Haven't been back on in awhile but in due time I will be. Exams have been flooding my mind the whole time so just bear with me for a bit longer.
In any case, I've just got back onto listening to Beach House and this track hit me a little. Not much of a word but it's definitely worth a listen. Just brings me back to the time when I caught them at my first Laneway Festival. It was amazing.
Image from Ludditestereo
If you were wondering, Beach House is a dream pop duo from Baltimore, consisting of Victoria Legrand (lead vocals) and Alex Scully, doing most of everything else. I love their dreamy (pun intended) tunes and floaty vocals. Just really kind of makes me happy or sad whenever I feel like it or just need to be. Their last album, Bloom was released just last year and I'm just starting to really give it a listen so please do if you haven't!
Holla over if there's anything else worth a share, I'm all ears.
If you've ever heard ofHello by Martin Solveig (I just came to say hello!), you definitely can't miss out on this one. This one's by featured artist/ band on the Hello track, Dragonette. I think they haven't gotten too much recognition for some of their songs but they duly deserve it. I love the lead singer, Martina Sorbara, and her sense of style. She comes off to me as a carefree soul sorta thing.
Dragonette is actually a Candian-based, electronica three piece band that is usually (or most of the time) represented by Marina (the lead singer herself). It initially started off as a duo in 2005, called The Fuzz when Martina and the current bassist and producer, Dan Kurtz met at a music festival in Canada. Later on they went on to form Dragonette and roped in drummer, Joel Stouffer much later and keeps the current line-up until present. If you're interested, check out more of their tour dates here.
Believe it or not, I came by this song by chance when I was shopping at H&M. Sounds a little stupid, I know, but it's true. I actually Shazam-ed it hahah. In any case, it kept going on repeat and I loved the remix version of it done by Fabian (remix is featured on top). You may check out Fabian's remixes on youtube here.
More to come on my #nowplaying list as I approach the end of my days in this sunny island and start another chapter. Transition is a tiring process but I hope it reaps good ends. But for now, it is 04:15 and it can only mean one thing...
Random shot at Laneway Festival - thanks Denise for the polaroids!
It's the start of February and I apologize for the lack of updates! I've been crazy busy and stoned, sorting a lot of stuff out for myself before I head down to school. Just hoping I can settle all of it and celebrate the Lunar New Year without a worry. Still working on a new theme (definitely) and I know it hasn't been exactly concrete throughout but I'm thinking it's worth a try, yes?
So I caught two festivals - Laneway Festival(happened 26 Jan) and Big Night Out(30 Jan) within the span of five days and wanted to explode as I bombarded myself with a whole lot of new music and saw the new boundaries being made and pushed (for my ears and the audience).
Major disclaimer is that I apologize for the lackluster Instagramin' and ok don't hate on me (if I haven't hit on the right kind of music that oughts to be given a million stars to) but I haven't exposed myself enough and definitely am not considering as any review of some sort so there goes. I was just kinda amazed by most of the acts I caught despite some of them being new to me. I didn't capture every single moment because I was so absorbed (and yes dying from exhaustion at Laneway especially) but anyway, there are a few not too decent, but acceptable ones.
Kings of Convenience at Laneway Festival
I think I liked Kings of Convenience (one of the best for me actually) a lot because it was my first time catching them live (missed too many of their shows in Singapore dayum). You can't not love Erland for his kooky moves (TOO CUTE) and Eirik's mesmerizing smile throughout the set. The energy really exploded when their full band came on, it just really expanded the sound that the usual Kings had on record. It seriously just, got / out / of / hand. I kept squealing and laughing because it was too cute to resist (I know I might be biased but I'm a girl anyway). I'd rather dance, any day, yes? Hah.
There were so many awesome acts in just one day (12 hours is quite crazy, really) and I couldn't decide which was the best but I really thought Of Monsters and Men were quite the crowd getter and I quite liked Nicolas Jarr and Alt J as well.
Tame Impala at Laneway via ST
Tame Impala really left me in awe though. They really sounded like a revised John Lennon to me in a good way. Feels like I'm going backwards again... HAH.
But, my absolute favourite was still Kimbra! I loved she brought the whole house down (!!!) Some serious girl power happening right there. I CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF. Fine, extreme bias over here but I love everything about her - from her quirky dress and explosive personality to her crazy energetic set. Check out this vid of her rocking out her breakout single, Settle Down and mashing it up with Daft Punk magic.
