round acoustic midnight

It's nearly midnight and I'm still at work trying to finish up a rather large project. Music is keeping me from passing out on the keyboard from hunger so while I wait for my turn at the file I thought I would put up this long overdue post.

When hungry and overworked my brain instantly finds solace in acoustic music. Honestly, after a long an intense Dubstep trip listening to Nadeah Odile is just what I needed to unwind. 

Watson and I don't speak as often as I'd like but when we do she always introduces me to some gorgeous music. If I understood french I would tell you more about this woman but since I can barely write a correct sentence in English this will be an emotional opinion. 

It's been a while since I've seen someone so confident in her own skin. In this day and age finding an artist who is better live than he/she is recorded is so hard, but Nadeah is a class apart. Her rough bluesy vocals accompanied by her fantastic band evoke all sorts of emotion inside you. Of course it doesn't hurt the fact that she is gorgeous to look at.

Something about her brings back memories of a school band I was part of. We would sit on the auditorium floor our drummer with her table and me with our school song book making up songs we thought were terribly intense and meaningful. Our music wasn't fabulous but it was so much damn fun. All the best music starts on a pavement.

Below are two of my Nadeah favourites. They're both poles apart when it comes to mood but that just proves how versatile she is as a singer. If anyone happens to know where I can download her music, buy an album, or translate the french I would be eternally grateful.

Nadeah presents with a little love and Tell me. If you like what you're listening to Froggy's sessions has done an excellent live session with her which you can listen to here. Enjoy!

Drifting

Have you ever woken up feeling like the world is a just a little out of focus?

Oversleeping is possibly the worst possible habit. You wake up feeling groggy and spend the entire day dreaming about your bed. It doesn't help if your blanket is possibly the most comfortable thing in the world and you just changed your sheets. 

I got to work today in desperate need of some sort of inspiration, everything seemed off center and odd. Just as I felt like all was lost Haathi shared a video with me. 

Sometimes, that's all it takes. 

Zero 7 and Jose Gonzales are both bands that require you to be in a specific frame of mind. My mind instantly wanders to rain, thunderstorms and windy days, this one however has something different about it. I know I'm constantly telling people to listen but this video is what brings the song home for me. Its some sort of semi disgusting optical twist that makes you want to stop but something inside you keeps you hooked up until the end. The world has now gone completely off center but that makes it just a little more interesting yes?

Zero 7 featuring Jose Gonzales present, futures. Enjoy

The last rant

What are you passionate about?

 Is probably the most troubling question anyone could ask me. In all honesty I have absolutely no idea, I wish I could say pretty much everything but that doesn't get anyone anywhere. I took this weekend off to sort out my head but that has proved to be a daunting task. Somewhere in the middle of washing dishes and bouncing to kanye west I lost the plot and proceeded to switch my brain off entirely. Of course I am now paying for it dearly by wallowing in self pity and general sappiness.

Spending time with yourself can be as counter productive as it is productive. You can either be organised about it or you could end up going on an emotional rampage with yourself. Bits of the latter are always necessary but not to the point where you blend into your bed and settle into a good and comfy sulk.

What I did end up doing though was to give myself a time limit. Since I am now at the age where I can be foolish and impulsive I have decided to give everything a go; who knows maybe three years down the line I will realise that my true calling lies in the Congo researching a species of beetle.Whatever it is I have two years to do it. Hopefully all my new and exciting endeavors will make for a more exciting read. My rant will soon end I promise!

I haven't actually checked the watch listen tell site in a while and as I was looking for the song to attach to this post I stumbled upon this; Daughter presents their acoustic version of medicine. Its funny how music that suites your mood sort of appears when your not even looking. close your eyes and well, be overcome.

Take me Elsewhere

Birthdays are sordid days, your facebook wall explodes, your phone starts ringing and all you want to do is find a hole and stick your head in it. Every one around you is beaming with happiness while you sit around and notice all the lines on your face and all the crap you've put your body through. Somehow every birthday I've had has been an awful series of unfortunate events. By the end of it I feel that it would probably be best if I left for someplace obscure and burnt my passport. Which is why most of my friends have decided that birthday celebrations are best held before or after.

Shkaplan, Holmes, Flower and I decided that this post birthday weekend would be held at a place known only as, elsewhere.It's funny how even living in Goa doesn't stop this burning urge to escape and by just the name of this place you know you are going to taste just a teensy bit of heaven. 

We arrived at night and crossed a bridge into what felt like neverland. Of course the true beauty of the place only hit me when I woke up walked out of our beautiful old bed and opened the doors to the ocean. Shkaplan and I had coffee on our porch(yes, our porch) after which we proceeded to have a fabulous breakfast with the others under a banyan tree. The old houses stood out against the grass, the sound of the sea in the background only confirmed that I was obviously dreaming.

I think its safe to say that all of us felt as if we were in a different world. The weekend was magical, good food, great company and a few random volleyball sessions are just what you need. Of course Holmes and I have now decided to sell all our assets and move into one of the old Goan houses for as long as it will buy us for this is honestly how everyone should live.

As we crossed the bridge back to reality, dogs and a stuffy car I couldn't help but feel a little bit of my heart had stayed back. Take me back, take me elsewhere.

Of monsters and men presents-little talks. This is a video worth watching. enjoy

Overthinking

I tend to over think things. Anything I begin be it relationships or a good meal will fester in the back of my head until it becomes this convoluted tangle ending in something completely different from where it started. I also let things fester. A friend once told me "to cut the fat" and though I know its valuable advice putting it into action is well, hard.

Over a conversation at dinner someone asked a bunch of us when the last time was that we actually spent with just ourselves, unplugged and alone. Looking back at the past few months I cant find a single instance where its happened. The weekend is going to be spent sorting stuff out, a sort of spring cleaning of my mind. Hopefully I will come out sparkly and not a blithering mess but one will never know until one actually tries.

Quarter life crisis does however lead to finding a whole bunch of new music. down here are two bands that are currently festering(music is allowed, i think). The first one is a band called Gramatik. I seem to be on a lucky streak with finding entire albums that I love and Beatz and pieces vol. 1 is the latest one. As if it couldn't get any better, this one man band produces under the Pretty lights label which means you can download his album for free here.

The next is a band called Blackmill, something I stumbled upon on an 8tracks mix. It is a darker sound but perfect to mull over. enjoy.

You will be missed

My headphones died on me a while ago and it was only then that it struck me how much I depended on them. I would come to work and wistfully look at my desktop screen, my hand subconsciously reaching into my bag to find headphones. Yes, they might make me deaf but they are so incredibly necessary! My gorgeous, fragile Senheiser ones succumbed to the wrath of sand, sea and general neglect and I will still miss them.

If course one and a half days of this and I promptly logged onto flipkart and very impulsively bought myself a pair of black Skullcandy headphones. They aren't the best, but they are the sound equivalent of an all terrain vehicle. Besides, I get to be Mrs. Darth Vader every time i put them on.

Every set of headphones comes with a theme song of sorts. Ain't no rest for the wicked by Cage the Elephant. They're a little schizophrenic as a band but I'm growing to love their sound.

Enjoy!