2013 End of May MUSIC UPDATES!

Warning: lots of music ahead!

I still have 4 exams to go so I have no idea why I'm blogging right now... I guess I've been suffocating in this black hole of revision for months and now that I have 2 out of the way, I feel like I can finally take a breather (also because I'm sick to death of revision)..

The biggest highlight of April and May has got to be seeing Shugo Tokumaru live. I remember when I missed him in 2011 so hoped that he'd come in 2012 but no sign whatsoever... I was actually at Li Yundi's concert in London when I found out that Shugo will be performing live and when I came back I ordered the tickets immediately. 

I think amazing is a total understatement, more like it's probably the best gig I've ever attended, and I've been to a few. The sound he made was so raw, there were no psychedelic runs or synthesisers or whatever to drown out his vocals and guitar playing. He's known for music with wild clashes and layering, but still it sounded like it was carefully planned to the last chord. Shugo was also accompanied by an excellent drum player (who was having a lot of fun hehe) and an awesome instrumentalist girl. She literally had a tableful of all types of percussion instruments and non-instruments alike, including whistles, birdcall things, shakers, you name it. At one point she was playing the accordion, blowing into a piccolo like thing AND playing the xylophone at the same time. It was apparent that the audience was also intrigued by her judging by the number of iphones pointing her way. 

Here's Linne (my favourite song by Shugo)

Some more music updates, I wrote an original beat if you would like to check it out, kindly know that I spent 2 hours on this since I was on a revision schedule and had to get this riff down before I forgot it.

I'm actually dying to finish a CocoRosie cover which I started months back but can't do anything about it because I won't be free until 14th June. Hopefully in the last days I'm in London I will finish it as a celebratory 'gift' for myself and my followers :)

So recently I've been listening to some new bands BUT since it's exam season I need it to be as stress free as possible so most of the time I'm been living in my comfort zone, ie eating things I know I like and listening to old favs. Of course this includes the brilliant Glen Check. I mean just check out this song '84, it's CRAZY. I can't believe I hadn't heard this before (thanks to mixxmixx.com's blog for letting me know :))

I mean if there was a competition called song-with-the-awesomest-intro-ever this would definitely win it. Also I found out that they use an APC40 to make these sick beats (but no idea where the samples are from adsjkfhsljkhsa).. I'm going to be in Seoul this summer and since Glen Check have informed us that they are in Seoul working on their new album I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that they will drop some sort of EP or anything when I'm there so I can buy it when I'm there OR EVEN BETTER see them live.

I made a 12 hour long set, my own Summer Playlist for 2013 (my essentials) and am here to share it with you :)

CLICK HERE

It includes a lot of my favourites and also a lot of new tracks I've discovered and am currently loving.

Unfortunately SoundCloud didn't have a few of the tracks I wanted to include, so I'll put some of them here:

That's it for now! I need to go revise algebra&number theory for my exam on the 30th! Please enjoy my summer album :) xx

Spring '13 music endeavours

Recently I feel like I've been standing still and watching time speeding past. I'm now 20 and have finished my 2nd year of uni (only got the exams left :C). I feel irrevocably senile. However I did have a fantastic birthday which I celebrated over 3 days. My flatmates bought be so much food and alcohol, my uni friends were sweet and waited with me until midnight in the middle of Trafalgar Square in the freezing cold. They bought a hefty 3 layer velvet cake which I indulged lavishly in.

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All in all I have had a fun three months of 2013 so far, and would like to share with you some highlights. Unfortunately, I haven't been out and about as much as I'd liked due to the tenacious cold and gloom, and now it's already April aka time to buckle down and study 24/7. But this summer will be amazing, I'm in Shanghai for an internship and we're going to Seoul for a week (if there's no talks of war...) so I'll be somewhere hot for months :)

I've had an amazing experience with my Acapella group (The Houghtones) so far. We've braved the Lyceum Theatre (where the Lion King is held), and I was lucky enough to be given a solo. Standing on that stage was phenomenal, I've never seen so many pairs of eyes staring at my face. Thanks to that 30s of terror before I opened my mouth, now when I perform in front of an audience I don't get nervous anymore. I'm also grateful to my group for their amazing vocal backing plus all the hugs and confidence boosts they gave me backstage.

