A Dose of Happiness

I've been thinking and thinking about what I wanted to post about this week.  Or rather, what song I wanted to post about.  And there are so many to choose from!  Many of them don't have music videos to go with them.

And so, my dears, we're going to have another post with a few random songs that I think are just lovely and wonderful to listen to.  They can be background music while you work, they can be forefront music in your car and you can sing along at the top of your voice to them.  Whatever you're doing, they're amazing songs, and the artists this week are phenomenal.

First, however, we're going to start with a music video that was released this last December, because I...  Am more than a little bit in love with Sanchez's voice.

Here's G.NA and Sanchez, with "Beautiful Day"

Such a melancholy tone for such a sad song!  A song about it being a beautiful day, even though they're just broken up, a beautiful day to say goodbye.  Faster than a sad ballad, it still manages to convey that inner... Craving I suppose.  The song is just...  Wow.  The way their voices completely compliment each other without overshadowing the other is mind-blowing.  A perfect collaboration, here.

The video is nothing to sneer at either.  It is deceptively simple, but watch their stillness, the way they are turned from each other the whole video.  Watch the smoke (I don't know why, that part just makes me happy), it displays the lighting and their movement to fascinating advantage.  A lot of abbreviate arm-movements when there is movement at all.  

Now on to some wonderfully chill songs:

Eluphant, 여전히 아름답네요, Feat.권정열 of 10cm

Just.  Just Listen.

Listen to the way their voices flirt with the instruments, the guitar weaving around their voices like a ribbon.  I love the percussion in this, the little syncopated, "tap, tap!" and then the drums, and the piano playing a jazzy, light, beautiful melody in the background.  The rapping parts--be still my heart!  Oh, I absolutely love them.  I love that the rap is measured, but not obviously so.  It keeps the rhythm of the instruments.  i don't usually like rap, but this is lovely.

Here's another one that I almost can't handle how fun and unique it is.

The rhythm established by the percussive piano notes, the fun techno sounds, even the baby noises!  Ha ha ha!  And then the chorus sweeping into this epic mixture of their voices and power and almost 80's awesomeness... and then sliding into melodic "sweet, sweet love!"  Sigh.  This song is just a mixture of wonderful and epic.

And last, but definitely not least, I've got a random blurb of a song for you.  By Casker.

Simplistic, almost like a child playing the piano and her (or his) parents singing along to the song.  It's...  Weirdly wonderful.  I don't know why, but it is.  Perhaps because her lighter, ethereal voice is cradled and held by his earthier, more grounded voice, and the almost plodding melody and rhythm of the piano ties the two together inseparably.  55 seconds of glory.  Right here.

Hope you like these songs!  Have a beautiful week, darlings, and enjoy your chill music listening!  Until next week ;)

Dear Cloud

This week I WAS planning on talking about Dear Cloud, or rather, one of Dear Cloud's songs that I specifically like, or that struck me as a sort of Chill Music miracle or some such.  And I was on Youtube, listening to some of their stuff, and then I saw a live performance, and I was just like, "Aaaaaaaaaahhhh!" And it was a beautiful moment.

I love their sound, even live.  Well, especially live, I suppose, and that is quite rare for me.  Usually a band or a group is so produced that their true, live sound can never quite compete with that  pedestal which the commoners (us, if you didn't get the reference) listen to on the radio or via cd.  There is absolutely no way a regular voice/instrument can be played exactly perfectly every single time a group performs.

That being said, I felt that this was perhaps a part of Dear Cloud's charm.  Their music is almost the kind that one would go to an open mic session for--the stuff you really wait all night just to hear, and that's the reward for suffering through all of the wannabes (no offense to those of you who are learning and who are trying out your singing/playing on other people--believe me, I'm in the same boat, and I respect the heck out of your tenacity and guts).  Their music takes you into that dim room, bare bulbs with the lampshades hanging from the ceiling, people lounging in every corner, eyes reflecting glittering pieces of light back at you.  That room has a sound of its own, it hums with the life in it; the breath, the heartbeats, the rustle of clothes as someone shifts, waiting for the act to really begin.

Sorry, distracted.  Dear Cloud.

I love them.  I kind of feel like their music is either an acquired taste, or something you actually have to be interested in and go searching for.  It's definitely not mainstream, and that totally fits the group and their sound.  Kudos to them for making music the way they want to, and not to fit in with anyone's idea of music.

I also love their style.  It's not all done-up and fake, they don't really "dress up" for the stage. I mean, they look great, but they look like a band should look--kind of like, expect the unexpected kind of thing--you don't know how they're going to look like until they step out on the stage. This can especially be seen with the lead singer.  She's absolutely gorgeous.  No seriously.  Love everything about her style, from her short hair to her leather jacket to the way she doesn't look at the audience when she's singing.  It's like she's taking us on a journey into her mind when she sings: she's inviting us along.  It's a perfect fit for their sound.

And, here's where I give you a music video typically.  But I'm going to give you a live version instead, because it kind of sucked me in, and my imagination ran wild with it.  Obviously.

