MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Even if you don't celebrate it, feel free to accept my generous (and cheap XD) Christmas gift to my flist this year.
... that's right, a MUSIC DOWNLOAD POST! But not just any music download post- a super-special DOUBLE music download post! For your listening enjoyment, I've uploaded ten songs that are in no way relevant to the season, but nevertheless feel "wintery". Except for the last one. But the rest of them are suitably "December" songs. As usual, comment f you grab them, ect. ect. Theoretically they'll be up for a week, but I'm totally lazy and probably won't get around to doing a new music post for another two weeks or so. *sigh*
Looks like we're going to have snow on Christmas this year. XDDD *dances*
Akatsuki no Kurama - Fiction Junction YUUKA
Ahhh, the first time I heard this song I went: O___O and listened to it, like, five times in a row. It does that whole... very traditional, celtic-ey, tirbalesque thing that Yuki Kajiura's SeeSaw does in .hack//SIGN and Tsubasa. This song has atmosphere and a gorgeous, building melody. Like, the first verse is just singing and light percussion. The second verse is instruments and percussion and singing and then the muffled, electric guitar bursts start in on the second chorus. And then it feels almost as if the song speeds up, although the tempo doesn't change form beginning to end. Eh, I'm at a loss really to explain exactly what this song sounds like, but I assure you- it's beautiful.
The Garden of Everything - Maaya Sakamoto feat. Steve Conte
Steve singing tenor in english, Maaya singing soprano in Japanese and a song that takes turns at being a duet, a counterpoint and a canon. This song sounds like dancing and dreaming and spinning a whole lot of fantastic. When Dawn first made me listened to this song, oh, two odd months ago I do believe her words were something along the lines of: "This song is just too beautiful." It's the way the tune starts slow and halting and tenative and eventually melts into something that flows and flies; and it's in the way Maaya and Steve's voices contrast and interweave and bounce off each other. This song is etheral and one of the most delicately, powerful beautiful pieces of music I've heard in a while.
Blue - Yoko Kanno, performed by Mai Yamane
This song randomly appeared on my iPOD one day. I had never heard it before, nor did I conciously remember placing it on my iPOD and yet, there it was taking my breath away. The intro to this song sounds something like a religious hymn sung by children and soon gives way to that kind of raw, gravely, atmospheric, thick and heavily layerd ambient rock Yoko Kanno pumped out for the Cowboy Bebop OST. Y'know, the kind of music that sounded like a narrative epiphany every song. This is probably one of my favorite Yoko Kanno songs, which is saying a LOT because Yoko Kanno is a vastly prolific woman who composes music for every genre in every language for every kind of singer. This song rises, but it doesn't fall. Mai Yamane sings: "I've never felt so free" and damn, you believe those words as she sings them. THAT is what makes a song good.
Deep Silent Complete - Nightwish
Oh, Nightwish, Nightwish, Nightwish. I keep meaning to include more Nightwish in my music downloads because they really are amazing. Opera and orchestra and gothic rock and epic fantasy all rolled into one package- what's not to love? This is definitely one of their shorter songs, but it combines a lot of my favorite elements in their music. It's one of those rare songs that manages to rest in the middle of their range without being a "slow" song or a "hard" song. There are no lyrics in the chorus, just Tarja doing these amazing, soaring wordless vocals. There isn't really much to say- it's Nightwish. Every single song written by them is generally worth listening to. ^___^
Every Heart - BOA
This is BOA? WTF. The last song I heard by BOA was 'Duvet' which...... well, sounded nothing like this catchy pop song. O__O Apparently this was an Inu-Yasha ending theme, but I guess I'd stopped watching the anime by the time it rolled around. XD Last time I was at Ashley's house we listened to this song on repeat for literally an hour. So, it's cheesy Japanese pop. It's got all the standard, international pop instruments, synth effects and song structure but but but it's good Japanese pop. Hell, it's a good pop song no matter what country's pop standards you're judging by. It must be composed based on minor intervals or something. O__O Oh, and for goodness sakes, listen to it with the bass booster turned up. This song has incredible bass.