My 2nd encounter with my group is entering the Voice Festival UK 2013, an inter-university Acapella competition in which we were examined on performance, vocal ability, creativity, choreography and many other aspects including vocal percussion and soloist/backing harmonisation. It was a totally unforgettable experience, both the competition itself and also the preparation stage where all of us gave up so much time to get the entire 12min set together in around 2 weeks. The competition was also held at my old Sixth Form school, City of London School for Girls, and our rehearsal room was the room where I used to maths (which means I probably stayed there 90% of my day). Nostalgia undermines what I felt.

the score for one of our songs

serious face family portrait

We didn't win in the end as it's our first time ever entering, but the winners really did deserve their title. They are called 'Vive' and are from Guildhall School of Music and Drama. They most likely won for their originality plus very tight, dissonant harmonisations.

Vive:

I heard them for the first time at the London Acapella Festival 2013, and was impressed by their execution, especially at their blend and how they don't sing with their solo voices. They really listen out for each other and make sure that the others are heard, not only themselves. Since our group all come from a background of being soloists, we all agreed this is something we could work on.

They also remind me of a Korean jazz group called 'The Green Tea' who I discovered around 4/5 years ago:

There were people from BBC and Channel 4 who came and filmed us rehearsing, and carried out a few interviews. We also received some positive feedback:

"The Houghtones of LSE were the third group to take to the stage, and they opened with a fantastically original idea. The theme of radio jingles cleverly ran through their first number. They opened with the BBC Radio 2 jingle, segueing into Queen’s Radio Gaga, Ignition (Remix), and even Beethoven’s fifth symphony combined with When I Get You Alone, Robin Thicke number based on a sample of A Fifth of Beethoven by Walter Murphy, before ending on the ‘This Is Heart’ jingle. In that fantastic introduction – complete with a William and Kate parody – they established themselves as having a fantastic sense of humour, great stage presence, and fantastic, simple, but extremely effective arrangements. They clearly enjoy a good medley and so I was already sold, but then their next number, an arrangement of Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water that borrowed elements of Aretha Franklin’s version of the song, really brought the good stuff, combining a brilliant soloist with an arrangement that was both subtle, pretty, powerful and full on. Their set culminated in a mash-up of We Are Young by fun. and Take A Walk by Passion Pit. This is definitely a group to look out for." - UACUK

On March 13th I went with Frankie to see the BBC Singers singing some Baroque works by Lotti, Scarlatti and MacMillan. It was a great way to relax and take a break from end of term deadlines. I'm not religious, but after this concert I understood why people go to church to pray and self reflect. We sat in the front row and the voices of the singers reached as directly, to the degree where we could hear their enunciation+vibrato as clear as glass. The music is both overpowering and introspective. It was hard to not be at complete peace. We were treated to an excellent repertoire of both 16th century classics of the Passion of Christ and also contemporary works by Macmillan, which had the iconic Baroque style, but was given a more clashing, political edge. 

Around 3 weeks ago whilst I was skimming Facebook I saw a post by piano legend/master Valentina Lisitsa saying that she was going to hold a free concert playing on an old public piano at St Pancras International Station. It was obviously unmissable since her normal concert tickets are sky high in prices, so I waited for her in the freezing cold. It turned out she kept her promise and played for us a first class set, including Beethoven's Appassionata in full, Liszt's La Campanella and Tottentanz, Rachmaninoff Prelude No.5, Chopin Nocturne No.2, Ave Maria and many more pieces by Rachman. I was impressed how her fingers could move so fast on that crappy upright piano under such cold temperatures, and how she kept on playing without talking much for a good 1 and a half hours. 

Me and the legend!

