ING + VAL'S MUSIC BLOG

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This Time Last Year

This Time Last Year, a song by Rina Sawayama on Spotify

Been meaning to post about Rina Sawayama for the longest time! It’s almost the advent, but this is something like a Christmas song. You know, something like those old-timey Christmas songs that aren’t actually about Christmas but is a love song, but can’t help reminding you about Christmas.  I heard a podcast once about how almost all classic Christmas songs have a certain chord progression or structure to it. And sleigh bells.  When I first heard this song, I though it was just the red cover art that made me thing of Christmas. But later on, i read in an interview that she actually did mean to write a Christmas song! So it’s just cool that it all came together. And no sleigh bells needed. This is an artist I think Val would really like, and I already do too, so I’ll be posting a bit more about her. 

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Love and Lies

Love and Lies, a song by Zoe Lister-Jones, Adam Pally, Fred Armisen on Spotify

the lyrics say it all “I hate my body That's obvious cause I'm a woman I'm also always hungry Did I mention that I'm a woman Eating is my only source of true happiness So don't me for wanting to kill myself when I don't fit in my dress ... I want to eat pie, pie, pie But just look at my thighs, thighs, thighs Love Is love Is love Is love Is love Is love Is lying Oh, love and lies “ -- I love that classic indie feel and causalness. I also liked that it was a duet; showing just how funny it is that both genders know what’s up but also don’t always know what to do about the old thing about body positivity (”Please do not ask me if you've gained weight/ Especially when we're going out on a date/ I have no idea if you've gained a pound or two/And even if I did I would not tell you”) (but who are we kidding, it’s so difficult to escape judging one’s self, though we do sincerely believe that every body is a perfect body. well we just gotta try :) )

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you think it’s just a chill song but the prechorus’ interchanges staccato’d chanting and smooth crooning - and the second verse’s deceptive lightness in its vulgarity

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great artist in general. Groupie has tones similar to Lana. 

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“a dreamy wave of fun and nostalgia” really is the perfect way to describe this track. it sounds like watercolors

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you know how it sounds like your average trap track and then you get that sudden shift in tone from angas to beach chill tf i LOVE

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someone play that intro as i ascend to my rightful place in the heavens because i am deceased

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FUCK MY LIFE i love my life

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we have a long-running joke where Tiffany of SNSD is my childhood friend because, like me, she’s from SoCal, and grew up in a city close to mine. i have a lot of affection for her and it may be my bias but her solo debut is fabulous, very retro electropop with a nostalgic feel to it. i expected something bubblegum from her but i like this approach waaay more

addtl: people are saying it reminds them of “Run Away with Me.” i wouldn’t say that? especially since, though IJWD has a great atmosphere to it, it doesn’t build up to that delicious climaxy chorus that Carly Rae’s got

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i don’t think i’ve posted enough feel-good music. we need more feel-good music

Rob Cantor is the guy behind “Shia LaBeouf” and “29 Celebrity Impressions, 1 Original Song.” i’m glad Intel let him write whatever he wanted, so it still has that touch of weirdness from his previous videos :-)

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i used to be obsessed with Lana and Born to Die back in 2012 but her releases after that cooled my fervor a bit. she seems to be creeping into my life again, because last night i stumbled upon these socks i can’t stop thinking about and right now i’m listening to this fabulously upbeat cover of “Video Games.” covers that completely veer from the original genre and mood are, while not always a guaranteed pleasure (not that this one isn’t), always welcome

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i dont know how to take apart electro music like Val, but I just like this song.

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Just some notes from some curious research Recently, I was very fortunate to be able to see Andrea Bocelli in concert! We were in Gen Ad, but who cares man he sounded beautifully, as if he hadn’t aged a day!  Anyway, all of the songs in his new album are lovely, and of course I especially loved his rendition of the Love Theme from the Godfather, but I was curious why it was called Brucia La Terra - even if it was just an Italian translation, it didn’t quite sound like it would translate to “Speak Softly Love”, what I know to be the original version.  When I was much younger, my dad had told me that bit of trivia that the first Godfather movie was nominated for Best Score in the Oscars(1973), but disqualified since the melody for “Speak Softly Love” (the Love Theme) had been used, in slightly different form, in a movie score Rota had written years ago (Fortunella, 1958; you can here that version here). Of course, being so young and oversimplifying stuff, i thought it was “lazy” of him to do that (I had no sense yet of a certain work sticking to an artist and taking different forms over time, or of artistic process yet for that matter, haha). Anyway, so I looked up Brucia La Terra, and clicked on a Godfatherwiki page telling me it was a Sicilian ballad. So fool that I was even at 21, I thought “Ah! and he must have taken great inspiration for that memorable melody from a traditional song and just made it mainstream! that rip-off!” And i proceeded to text my dad that juicy discovery. ONLY when i read the actual wikipedia page did I realize that Brucia is a translation OF Speak Softly, made especially, I presume, for the third movie, as a pretend traditional Sicilian ballad. See, when I was younger I also didn’t understand the idea of “themes” in music so i thought it was kinda lazy that stuff sounded similar, but now I realize the intended effect of it. haha.  I also read a little into Nino Rota himself (from wikipedia of course), and wow that erased any doubts I had of his musical genius (apart from his great and prolific work, he was friend with the likes of Toscanini, Fellini, and Stravinsky! not that I know those guys very well, but they are familiar and famous names!). I was hoping to find some of the other full soundtracks he wrote on Spotify but no such luck, I guess I’ll have to search my dad’s archives for that.  Anyway, that is my story. Enjoy Bocelli’s lovely version and the rest of the album! (oh and yes, the Sicilian translation that is Brucia does have different lyrics. As I understand it, the French, Spanish and Italian translations are most similar, speaking of how great and deep their love is that people don’t understand so just “speak softly”, but the Sicilian is different in that it doesn’t really mention “speaking softly” about their love, but more descriptive scenes of pining, evocative of rural life. Probably to make it seem more consistent as a rural Sicilian ballad. as if it were the original. lovely :) ) PS This crossover business can be lovely at times - and can I just say, as much as Music of the Night is revered in Broadway as one of the toughest songs, it just sounds too easy for Bocelli, with his classical training and experience. Effortless man. Treat yoself today by listening to the album!! Enjoy!

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i honestly expected a boring rap ballad... it’s a rap ballad, but the instrumental is A+++++, even kpopalypse had to commend it for its “production quirks”

when the vocalists are singing, it’s pretty, and then there’s a change during the rappers’ parts, a sort of push-pull. try listening, you’ll understand

i’d recommend this when you want to listen to something chill but, you know, different in a way

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i love staticky white noise and wobbly strings, so i loved “seazen” right at the beginning. and then i noticed his accent at “i know my voice is cool but i ain’t trying to be persuasive” and i was gone

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some people i follow on soundcloud posted tributes for someone who recently died, dr. derg. he’s well loved and it’s amazing how grief has inspired others to create music in his memory. they spoke about his talent--

i can’t deny that. this is a track he produced for the crooked scumbus and it’s flawless. RIP

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We Can't Stop (Miley Cyrus) - Bastille Better Have My Money (Rihanna) - Kelly Clarkson Take Me To Church (Hozier) - Demi Lovato Problem (Ariana Grande) - Hozier

I’m a fan of good* covers, so once in a while I check out Live Lounge. Here are a few picks from a recent review (well, last month). *artists /interprets/ song, honoring the original while spinning it in their own style. Hyeh. Thus I tend to stay away from (generic) genre covers PS Starting from this I began becoming a bigger fan of Demi. She was always my fave from her batch of teen disney/nick kids gone singers :)