Restless - Within Temptation
I only listen to Within Temptation in winter. They're another one of those slavic, gothic rock bands with a soprano lead singer and a whole lot of story telling in their lyrics, but there's something in their music that strikes me as being... icy. Now, it's not that I only like them in Winter, nor is it that I heard them first during Winter (actually, I first heard them in September, Grade 11). It's just, when you're walking about and there's snow on the ground and the sky is gray and there's icicles coating the trees and everything is still and silent and dead, but beautiful despite it all- well, that's exactly the kind of feeling I get from Within Temptation's music. If that makes any sense. This is one of my favorite songs by them partly because it's got this lovely, haunting piano and partly because I adore the line: "You're the ghost haunting through her heart."
Lilium - Elfin Lied
Oh come on- just take this one! It's only a minute and a half long! I have never seen Elfin Lied, nor do I ever intend do (however I do find it interesting that they use the Pini-esque 'Elfin' as opposed to the Tolkienese 'Elven'), but this song... oh, this song. It's lovely in a way that modern music has forgotten to be. What I mean is that it reminds me of classical music- Puccini operas or orchestral pieces from the Romantic Period. The Grandia soundtrack and Umi and Fuu's image themes from the Magical Knight Rayearth anime had the same quality. Actually, come to think of it, this song practically sounds like it could have come from the soundtrack of either Grandia game. Just strings, piano and voice. I'D REALLY LIKE THE FULL VERSION, WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE. XDDDDDDD
You Are The Last Dragon - Murder by Death
Murder by Death kicks ass, and I meant for the first Murder by Death song I uploaded here to be 'Canyon Inn, Room 16' because that is hands down my favorite song by the band, but I kept ranting on about how this song reminds me of Leslie. Or more specifically, Leslie in relation to Ryuuguu. The sound of this song is rather atypical and doesn't sound like anything else Murder by Death has done (well, except for the cello. They love their cello), but it does sound vaguley reminiscent of System of a Down's older music (Spiders-era). Well, if System of a Down used cellos and piano and acoustic guitar and then played their electric guitars as if it were still the seventies. The title is what reminds me of Ryuuguu. ISN'T IT JUST THE COOLEST TITLE EVER!? When I saw the title I was all like: "DUDE, THIS SONG BETTER BE COOL ENOUGH TO LIVE UP TO IT'S REALLY COOL TITLE." and, uh, then it was.
I love Cello. More rock bands should incorporate it into their music.
Delilah - The Dresden Dolls
This song is not exactly recorded with the best quality (it's a rough live cut that's never been featured on an album), but despite everything it's one of my favorite Dresden Dolls songs, rivaled only by Half Jack and, perhaps, Glass Slipper. I'm asuming the song is about someone Amanda Palmer has actually known, considering there's a line that goes: "in this same bar where you slammed down your hands and said, 'Amanda, I'm in love'". There's a story in here about a girl who lets herself be used by men and the friend who stands helplessly on the sidelines. There's a brutal honesty, a schism between concern and frustration and a whole lot of awesome piano. And vocals. Holy crap, I love Amanda's vocals in this song. She slides up and down her vocal range with this gorgeous, melodic ease that I especially appreciate in the chorus. ^___^ So yeah. Dresden Dolls are ♥
Here Comes The Rain - Gungrave OST
This song is all cheerful and upbeat and singing about a happy, supportive relationship. Until the key changes and all of a sudden it feels slightly bitter and foreboding. Or maybe that's just me considering this is the song that Harry and Brandon listen to in the car a few hours before Harry shoots Brandon in the face (and no, that's not a spoiler. Harry shooting Brandon in the face is... well, the plot of the series actually). This song is cute and catchy, but what I really adore about it is how it manages to sounds FAR LESS happy at the end than it did at the beginning despite the fact that it's exactly the same song through and through. INTETIONAL FORESHADOWING? LOLZ.
OFF TOPIC: Mom and I randomly watched the prison camp two-parter from the fifth season of Deep Space Nine today, and I realized that I'm rather bitter we never actually got to hear that song Martock was apparently going to have some famous Klingon songwriter compose about Worf, the invincible warrior, the great healer Julian Bashir and Garak, the Cardassian who didn't panick in the face of dark, confined spaces. That would have made a fantastic Klingon ballad. Way to miss the proverbial boat, Star Trek. T____T
Even if you don't celebrate it, feel free to accept my generous (and cheap XD) Christmas gift to my flist this year.
