Bat for Lashes

So here I am on a Monday evening eating a spoonful of peanut butter, trying to write a post in my state of sickness and praying that I'll stay calm till Tuesday morning happens, at least, when the whole cycle begins again. ‘Work seriously this week’, I tell myself. It’s going to be the last week with my team; cave in on Friday; get up woozily on a Saturday; worry on Sunday that Monday is hours away. The weather is getting cooler although it’s still a bit warm now and then.
The weekend was unproductive in terms of fun. I didn’t go to church; I just stayed in bed trying to get my health back. Abby, my niece came over to spend some time with me. She wanted me to apply some nail polish on her very tiny fingernails. I had to constantly tell her in a very loud voice,‘Keep still’ because little Abby kept moving about (as would be expected of a 2 yr old).
Today, I watched a movie, a love story and I'm persuaded to write an entry on being in love, but perhaps another time. What I really want to write is related to the movie ‘The Reader’.

“I'm not frightened. I'm not frightened of anything. The more I suffer, the more I love. Danger will only increase my love. It will sharpen it, forgive its vice. I will be the only angel you need. You will leave life even more beautiful than you ended it. Heaven will take you back and look at you and say: Only one thing can make a soul complete and that thing is love.”

I've often watched movies and read books and heard people say that a piece of them dies when love has ended, or withers away with the disappearance of a lover. Hurt, pining, maybe the end of free will too. If love sets you free and the end of life is a kind of liberation, then how perfect that these two go hand-in-hand, though they aren’t, in anyway, alike.

I wish the time wouldn't rush by so quickly. I wish there weren't so many things to sort out and unravel and comprehend. But while time's speedy quality leaves me barely holding out for things that slip from my fingers it also helps me pass the difficulties. When the end of May arrives, certain decisions will be made for me.

For now, the week begins again. Let's hope I last through it.

This fantastic song ‘Daniel’ by Bat for Lashes came to my attention a couple of days ago while I was checking my facebook account and on the side of my page was the name of this artist, a fictitious alternative name for English based artist- Natasha Khan. The track was performed on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge in April 2009, so while the song has just been officially released within the last month it already feels like a tried and true classic. It certainly will go down as one of the best songs of 2009. The song is absolutely lovely in every way, the vocals are a revelation and the synthy and mystical-sounding elements throughout is a complete breath of fresh air. If you had a hard time getting into the artist’s debut album ‘Fur and Gold’, as I did, this is the perfect entry point to her music. A song that’s wonderfully accessible as well as vivid, dynamic, and strikingly expressive. This has earned the artist a place on Eve’s Pick. Ever since her music exploded in my head (which is the kind of song that starts out awesome and gets better with time) she’s been showered with hype from all over. I can’t think of a better artist to fill up my space with. If there’s any justice in the world, Natasha Khan, better know as Bat for Lashes, will be the next big thing on the alternative dance front (hopefully causing others to slide into oblivion, for a while of course).

To everyone who hasn’t heard of Bat for Lashes before I urge you to explore her music. And to Natasha Khan, I must say that I am glad you’re still making music and I feel honored to be able to spread your talent around.

"natasha khan of bat for lashes ain't scared. I love the harpsichord and the sexual ghost voices and bowed saws. this song seems to come from the world of grimm's fairytales, and i feel like a wolf."
- Thom Yorke, Radiohead

EC Turns One

This is my 196th post.

To take part in the celebrations, scroll down to the end of this post and press play.

Can you believe it's already May? How crazy is that? Does it seem as though the year is flying by? (Oh, man. I shouldn't admit that. It's the kind of thing my mother would say. Guess it happens to all of us, doesn't it?)

But I digress.

Anyway, so a year of blogging and these many posts later and I’m not making it a big deal. Life is so great, isn't it? I braved hours of great music over the past year, and enough cigarette smoke to shave several months off my life. Check out the blog’s first few posts to find out who rocked, who sucked and how the blog just fit into my world.

Last year I was scheming a way to write about music on my own conditions and for my own gratification...and of course put all those views out there for other people to peruse at. Bearing in mind that a regular blog’s existence is a couple of months, you could say that I'm more than a bit pleased. We began this space with a healthy little outburst on ‘The Best Part about Music’ and have since whirled through artist releases, movies to see, new sightings, random thoughts, unfortunate findings, and the sporadic music industry’s review. It's been great and a lot of fun to watch a tidy group of readers form.

