Music

A music update!

I have been digging this Guatemalan singer named Gaby Moreno. I found her on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert. She's adorable and spunky. Her music ranges from a Brazilian bosso-nova (think: Girl from Ipanema) to acoustic rock-out (think: female/Hispanic Ben Harper&Blind Boys of Alabama) to a modern version of 50s pop/blues music (think: Edith Piaf meets Fiona Apple meets Amy Winehouse).

Here is here website (http://www.gaby-moreno.com/), which links to the free NPR Tiny Desk Concert.

Enjoy!

Monday morning

1. Obsessed with Amy Winehouse. She was very talented.

2. So happy it's raining. Finally.

3. Going to be a good week ... I hope!

New Music

Oh, how could I have abandoned Pandora for so long?

I just heard this guy on Pandora this morning (my "Iron and Wine" channel). His name is Nick Takénobu Ogawa and he plays "modern cello" music. I really like it! It's him singing and playing cello. Quiet, minimalist, calming. This is for YOU, all you people studying for the bar.

Enjoy!

He has two albums out, of which you can hear one of them in full on his website.

Beatjazz

I don't really understand how he does this, but it is really cool.

Onyx Ashanti doing Beatjazz here. He explains what it is and how he does it here.

New Music + Video

New Shakira video for "Rabiosa."

Love it.

Beauty

Oh my gosh, this is just the most mesmerizing, calming piece of art --

Thought of You.

Music: The Weepies, The World Spins Madly On

Cali

I love Cali. No, no, not that Cali (been there, done that). I love this CALI.

And once it's all over (in two days!), I will be like this. Sort of, anyway. Maybe I'll be a less crude, more mature, girl version of it. In any event, it's keeping me amused during the studying. I really like the dance moves around 2:10. And, props to Bruno for working "snuggie" into the lyrics. My new goal: work "snuggie" into Evidence final exam.

Tunage

Some recent iTune downloads --

Cabas "Bonita"

Julieta Venegas "Limon y Sal"

And so it begins

And so it begins, you know, the bribe-myself-through-finals-with-new-music time. I just bought two EPs. And, by the way, I looked it up:

• An EP stands for "extended play single releases" which refers to a 12" Vinyl record which is played at 45 rpm instead of the usual 33 ¹/₃
• A musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. Shorter than traditional albums, they have long been popular with punk and indie bands.

I bought La Santa Cecilia's "Nochas Y Citas" and "La Santa Cecilia." I love them both. Check out their website here, where they describe themselves as the following:

La Santa Cecilia exemplifies the modern-day creative hybrid of Latin culture, rock and world music. This six-member group draws inspiration from all over the world, utilizing Pan-American rhythms like cumbia, bossa nova, rumba, bolero, tango, jazz, rock, and klezmer music. Their unique sound and the experience of their colorful, passionate performance leaves fans and new listeners mesmerized. They are proud to be from the City of Angels.

music update

I haven't bought a whole lot of music lately (Remember? It's my finals-time bribery tool so I'm sure I'll be buying more in the upcoming weeks.) But, I thought I'd post a few tunes I've been digging lately.

Sun is Up - Inna


F**k You - Cee Lo Green

On the Floor - Jennifer Lopez

Also, I know I still owe a bike trip bloggie report. I have a feeling I'm not going to get to it until after school is over. That gives you plenty of time to get out there and do it yourself!

TBWOTY

We had the first annual sibling-cousin shin dig last weekend. A.k.a. The Best Weekend of the Year. It was so fun! We met in NYC. I got there early so I had a day with Dr. Baby Brother. I cooked him a bunch to have in his freezer for when he was too busy to cook. Don't want him losing weight!

We didn't do a whole lot, but we ate good food, talked and laughed in various locations like the Met, FAO Schwartz, The Strand etc. I soaked it all up and felt happy to have such great family (& significant others). I was pretty exhausted the whole weekend from the busy week before, the red eye flight, and general lack of sleep. Yesterday was rough, coming back to freezing temperatures (literally, it's 2 degrees and we're in the middle of an 8 inch snow storm. no snow day.) I rallied hard with no second coffee, no nap, and a trip to the bike at the gym.

