Valentine.
mp3:Â Willow Tree
mp3: Â The Love Below
Ida on myspace
Lovers Prayers 2008 (Polyvinyl Records)
Feb
14
V-Day
By Pip | News & Info. | 5 Comments
I’m never one for cards, but I thought perhaps this was better. Muah!
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