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"A little bit of this. A little bit of that. A pot, a pan, a broom, a hat. . ."—Anatevka, "Fiddler on the Roof." This is a blog about everything and nothing. A little parenting, a little humor, some poetry, news, essays, a lot of music. I don't want to waste your time, just send positive vibes into the blogosphere. Oh, yeah, my name is Sarah Torribio. Enough about me, how are you?
Saturday, December 28, 2019
Friday, December 27, 2019
Monday, December 23, 2019
Song of the Day: "Now or Never" by Saltwater Sun
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I don't think I'm hip enough to compile a list of the best songs of 2019. I can, however, name a couple songs I encountered this year that, if they aren't new, are new to me.
I came across this 5-piece London-based band called Saltwater Sun, and they have several songs that are amazingly good. They stand out from the fray, and that's not easy. My favorite is "Now or Never," off the band's 2016 album of the same name. I love the quiet-loud dynamics, the lead singer's delivery—a childish and quiet quality that revs and soars into Siouxsie and the Banshees territory. By that, I mean vocalist Jen Stearnes shows she knows her way around a space, replacing the stale air with echoing and operatic disaffection.
I came across this 5-piece London-based band called Saltwater Sun, and they have several songs that are amazingly good. They stand out from the fray, and that's not easy. My favorite is "Now or Never," off the band's 2016 album of the same name. I love the quiet-loud dynamics, the lead singer's delivery—a childish and quiet quality that revs and soars into Siouxsie and the Banshees territory. By that, I mean vocalist Jen Stearnes shows she knows her way around a space, replacing the stale air with echoing and operatic disaffection.
The chorus shows how perfectly effective near-rhyme can be. Further, the song's a singalong angst-fest because the word choice is suiting to the subject matter and enjoyable to pronounce. The world choice is neither euphonio.us (pretty on purpose) or cacophonous (stridently clashing, like a clinical thrashing)
"Living your life like a go getter
Push me aside, oh when you go hell for leather
Leading the way, oh yeah, you trend setter
Push me aside, oh like it was now or never. . ."
Push me aside, oh when you go hell for leather
Leading the way, oh yeah, you trend setter
Push me aside, oh like it was now or never. . ."
Pair all that with taut drums and guitar riffs that go from darkwave swan song to honkey-tonk lament to moments of beauty transcending the whole damn mess.
Friday, December 20, 2019
Song of the Day: "Mouthbreather" by Saltwater Sun
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I love the energy of Saltwater Sun, a London-based 5-piece indie rock band. Lead singer Jen Stern has the stuff of rock 'n roll legend in her. My song of the day is the band's "Mouthbreather."
—Sarah Torribio
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Song of the Day: "Bones" by Moyka
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Epigram of the Day: "Where, Oh Where?"
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This is really more of a song, namely a '20s or '30s blues/jazz type ditty. It's short and rhymes, however, so here it is. The video could use some improvement as to the quality of the text. However, I am pleased to say that thanks to the features of the design program Canva I am happening upon new and dynamic ways to present writing in this digital age.
Monday, December 16, 2019
Song of the Day: "Resentment" by Kesha
Kesha has more in her than party-rock. Her new song "Resentment" off her forthcoming album High Road is a lovely and wistful alt-country-style duet with Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame. Wilson's voice sounds as pretty as it ever has in this song and his genius for harmony is everywhere in evidence.
Warning, there's a particularly scantily-clad moment in this video. Watch at your own risk.
—Sarah Torribio
Song of the Day: "Heartbeat" by Buddy Holly
My song of the day is "Heartbeat," one of my favorite songs by the talented and ill-fated Buddy Holly. The pioneering rock legend released this tune in 1958. He died one year later at the age of 19 in the same plane crash that claimed the lives of other noted rockers including Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper.
The tragic event became known as the Day the Music Died, which was referred to in Don McClean's elegiac "American Pie." While Buddy Holly's passing is sad, he left behind a catalogue of music that is upbeat, unforgettable and in many ways quite modern in sound.