And I'm definitely not missing out on giving Gotye due credit for the music he makes. To be honest, I wasn't a real fan of Gotye's and didn't really give him much of a listen. As it goes, I only knew that one song everyone else knew (it was Somebody That You Used To Know). But Gotye really surprised me and got me dropping my jaws at some songs because he was just like a male version of Kimbra, equally creative, has great vocals and never sold out on the kind of music he wanted to make at the end. I think my respect for him (beyond that one song) has grown a lot more after Laneway!
Kimbra and Gotye at Laneway via Her World Plus
And ok, I already kinda guessed this Kimbraactually singing withGotyethis time round is going to happen, and it did hah.
Big Night Outwas great too! I went to catch Vampire Weekend, also for my first time. I apologize I'm not over enthusiastic about Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Band of Horses but I have to admit that they really were in control and knew what they were doing - in an absolutely good way of course. I really danced and had a lot of squealing moments hahah but yeah, it was one of those moments were I could see almost the whole crowd indulged in the wonderful music.
My abstract Instag shot of (a very mini) Vampire Weekend on stage
I really loved them and just screamed at every intro of the songs they played man! It's amazing how they reproduce every single bit of what they do on record, live! Diplomat's Son was probably one of my favourite songs for the night... or maybe just everything hahah.
And on an absolutely random note, The Strokes have announced a new album and you can check more via their site for their brand new single, One Way Trigger here.
Anyway, I would love to hear what's your favourite and if you've got any specific song that you might wanna highlight if you have. I'm absolutely open! And here's me ending off with a random #instacollage (???) of my friends and I at Laneway and BNO (if that is how it's supposed to roll in the first place).
Thanks for reading if you do, and have a great day ahead! (;
It's been a busy weekend rushing off to work, trying to spend quality time because it's finally starting to hit quite badly that it's officially going to be a month before I leave home. So many things are coming in place, and yet I feel this sense of relief with another level of tension and loss stuck like a ball of gum in my throat, I can't seem to really explain it.
Either way, this song seems to come in place and fit into my absolutely random mood well. Came across Flying Lotus randomly and I actually started to like it so I decided to put it up here.
In case you didn't know, Flying Lotus is the stage name of Steven Ellison, an experimental multi-genre music producer, laptop musician and rapper from LA, California. He also raps under another persona, Captain Murphy. His songs have this odd holding vibe which I really like, and very trippy as well. I'm sure most of you who have a few DJs you love can add this onto your list.
This one above is actually a short film for Until The Quiet Comes. I think this really relates with the life for people with more undesirable family backgrounds. It's seriously well-shot though and focuses also on how fragile life is, as well as some coverage on how rampant violence is.
You may check out more of Flying Lotus hereand give a listen to all his four studio albums (definitely worth it) and let me know what you think of it!
Anyway before I go, a HUGE THANK YOU for joining and supporting this collaboration between POCKETTO and PLUS MINUS! Thanks for reading about the PLUS MINUS story and letting us know about how you love us, and areas for us to improve on. Winners of A WONDERFUL GIVEAWAY are now out!
Congratulations to:
Atiqah Zulkifli for winning yourself a copy of oh comely magazine (issue 12) and
Tasneem Petrova for winning yourself a POKETO x Furni watch!
Do drop me a PM on Facebook or an e-mail at astrylnaut@gmail.com to confirm your personal details.
Here's one from the lovely Zee Avi. I've been paying a little more attention to some of her songs as of late and I love how it always makes me feel uber lighthearted no matter how odd my day gets. I'm impressed how far she has come with her extremely humble beginnings. Avi started out small in her home country, Malaysia and then got spotted by Patrick Keeler of The Raconteurs (if you've ever heard Steady As She Goes, it's by them) and then getting signed on with Brushfire (where Jack Johnson, singer of Banana Pancakes is part of too) records. You can check out more of Zee Avi and her page here.
In other news, MERRY CHRISTMAS! Can't believe I've made it thus far, especially with my efforts at work and Pocketto hahah. But Christmas is about to come to a close. Or at least where I am at (or live or point in life) just permits that it's over. But I genuinely hope you had a pleasant one, even though mine wasn't extremely eventful. I guess it's the endless amount of errands plus work and awkward hours making me just lifeless. I don't even remember coming to the end of December so soon until I was reminded that it's the 28th. Which also means, my driving test is about to come back and haunt me. They always say third time's a charm, so it really, better be.
It's been a crazy hectic week and I'm working (hard) to get my very first collaboration with a really awesome bunch of people (keep guessing!) up before 2012 comes to a close. Let's just hope it will all fall in place and there will be enough goodies to go around for all you guys. I hope it won't disappoint so just watch out for it.
