Music: Beautiful in Bloom

This is Bloom, the latest remixed album of Sarah Mclachlan. It contains 10 tracks, mostly lifted from her latest studio release, Afterglow. Remixing Mclachlan seems to be a more ethereal musical journey, as compared to listening to her studio songs. It's Enya, minus the New Age, and it's post-Missing EBTG sans the house.

The album opens with a chilled-down remix from Junkie XL, whose previous works include Elvis Presley's A Little Less Conversation (football, anyone?) - tempering World On Fire to an ambient trance mix. It closes with the Juniors Boys Mix of an older song, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.

The album offers a limited spectrum of electronic music though, in a good way, since too much bass-pumping and beat-thumping is something I reserve for other artists. Great tracks include the haunting Dirty Little Secret, an opera-meets-dancehall Vox (reminiscent of the alien performance from The Fifth Element), together with Stupid and Train Wreck.

It's actually nice to note that McLachlan is open to musicians wanting to alter her masterpieces - here's to hoping that other artists with the same soothing voice quality do the same. Dido (who worked with Faithless on just one track), John Mayer, but probably not Norah Jones.

I've shared some of the songs from Bloom below. Enjoy. And yes, not to sound preachy here, but if you do like them, pick up the original ;)


Stupid

World On Fire

A rework of two episodes past

Just to repeat a couple of words from previous entries, I'm feeling that buzz again. In a different sense. Woohooo!

The tickets are here!

One word: WOOOOOHOOOO!!

Music: The Eighties are back!

I must admit, I hate the eighties. If there is anything that will remind me of the 80s, it would be big hair, and shoulder pads. Music-wise, they meant lots of synthesizers, dirty guitar rifts and more shoulder pads. Listen to all the volumes of Chorus Girl, and you'd get what I mean - one volume in and you'd surely feel yourself grow a mullet.

The good news? They're all back, and fortunately, in a more polished way. I sure hope I'm not confusing this with emo, but emo probably would consistent of clean-cut kids trying to scream their way out of puberty. Back on topic, I've been listening to The Myriad, Hard-Fi, The Bravery, and more notably The Killers. They have that distinct 80s feel - complete with bored vocals. It's called neo-rock, a fusion of new rave and rock, and perhaps The Matrix. Major plug: The Killers' Hot Fuss is a great buy, no ballads here, just pure rhythmic pleasure and catchy anti-pop melodies.

If you're looking for a more popular repertoire, there is the soundtrack to Sky High. Led by Bowling for Soup's version of I Melt With You (Jason Mraz did a reggae version of this for 50 First Dates, which didn't do anything good for the song). Or how about a revival of Everybody Wants To Rule The World? It's a jumble of 80s pop revisited for the post Y2K crowd. Major Plug again: Nice movie, watch it with you high school/college friends, and end up talking about the freaks from your batch. Hehehe.

There is one downside - someone did a remake of Spandau Ballet's True. Ooh, big mistake. True is the consummate Eighties song, everytime someone asks me my favorite song from the 80s, this is always the immediate answer. (The consummate 90s song would probably be Wonderwall by Oasis). Anyway, not that the remake was bad, but the original was simply a classic.

Comparing revivals with the originals where they were originally released is not a good sign, but not as bad as wearing shoulder pads, I guess.

Feeling that buzz

After years (count 'em - 8, I think) of practice, I finally got drunk. Not the I'm-actually-more-sleepy-but-not-really-drunk kind of drunk, nor the my-head-aches-terribly-therefore-I'm-drunk, and most definitely not the I've-had-so-much-to-eat-I'm-not-getting-enough-oxygen-to-my-head-therefore-I'm-drunk, but the I-can't-feel-my-limbs-but-I-can-drink-some-more type of drunk.

I've always thought I'd be the quiet type, but I've been watching a lot of The OC, so I'm more attuned to mindless babbling laced with sarcasm. Like my sister said while opening our front door, how stealth.

So, congratulations to me. And good luck with that hangover.

Newer Radicals

My discovery of the week (yeah, sorry if it's rather delayed) goes to LMC vs New Radicals. You Get What You Give has got to be one of my favorite songs of all time, and I think LMC gave it a good revamp (the songs is already 7 years old, and my, time does fly by so fast).

The single is called Don't Let Go, which samples the New Radicals original. I'm hoping to put in a sample somewhere here.

It's a refreshing break from the weepy stuff I've been listening to recently (Hello Damien Rice and Jeff Buckley). Also, see entry below.

Edited to add a copy of the song. Just click here.

Weekend

Picked up the Coldplay double - Parachutes and A Rush Of Blood To The Head, and all I can say is 'How appropriate'. No, I'm not in any mood to slit my wrists, but I would like to feel a little sappy and weepy without feeling sissy about it. Give me a week to wallow here. Then I'll get the new album


Just a reminder for me: Ganun pala iyon. Just like Nemo.

Filler

I'm supposed to churn out a new episode on my blog, with recent music finds, tv finds, and others, but I have no time. No time at all. Perhaps later.

Picked up The OC Region 1 DVDs (both seasons), Ministry of Sound's Dance Nation, plus the Best of U2 (1990-2000) and the OST to Sky High... I'd better come up with an entry soon.