2008 certainly got some mixed reviews music-wise, but from an EC perspective, it did alright for itself-- nothing too incredible, but not unpromising either.
After all, last year there were many alternative acts, to name a few reasons why 2008 was a good year to launch a music blog. And they weren’t the easiest acts to follow. On the flip side, this year gave us new bands, Paramore’s third release, King of Leon’s fourth album, and tons of backlash controversy to last us all a few decades (or weeks in the music world). But enough of that! Can I Just Tell You - I tried an experiment over the weekend. I turned off all the lights in my house. I have never done that. And, if I call my Mom right now while she's washing dishes, she'll let the water run and run and run. It doesn't occur to her that the planet is running short of water or there are folks in the world that don't have the access to water that we have but... I'm doing the best I can to educate myself and my parents as I go.

I'm still interested in your comments about the blog and any recommendations are welcome.

What's great is that this well is far from dry and Evuhleen’s Corner is going to be speeding along for many more years to come, thanks to all it's readers.

I’m not entirely sure about the choice of music on this post but this is what one of EC’s readers chose (thanks Kima) and as promised I shall play it. As I listened to it again today I thought I would share it with anyone out there that has yet to hear it. And through some clever use of the internet, I ripped the video, extracted the audio, and now you’re presented with an appetizing mp3 for your ingestion. Here’s Lunatica with ‘Song for you’. Enjoy the music and tell your friends.

EDIT: It kills me that I can’t play one very special request of Mayer’s ‘Slow dancing in a broken room’ today because it has already been featured on EC.

Peace kids. Stay tuned ... Cheers!

On my list of much loved things to do to pass the time, is something I’ve come to love and perfect with time. It can be done at any place, at no cost and it’s a pretty much surefire way to see something or someone entertaining. One of the people I love to do this with is Ash, she really gets into it because we used to meet a fair bit and often at joints where we get to see loads of people and end up making fun of them. For example, the group of ‘Jack Sparrow’s absolutely wearable fashion apparel’ blokes or the wannabe cheerleaders who were unfortunately coming off as loud and noisy than excited! In a situation like this you only get to hear a few words of the conversation and you fill in the unheard bits yourself, which leads to some bizarre and giggle-filled conversations. While most people sitting next to you are left wondering exactly why the two of us have been attacked with out of control laughter.

The point of watching people is that you can build up the most far-fetched picture about them and there’s a part of you that knows that it could actually be spot on. It’s also the chance to brazenly pass judgment on other people’s dressing styles, boyfriends and lifestyle. I’m always surprised by the quantity of people who seem to not realize the fact that there are others who watch them. I’ve seen so many people do things when they think nobody can see them. But that’s the thing; there is always somebody who’s watching, and yes, that somebody is usually always me!

I had this grand idea exactly one year ago to make a musical diary of my life. I got down to it right after my friend, Runa told me it was a great idea to help people discover the music I listen to. And I am still working on it almost a year later. It’s a pretty massive task to capture your life and shave it down to a song. But it will be a splendid piece of work when it is finished. Ok, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration.

But I need to stop writing.

And I do need to give you some music to satisfy the lonely people out there.
Franz Ferdinand is one of those bands that you either fell in love with five years ago with the first strains of the dance-punk title track “Take me out,” or you’ve simply ignored them since then. If you didn’t dig their sound right off the bat then their album 'You Could Have It So Much Better' (2005), probably didn’t do much for you either. Essentially it was enough to prove to the world that they were still around, but not really anything new.
That all changed earlier this year with the release of their third full length album ‘Tonight: Franz Ferdinand’. Their signature sound is still intact. But they’ve thrown in a nice blend of curve balls and change ups to prove once and for all that Franz Ferdinand really does rule the kingdom of “the” bands. The recently released single, “No you girls never know” is what I’m playing for you folks today. At the very end of it when your mind tells you “ok, one more time,” you will wholeheartedly agree as you play it again, and again, and again.