—Sarah Torribio
Sunday, December 15, 2019
Song of the Day: "Save a Prayer" by Duran Duran
<<last song
I'm going to put something controversial out there. "Save a Prayer," off Duran Duran's 1982 sophomore album Rio, is their best song. It's endlessly exotic and romantic, so much so that it's positively transportive.
As for the lyrics, I love the part where Simon LeBon sings, "And you wanted to dance so I asked you to dance, but fear is in your soul. Some people call it a one night stand but we can call it paradise." That's sheer drama and if you're wondering, you had me at hello, Mr. LeBon. Single friends, you might want to try that last sentence as a pickup line.
—Sarah Torribio
I'm going to put something controversial out there. "Save a Prayer," off Duran Duran's 1982 sophomore album Rio, is their best song. It's endlessly exotic and romantic, so much so that it's positively transportive.
As for the lyrics, I love the part where Simon LeBon sings, "And you wanted to dance so I asked you to dance, but fear is in your soul. Some people call it a one night stand but we can call it paradise." That's sheer drama and if you're wondering, you had me at hello, Mr. LeBon. Single friends, you might want to try that last sentence as a pickup line.
—Sarah Torribio
Song of the Day: "Midnight Train To Georgia"
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When I hear "Midnight Train to Georgia," that 1973 soul classic by Gladys Knight & the Pips, I'm thinking, "Girl, why do you have to be so dramatic? I know you want to go after him, but there are trains leaving for Georgia hour on the hour, at perfectly respectable times. Do yourself a favor. Get some shut-eye, collect yourself, put on some lipstick and take the 9 a.m. train to Georgia."
—Sarah Torribio
—Sarah Torribio
Song of the Day: "555" by Jimmy Eat World
Oh, man, Jimmy Eat World is back with a great song. They've always been such an addictive band. Just think of singalong classics like "Sweetness," "The Middle" and "Drugs or Me," depending on your mood.
With this song I just stumbled across on YouTube, 555, "I feel like the band has evolved to reflect the increasingly epic nature of our decade's best music. There's a touch of Brandon Flowers' warmbling vulnerability to frontman Jim Adkins' delivery, and the soundscape has the icy electropop shimmer of The Naked and Famous.
Jimmy Eat World's punk roots are hiding in this song, and I hope they retain their ability to rock a good three-chorder, or is it a four-chorder? Keeping yourself open to new music is a full-time job. There's so much good music happening all the time. Just yesterday, I had a friend introduce me to the burgeoning Korean rap scene. Will it hook me, winning the coveted on-repeat spot afforded to songs I really dig?
—Sarah Torribio
Friday, December 13, 2019
Song of the Day: "More Than A Feeling" by Boston
Happy Christmas from me and supergroup Boston. My song of the day, played here on my record player—my favorite Christmas present from last year—is "More Than a Feeling."
This song came out when I was 5 in 1979. Neither of my parents listened much to rock music, so it didn't dawn on my consciousness. I became aware of Boston's "More Than a Feeling" in high school when I watched John Hughes' "She's Having a Baby." The movie has a great soundtrack, which is par for the course for everyone's favorite '80s director.
It didn't show up on the soundtrack album, which I purchased and loved for its array of really good tunes by the likes of Kate Bush ("This Woman's Work", the Jesus and Mary Chain ("Haunted When the Minutes Drag"), Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music fame ("Crazy Love"), Everything But the Girl ("Apron Strings") and the tunefully eccentric "Full of Love" by Dr. Calculus, among others.
Instead, a snippet of that famous guitar and drum riff was played in a flashback when the story's protagonists, played with likable verve by a young Kevin Bacon and the lovely Elizabeth McGovern, first laid eyes on one another at a teen party.
I'd like to say I'm all indie all the time, because it sounds way cool, but sometimes I dig some infectious stadium rock and "More Than a Feeling" fits the bill and then some.