Rachmaninoff Prelude No.5 In G Minor, Op.23

To end off with some modern day music, I went to see Beach House with some uni friends. I really have no words to describe how incredible Victoria's voice was. It was hauntingly elegant, sultry and heavy but liberating at the same time. She had an amazing range for a female voice and was not scared to deliver with volume, which was very refreshing for singers of her genre, who often sing with a raspy, airy tone. I was hugely impressed also by the stage lighting, which changed with the music and added more impact to certain parts of the music. They did a super long set playing their new album Bloom entirely and also many old songs. Before seeing this live I honestly quite disliked Bloom because the entire tracklist sounded like they all came from one sample. But the band was very conscious of the beginning and endings of their songs, which in the end seemed like a 2 hour long track. They definitely lived up to my standards and we all left evidently yearning for more.

Victoria did however say that they won't be playing again in London for a very very long time, and when we all laughed in disbelief she told us it was no bullshit. I have no idea what they have in plan but that made me very sad :(

Myth

That's it for now! I'll be getting a new haircut this week similar to my one of my favourite Chinese actress Sun Li's

so hope you look forward to my future updates :) I also want to do a wishlist post on a few fashion items to let you guys know the trends I'm into right now, but I'll probably do that after I have my haircut so I can upload some nice photos of me haha

I'll end this post musically with 3 songs I'm madly in love with right now! x

Mindy Gledhill - Anchor

Blondfire - Walking With Giants

The Shins - Australia

Good luck with revision to all of you, I'll be working hard too :D
Can't wait for the summer!!

The Art of Acapella

Around November last year I auditioned for and joined my uni's Acapella group. We get together twice a week to sing a wide repertoire of songs (just not choral/classical). Most of the time we sing old classics like Bon Iver and Simon & Garfunkel. Yesterday our Acapella group took part in the London Acapella Festival from 10am-7pm, and intensively participated in workshops designed to better our vocal skills. There is no way anyway can give you a satisfactory set of tips to better your voice in hour long sessions when they have no idea what kind of voice you have, but they did provide us a good summary.

There was one workshop on music arrangement which I found particularly inspiring. The speaker was Christopher Diaz of the podcast Mouth Off, who gave us a very refreshing approach to music arranging. Rather than thinking of scores and notes etc, he advised us to arrange based on feelings. Depending on where we are, what we are feeling prior to writing, what we FEEL like getting out of the original track, we will all produce very different interpretations.

For anyone wanting to do arranging, a basic understanding of music theory is crucial. This automatically implies that the main difference of what makes a good arrangement and a rubbish one does not lie in how deep your knowledge of chordal progressions and triads are, but of how capable you are of delivering a feeling. I'm pretty sure I have written on this very blog in the past that music is an art form, and if it evokes your senses, then it is a successful piece of art. And there was Diaz on the stage, saying exactly what I believed in. He told us, who cares what methods you used to arrange the track. At the end of the day if your listeners like what you did, you did well and your method was a good one.

His particular method was listening to the song over and over, and jotting down the main lyrics/bass lines he wants to pick out from the original. From there he would think about the lifespan of the song, ie techniques the singer could use to bring out the places that need accentuating. When I heard this it really rang a bell because when I make remixes, this is exactly the way I go about doing it. I listen to the original track and pick out bits I want to expand on and bits I want to give a different feel to. In our acapella rehearsals we sing to each other and work out the best ways to deliver the songs together. Everything is trial and error, but at the end, it always works out.

In the talk he also emphasised the importance of singers singing together in acapella groups. Not just singing together but a real tacit understanding of each other, where we know when to start and stop singing just by looking at each other, when to control our vocal projection to compliment the others' voices. There's a lot of science behind singing in unison, for example on average a person's breath lasts around the same time, and so if we sing a note, naturally the dynamics will vary the same way for different people, and when we sing together we should sense when we are all going to finish that note, even without looking at each other.

I first knew about acapella through DBSK when I was around 14, I was just blown away by their acapella version of Whatever They Say:

I was so impressed by how they enunciated the words in exactly the same way, making sure their dictation emphasised the same words with the same level of impact. It's clear that their vocal bond does not only come from practising together, but years of living and understanding each other to know how to sing as a group, and not as a soloist. I watched interviews of them discussing each others' voices, and at the time I didn't think much but now I am even more impressed how much each member knows about the other members voices. From my experience singing with others it's not easy to give all rounded judgments on what you know about voices that are not yours.

