I suck. I haven't updated this thing since the 16th and I blame it on the combination of IB+collegeapps+interviews+SATs. And I currently have a 3 page history essay and a bio lab of about the same length waiting for me to finish. For tomorrow I shall be heading down to Tacoma for a Christmas Party...that should be quite eventful.

Summer Hymns



A bit more on the mellow side compared to all the previous bands on this blog. The vocals make me think of the vocals of Band of Horses minus the echo effect....maybe not. But you can also hear a touch of Badly Drawn Boy. Hmm...I'm quite lazy today, so just listen to the music or something. Or if you're not in the mood for music, you can watch crazy kids traverse through the treacherous streets of New York.

MP3 | Pity and Envy
Mp3 | Start Swimming

http://www.myspace.com/summerhymns

It's nearly over. This week has been exceedingly treacherous in terms of the combination of homework, presentations, tests. I have never felt more tired in my entire life. Nearly 15 total hours of sleep in the past 3 days. I just might go insane. But, it's nearly over.
I am currently preparing for a Macbeth interpretive reading that I might potentially perform tomorrow.

So, I actually found time amidst all this school work to update this thing.

Stereo Total



So let's head on over to the city that is home to the infamous Berlin Wall. I in fact have a remaining piece of the Berlin Wall and it's yellow....I was still in Germany somewhere when it actually came down. But enough of history and on to foreign language! Stereo Total! A French-German duo via Berlin (perhaps the eastern part of Berlin for I have heard from my German exchange student that it is home to their fellow musicians), Stereo Total brings wondrous pop sounds and meshes it together with the garage rock sounds of the late 60s. They're not really anything new. They've been around since the mid 90s. But their recent tracks are quite good.
They sing songs both in French in German so if you speak either language, you might just enjoy this group. But if you don't, or if you're just like me (taken about a 3 month intro course in both), it's still worth listening to.
(I get to decide on my official citizenship next year...But really, I don't like the idea of having to pay German taxes when I don't even live there.)

MP3 | Prends Moi (Take Me) French, please.
MP3 | Plötzlich ist Alles Anders German, please. (Recommended)

http://www.stereototal.de

So marks the end of my beloved 4-day weekend...which really didn't consist of much besides sitting around whilst being sick. Not to mention trying to read Macbeth which so far I wouldn't consider to be one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. I don't tend to favor the tragedies.

Sky Larkin



Not to get this band confused with Ireland's bluegrassy punk band, Larrikin Love, like I just did while typing up this post, this band is quite different in terms of sound. This band is one of the favored bands over there in the UK at the moment. In a way, they kind of remind me of Mates of State...but it might just because of the female vocals. But really, they don't sound like them that much. Not to long ago...well, maybe 5 months ago, Sky Larkin's Somersault Notes was a part of a mixed cd that I had made for my friend birthday.

MP3| Somersault (Notes)
(this mp3 is from nothingbutgreenlights. I have to give credit, I guess.)

http://www.myspace.com/skylarkinskylarkin

2nd day. 2nd day. Tap Tap. Tap Tap. I'm feeling lazy today. This band isn't really anything new. It's been going around in the multiple UK blogs out there. But it is a good band. They were one of those bands that I continuously listened to over the summer.

Tap Tap



If you mixed Wolf Parade, Arcade Fire, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, you'ld get these guys. Except these guys live across the pond. Which isn't bad, it just makes seeing them live a little bit harder (that is if you don't live over around in that area). But oh well. Their songs are good, but their "Lanzafame" album is sold out....I wanted one. Apparently, they were hand made or something like that which limited it to about 200 copies. Anyways, on to the songs:

MP3|100,000 Thoughts
MP3|Way To Go, Boy (highly recommended)

http://myspace.com/taptapmusic

This is my second attempt at a music blog. I hope it works this time. But I really doubt it because of everything that needs to be finished in the (very) near future. ie college apps. So, my old blog (taketheqtrain.blogspot.com) is no longer a music blog...I still have it up. We'll see what happens to it. It might just be a random blog for my own use of random memories. So, I suppose I have ranted enough. On to the music.

Scissors for Lefty



I've been finding their songs quite catchy lately. This quartet comes from the beloved city of San Francisco, but with their spastic melodies that make you want to dance away into the night, they sound like a band that should hail from the UK. And I guess that worked for them for there is quite the buzz over in Britain. They have an EP out (American) and have two singles out in the UK (the songs below). I personally hope that they'll tour soon. It'd bring the UK dance rock goodness from British bands that I've never been able to see for obvious reasons.

MP3|Scissors For Lefty - Mama Your Boys Will Find A Home
MP3|Scissors For Lefty - Ghetto Ways

They deleted their downloads (because of promotional purposes through Rough Trade) so just go to their site or find some other means of listening to their songs.
http://www.myspace.com/scissorsforlefty

Um...as for shows, I recently saw Say Hi To Your Mom at the Sunset Tavern for the third time(fourth if you count the instore). It was a bit different because only Eric was there. I'm not sure why. Maybe his band members couldn't get the week off. Angelou Spencer was one of the opening acts as well as Little Champions. But the main highlight was Kimya Dawson being there with her baby daughter Panda. It was quite an unexpected happening.