soundtripping: moonfesta by kalafina

it was only yesterday when i first came across the video on nhk. like a fish to the bait, i was lured by the video's animation, and when the chorus came on... ay naku, i was hooked!

what is la carlotta to do then, except to look for the song immediately?

and so, here are the videos. first one is the one i saw on nhk.



Kalafina - Moonfesta [TV Size] from Sandy Stepfhanie on Vimeo.


second video is kalafina's mv. i love its gypsy/medieval/fantasy feel.


Kalafina - moonfesta from Riuki on Vimeo.


guess what band has made it to my playlist?

soundtripping: para sa tao (by humanfolk)

beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.

- martin luther

the quote above by martin luther sums up my opinion of this wonderful piece by humanfolk. it is all i can say about this quality filipino music because up until now i am at a loss for words as to how i should describe how i very much appreciate this kind of music.

and so, just hit play and enjoy!

yea i know i haven't blogged for the longest time. it's because my blogging mojo has left me and i don't know when i'll be able to return to blogging full-time. this song however simply refused to leave me alone and why should it, it's one of the most beautiful songs i've ever heard and i'd like to share it to everyone. :)

soundtripping: she & him

it's been so long since i posted a soundtripping post. so folks, here's another really great indie band i've just stumbled upon today: she & him, consisting of zooey deschanel and m. ward.

if the name zooey deschanel rings a bell, it's because she's also an actress. she starred (and sang) in the movies elf and yes man. she and m. ward met on the set of the go-getter, where they sang a duet that was played at the end credits of the movie (zooey also acted in the said movie). afterwards zooey sent demos of her music to ward, who, after listening to them, contacted her and said that he wanted to record her songs properly. that's when the band she & him was formed. (source: wikipedia)

words just fail me in describing just how awesome she & him's music is, so i'll just let you hit the play button and hear for yourself. here are two of my favorites.

from the very moment i heard the first few notes of this song the first time, it immediately made me smile. :-)

this is the first song of she & him that i listened to. it has a 60's vibe to it, and the beat just makes you bop your head to the music.

there are lots more of their songs that i've already grown to love. well, what else can i say? this band just made it to my permanent playlist. :-)

fb friends, click here and here to watch the vids :)

In Christ Alone

In Christ Alone (lyrics)

In Christ Alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost it's grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Brought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

have a blessed holy week, everyone. :-)

soundtripping: hare hare yukai

here's something from the new millennium for a change. ;-)

hare hare yukai is the ending song of the anime suzumiya haruhi no yuutsu (the melancholy of haruhi suzumiya). i don't really know the story as i haven't watched the anime or even read the manga. just learned about the song from some friends who danced to the song one time. hehehe. ;p well, what can i say? the song is catchy, and yes, so is the dance. really cute.

my further knowledge of this song only goes as far as who the seiyuu (japanese voice actors) are in this song: hirano aya (as suzumiya haruhi), chihara minori (as nagato yuki) and goto yuko (asahina mikuru). the boys (kyon and koizumi itsuki), who are included in the dance but have no singing lines, are voiced by sugita tomokazu and ono daisuke, respectively.

i better read the manga. or better yet, watch the anime. hehe. but as of now, i'll just enjoy listening to hare hare yukai. and the rest of the anime's soundtrack. :-)

hit play! enjoy!

from the anime




here's the vid with the seiyuus singing. (full song with encore)

soundtripping: till

i first heard this song in a radio drama i used to listen to, about 12 years ago already. it has such a sad melody (that's why it's used in the most dramatic moment of the radio soap opera), but i love it. the song is performed in 1957 by roger williams and percy faith (separately, as instrumentals). in 1961 the american girl group the angels had til as their first hit.

other artists who recorded this song are as follows: shirley bassey, tony bennett, maureen evans, the vogues, bobby vinton, dorothy squires, and tom jones. (source: wikipedia)

press play!

till - roger williams

lyrics: (Words and Music by Pierre Buisson (original french lyrics, Charles Sananes, and Carl Sigman, english lyrics)