Acapella singing is to me the most natural art form. Every person is born with a voice, and fron the moment we were born we used that voice. Possibilities are limitless and you could do so many wonderful things with it. People began singing together ever since civilisation began, and now we have perfected the craft so well it's created the world of Acapella. Some groups blow our minds with technique, eg pretending to be musical instruments as Cluster did in their version of Jingle Bells:

Nothing from what you just heard was made by an actual instrument. It is 100% entirely vocals.

While this sort of thing is amazing, I still think real talent of a group lies in the unison of their voices. When you hear a collective voice that rise and fall together as one, whose singers speak and breathe together down to the last syllabic detail, you can tell straight away whether the singers understand each other well. Whilst it's important to pick singers whose voices SOUND well together, it is ever more crucial to make sure the singers BLEND well together. Successful groups will know how to fit in with each others voices instinctively, and the sound they create is just sensational.

Listen to the way they begin and end the notes so precisely in unison. It feels like one person is singing the song.

After the long day we all chatted for ages and talked about new ways to rehearse. In some ways I'm glad we are becoming so comfortable with each other. I think it's the only way we can understand each other's singing voices: by understanding each other first.

Money vs. Mozart

Early start today and I thought I'd update this barren land as a brain warm up session.

It's already half way through the summer and I've had both fun and regrets. The month straight after exams had just been a total nightmare with having to sort out accommodation for next year. Aside from literally removing the whole of my room from halls back home (believe me it was like an evacuation mission), I've painfully endured roughly 30 days of 8am mornings trying to get an early start on the letting agency lines. Flats around London go like hot potatoes, and unless you're an aristocrat that can pay up to £300 a week, no hope for you unless you torment yourself a bit.

So finally I've settled on one, frustration finally effaced and out of my system, and it was time to decide on a summer for myself. Unfortunately this year I had no plans on beach trips abroad with my friends/family, so I had to find a way to busy myself until a possible holiday later on. I was initially planning on China or Japan again in August, but it's already 8 days in and I don't even know where my suitcase is. Seems quite unlikely now which is a massive downer for me since I hadn't made plans earlier. In the humdrum of waiting for exam results, I went out excessively around London with no purpose in mind, often adhering my mind to exercise rather than extensive shopping. Not very fancy for a holiday, but it at least obsoleted my original plan of staying at home and watching my weight plummet. Late June/early July saw me touring some fine attractions in London in the okay weather. Strolling around South Kensington/Knightsbridge had become the norm and a late night drink catch up with uni friends was I think time well invested.

Around mid July I wanted to do something actually worth my time so I looked around. Many of my friends landed jobs at the Olympics, which I was not so lucky on since I completely neglected the hiring process last year, so I thought I'd have to look for a part time job too. I have several CVs saved onto my computer, but all proved useless because in the end I never posted them out. A stroll to the huge music place in Brick Lane brought me to the the massive advertising wall at the back of the room, with masses of adverts posted by aspiring musicians wanting to form music groups. I had a good long read, and in the end sieved out two attractive projects. One was a 'The Xx' styled 2 man band needing a vocalist, which was not very experienced, the other a string trio with an on and off pianist, looking for another violinist. I contemplated on whether to sing or to play, and ended up choosing the string quartet. I've never done this sort of thing before, calling up strangers and going for a tryout, but it turned out pretty well.

Much more info in a future post about our amazing quartet, but we've achieved a lot in the last couple of weeks. I remember the first couple of sessions where we were breaking the ice were kinda awkward, so we chatted a lot on what we hope for and really got nothing much done. Now we're serious about this Mozart piece and also writing our own piece together. My early morning today is actually for this purpose. In the past weeks I've had to write a lot of music and since I haven't touched music theory for ages now I've had to devote a lot of my time and work really hard. Experimenting is easy, but writing it down isn't simple, partly because I only have the virtual piano on my iPad to work with and one violin when the music is for 4 people. And often the stuff we each come up with will clash and we'll argue about which bits to keep and which to shed. Honestly I've stressed out quite a lot but we're slowly but surely making progress and starting to sound pretty decent.

