Maybe you're in danger, and you don't even know it.

I can't get enough of this song at the moment (and once again, if you're on facebook, you have to go to the original blogger entry to listen to the song):

It's Danger! by The Sound of Arrows. They are a new Swedish duo who have just signed to Labrador Records, and I think we'll be hearing a lot about them in the future.

One of their members is Stefan Storm who has some excellent solo songs up on his Myspace that you should check out as well.

While we're on the subject of Swedish musicians, you should also watch this video of Lykke Li's song "Little Bit."


And that's all I've got for you for now.

A music post: Vampire Weekend and A Killer Ass

So I just returned from seeing Vampire Weekend at the Bottletree. They played with the Walkmen, who I didn't stay for, not because I don't like them, but because this is the first ten minutes I've spent at home since 7:56 this morning.

Anyway, Vampire Weekend: They're good. I like the record a lot, but I was even more impressed with their live show. It's fun music that they obviously enjoy playing, grinning throughout, and they perform their songs with such ease that it comes off as effortless. Vampire Weekend is the musical equivalent of that person everyone knows and everyone likes because he or she is witty and easy to be around. Needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I didn't enjoy having someone's mystery beverage spilled on my shoes. The woman behind me decided to sneak a Solo cup filled with something clear (thankfully) into the show in her purse, danced, and then emptied its contents on me. I guess that's one of the hazards of live music.

Before you continue reading, here are two of my favorites from the Vampire Weekend record. (And if you are reading this on Facebook, you'll need to go to the original post on blogger in order to see the embedded songs.)

This first song, "Campus," according to the liner notes, was written by the keyboard player, Rostam Batmanglij, who I learned from Pitchfork is a Kate Bush fan, which always wins points in my book. Also,(and this is shallow, and I apologize) I want to nominate him for the cutest man in indie rock award, whoever it is that gives that out. Stereogum maybe.

This song, which you have probably heard, is another good one. "A-Punk." It has a Mellotron on the chorus, which I'm always a sucker for.


Finally, in personal music news, I have turned my room into a mini-DIY studio with my new M-Audio MIDI controller and equipment that I've borrowed from my roommate, Jenny, so I've been composing more on the computer, which is new for me. I'm hoping it will, along with the new instruments I've purchased in the past few months (an autoharp and an out-of-tune accordion), help me expand my songwriting abilities. As it is, I spent the majority of this weekend recording a new song in lieu of doing my taxes or reading the Lyotard I was supposed to. Anyway this song is the result. It's called "A Killer Ass Can Only Take You So Far." It's pretty self-explanatory. I think I need to work on the vocals some more, but this will do for now. Let me know what you think.



I would post the lyrics, but this post is already way too long, and I will be surprised if you made it this far.

Restless and Rambling

I want to go on an adventure. I miss traveling. I miss being able to just hop on a night train and be somewhere new and exciting the next day. I do love Birmingham however. The time I spent abroad actually helped me appreciate my home that much more because I saw the things about it that I loved and took for granted, but I also saw the pride that my colleagues and friends took in their home, and I saw that they were just as interested in Birmingham as I was in Székesféhervár. As I discovered the things they loved about their homes, the villages they grew up in, Hungary as a whole, I shared the same things about my home: Alabama, Birmingham, the United States. Some of my foreign friends legitimately want to come visit Birmingham, and I would hope that if ever they did, I would be able to show them about my home what they showed me about theirs. Even other American friends, who live in other parts of the country, I hope will visit, so I can show them that there is something worthwhile about a city in Alabama, contrary to what a lot of people seem to think.

But back to the adventure. Despite my love for this city, I'm ready for something new. While I know I only have another year or so here, as graduate school is at the forefront of my mind, and I refuse to enter any later than Fall '09, I need something to break up the monotony. I'm a little bored sometimes, and I think a trip would satisfy that a bit. The problem is paying for said trip, especially when I think I'm going to be owing some taxes this year. I think I may try to visit Belinda and Hasi in New York late spring/early summer, but I'm also planning something bigger: Iceland Airwaves.