Crunchy fuzzed out guitars take hold immediately in this new tune, and it makes me happy about Mondays after all.
Mood Monday
Stormy weather, gray mood.
Yesterday, I took a luxurious bike ride in the sparkling, spring time weather of Atlanta. Beautiful green leafing trees, sunshine galore, and a relaxed pace, well up until the mega biker guy tried to pass me. Thank you whoever you are…..you kept me from being lolling, lazy, and complacent.
But today is a Monday, and a radically different story.
I am in need of something radiant and up-lifting. Luckily I have found it in this curious tune. Despite its genuinely happy beat, it has an edgy nature that totally creates interest and listenability. In fact, tonight I have actually single handedly probably surged their Soundcloud listening, due to my obsession with the new album, The,from the band,Perhapsy.
Crunchy fuzzed out guitars with an infectious melody take hold immediately in this new tune, and it makes me happy about Mondays after all.
I just simply can’t get enough!
Perahpsy-O Su Yung
The, is a newly released album solo project from Derek Barber out of Oakland, California. He has many guitar driven projects with other bands, but this is his latest solo project. Digging deeper, I found his artwork that seems to be alive and well on his Facebook page. I kinda spent some time exploring his beautiful maze-like drawings. I wouldn’t be surprised if the album artwork didn’t belong to him. The drawings intrigue me and as you know when there is a personal side to a creative band, I totally sink into their music with more vigor.
Art, whether it be visual or sonically expressive, is Art.
So many amazing connections.
For the past few weeks, I have personally been exploring the drawing of mandalas with quiet meditation. For me, it has proven to be a calming force in my life. I am human and have worries as well as sadnesses and this has helped me compartmentalize them and move forward with hope and a new, more compassionate self awareness. It is life giving, just as listening to music is sowing seeds of joy within me.
For the most part, Perhapsy has the capability of providing me with songs for quiet drawing time or a rare, vivid daydreaming moment. Yet, sometimes when listening, I find myself intrigued enough to stop and really listen to the lyrics more clearly and focus. I know a band has won me over when this happens….
So, I hope this music post finds you warm and safe and secure in your humble abode. Maybe the music will inspire you to find the time to daydream and try something new and daring when the clouds part and the joy of Spring takes hold. I don’t know about you, but I have much to do.
This song was written from their own personal lens, but the more I listen, the more universal the message really is.
This is late, but I hope worth the wait. So instead of Mood Monday, I bring you…
The Tenor of Tuesday
Blow after blow after blow….I am learning to ricochet each hit, while building up a serious Teflon exterior protecting my heart from puncture.
Since the election, I have been reeling in a world of daily executive orders that I question with every fiber of my being. I am deeply worried women will eventually lose the right to choose. While I am on it, WTH is an alternative fact? And what president questions a judge’s decision with a tweet? Additionally, we have filled a cabinet position for education, and she can’t even answer simple educational questions. The dumbing down of America has been given a frightening new boost on the federal level.
As a much needed distraction from the depressing news, I was excited about my local pro football team going to the Super Bowl on Sunday. I thought the possibility of Atlanta winning might be the sweet we all craved and make 2017 all shiny and new.
Well, if you aren’t a fan of pro football, let me inform you that I left my Super Bowl gathering of dear friends, stunned…..heartbroken….and shattered. The Atlanta Falcons have a saying, “Rise Up!”. Well, they rose up alright, but came crashing down hard in the fourth quarter to lose in a record shattering way.
Because we were ahead the majority of the game, the outcome simply spoke to the crazy unpredictability of sports. I don’t want my life to mimic that unpredictability. The agony of defeat is real people! I am feeling this agony on all fronts.
What else could possibly go wrong?
I shudder to think.
I will make every effort to try and focus on something positive.
Anything positive.
Currently, any small sliver of positivity will do.
So, today I took a double take while driving my regular neighborhood route and was pleasantly surprised by the lovely pink awakening dance of Atlanta cherry trees and quince bushes. This lovely vision was a joyful spectacular surprise for my eyes against the dank, gray sky. The baby blooms can teach me a much needed lesson. Seasons change and life usually follows suit.
For now, I don’t see many glimpses of enlightened positive change in our country, but I will seek out each and every one. I hope to find them in the kind words or kind acts of strangers; my neighbors, friends, and anyone committed to making positive change in the world to benefit ALL people; the small or large acts of peaceful protests; and even the collection of monetary support for causes and programs that support those in need. Simple acts of compassion will be my glimmer of hope. I know this might seem small right now, but like the tiny buds of Spring’s hope, I feel certain they will grow and change.
While I am watching, waiting, and acting, this new song from Bleached will play on repeat. It was released just a few days ago. Somehow, I think the power of rock n roll punk and the clear-sighted lyrics have a finger on the pulse of what many are feeling.
Bravo Bleached!
Bleached-Can You Deal?
“Pretty little child
Tell me your tale
How you got the courage to rebel yell
I’m really feeling cheated….”
Bleached are sisters, Jennifer and Jessica Clavin, as well as bassist Micayla Grace and drummer Nick Pillot. The sisters credit their musical roots to sneaking into the punk shows of Hollywood and playing with their early punk band, Mika Miko. After forming Bleached, they created music and recently delivered their sophomore album, Welcome The Worms. They toured successfully with a big following from the hit song off of the album, “Wednesday Night Melody”.
With a host of personal drama and struggles, their music became an incredible creative outlet. The March release of their new EP, has four new tracks…Can You Deal, Flipside, Turn To Rage, and Dear Trouble.