I'm happy, but there obviously comes the problem of Asian parents who complain that I'm having too much fun and need a proper job that pays a wage. Internship wise I managed to brag myself a short one with the help of my past mentor (won't disclose details due to security issues), so my parents are finallyyyy not nagging me about that, but now they want to see me working and making a contribution to my future rent. Sagacious thinking and all, but honestly? I'd rather stick to my music this summer. I chose maths over music for uni, so I at least deserve this bit of fun over the summer when I'm supposed to be NOT doing maths. I guess for my parents doing music does not produce tangible results like money so they think I'm wasting my time, but to me every note in that Mozart piece is worth more than a measly hourly wage. Writing and playing music, remixing tracks into dawn and going on Tumblr with a cup of tea for a break is to be a good investment of time and excellent substitute to a day of shopping in Milan for example. For one you learn more things than you'd ever imagine, be it mistakes or a breakthrough riff you randomly came up with. Even though your ears maybe buzzing by the end of the day, the satisfaction of loading your own produced track onto your iPod for a first round of sound checking is just indescribable. I try to balance it with going out too. It'd be a lie to say that that gives me inspiration at all, but at least an excursion will clear my mind and destress me for my next rehearsal. With the occasional Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, spot of shopping in Covent Garden, stroll along bankside and late night drink up with uni friends is a perfect way to spend this summer in London. I think. However secretly I know that my parents hoped that I'd land myself a job ASAP and pay for a holiday abroad. That would be nice but I'm farrrrrrrrr too lazy. But I've taken their suggestion and will actually send off some of those prewritten CVs sometime soon.

I've realised the lack of photography on the blog recently, but I'm sorry I just don't take pictures when I'm working. But I'll keep that in mind. For those of you curious on which Mozart piece, here's the 1st movt:

Introducing 7 of my favourite Korean indie bands/artists

Following from my Chinese indie bands post, today I will be doing the Korean one :)

I'll be focusing on indie/electronic, leaving jazz/trip/hip hop to another separate post, because otherwise there will be too much eargasms to handle~

1. Firstly, I must tell you guys about my ultimate girl crush, Han Hee Jung. She's one of the 2 members of the indie group Blue Dawn, and also a solo artist. The first song that got me hooked was 'My Kind Path':

her solo albums are also wonderful, I'm currently in love with 'Drama':


2. Next up is Adultchild. Even though I was instantly sold by one song, I'm  not gonna lie it took me a long time to love her. Her genre is mostly dream indie/acoustic. The song that captured me instantly was 'Annabel Lee', due to my love for Edgar Allan Poe and also relevance to my life at the time. The lyrics are taken straight from Poe's poem, and I think it works with the melody amazingly well.


Recently I was blog-hopping and heard 'It's Rain' from her first album BTL BTL, which I did not even know existed even though I had her 2nd album Dandelion for so long. I hadn't listened to Adultchild for almost a year but when I heard her voice in the song something just clicked and I immediately knew it was her. I wonder what it feels like to have such a distinctive voice (like Shiina Ringo too).


If you like the acoustic/easy-listen indie scene, also check out Yozoh, Dalmoon, Park Hye Kyung, Fanny Fink, Clover, Taru, Oh Ji Eun, Misty Blue and  Donawhale. Definitely check out Misty Blue though.

3. Time for a less dreamy sound as we move onto 3-man group, Glen Check. This group, wow. The epitome of brilliance. There are actually hundreds of bands in the west that sound like them but there is something so funky and real about their music, they get the electronic sounds just right so it's not too loud but just brings them out of the box of normal synth rock. It's definitely a great deal of edgy chillwave in it and a hint of psych. So so so good and their French is also so so so good. Can't choose a must-listen to just listen to all their songs!

Here is 'French Virgin Party' and 'Bataille' merged into one video. Work of art.


4. Next is eAeon from another big name, 2-man band MoT. His voice is so sexy it breaks my eardrums lol~ My current eargasm is 'Bulletproof' and wow what can I say.. which genre does it even belong too? it's like some merged Stateless with Alva Noto and added some Jamie Xx. There's definitely lots of electronica, microsound and glitch but that rich, gooey sound that defines MoT is certainly not lost.

If you like that sort of eargasm check out Idiotape too. They really take it to the extreme.