Till the moon deserts the sky
Till the all the seas run dry
Till then I'll worship you

Till the tropic sun turns cold
Till this young world grows old
My darling, I'll adore you

You are my reason to live
All I own I would give
Just to have you adore me

Till the rivers flow upstream
Till lovers cease to dream
Till then I'm yours, be mine

happy christmas!

hi all, it's that time of year when good friends are near, and everywhere there's an air of christmas joy (hoo-hoo-hoo) ;p

yeaaaaanywayz, lemme share with you a different kind of holiday music from the trans-siberian orchestra. nope, the band's not from siberia as the name implies, but from america. they specialize in holiday music (traditional christmas songs as well as their own compositions) that are done with a twist. a rock twist, that is. the band as a total of five albums to date. and yes, any of their albums has been on my wish list for 3 years running. lol. :D

the vid shows a christmas lights display synched to wizards in winter, one of the songs in the lost christmas eve, TSO's latest album. i hope the person who owns this vid doesn't mind me posting it in this blog :D

as ever, just hit play! enjoy!

happy christmas, everybody! =)

soundtripping: white shoes and the couples company

i've been meaning to write about this band for the longest time, but words aren't enough for me when it comes to describing their music. you know the feeling when you eat something really good and as you savor it, you forget everything around you, even your own name? all you think about is how good the food is. well, that's how i feel about white shoes and the couples company's music. i get lost within their music's spell and out i come with a big smile plastered on my face. ;p

white shoes and the couples company is an indie band from indonesia (no pun intended) and has been making waves around indonesia since 2002. this year, they were signed by mintyfresh records, an indie label based in chicago. since then, they have gone on tour in the US (san francisco, los angeles and new york). man, it'll be a dream come true if they could also come to manila.

anyhow, what got me hooked to the band's music is their 70's sounds with orchestral arrangements done in some of the songs. in fact, some of wsatcc's songs remind me of manila sound. when you watch their videos, you might think that they really come from the 70's coz of their style. but then, that's also part of their charm. and oh, lyrics are not a problem at all coz there's always the online translation dictionary. *wink* *wink*

btw, the song from my sidebar that i posted a couple of weeks ago is one of their songs, called senandung maaf. also, i also posted another song of theirs, roman ketiga (my current LSS ;p) about two months before. both songs are my faves. (might post something about roman ketiga next time)

you can check out the band's official website, just click on the link at my music webbies links on the sidebar. they also have a myspace page here.

i'll let the music speak for itself now. as ever, just hit play! enjoy! =)

senandung maaf

windu & defrina


tentang cita


roman ketiga

soundtripping: one day

one day is a song i first heard as a theme song to a radio drama i was listening to a few months ago. since it's an old song, it took me quite some time to find out its title and singer until i heard it played over 774, an AM oldies radio station. the version they played was that of vilma valera, a filipino actress/singer during the 1960's.

one day was originally sung by sandie shaw. she's one of the most successful female british singers back in the 1960's and was noted for her singing barefoot onstage. (kinda like bamboo singing with his back to the audience when he was still with rivermaya.) the song was written by chris andrews, a singer-songwriter in the same decade who also wrote other hit songs for sandie shaw. it was released in 1965 in shaw's second album, me. (source: wikipedia)

one thing i could truly say about one day is that it's riveting. the haunting music and lyrics coupled with shaw's dusky-sweet vocals makes the song very heartfelt. (i dunno if it's just me, but i think we don't get a lot of songs like that nowadays.)

just hit play. enjoy! =)

note: in addition to food and travel, i'll make my posts on music a regular fixture in this here blog. =)

concert observations

in my lifetime (as if it's been that long), i've been to a grand total of three concerts: mandy moore (at the araneta coliseum in 2003), sarah brightman (harem world tour at the philsports arena in 2004) and swing out sister (beautiful mess), which was just last night, april 7, 2008, also at the araneta. here are a few observations i've made in last night's concert:


1. it took an hour and a half for swing out sister to go onstage. they were on after half an hour faith cuneta opened the show but for the record, the long wait was SO WORTH IT. two hours of SOS's music and energy weren't enough; we all wanted more! still enjoying a hangover here. =)

2. the antsy audience didn't take kindly at first to the front act, who was faith cuneta. the audience was waiting for 30 minutes already after the supposed start of the show when she came onstage. but because she's a really good singer (and stayed cheerful all throughout despite some acerbic remarks from some people), she got a sincere round of applause and cheers.