Song of the Day: "Stress" by Tycho
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Literally every song I've heard by Tycho is gorgeous. Tycho is actually the stage name for a single electronic musician, Scott Hanson. He's terribly gifted at creating soundscapes that are simultaneously uplifting and chill. His "Stress" is my song of the day on Battlestar Eclectica.
—Sarah Torribio
Song of the Day: "Bruises" by Chairlift
"Bruises" by American synth-pop band Chairlift is more than a little charming. I somehow managed to miss this song, which is from back in 2009 and off the group's debut album Does You Inspire You.
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Song of the Day: "Surprise" by Kevin Krauter
Song of the Day: "Luminous" by Jon Hopkins & Kelly Lee Owens
"Luminous Spaces" by Jon Hopkins & Kelly Lee Owens is a lovely electro pop song. It has a dynamic slow-build and the vocals are ethereal as a snow flurry. Jon Hopkins, Wikipedia tells me, is a prolific English musician and producer.
He began his career as the keyboardist for Imogen Heap, an accolade that is in the say-no-more category for me, because I positively love her. That's just the beginning, though, when it comes to this heavy-hitter's musical associations. Jon Hopkins has also worked with the likes of Brian Eno and Coldplay. Luminous, indeed.
Song of the Day: "Blinded" by Mint Julep
"Blinded" by Mint Julep is a pretty peppermint stick of a song, with moving electro pop keyboard, jangly guitar and echoing shoegaze vocals. This gentle, richly textured indie-pop tune is my song of the day and makes me want to hear more of the band's catalog.
Monday, December 9, 2019
Random Musing: Worlds collide
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This is a fun mash-up. I often come across Peanuts comics in which the caption, quips thought bubbles etc. of melancholy-prone Charlie Brown and his friends are replaced with lyrics by the Smiths. Here, we see one of the Love Is. . . kids?/adults? who are usually happily partnered up feeling some serious angst as he launches into a portion of the Smiths "I Know It's Over."
Saturday, December 7, 2019
Friday, December 6, 2019
Imaginary Conversation: What's in a name?
A conversation overheard in my mind:
"How'd you get your name, Svørgën?"
"Ah, my parents didn't give a shit. They named me after some couch they saw at Ikea."
>>next conversation
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Monday, November 25, 2019
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Song of the Day: "Romeo and Juliet" by The Killers
I stumbled across a new-to-me Killers song, "Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll" and of course had to keep listening to the Killers because they are bad-ass.
I got a craving for their "Romeo and Juliet," an exquisitely-rendered cover of a Dire Straits song, off their 2007 sophomore release "Sawdust." I found it on YouTube and it's now song of the day on Battlestar Eclectica I'm usually a stoic, but the song making me a little emotional tonight. It must be a combination of the poignant theme (love lost) and image-rich lyrics, which are veritable literature set to music. I mean come one: "All I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme. Juliet, I'd do the stars with you any time."
You had me at hello.
Song of the Day: "Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll" by the Killers
Leave it to me, Little Miss Play It On Repeat and Little Miss Comfort Zone, to take well over a decade to even scratch the surface of a good band's catalog. What can I say? I like to savor music.
"Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll," a tune which is just as the name describes, is my song of the day. Despite a low-key start, Brandon Flowers' octave-straddling—and yes, maybe occasionally over-ambitious—voice and tremulous pathos create a rock opera-style torch song. A jaded indie-rock version of "I Did It My Way."
—Sarah Torribio
Saturday, November 23, 2019
Song of the Day: "In My Eyes" by Best Coast
My opus through the catalog of Best Coast continues. I just did some Wikipedia browsing and found out the group is actually a duo, comprised of songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Bethany Cosentino and guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Brin.
They create such a tapestried sound for two people! As for the tone of the music, it runs from sugar-dusted melancholy to glamorous ennui to tentative hope. Any potential brooding that might ensue, however, is leavened by momentary visitations of punk-y three-chord riffs and surfy soundscapes paying homage to California's coastal culture.
My song of the day is "In My Eyes" by Best Coast, off the duo's 2015 album California Nights.
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