5. No Respect For Beauty is my current band crush and newest find. Their music makes me think alot about myself and the world around me. I think it's because they are more like instrumentals/soundscapes/medleys than structured songs with verses. It's like war music, makes you think about why we live by and turn a blind eye to so much hate, violence and injustice in the world, why do we live like we do now, what can we do to change ourselves.. yeah stuff like that. Check out 'Summit Collision':

6. Now for the easy-listen, band next door, sunshine indie. The best of that genre comes from Vodka Rain. Just listen to this song and take it from there :)

If you like this sort of thing I beg you to check out 10cm and Jaeju Sonyun. They are the 2 bigger names of this genre~

7. And lastly, to round off today's long ass post, I give you Mad Soul Child. You may or may not have heard of them from Won Bin's film 'Ahjussi'. I have never heard someone with a voice like Jinsil. Check out 'Dear' below if you haven't because the entire song, composition and arrangement, is a true gem in the Korean music scene.


That's all for now! Hope you enjoy my recommendations!

The Ragged Priest + Remix I made last month

Before I start, a little update about life..
I FINALLY SETTLED ON A HOUSE FOR NEXT YEAR!

the place is massive, with 2 floors, and spacious kitchen and long balcony
i'm sharing with 2 friends, I've already started fantasising about how I'm going to decorate it, how to position the furniture and how I'm going to have massive sleepover parties.

Because my room can potentially hold like 5/6 people sdjhsdhsghsagh

but anyway

this is actually a continuation from my previous Topshop post

After hours of controlling my hunger I still found myself downstairs not for the shoe section but actually for EAT so I could grab a sandwich, but along the way it was hard not to set your eyes on the 3 racks that were taken up by The Ragged Priest~ so many studs and tie dyes everywhere. To be honest, this brand was never my thing, as in, I can't see myself wearing it nor can I see myself buying it. The idea was a bit superficial, no exciting core concept, the 'handmade' thing is interesting but the quality isn't to die for. But I don't know I still sort of like it, afterall it's a successful brand :)

So being the pauper I am, I just took in a million pieces to the changing rooms to sneak pictures HOHO

I really like this top, even though it was a bit see through.. I might make it or something haha

the quality of this top is so bad ;A; but the design is nice.. however I didn't like any of the punk metal bands on them though..

LOOOOVE this so much, it's so warm and pretty, really considered buying it, but it was £50 ;~~;

some weird medieval tunic thing that looked so ugly on me but I tried it anyway :)

I just googled The Ragged Priest's summer look, not sure what I feel about all the pastels and cliche dreamy looks (I hate the wigs) but if it's something you're into, check out their website :)

http://www.theraggedpriest.com/

On to music!

Around a month ago I made a jazzhop (not really lol) remix using some tracks from some of my favourite artists. It's old news now, but I don't think I ever blogged about it... Anyways, here is the final work and also the original tracks I used :)



Originals:

Consider My Love - Kenichiro Nishihara (ft Pismo)


Kondor - Tribute to Nujabes


Alva Noto - Uni Rec


Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto - Trioon I


Right now I'm working on a dream pop instrumental (which was actually supposed to be a remix of Twin Sister's 'I Want A House', but I cba isolate the vocals or cover it with my own voice haha)

I'm got a great intro sorted out already, but the body is taking me so long because I had planned to use a lot of tracks by Toro Y Moi (Lissoms and Blessa to be precise) AND instrumentals by Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie Xx, but my intro has a bass riff and drone in a different key which I want to keep. I've tried so many things and I still don't know what to do, but hopefully something will work pretty soon. In the morning I actually remembered a Kuramoto piano track that might work.. haven't tried it yet but I'm lazy and I was watching Up..

But when I get it done and get it reviewed I will obviously post it here :)

ciao xx

[Outfit post!] Retail therapy, musicccccc

I've finished exams!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 12 hours of maths alllll done <3

So so so happy XD this past week I've been living it like a typical 1st year.. and surprisingly I do not remember ever buying myself a drink lol but let's not talk about that..