Thank you for sticking around if you've been! I can't say how much I appreciate it but fingers crossed, we'll make Pocketto better than ever. A big thank you again, and have a good night (:
Came across Flunk thanks to a friend of mine. I love the uber light-heartedness of this and the slight chills it gives at some points. Either way, it's a great song and Anja (on the vocals) looks really old-skol perfect, which I also love.
Beginning as an instrumental and sampled vocal project, this Norwegian-based act has evolved to have the sound it has today. Flunk is a electronic band consisting of producer Ulf Nygaard, guitarist Jo Bakke, drummer Erik Ruud, and vocalist Anja Oyen Vister (I believe it's pronounced An-ya (?) but fine these are the names I can never pronounce). Hidden gem it is! Or maybe I'm just too slow to catch up with times.
I am feeling jelly today. Not jealous jelly, but a jelly-like state. I was driving with my eyes half-open during class today. The exams are over.
Weeks and weeks and weeks of mad studying and training has made me a lunatic (I think). Overloading on information that probably will not make a difference to my life in the future, one and half stacks of full skep, three pen ink refills, and getting distracted by the TV and the Internet. Taking runs and hitting the gym to (attempt to) reverse the severe consequences of an exam binge. Died at 9 pm. My pen ran out of ink halfway through a paper. I left twenty minutes earlier for another.
I studied like my life depended on it (ok it actually does, for now).
Haven't really been able to focus on things I want to do on this space because I just haven't been able to. As they all say, the time and place has to be right. It is crucial. I'm just waiting on it. I want my own store. I want to share the joy of listening to and buying lovely music. I want to buy things I don't need. I want people to laugh. I want a confetti gun so I can pull the trigger on it every time I open the doors of my store. Is this happiness?
The rainy season is here. You may say hello to my wellies in due time.
November is ARTifact month. Keep your eyes peeled. We're going to start small. I'm going to try so hard to not disappoint (even though I'm not a great artist but I'll try).
I chanced upon this on an absolutely random late-night at Starbucks studying my ass off. This song really caught on to me. I was enjoying every single song on this playlist that I literally recorded down the titles of every single song that came on to try and compile it. It was a stupid thing to do trying to Shazam songs but I had fun in the midst of scribbling notes like a machine. Thought I would share this because it really stood out a lot to me.
Drug Cabin is a Los Angeles based act by Nathan Thelen who is also guitarist of Moonrats, Pretty Girls Make Graves. This emerged as his solo project and despite its slightly more mellow tunes, there is some sunshine layered on top of it. I'm not too sure how to describe this feeling exactly but it makes me feel like I'm in a good place. Give it a listen if you would try. His other songs are absolutely wonderful too and is definitely going to be worth your time and ears (promise!). Either that or check out Drug Cabin on Facebook via here.
On a lighter note, this torturous bout of my school semester is about ending. I know this hasn't been a great place to be in the recent weeks but I will definitely work on it and make this a better one in the next few months to come. Directions, directions... They can get a little annoying sometimes but do keep up and we'll definitely (try to) have more juice for you.
I'm thinking along the lines of ideals and the idea of being idealistic. Or create a topic for the month. Do you have anything in mind or something you would like to know or read about? I'm curious. Share it if you can I'm all ears, definitely. Find pocketto here.
I've been waiting for the release of this film for quite awhile! But I actually missed it so I guess I'll have to settle for a copy of the dvd or something. I love how it actually reminds me of Pierrot Le Fou. Wes Anderson has a way of working his charm on a film like that, but I suppose there was a lot of (awesome) references and music in place for this one. Young love is always the sweetest (and greatest). We all know it.
I caught a snippet of the film (I can't actually link it here because sharing was not enabled but check it out on Youtube here) and now I feel like I could actually do with a portable record player now to go hand-in-hand with my set of records collecting dust at Calvin's. This shall not be the end. I will work very hard (or I'd like to think so) to make things happen. Hopefully I will actually have a store and I wouldn't need a portable player but I'll have an insane selection of records and be a whizz at handling records.
Anyway, just so you know (for the girlies!), our affiliate, ModCloth is holding a little competition inspired by this wonderful film!
All you have to do is create a retro-adventurous outfit with the Polyvore mini editor loaded up with ModCloth's outdoorsy, 60s-inspired styles like those in the film and you can stand a chance to win a $100 ModCloth gift certificate and a blu-ray edition of the movie itself. Click away on the image or via here to the competition page.