In other news, I went to a Conference for Women in International Trade yesterday. Only so-so. The talk I really wanted to hear was canceled, but there were still some other interesting talks.

I also discovered and bought new music by a South African guy, Vusi Mahlasela. It's beautiful. Have a listen:
River Jordan

New Songs

I have this terrible vice of buying new music to entertain and bribe myself through finals. Every year around finals time, I get bored with my music and start buying new music I've heard on Pandora. Bad Carrie, bad. Ah, well, what's done is done. Some newbies in my ears:

Seaside, The Kooks


Son of Sam, Elliott Smith


Somebody that I Used to Know, Elliot Smith


Sultanas de Merkaillo, Ojos de Brujo

Shabbat Shalom

Shabbat Shalom!

I love how in Judaism Friday night is the beginning of the holy day each week - for me, it always truly is a day to celebrate! Speaking of Jews, check this out.

I'm totally beat this week. It took me 2 hours to putz around and get ready/make it into school this morning. Now that I'm here, I can't pull myself together to get real work done. Serious case of mushy brain syndrome. I think I'm going to roll with it -- do some easy work, print some stuff off to read later, and get out of here to take the afternoon off. I feel a wee bit guilty, but if I'm going to be uselessly inefficient, I might as well just rejuvenate myself and have good work days tomorrow and Sunday. All in all, I'd rather not fall apart in life, if it means I have to do less in well in law school. If taking an afternoon off is what I need to do to be happy, that seems worth it.

Dinner tonight at a prof's house. Very exciting! I feel like this sort of thing happened all the time in undergrad, but not in law school. I made mini cheesecakes - photo and recipe to follow!

A song to get you excited for the weekend.

Odds and ends

I think this song is pretty great. A perfect warm-up song. Starts slowly, builds, gets you wrapped in, and ends with you feeling pumped up and energized:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tafqnb5fsK8

I bought a new stink! (Stink is what my dad calls perfume.) It's called Eclat D'arpege. I don't know how to explain it, but it smells good.

I saw Woody Allen's movie last night - You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. Not good. I usually really like his movies, so I was surprised. Not funny. Borderline bad acting. Predictable plot. Hard to get what the point was, except maybe that everything sucks, people cheat, lie, steal, and treat don't treat others nicely. I don't recommend it.

Musique

Some songs I've been listening to:

Jason DeRulo - In my Head
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyG1FG3H6rY
I dig the Michael Jackson-esque dancing of this video.

Shakira - Loca
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KewfYKJy8YU
Good dancing music!

Buika - Jodida pero Contenta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gm9wATAQLk
You'll have to look up what the title means yourself if you want to know (somehow it's okay for me to post swear words in Spanish, but not in English?). Don't know Buika? She's a Spanish Roma singer originally from Equatorial Guinea. Her Latin fusion funk music mixes traditional flamenco, coplas, soul and jazz. Her album Nina de Fuego was nominated for the 2008 Latin Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Basically, she's cool.

Radio

A quick post about radio:

1) Lisa Mullens, the anchor of my favorite radio news shows, is back from sabbatical. Hurrah! I think she was gone 2 years? Basically, since I got to Denver. I love hearing her voice. She's so smart and unintimidating. She gets great interviews and has a good sense of humor. I feel like she is my friend. This isn't to say that Marc Werman didn't do a great job when she was gone - he did!

2) I discovered iTunes has a radio button. If you click on it, you have streaming access to over a thousand radio stations in all different languages from around the world. I love it.

3) I heard an interview with Dolly Parton the other day on Fresh Air with Teri Gross. I was inspired to buy a blue grass album of Dolly Parton's - I think it's actually called The Grass is Blue. I really like it!

What's going on

Must sleep, but didn't want to leave the bloggie!