On Friday my neighbour and I decided to go do some shopping as some pre stress relief, because we know that house hunting, bank internships, driving lessons, sorting out holidays and 2nd year prep work are all next on the list of things to mentally kill us. Ironically we both had house viewings on the day so we ended up meeting each other late when the rain started and it ended pretty miserably with us both getting strong coffees and crying over our fails~

But I decided to stay in central a bit longer to see what high street had to offer. To my surprise TOPSHOP actually had some really nice things here and there. I ended up getting leather shorts because I kinda needed party shorts, but I hoarded loads of clothes into the changing rooms to take sneaky pics :D

 

this is my own outfit :)

 

the leather shorts I bought and a lovely seethrough top I found. I loved the style only problem was that it kinda felt like paper D:

 

excuse my bra, but look at the pretty detail!

 

the ying-and-yang leggings everyone on tumblr has lol

 

I ended up buying this yellow top even though when I first saw it I hated it haha.. but I really needed a party outfit so yeah

 

oh and this was in Drop Dead~ their walls were EPIC!!!

that blue top with the eye was only £15, but I didn't buy it because I don't think I'll ever wear it without that jacket.. (which was £60 and I'm poor because I eat too much)

I also bought a new lipstick called 'Devil' from the Makeup Store on Carnaby Street!

You might think なんかゼイタクでしょう？but omg can I just say the only lipstick I call my own is my Mac 'So Chaud'. I have another orange one from Boots which was like £3 and another one from a 99p store which is shit. SO I'M REALLY THRIFTY OKAY??

My mum says I look like a punk with my studded leggings and red lipstick, but oh well, at least it's not my dad lol *asian parents*~~~~ I had to tell her that I'm only 19 once (YAWLAW) and besides, when I get a job in JP Morgan or something I'll have to wear work clothes everyday and won't ever have the chance again, which is quite sad tbh..

Time for some music I think! Here are a selection of things on my Recently Played (i'm been playing these everyday for a longggg time now love them so much ;~~~;): 

后海大鲨鱼 (Queen Sea Big Shark) - Man On The Moon

Sea Oleena - Untitled

I can't remember if I've shown you guys 'Island Cottage' but omggggg LISTEN TO IT NOW OR REGRET FOR LIFE

Lianne La Havas ft. Willy Mason - No Room For Doubt
she is so so so cute and this song is too epic not to post ;~~; in fact I like the version she did by herself more than the duet version, but both gorgeous of course :)

Beach House - Equal Mind
it's perfectttttttttttttttttt

Cass McCombs - County Line
have I posted this already???? oh well LISTEN AGAIN

Bugseed - Tear Loose

I only found out about Bugseed really recently, and loved him instantly because he sounds a bit like my love Nujabes and almost exactly the same as my Japanese jazzhop obsession, 'Green Butter (Budamunk)'

法蓝 (Fran) - 打雷了 (It's thunder)
don't listen to Fran that much, but this song is amazing

Back with more random things later! (omg gotta do the Korean and Japanese playlists like I promised...)

Ivo Pogorelich

Short post, but I just want to introduce you guys to this amazing pianist if you haven't yet heard of him.

He's called Ivo Pogorelich, a Croatian pianist, known for his eccentricity and fabulous style haha

Actually, he's known for being eliminated from the 3rd round of the International Chopin Piano Competition in 1980, because the boring judges thought his style and behaviour on stage was inappropriate. I mean I seriously laughed at the last bit, guess they couldn't handle his fabulous self. Well at least Martha Argerich acknowledged that he's a genius and left the jury in protest. If I was her I would have done the same tbh.

He's definitely a genius, and his playing, I can't describe it, just go listen to these:

At the end the bitch face he gave the audience!!! omg this man is perfect


lol the way he entered XD I just don't feel the nerves when I hear him play, even though this is an international competition

hair flick at the end :D

but in all seriousness, he is a really good pianist. I especially like his Bach

Why do YOU listen to music?

Does it make you think about certain things?
Does it make you forget certain things?
Does it echo/change your mood?
Does it make you feel better/worse about yourself?
Does it make you feel like you are somewhere/someone else?

Most people will say 'yes' to these questions thinking about the songs that they love.

