pocket full of secrets

Phantogram and the xx both started getting buzz around the same time a year or two back. Both somewhat similar, boy/girl duo's writing electronic tinged music heavy on a lead guitar. For some reason the xx really started to blow up and Phantogram's name hasn't caught the same type of attention.

This somewhat puzzles me as I find Phantogram more enjoyable to listen to and IMO they are much more talented songwriters. Their sound is more polished and the lyrics they write have more texture and depth to them. After repetitive plays to Phantogram's full length "Eyelid Movies," I find that I can keep returning to it and still find it enjoyable. Each song has a slightly different feel and sound to it. the xx's self titled debut however I played solidly for about a week straight and started to hear too many similar themes and sounds. Oddly, though I was sick of and bored with the album, I still kept listening to it. So maybe there is something more to the xx. Maybe.

But for now, I'd rather listen to Phantogram, and I highly recommend them for you too. The song in this post is the first track on their full length (and I believe it may be first on the EP as well). It's a well written song about a relationship on end because her partner is a drug addict and has made too many promises of getting clean but never follows through with said promises. She knows it isn't his fault but the addictions and she just can't waste her own life on it anymore so it's time to move on.

"because the patterns they control your mind
those patterns take away my time
hello, goodbye"

I've been a big fan of track 7 on the album as well, "You Are The Ocean." There is a line of the lyric that reads "Cause you are the ocean, and I'm good at drowning." Maybe it's just the ethereal tone of the song mixed with these words, but for some reason I find great poetic beauty in this song. Or maybe it's just because I love the ocean and am a sucker for sad love song. Either way, do yourself a favor and check out phantogram's work.

If the link above isn't working, then please click this to hear the song.

Happiness is what we all want

"Happiness is what we all want
May it be that we don't always want"

The opening track off of the new Hot Chip album, "Thieves In the Night" took a little time to grow on me. Actually, the album did as a whole but it's slowly growing on me. Opening tracks are generally supposed to be the starting bang, with a track somewhere between 3 and 5 being a hook to reel you back into the album. This song definitely does just that. Lead single, "I Feel Better" does it's job at space 3, but that is a song for a different day.

I think the thing that got me hooked on this song is the lyrics. They aren't amazing, but sort of simple in a sweet way.

"A want is a lack but also desire
A need can be nothing but should be held higher
A need is a want wearing disguise
It can be confused if fuelled by desire"

Of course travel for extended periods of time brings up thoughts of want vs need. "I want that cool asian shirt for when i go home, but do i need it?" That is base level of want/need thoughts but you get the drift. It's confusing, especially when desire is added to the fire.

"My friend once told me something so right
he said to be careful of bugs that don't bite"

At first, I thought this was gibberish. But on further listens and thoughts it made more sense to me. a bug is still a pest regardless of if pain is caused.

But of course as the beginning of this blog shows, the chorus is what I really dig.

"Happiness is what we all want
May it be that we don't always want"

Having been discussing happiness, wants, needs, future plans.. etc with so many friends recently I know that pretty much everyone wants to be happy (masochists aside). So, may it be that we never want as we are always happy and our needs met.

Now, I'm off to go explore Seoul some more.

don't let our youth go to waste

it's another rainy, grey day in Korea. I need to leave where i am staying and move on to other regions. But the language barrier is providing some difficulties of contacting the other farms. so for today I'm listening to Galaxie 500 and working on the next steps.

this video is the only one i could find of the Galaxie 500 version of this song. never saw rumble fish, though read that and I think every other S.E. Hinton book.

And once in a while

"And once in a while,
I know our hearts beat of time.
And once in a while,
I know they'll fall back in line."

Been listening to "In the Summertime" off of The Rural Alberta Advantage's album "Hometowns" a lot recently. Though I'm in Korea in the cold winter far from summertime weather, I feel so connected to this song right now. Our hearts are beating out of time right now. But as long as we're alive, and our hearts are still pumping blood then we'll figure it all out. Because our love is strong, our love is strong, our love is strrroooong.