... that's right, a MUSIC DOWNLOAD POST! But not just any music download post- a super-special DOUBLE music download post! For your listening enjoyment, I've uploaded ten songs that are in no way relevant to the season, but nevertheless feel "wintery". Except for the last one. But the rest of them are suitably "December" songs. As usual, comment f you grab them, ect. ect. Theoretically they'll be up for a week, but I'm totally lazy and probably won't get around to doing a new music post for another two weeks or so. *sigh*
Looks like we're going to have snow on Christmas this year. XDDD *dances*
Akatsuki no Kurama - Fiction Junction YUUKA
Ahhh, the first time I heard this song I went: O___O and listened to it, like, five times in a row. It does that whole... very traditional, celtic-ey, tirbalesque thing that Yuki Kajiura's SeeSaw does in .hack//SIGN and Tsubasa. This song has atmosphere and a gorgeous, building melody. Like, the first verse is just singing and light percussion. The second verse is instruments and percussion and singing and then the muffled, electric guitar bursts start in on the second chorus. And then it feels almost as if the song speeds up, although the tempo doesn't change form beginning to end. Eh, I'm at a loss really to explain exactly what this song sounds like, but I assure you- it's beautiful.
The Garden of Everything - Maaya Sakamoto feat. Steve Conte
Steve singing tenor in english, Maaya singing soprano in Japanese and a song that takes turns at being a duet, a counterpoint and a canon. This song sounds like dancing and dreaming and spinning a whole lot of fantastic. When Dawn first made me listened to this song, oh, two odd months ago I do believe her words were something along the lines of: "This song is just too beautiful." It's the way the tune starts slow and halting and tenative and eventually melts into something that flows and flies; and it's in the way Maaya and Steve's voices contrast and interweave and bounce off each other. This song is etheral and one of the most delicately, powerful beautiful pieces of music I've heard in a while.
Blue - Yoko Kanno, performed by Mai Yamane
This song randomly appeared on my iPOD one day. I had never heard it before, nor did I conciously remember placing it on my iPOD and yet, there it was taking my breath away. The intro to this song sounds something like a religious hymn sung by children and soon gives way to that kind of raw, gravely, atmospheric, thick and heavily layerd ambient rock Yoko Kanno pumped out for the Cowboy Bebop OST. Y'know, the kind of music that sounded like a narrative epiphany every song. This is probably one of my favorite Yoko Kanno songs, which is saying a LOT because Yoko Kanno is a vastly prolific woman who composes music for every genre in every language for every kind of singer. This song rises, but it doesn't fall. Mai Yamane sings: "I've never felt so free" and damn, you believe those words as she sings them. THAT is what makes a song good.
Deep Silent Complete - Nightwish
Oh, Nightwish, Nightwish, Nightwish. I keep meaning to include more Nightwish in my music downloads because they really are amazing. Opera and orchestra and gothic rock and epic fantasy all rolled into one package- what's not to love? This is definitely one of their shorter songs, but it combines a lot of my favorite elements in their music. It's one of those rare songs that manages to rest in the middle of their range without being a "slow" song or a "hard" song. There are no lyrics in the chorus, just Tarja doing these amazing, soaring wordless vocals. There isn't really much to say- it's Nightwish. Every single song written by them is generally worth listening to. ^___^
Every Heart - BOA
This is BOA? WTF. The last song I heard by BOA was 'Duvet' which...... well, sounded nothing like this catchy pop song. O__O Apparently this was an Inu-Yasha ending theme, but I guess I'd stopped watching the anime by the time it rolled around. XD Last time I was at Ashley's house we listened to this song on repeat for literally an hour. So, it's cheesy Japanese pop. It's got all the standard, international pop instruments, synth effects and song structure but but but it's good Japanese pop. Hell, it's a good pop song no matter what country's pop standards you're judging by. It must be composed based on minor intervals or something. O__O Oh, and for goodness sakes, listen to it with the bass booster turned up. This song has incredible bass.