“Can You Deal?” is a pleasant teaser to their wall of guitars and expressive vocal style that is distinctively Bleached. Wrapped up in their music are sunny melodies, punching drums, driving guitars, and biting lyrics.
Some background to “Can You Deal?” from Jennifer Clavin,
“I create music and art because I need to. To express, to bond, to reconcile, and to connect. And to use my voice. To have it received with such a generic labeling as “girl band” and consistently referenced as “female fronted” is insulting and reductive. The title track to this EP, “Can You Deal?” is about this experience. Last year we released a deeply personal full length album titled Welcome The Worms. It was a record about being in an emotionally abusive relationship. It was a record about getting spun out on drugs and alcohol. It was a record about totally losing myself in order to find myself. It was also our most ambitious body of work yet, with guitar work and guitar sounds and production we had only dreamed of until then. And yet to this day I am still fielding interview questions that have more to do with my gender than with the art I am creating. Somehow the conversation usually derails into some variation of the following question: “What is it like to be a girl in a rock band?”. And the ensuing story will define us based on our sex. Why is gender pointed out in nearly all coverage of our band? Labeling me as a woman in a band just puts me in a box, and doesn’t allow everything else I am to be seen and heard. It’s 2017, Can You Deal with women playing rock and roll yet? “
This song was written from their own personal lens, but the more I listen, the more universal the message really is. Making assumptions or stereotyping without considering the person can be damaging.
Digging deeper into their story, I found another lovely sliver of positivity in the e-mail announcing their new music.
“Jennifer Clavin has compiled and will be publishing a limited edition Zine. This Zine with the same name, “Can You Deal?” is a collection of shared experiences from other artists as told through exclusive essays, stories, visual art, poetry and lyrics.”
All proceeds support Planned Parenthood. Click HEREor their website to learn about the many Zine contributors and more info.
This song is just one way to open up a conversation about sexism. Perhaps it will open up the possibility of discussing other related topics too. I pray conversations and compassionate acts will build positivity and help us grow to be better people, a better nation, and help create a better world.
News….whether you get your info about the world from television, newspapers, or social media, it seems to be full of depressing human conditions like hatred, violence, discrimination, disasters, and people shaming. As the weather warms and I find myself outside for the majority of my waking hours, I have shied away from the constant flood of news that makes me question the sanity of the world. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t shut myself completely out of important catching up, but I tend to move away from the point/counterpoint of talking heads and banter.
Crazily, I have created a big chunk of time when I choose to tune out the news. I want to take this extra time to actually do something positive in the world. Whether it is giving to the people of Nepal, finding a local non-profit that needs help and providing what I can, making a point to educate/better myself, or just carefully and thoughtfully supporting my family and friends, one of these or all of these are becoming my serious focus right now.
I don’t know what it is about springtime that helps me to rethink and renew my routines. It must be the springing of new life, the longer days, and the warmth of the sunshine on my face that gives me a new perspective and incredible life force energy.
As I prepare for significant moments in my life, (because May is chock full of them), I find myself listening to music which embraces the positive vibe I am feeling. I am preparing for Shaky Knees Festival and am hastily listening and re-listening to many of the bands that are coming to play. I am thrilled with the lineup each day and am struggling with the fact that I am going to be racing from stage to stage and basically torn between all of the fantastic music makers. As I listen, I lean in to the music which reflects the thoughtful changes in my perspective.
I recently listened to this curious band and found them to be beautifully positive and uniquely thoughtful. I am a new fan of Xavier Rudd & The United Nations.
Listen with me and I think you might become a fan too….
Xavier Rudd is from Australia, a multi-instrumentalist, surfer & activist, and Xavier’s ability to connect with people is astounding. I know I definitely connect with his sound and lyrics.
“Typically, he has three didgeridoos placed in front of him on a stand, a guitar on his lap, a stompbox by his habitually bare feet, and an assortment of drums, harmonicas & bells near at hand, or near at foot as the case may be. Many of Rudd’s songs embody themes of social consciousness, such as spirituality, humanity, environmentalism and the rights of Aboriginal people.” (quoted and paraphrased from Wikipedia)
The recent release of the song, “Come People”from his new album Nanna, is no exception. This song should be a chant, we power out of our mouths, when wrongs occur in the world.
Can’t we all come together? Let’s try to stop dividing and separating. Let’s focus on what we all have in common, please? I want to see the world as much as I can through other people’s eyes and stop making rash judgements based on what the media or single-minded people tell me.
Spring births a new earth, so my mind is willing to birth a new view, minus the divisive news.
Today, my mood is focused on the hope of warm sunshine on my back and the unfolding joy of spring. I am ready for it to settle in with a deep lovely rhythm…
“Sunshine on my back is the only kind I like
Sunshine in my brain is the lonely kind of pain
It’s the sunshine of a lonely mind”
There is something so beautiful about the melancholy of Matt Berninger’s deep baritone, and the predictable slow steady beat of the music that is distinctly, The National.
This is a song that The National played way back in 2013 when the album, Trouble Will Find Me, was recorded. I am not sure why it wasn’t added in, but I welcome the happy surprise of a tune that suddenly surfaced this past week. It makes me happy, even though it isn’t necessarily a happy song. I just can’t stop listening. It is available to anyone who buys or rents the band’s documentary, Mistaken For Strangers.
Mondays can be that way, right? A surprise that suddenly appears when you least expect it?
How did Monday come so fast? I don’t know about you, but I was blindsided.