Here are some highlights from the weekend:

• bike 50 miles (round trip) to a u-pick blueberry farm (got 1 quart + whatever I ate while picking).
• saw the awesome Quaker private high school that my friend teaches at
• saw Golem at the Jewish Music Festival
• hung out with Grandma
  
• got some pretty flowers from the farmer's market
• hung out with college friends who made delicious dinner

I've also been listening to this one song by Sabina a lot. I can't find a great recording online, but the version I have is somehow more acoustic, harrowing, desperate and beautiful. It makes me want to learn how to sing. Maybe I'll practice it in the shower. Here's an okay version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPJlBxkWuj4&feature=related

Musak

After a few days where things were pretty touch-and-go, I found my iPod! I was whining to my (poor, kind) friend over a little elliptical gym date how I couldn't find my iPod and probably was going to get a new one. I'm not really sure how this happened, but my friend said, "Oh! I think I have your iPod in my car!" Hurrah! She said she listened to it on her drive up to the mountains last weekend. I'm sure she was appalled at my mix, but it's worth the mild embarrassment to have it back in my little pocket. She's probably now aware of all my secret guilty pleasures like Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, and (gulp) Hanson. Whatever, people! You try motivating to run at 5 a.m. in 8 degree weather!

In any event, if you like Techno-y-eletronica music, check these out.

OceanLab
"On a Good Day"
(this video also won some awards)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7pOY-ZdXQI

Offer Nissim featuring Maya
"Only You"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSvCJ9WBIl4

Taxi-Girl (with DJ Tiesto, I think)
"High Glow"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oZkUnJOj48

Reflekt
"Need to Feel Loved"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxsv2iJwijI&feature=related

Ian Van Dahl
"Castles in the Sky"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iicAw-gsDUE&feature=related

A Minor Obsession

The past few days I have been obsessed with this one song by a Spanish singer/actress. Her quirky voice and the minimalist instrumental background conveys this mixed feeling of still feeling a bit hurt and sad, but knowing with confidence that it's time to move on. I like the sound of it and I like the lyrics. See what you think. If you post a comment I'll probably pee my pants with excitement:

Bebe
Sinsentido

Manteniendo la compostura
a duras penas
a penas esto dura
lo que dura el cuerpo
el cuerpo
se mantiene por dentro
se va contigo
sinsentido me acompaña
recogiendo cosas del suelo
lo que otros
no quisieron
ah ah ah ah
...
encuentro trozos de vida
trozos de cuento
trozos de plástico
platas y recuerdos
trozos de trozos
trozos en cuerpos cuerpos en trozos

ay cuerpo, cuerpecito mío
que caña te he metio
en estos años que llevo
de camino perdio… (2 veces)

que me has robao el corazón
y lo has tirao a una alcantarilla
que me has robao el corazón
y lo has tirao a una alcantarilla
y mira ahora,

mira este cuerpo, cuerpecito mío
que caña te he metio
en estos años que llevo
de camino perdio…
ay cuerpo, cuerpecito mio... (2 veces)

ah ah ah ah
...
y las palabras
ahora te delatan
lo que llevas dentro
aunque vengan disfrazás de lo contrario
ya no me puedes engañar
así que me voy
porque total
tomar mi propia decisión
es casi la única libertad real
que me queda
así que me voy
porque total
pa que quedarme
si tomar mi propia decisión
es casi la única libertad real
que me queda.

What's on my iPod?

What's on my iPod? a.k.a. What is keeping me sane?

Thanks to Pandora, I actually hear new music. Music is critical at finals time because I don't want people talking to me. Freaks me out. I seriously unplug from listening to Pandora on my computer and plug right into my iPod. Hats help to give the "Don't talk to me" signal, too.

Anyway, I've downloaded new tunes off iTunes (paid for!) to keep me going strong through finals. Some are hip-hop, pop-y. Some of them are this cool Flamenco-fusion music. Others are just the oldies-but-goodies. Check them out:

Chambao, Ahi' esta's tu'

Gipsy Kings, Okay, I can't pick one song. I bought this entire album. It is just so good! It's described as "Spanish flamenco and Romani rhapsody meet salsa funk."

Ojo de Brujo, Todo Tiende

Jarabe de Palo, Escriban Ma's Canciones
(Gets really good and salsa-esque around 4 minutes)

Jason DeRu:lo, Whatcha Say

(And, of course, the original that Whatcha Say mixes...)
Imogen Heap, Hide and Seek

Reflekt, Need to Feel Loved

DJ Tiesto with Taxi Girl, High Glow
I can't seem to find this on iTunes. It's so good, though!