Alternative Trip

I was introduced to this genre of music on the weekend.  It is called "alternative trip" and the percussion is amazing! It's really melodious and just lovely to listen to.  Here it is on SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/alternativetrip/misanthrop-aqua-luminus-iii-2

The life of an amateur musician...

My best friend, Gaby, has her 21st coming up in May and since this is a birthday that is celebrated to a certain higher degree, compared to other birthdays, she has requested that I make her a CD of recordings (very bad ones) of me singing covers and I have consequently been working on it since the December holidays, 2012.  The recordings are completed using my crappy laptop microphone and the very basic computer program, Audacity.  In other words, most of them are muffled, the plectrum is hitting against my guitar and it sounds as if I'm singing into a cloud.  BUT, I am trying my best to give her at least one good song that she won't mind listening to :)

My latest recording is a cover of Rihanna's Stay.  I love this song, and I am usually one to complain about the sound of Rihanna's voice.  So, I'm not the biggest fan, but this song is one of those that you inhale as soon as it starts playing, a response to music that I have spoken about in my previous post.  I played this one on piano, instead of guitar, as it is in the song.  I used chords from ultimate guitar - http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/r/rihanna/stay_crd.htm, but I prefer to transpose it down once, as it is better suited to my voice :)  It's such a great feeling playing this song on piano and singing it...I had just been recovering from tonsillitis, so it's not perfect, but I'm too lazy to re-record :P

So, here it is - If you're wondering, I have no idea how to attach a sound clip, only a video clip, so I have to create a video in windows movie maker with some random picture and have the song playing in the background...

Five songs that have crept into my life

Below are five songs that have crept into my life over the years.  I've tried to choose five that are of fairly different genres so that it doesn't get too boring ¯

Most of these are ones that I've never managed to get sick of.  They consist of those kind of songs that as soon as it starts playing, you literally inhale it and taste it on your tongue.  Sounds cheesy, but that's the only way that I know how to describe it because that is what I physically do as soon as one of them begin to play. 

² Song Number One: 'Dancing Shoes' - Arctic Monkeys

I absolutely love this band.  I was introduced to them in grade 10 by a friend, who was the drummer of our youth band.  He had brilliant taste in music and put this song on one of the CDs that he made for me. I have a major thing for anything British so even listening to the main singer talk is good enough for me.  The way that this man sings, in his accent, brings such happiness to my life. The lyrics of their songs are a whole different story ("Get on your dancing shoes, you sexy little swine" - haha brilliant), but all-in-all a band that I would kill to see live.

² Song Number Two: 'SUGAAAR' - System of a Down

I listen to this band for the obvious reason;  it really helps me to calm down when I'm in a super angry mood.  I cannot say that I enjoy songs that are just pure screaming, but System is really not like that. You just want to laugh out loud when listening to it, because it's just all over the place.  Tolerate the screaming for 20 seconds in, it's at this part of the song that just makes me want to pull my arms and legs in and jump around like a Pogo stick...it's a cool music video too, little Lego men :D

² Song Number Three: 'Goin in' - Birdy nam nam (Skrillex remix)

I've never been a fan of the kind of music that doesn't make use of real instruments, but this one has to be an exception.  It just makes you feel good. 

² Song Number Four: 'Secret Crowds' - Angels and Airwaves

When I was young, I had probably at least fifty pictures of Blink 182 in my room.  I was obsessed with them and it broke my little heart when they broke up.  "Feeling this" has been my ringtone for the past five years or so and it has not changed once.  I never used to like Angels & Airwaves since they were a result of my favourite band breaking up, but I actually prefer them to Blink, today.  Secret Crowds has suuuch an amazing beginning and it's just a beautiful song! You have to listen to it super loud!

² Song Number Five: 'Feels like the first time' - Foreigner

Name one person who does not like this song! Just one. If you manage to find someone, that person is just silly and you should chuck them.  Simply, a great song. 