Restless - Within Temptation
I only listen to Within Temptation in winter. They're another one of those slavic, gothic rock bands with a soprano lead singer and a whole lot of story telling in their lyrics, but there's something in their music that strikes me as being... icy. Now, it's not that I only like them in Winter, nor is it that I heard them first during Winter (actually, I first heard them in September, Grade 11). It's just, when you're walking about and there's snow on the ground and the sky is gray and there's icicles coating the trees and everything is still and silent and dead, but beautiful despite it all- well, that's exactly the kind of feeling I get from Within Temptation's music. If that makes any sense. This is one of my favorite songs by them partly because it's got this lovely, haunting piano and partly because I adore the line: "You're the ghost haunting through her heart."
Lilium - Elfin Lied
Oh come on- just take this one! It's only a minute and a half long! I have never seen Elfin Lied, nor do I ever intend do (however I do find it interesting that they use the Pini-esque 'Elfin' as opposed to the Tolkienese 'Elven'), but this song... oh, this song. It's lovely in a way that modern music has forgotten to be. What I mean is that it reminds me of classical music- Puccini operas or orchestral pieces from the Romantic Period. The Grandia soundtrack and Umi and Fuu's image themes from the Magical Knight Rayearth anime had the same quality. Actually, come to think of it, this song practically sounds like it could have come from the soundtrack of either Grandia game. Just strings, piano and voice. I'D REALLY LIKE THE FULL VERSION, WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE. XDDDDDDD
You Are The Last Dragon - Murder by Death
Murder by Death kicks ass, and I meant for the first Murder by Death song I uploaded here to be 'Canyon Inn, Room 16' because that is hands down my favorite song by the band, but I kept ranting on about how this song reminds me of Leslie. Or more specifically, Leslie in relation to Ryuuguu. The sound of this song is rather atypical and doesn't sound like anything else Murder by Death has done (well, except for the cello. They love their cello), but it does sound vaguley reminiscent of System of a Down's older music (Spiders-era). Well, if System of a Down used cellos and piano and acoustic guitar and then played their electric guitars as if it were still the seventies. The title is what reminds me of Ryuuguu. ISN'T IT JUST THE COOLEST TITLE EVER!? When I saw the title I was all like: "DUDE, THIS SONG BETTER BE COOL ENOUGH TO LIVE UP TO IT'S REALLY COOL TITLE." and, uh, then it was.
I love Cello. More rock bands should incorporate it into their music.
Delilah - The Dresden Dolls
This song is not exactly recorded with the best quality (it's a rough live cut that's never been featured on an album), but despite everything it's one of my favorite Dresden Dolls songs, rivaled only by Half Jack and, perhaps, Glass Slipper. I'm asuming the song is about someone Amanda Palmer has actually known, considering there's a line that goes: "in this same bar where you slammed down your hands and said, 'Amanda, I'm in love'". There's a story in here about a girl who lets herself be used by men and the friend who stands helplessly on the sidelines. There's a brutal honesty, a schism between concern and frustration and a whole lot of awesome piano. And vocals. Holy crap, I love Amanda's vocals in this song. She slides up and down her vocal range with this gorgeous, melodic ease that I especially appreciate in the chorus. ^___^ So yeah. Dresden Dolls are ♥
Here Comes The Rain - Gungrave OST
This song is all cheerful and upbeat and singing about a happy, supportive relationship. Until the key changes and all of a sudden it feels slightly bitter and foreboding. Or maybe that's just me considering this is the song that Harry and Brandon listen to in the car a few hours before Harry shoots Brandon in the face (and no, that's not a spoiler. Harry shooting Brandon in the face is... well, the plot of the series actually). This song is cute and catchy, but what I really adore about it is how it manages to sounds FAR LESS happy at the end than it did at the beginning despite the fact that it's exactly the same song through and through. INTETIONAL FORESHADOWING? LOLZ.
OFF TOPIC: Mom and I randomly watched the prison camp two-parter from the fifth season of Deep Space Nine today, and I realized that I'm rather bitter we never actually got to hear that song Martock was apparently going to have some famous Klingon songwriter compose about Worf, the invincible warrior, the great healer Julian Bashir and Garak, the Cardassian who didn't panick in the face of dark, confined spaces. That would have made a fantastic Klingon ballad. Way to miss the proverbial boat, Star Trek. T____T