And, I'd also like to share this other blog that I discovered on my wanderings tonight.  Because I like Ria's style :D

dear cloud post--Ria

Anyway.  Have a great week with your Chill Listening, kids, and if you have comments or requests, I'd be happy to answer/honor them! ;)

EZ Hyung or: 이지형

For this week's Chill Music Stash, I'm going to give you an artist I had never really heard of before.  Well, that is not true.  I saw something of his, but it didn't really register, you know?  Like, when you first start liking a genre, or you aren't really familiar with something, and the images/videos you see at first don't really mean anything to you because you don't have the knowledge base to help you out?  Yeah, like that.

Anyway, EZ 형 is quickly growing on me.  I haven't heard a lot, but he is definitely going to go into my CMS playlist so I can listen over and over again!  I like his style, I love his voice, and you should listen to him too.  So here you go, a couple of songs that I actually HAVE listened to, and really love:

I enjoy the style of this one--the rhythm and the electronics that set his beautiful voice off so nicely.  It's quirky and upbeat, not something to necessarily chill to, but something you could definitely dance to, should the notion take you.  Just sayin'. 

Of course, if I see anybody dancing like a maniac, I'm going to assume it's one of you, dancing to this song! ;)

This song, on the other hand, is definitely one to chill to.  Or dance slowly, swaying like a tree in the wind.  Ummmm... Sorry for the weird imagery ;)  

With this one, the guitar is so wonderful.  You know how sometimes the intro to a song can be 2 whole minutes long, and by about 30 seconds of guitar, you are thinking, "When are they going to start singing, already?!"  This song is not like that, and I love how he makes the guitar his voice for the beginning.  

I love love LOVE the piano; I also love how his voice is not as forceful as in the previous song, it's almost breathy and creates such a dreamlike atmosphere.  And then the quirky keyboard thing/chime/whatever-the-heck-that-was comes in and it's all over for me.  Perfect!

Hope you all like 이지형 as much as I am coming to!  If you have any requests, feel free to leave them in the comments :D  If not, I'm thinking Dear Cloud is going to be next week's Chill Music Stash installment.  We'll see...

Have a great week with your chill listening!

random weird lovelies

This shall be short and sweet, friends.

I basically love Crazyno.  He's so funny, he's quirky and so many other adjectives that just don't do him justice.  Of course, we must then lump them all together hoping to hit the nail on the head.

I hope you've all heard and seen his music video, Musiche, which is pretty funny and wonderful.  Because I'm not going to add it here.  I'm going to post something that I discovered recently that just made my day.

It's Crazyno singing a song for his fans because of some goal he reached and he wanted to celebrate with them.  And I thought it was great, so I wanted to share it.

Here you go:

And, since this is a short post, here's another thing I'm geeking out about--Phantom is having a comeback, and they've posted this absolutely cute teaser.  Well, cute might be a little bit strong, maybe creative and a bit silly, but absolutely fun, would more get it right.

Fun, creative and brilliant.  Hope you all like them!

JUNIEL (주니엘) - illa illa (일라 일라)

Time for another song from my Chill Music Stash!  Aren't you excited?  :D

This week is JUNIEL's illa illa, and I have to say, I fell in love with the song even before I watched the music video.  It's got this great wistful feel in the beginning, rocking into a powerful chorus that never ceases to get me singing along.  Not well, mind you, but it's recognizable as singing ;)

She has this way of letting the guitar be the strong undertone to her almost breathy singing, and then the "illa's" come, and it's all over.  Just such a great song, such a great artist: I love listening to Juniel.

On to the music video, yay!!  

Not so much "yay," actually. 

 At first, I was watching and thinking, "Oh, this is the CUTEST MUSIC VIDEO EVER!!!"  And, it was.  It had this cute lady in a cute greenhouse surrounded by beautiful, green things.  And then there was rain, and an adorable boy, and... Sigh.  It was pretty much wonderful, and I was all set to love the music video so much more than any other music video I'd ever loved.  You know that feeling?  I sure hope so, because it's a good one.

But then?  You know what?!  My hopes were DASHED in the CRUELEST way possible!  The adorable boy (who is in the band CN BLUE, and is also in Heartstrings--he's DARLING!) sees her through the window, and smiles his cute smile, and has this total, overwhelming crush on her, if we can judge anything by the time he spent drawing her and buying a roomful of flowers from her.  He finally confesses to her, and what happens?!  Turns out she's DEAF!!!  I would have been okay with that, except, it's a totally STUPID scene!  

Seriously?  She's been deaf for how long?  Even assuming it happened in an accident not even a month before (but that can't be right, because he has spent a long time crushing on her), she wouldn't have sat there like a dumb person (get it?  Dumb is not only foolish but can't speak, often associated with deafness...), she would have gestured when he started speaking, or SOMETHING!  Seriously.  She's also been crushing on him--she would have actually responded when he finally got the nerve up to talk to her!  Geez.

So.  Other than that one huge, gaping HOLE in my heart this music video created, it was really wonderful.  I love the rain, and the birds, the way Juniel wasn't posing or anything, just playing and singing.  Great stuff.

Now, Darlings, go off and have a great week and weekend, and keep listening to your music!  Music is what makes the world go round.  It's the universal language.  Other than love.  And math... But we don't speak about math around here :)