Music, to me, is a form of art that evokes the senses and the emotions.
Which is why I hate it when people judge whether a song is 'real music' or not. If a song speaks to you, they it is good music, to YOU.

If you've been to numerous live concerts, you will know that most of the time, they make you high if you know the piece, or if it's a gig, you become elated when the crowd is reacting positively to the music. But did you actually feel the music itself?

The concerts that are most memorable to me are the ones that made me feel my emotions shifting in response to the music; it may last only a couple of seconds, it may not happen at all. But no matter if it's the musician's technique or the echoes of sound against the walls, something in the music becomes part of you. It syncs to something in you; it might be your breathing, heartbeat, thoughts, memories, anything. It's such a euphoric moment that it's powerful enough to make you extremely happy or break down immediately.

I love live classical music, mostly because it is the rawest interpretation of the foundations of music. Mathematically, layered chords can evoke more feelings from us than most modern music.

However I love all sorts of music, and there are always some very hardcore guitar riffs that really wake me from my senses better than any classical music can.

For example, I sat at the front of the Cadogan Hall yesterday and listened to Brahms' First Symphony live. I was right in front of the double basses with their amazing ground shaking low notes. And especially since it was played after a very averagely played Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, the first few bars felt amazing. The oboe part at 02:08 definitely jerked my tear ducts.



On Monday I also went to see St Vincent, and during her song 'Your Lips Are Red', she did this amazing i-don't-know-how-to-use-words-to-describe guitar thing and staged dived whilst playing it. I remember closing my eyes and feeling the whole place rotating in my head. The sound literally shook the ground. Was incredible.

02:53, check it out:


Also this Flying Lotus piece called Heaven, the outro at 02:04 (though only a few seconds) was the climax for me:


Thank you for listening to me rant!! Since it's already practically dawn right now, I'm going to bed listening to Satie's Gymnopedie No.1, which always helps me clear my head. Ima share it here! xx

music and workkk

I'm so glad I managed not to post on Valentines Day. I just never want to think too deeply about my love life, it depresses me really.

BUT, yesterday I did attend the Valentine's Day concert at the Royal Festival Hall to indulge in some lovey-dovey music. The programme was Rachmaninov: the 2nd piano concerto and the 2nd symphony. An introductory leaflet correctly wrote 'Rachmaninov means romance.' The number of couples present also added a matching atmosphere which made things work.

If you know me personally, you will know that I dislike symphonies, but have soft spots for Beethoven, Lalo, and HUGE soft spots for Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky. Also, Rach 2 being my favourite piano concerto for around 3-4 years now, I had been planning for sometime to see a live of it on Valentine's Day.

I won't go into depth about the concert (but if you haven't heard the piano concerto yet I highly recommend Evgeny Kissin's version [see end of post] *he's coming to London on the 2nd gush gush*), but I've got to take a moment and congratulate the London Philharmonic's performance of the 2nd Symphony. Normally that piece drives me to sleep, even though I understand why it's considered one of the best symphonic works of our times, but it is 1 hour long and if it's not deafening like Beethoven's 9th Symphony I can't see how any audience can get through the entire thing without feeling drowsy at some point.

The sound of the 1st movment was so overwhelmingly sweet it was hard to stop having stills from Audrey Hepburn films popping into your mind. As the whole symphony was written to express Rachmaninov's recovery from depression and writer's block, it was perfect for me because currently I want to forget some things and move on. I really FELT the 3rd mvt, the violins did a brilliant job.

Anyways, I can go on for years about music, but I've got to get back to my maths..
Also, my photos I took for my uni's fashion show MIGHT be appearing on the next issue on Tatler 8D really looking forward to that (but of course it's not a guarantee because there are 4 other photographers' works from which the magazine can choose from..)

A little update on my uni life: Maths is getting so difficult beyond anything I'd imagined. I'm starting to think whether I should post some questions on this blog just in case a genius happen to drop by and answer it for me...

Anyways, enjoy the discounted Valentines chocolates today! xx


The 1st movement is so perfectly written, I literally cannot find one fault in it



Here's the entire symphony in HD. Listen to the sweet melodies from around the 7:40 mark :)