* International readers are welcome to join this competition and be entitled to the gift certificates but only US-based participants may receive the blu-ray edition of the movie
I can't wait to watch Moonrise Kingdom after I'm done with this hoard of revision and papers to deal with. I think I'm about to be pushed into another long period of hiatus with nothing to write about (I don't have plenty on hand but I am trying to work on it) and I don't know if it's appropriate to say please forgive me? I don't think so though. But hey, thank you for reading this space if you do!
This quickly sums up the past month. Well, most of it. As you can see, Instagram has done a good load by making sure my phone serves its camera functions. I get bored easily but not of this, yet.
What's a great picture? A crazy amount of filters or is it perspective? Or is it just taking a picture of a great subject? We all get confused don't we. I can't say for sure it's awesome work, after all it's an amateur's take with a layman phone camera. Well I don't know if it's scary how mobiles and social media is changing the way we do and look at things but hey, it's about the biggest revelation since the industrial revolution (so I was paying attention to some part of lecture).
Anyway, getting back on the real issue. I can't decide if I'm really away because I can't seem to stay away from sharing random things at the moment. Work is starting to hit me like a giant wave with no stop to it. Not until next Tuesday is over.
Lastly, here's a surprising number from Norah Jones with Say Goodbye on her most recent album, Little Broken Hearts. Please do give it a listen, it will not disappoint, I promise! I hope these Monday blues will start going away already.
Good Monday to you I am officially in hibernation mode as I try to keep zen from the piles and piles of school work starting to hit me in the face like a bitch. Looks like I won't be able to invest too much time or effort in the next two weeks in my interests or my little space because the outside world is about to drain me of it.
Just thought I would share some music before I get out of the zone. I'm currently listening to a lot of floaty (no I don't mean it any way else, but literally; I feel floaty listening to it) tunes... which includes Alex Turner and his Submarine OST (lovely movie it is!). I never got over the movie and not the songs either. I'm in for the Arctic Monkeys so you can't count me out on this... So here's some lovin' with Glass In The Park by Turner for Submarine.
Well, I can't decide if I'm supposed to sad or just heartbroken like a real fool but I feel that when I listen to it. I don't know. Do you have a song that makes you sigh and want to pretend all of this never existed and melt into the walls and just watch everyone else? I guess we all do... At some point in life, we all have.
I guess, it's that time of the year... Where I shuffle my feet and can never decide what I want out of it.
Here's a tune to cure your Sunday blues and greens (aka pre-Monday blues) by a lovely friend of mine, Serene who goes by her alter ego Scribble Giraffe. How appropriate is this! Loving the bubbly jingle and lyrics we can all agree with.
If you like what you're listening to, click away to Scribble Giraffe on Soundcloudhere! There's a lot more amazing stuff going in there and this cutesy giraffe definitely deserves some lovin'! (; Alternatively, you may check out Serene's space over at whyserene.com over here!
It's been an eventful week but there's been some set backs at the moment for pocketto due to technical and software issues but rest assured there will be more stuff coming your way. Because we meant it when we said more awesome stuff and affiliates are on the way!
Anyway, how's your Sunday been? Hope it's not bogged down by work and all (loads of projects and last minute work to deal with)... But hey on the bright side, it's going to be a brand new lovely week!
This one's a pretty, heartwarming/wrenching tune but I love it all the same because Kate Walsh is amazing just the way she is. I know it's been awhile but if you've caught Angus, Thongs and The Perfect Snogging and loved it, it happens to be one of the soundtracks in the movie.
Anyway it's been a long weekend... again! Happy Hari Raya and have an awesome celebration if you're going visiting! (: It's been an extremely inspiring and fun weekend (yay happy first to CJP and I)! Meeting new people, learning new things, refreshing my views and take on marketing as well as pigging out on food and more food without exercise... Life can be a bed of roses if you want to make it!
On a random note, has anyone caught the Spice Girls at the Olympics closing ceremony? I thought they were smashing! Who knew they could still be this charming after eons...
In any case, have a great week ahead and keep your eyes peeled for more!
Here's some Bombay Bicycle Club if you are in need of a mid-week tune ~
Managed to catch them live one time and the show was breathtaking (sorry major fangirling over here but who could hate them?!) I don't think any other guitarist could manage a fall on his back after tripping on some cables and continue rocking a song like Jamie does. Seems like standing 8 hours in the same darned spot is all justified now.
It's been an exhausting but, rather exciting week thus far. New people and explorations, as well as things to do.
Anyway I finally set up an account on bloglovin. Bombs awayyyyy!
