The Dysfunctional Pilgrim

Seventeen's made a comeback. I have enjoyed their mini albums so far. There's good funky music there. Also, whoever's playing the bass in their tracks should get a raise 'cause those basslines can make a pianist convert to electric bass forever. I think what I appreciate from this group's music is their layering. There's a lot going in their tracks - chord progressions, melody lines, the vocal harmonies and ad-libs. The sound is always full. Not in this track. I find a lot of new music experimenting with the idea of space. Well, I call it space, but more accurately it's the use of silence. There's a lot of gaps in between the synth chords, a longer pause before the jump into the chorus, a drop with only light beats in the verse, before a stronger bass drum in the pre-chorus. Everything then hits a strong climax during the bridge, and that's when we can hear some of the quintessential SVT layering again. Melodies that have a back-and-...

Lyric Translation:  The rim looks farther away today; sighs are building on top of the court The boy is afraid of reality, but his heart is at peace only when he throws the ball Throwing the ball by himself; what I’m shooting at the rim are my countless thoughts and worries I pretend to know the world but my body is still not ready Shoot, the court is my playground With my movements, a small ball bounces next to my feet The results are as low as the floor,  but I just shout out loud to the world that everything’s gonna be alright But the world gives me fear, then just stop Thoughts fill my head and instead of the ball,I throw my future Because of the other’s standard of success my worries spread like cancer again, goddamn it Along with the thrown ball, laughter starts to spread My breath rises to my chin, my dreams squirm about The dribbles get faster, my heart gets happier This moment feels like it’ll last forever but the sun is setting ...

Goosehouse is a group of singers/musicians from Japan. They have original songs but also perform covers. Usually their performances are done on via livestream, where they will talk in between their songs, which they upload in chucks after the livestream is over. Generally, all their performances are acoustic and done live. In fact, it's extremely difficult to find any studio versions of their songs online (except the ones that have recently become openings for anime shows) . They don't livestream that often, but it's pretty much a mini concert whenever they do. A good 5 or 6 songs would be performed in one go. I love how cute they are (even though the cutest looking one is like, 30 years old. Seriously, how????) , and in some ways, it's fascinating to watch them grow and improve as vocalists and musicians.  When I first started following them 4 years back, some of their vocals weren't as strong, and because they seem to be constantly picking up new instr...

Ahaha... that question again.  When I introduce myself, I say I play the piano, so people tend to be surprised when I'm suddenly playing the drums or guitar. Then the question comes: How many instruments, can you play, exactly? This is a common question for musicians everywhere, I believe.  I once read an answer to that question given by a better musician: Does it matter? Of course if I would sound like an obnoxious prick if I said that, but the idea is: does the number of instruments you play really matter?  I think that for some, your musicality is judged on how well you play an instrument, and the more you play the better you are. Of course discipline, hard work, technical skill, improvisation and expression are all crucial. But at the heart of it is music and whether you love it or not. If you do, you would want to pursue it in your own way.  Why do I even care about playing more than one instrument? It's not out of showing off, I assure ...

Currently i'm digging Ed Sheeran's work. I just love how he messes with the genres, and the sound is something new and unique but relatable. Also I'm very impressed by artists who sound fantastic live. (Like David Choi! and Kina and blablabla) He sounds incredible live. The set is so simple and basic but it still captivates the audience. It's a greater plus if you can get the audience involved, like how he did in this one. Live concerts are a great platform to get people to not be passive about music. When you get them into it with you, I think they'll gain a greater appreciation for your craft. "Give me love" is such a wonderful song. There's primal feeling to it, especially when it goes to the looping section (where he records his voice to add into layers...that's at 3:45 onwards in the vid). It captures that natural instinct all humans have, that desperation to love and be loved. Which is interesting because when we think about basic hu...

You know you're overthought and overdone it when your lecturer goes "well thank you hannah....for making sure everyone else cannot present today" ...oops. But in all honesty, i did NOT overthink this presentation. I did it in less than 2 hours, and it was clumsily done, in my opinion. It just so happened to be an assignment that was fun: briefly introduce a style of music you like. I went and did soundtracks. I'm not entirely sure if it's a genre, but wikipedia seems to think so...along with some other web lists of music genres. So I went all out nerd on it and talked about the awesomeness of Hans Zimmer and John Williams (who is the man!), how soundtracks were once overlooked but are now slowly having their own limelight, etc etc. Yeah. ...maybe i did overdo it. In case your wondering what lecture this is, it's Music Appreciation and I'm enjoying it, despite the fact that I'm the only TESL-ian there. The only frustration would be how slow ...

First of, I'm not even sure whether the title is grammatically correct. Someone let me know if it's ok? Because it sounds kinda off. Moving on. It's been about 10 yrs since I moved to Seremban. I never did blog much on this because I only started blogging 6 yrs after the move and most of my life revolved around Seremban by then. In fact, it's difficult sometimes to remember life in PJ before. I'm certainly not a city girl anymore. KL/PJ life kinda freaks me out now. But one vivid memory that would always stay with me: my back door neighbour. I have no idea who they are, I don't know their names, I don't know where they came from, I know nothing about them. Except that they had a dog and every Saturday and Sunday afternoon, someone would be playing his electric guitar. Ever since we moved into that house (I was about four or six), the same thing would happen almost every weekend. It always was old rock-ish (or metal...I'm not too sure...