Final Music Video Disappointment

I posted an earlier blog post entitled "My first music video" where I discussed how a journalism 4th year had asked me to participate in a music video for her television portfolio.  The music video is finally done, but only after a few large changes.  The song was created by Lu "vondirty" , a really cool DJ in Grahamstown.  The vocals were done by me and Sne, an old drama student from Rhodes. Due to way too many complications, the music video could not be made for the song.  This was really disappointing for all three of us.  So, in the end they went back to using my original song "Coming Back".  The music video is below....it is really not as great as I expected it to be and I have arrived at the conclusion that I am terrible actress; something that shocked me since I took drama at school, ha... Anywaaay it was a cool experience I guess and the actual filming is pretty cool :) And I guess it's cool that my own song was made into a music video, even if they had to cut it a bit.

The video won't fit here so it will be on my YouTube channel for a while - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL5BoB3sx04&feature=youtu.be

Here is the song created by Lu with five pics of me in studio :)

Hobson Hall Welcome Dinner

We recently had our Welcome Dinner for Hobson Hall.  I performed Paperweight by Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk. I was a tad nervous as usual, but this time they placed me on the agenda to perform before any of the meals, which is great because I'm usually so nervous that I cannot eat anything.  It went well though :)

This is one of my favourite songs to perform

Why I Write.

“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all,” the wise words of Thumper’s father, from the movie Bambi.  These are words that I have been taught to live by, but this guidance has often resulted in my own exploitation.  When your conscience denies you the opportunity of “sticking it” to someone, it is highly likely that without an alternative form of relief, the malice will explode and splatter all over some innocent soul. Writing is my personal form of liberation.

My greatest ambition is to remain optimistic in every situation.  An unconscious habit of mine is to draw imaginary smiley-faces with my index finger on every surface.  It is something that personally drives me crazy when I become aware that I am doing it, but it has turned into an addiction that began all too long ago.  I practise the art of writing not merely to scribble down nasty insults that I should have uttered in a moment of conflict, but rather to contemplate on my feelings.  It is through this act that I am able to assure myself that it is not worthwhile to allow another to take up my time, feeling that way. 

Releasing the little demon in me is not the only reason for why I write.  Writing has the ability to listen to you in a way that a human being cannot or it may be you listening to yourself reflecting.  It is a way of checking up on yourself and receiving a dosage of strength to persevere. The pen the syringe, the ink the liquid drug and the page my veins.    It is a technique that is inexplicably able to mend numerous lesions. I write to deal with death, I write to engage with God, I write to etch images into my memory. 

I always answered “be an author” when elders asked what I wanted to make of my life.  Or in earlier years, the answer was “be an ‘authress’”.  A while back, my younger sister, Julianne, and I christened each other with the nicknames of “rat” and “slug” respectively.  Julianne has always been the artist and I, the writer, and so, it has always been a life goal of ours to create a series of novels entitled The Adventures of Rat and Slug.  Julianne, being the illustrator and I, the author, we would pair our personal passions together and create a story. 

 Julianne draws for the same reasons that I write; the primary motive being that it is ultimately her greatest form of release.  Whether it be to continue my life’s ambition to always see the brighter side of life or deal with bereavement; writing has never ceased in giving me that sense of elevation that I am searching for.   

My first music video :D

A few weeks ago a fellow Rhodes student, Kirst Allnutt, also a Journalism Fourth year asked me to be a part of her semester assignment.  A music video :D She remembered me from first year when I performed with a friend at one of the hall balls. She asked me to write a song and record it on my computer to send to her.  She liked the song, but then decided that she was going to ask her friend, Lu (a super cool DJ) to also be a part of the project.  My depressing song and his heavy drops did not collaborate all too nicely so we sadly had to chuck my song completely.  A third friend, Sne, came on board who is the male vocalist.  So far, we have all put together a pretty cool song and spent this entire weekend at Grey dam (I think it's called that) recording my parts of the music video. I had to get my feet quite dirty walking through streams and sloshy mud.  It was pretty cool, but extremely exhausting; I don't know how stars do it.  Also lip-synching can be an awkward experience. I am really excited for the final product! It's been a real experience.

Here is my original song - It's the first song that I have ever written that doesn't sound like Taylor Swift wrote it...so that's a bonus :)

I will post our collaboration at a later stage :)