Maybe i should get myself one of these -

Any sort of hubbub you might have heard today around town was probably the sound of hell opening up, trying to suck me in because this morning I got placed in another new process in the same company. And the new supervisor told me I’d like it and I said “Maybe I won’t?” and he said, “No, no, you will!” and I said “Okay, fine I will!” I probably shouldn’t say that here, like I’m ungrateful about the opportunity I’ll have to work with the new team, but I’ve been happy for so long in my current process that the things-to-shut-your-mouth-about-with-supervisors has sloughed right off. Granted, I’ll miss my 3 troublemakers who pose as my colleagues, especially the ones who say to me every morning as I step into my cubicle, “Breakfast"?? and "Squish you” and I’ll even sort of miss having to see those cases in my inbox. I dont know if this is a good thing and the timing couldn’t have been worse, since I'm about a day away from singing karaoke to Celine Dion.

Notes to self when working with a new team:

• Do not allow yourself to feel inferior by someone who says “a gay” instead of “gay”.
  
• Enjoy your own company even when it appears others are not. You are confident and positive; they are on anti-depressants.
  
• Third: I won’t miss my old job. Not one single bit.
  
• I say more power to whatever helps you make it through the day. Unless it’s porn, you sad twat.

I’m not exactly sure why I’m writing about this here, especially since I typically make it a point not to write about my job online. Maybe because it’s not a big deal, it’s sort of just part of my life. Plus, I feel like it’s easier just to write about that then to try and come up with a post. Anyway, I’m not anywhere near depressed yet. Maybe it’ll skip my body this year. If it does make an appearance, I’ll wear white all month and wait it out. I am okay. I am loved. But everybody probably does wish that I wouldn’t talk quite so much.

The other day I wrote a bit about the band 30 Seconds to Mars which is one Alternative rock band that’s a bit like all the good parts you love minus all the annoying songs you don’t appreciate quite as much. Well given the things that happened today and that I really wanna play another song from this band, here’s ‘A Beautiful Lie’. This album has some absolutely stunning moments of pure post- grunge in it and it’s worth listening to every song. Because today is Friday, and we’re all loving the fact that yet another weekend is beginning, I thought I would throw up yet another slick track I’ve heard from these boys. Stream it, download it, whatever you do listen to it. Listen. To. It.

In Times of Sickness

My room is untidy, a side-effect of my sickness. I should be cleaning up this growing mess. No, I should be resting, but I’d prefer jotting down something instead, seeing as how I haven’t had a chance in four days. It would appear as if I’m going through some kind of articulation alienation but I’m just coming off a fever. All the classic symptoms — high fever, body ache, slight headache, hot and cold flashes. It’s been horrid to say the least.

Even though the temperatures went up today, I wrapped myself in a thick quilt to stop the shivering. I can’t even remember what caused the fever, and can only guess that acknowledgement of my current physical state is setting in. The only saving grace is that by the evening, I felt positive enough to get myself off of bed and watch some tv. Not that I want to do it alone. Wish I had the option.

I hope I had a smile in my dresser for days like this.

I was afraid I’d be too bummed to get back to work tomorrow and was just generally filled with teed off, depressed annoyance, and hence was so stirred up to make the following list:

Folks Who Should Watch Out If I Had a Gun:

That guy who’s dating my sister
Muthalik and his gofers
The biggest girl in our office who tells me I’m putting on weight
Maybe one very important person, just for bragging rights
Paris Hilton and her skinny counterpart

Occasionally it feels like music is the only thing that can bring out my sensations again. Most of them have been restored by simple willpower to move on. All else is just routine. So I was deliberating in my head which band/singer to choose for this post. There were quite a few songs/artists I could have chosen from, but my mind was made up as I listened to songs between Tyler Hilton and The Dead Confederate. For those of you who are just showing up to these posts here on EC let me elucidate a bit. As a rule I post about music that I really find irresistible and performers that I root for. While that is true of every post I write here on EC it does seem that most artists I choose to write about could fit into a small division of music.

30 Seconds to Mars’ ‘From Yesterday’ is absolutely sick (I mean that in a good way). You can’t listen to this track and not love it ( and Jared Leto is seriously Emo hot!).

The band is brilliant and they just might be making the best music of their career. I must admit, I’ve listened to this single, off their album titled 'A Beautiful Lie' (2005), at least 10 times in a row and I’m not sick of it. I actually enjoy it quite a bit. This track is excellent and listening to it should give you goose bumps, or at least wake you up.