eveninghawk’s links

i love it.  love it. give me more.  why the heck do they have to be in the UK?  no fair.

anyhow, if you’re intrigued, check out Belleruche.

Yes, you heard me right, this is my song of the moment, making me so pleased. It’s from the heart and soul of Chopper Groove, and making my snowy evening so wonderful. Of course, I’m talking about the 1981 hit from Carl Carlton, which earned the man a gold record. Seriously, this is the music of bicycle rides and roller rinks. I highly suggest listening and grooving away.

I know I’ve been stuck on music for the last few posts, but it’s the media most in my life at the moment since I listen all while I’m at work, I sleep to it, and otherwise I’m running around to various beer events (hrmm… I should probably add a beer category on here so that I can talk about that…).

Imogen Heap is incredible. She’s got a great voice, she puts together electronic components in a way that has me floating around the office, and she manages to capture emotions and events in a way that can be both disturbing and beautiful at the same time, which is the way the world is. I have heard stuff she did as FrouFrou, which was a lot of fun, but this is a whole other realm, in my opinion. I picked up Speak For Yourself while out in Baltimore a month ago, after having first heard Hide and Seek on WERS.

Lately I’ve been struck by another song from this album “The Moment I Said It.” If you’ve ever been in an emotional fight with someone, then you will get this, and the song has all the beauty and pain of what goes on in that. It’s a great snapshot of an experience in lyrics and sound.

I know what you’re thinking
but darling you’re not thinking straight
sadly things just happen we can’t explain
It’s not even light out
But you’ve somewhere to be
no hesitation
I’ve never seen you like this
and I don’t like it, I don’t like it at all.

I’ve been feeling angsty about things like relationships and people, and it’s made me rather cynical today even though I’m in a generally good mood. This is both frustrating and odd since I’ve been having a great day, but I guess malcontent is not a prerequisite for a bad mood. While listening to a random mix up of music Eve 6 managed to make me feel a bit more connected to humanity with their lyrics:

I would swallow my pride I would choke on the rhines
But the lack thereof would leave me empty inside
I would swallow my doubt turn it inside out find nothing but faith in nothing
Want to put my tender heart it in a blender
Watch it spin round to a beautiful oblivion
Rendezvous then I’m through with you

I was listening to the Police’s 1979 tune “Message In a Bottle,” and thinking about two things… I really like the song, and I really like the message that loneliness is something we all complain about, but something we all share. It’s a great message, and it’s a great way to present the message. We’re not alone in our little boxes, even though people are prone to think that way.

Sometimes it really is worth it to blow some time playing some pretty games. This morning I was pointed to Quest for the Rest, which is beautiful and well worth checking out. It actually reminds me of a lot of stuff that Ben likes to do.

It also brought up memories of a link Scott sent me back in the days when I was in Shanghai, Orisinal, which has moved from the address i remembered. Thankfully I was able to track it down, as it’s a really fun site with pretty games that are… cute and extremely well built.

I hadn’t realized that “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” was written by a son to his father. It’s a good song anyway, but it’s just a little more to me now.

U2 is pretty fantastic, if you ask me.

NPR has a feature on Miriam Makeba. I love that I can listen to NPR pieces from China online. She is a fascinating singer with a new album out who hates being referred to as “the click click girl.” Her talk about growth as an artist and discovering her role allowing her to take on the name “Mama Africa” is inspirational to me.

I checked these guys out on BBC Radio 6’s album of the day. All I can really say is “go Norway” for producing so much music I want to get my hands on.

I will certainly get my hands on this album as soon as I have the ability to, and for now, I will be satisfied downloading the tune available.

The band has a nice little site, well not so little and slow loading from here, but everything is slow loading from here.

*wanders away cheering that bossa nova isn’t dead*

I checked my email this morning and noticed that rts updated. Joy! More of Part 3 for me. Seriously, I know the comic doesn’t update regularly, but I like it so much that I could care less. I’m just happy to get more.

An interesting board game was mentioned over at Boing Boing, which is pretty neat. It has me thinking about boardgames I have played and loved, and I am sure that will lead to a post later. Why? This would be because a friend has had me thinking of things that make me happy. Board games, silly as they may seem, can make me happy. Besides, I like silliness.

I also stumbled back across a Royksopp CD yesterday, and have been listening to it on my MP3 player, meaning I can walk around and do the laundry while jamming. I’ve been particularly enjoying the tune eple. I think it’s worth checking out, as is Poor Leno (and be sure to check out the Poor Leno video).