3. as with other foreign acts, the audience totally ate up corinne drewery's and andy connell's efforts to speak in tagalog: "kamusta na kayo?", "ang init pala dito," "ayos kayong lahat," and "salamat," just to name a few. i must say i liked that myself. =)

4. because the concert featured more songs from SOS's new album, beautiful mess, most of the people in the audience simply sat and grooved on their seats. maybe because the songs are relatively new...? but when they played surrender, you on my mind, breakout, forever blue, am i the same girl, and a couple more of their hits, that's when the audience really partied. especially on you on my mind. (i just love that song.) needless to say, the songs from the new album exuded the same style SOS had in their songs from way back that had endeared them to their listeners--plus more.

5. oh yeah, corinne drewery's "barongette" (her feminine version of a barong) looked great on her. it's long that it looks like a gown with slits on each side. she pulled off that one very well.

i'm sure that even with the long wait, the people who watched the concert last night left araneta coliseum feeling very satisfied and happy. swing out sister's concert was definitely a big success. 21 years after the release of breakout, swing out sister's definitely still swinging out their groove. =)

photo source

update: here's a promotional video of something every day, the first track in their new album beautiful mess.

blast to the past

i would just like to share a couple of songs that's been riding on my earwaves (yes, you read right hehehe ü) lately. these songs are by the ink spots circa 1930's. if i didn't care was written by jack lawrence and was released in 1939. it was also the ink spots' first big hit. i'm not sure though when maybe was released. anyways, i hope you enjoy these songs.

just hit play =)

secret wish

as i type this out, this secret wish won't be so secret anymore. ;-)

i've been to a lot of places already, but there is one where i secretly wish to travel to. unfortunately, it will never happen, not in this lifetime. i wish to travel back through time, may it be during the medieval times or world war ll. wherever it may be, it doesn't matter. which is probably the reason for my affinity for anything old--houses, the people, music, etc. simply by looking at old houses will make one think of the people who have lived there before and the events that happened in that era. same thing goes for music (at least, for me). who sang the song? what year did it first come out? are there other versions of this song? who's the original singer?

and the questions could go on, and on, and on...

so even though i can't literally travel back through time, i could by listening to old songs. one really old song that i recently rediscovered while surfing the net is called "if you were the only girl in the world." i first heard the song in the tv show charmed about seven years ago and i was easily... charmed by the way they were able to make the guy sound like he came from the 1920's (the episode's setting was in 1924). the song was actually released in 1916, music written by clifford gray and lyrics by nat d. ayer. it was used in the musical the bing boys are here and was sung by george robey and violet loraine. (from firstworldwar.com and wikipedia.org)

if you want to listen to the original song, click here. you have to click another link from the webpage to open it in windows media player.

there's also another version of this song (instrumental). havalisten, just press play!

lyrics:
If You Were the Only Girl in the World

Sometimes when I feel low
and things look blue
I wish a boy I had... say one like you.
Someone within my heart to build a throne
Someone who'd never part, to call my own

If you were the only girl in the world
and I were the only boy
Nothing else would matter in the world today
We could go on loving in the same old way

A garden of Eden just made for two
With nothing to mar our joy
I would say such wonderful things to you
There would be such wonderful things to do
If you were the only girl in the world
and I were the only boy.

all right, shall i call dr. emmett brown now? :D

une mémoire

these songs remind me of lazy sunday afternoons in my lola's house with the whole family (on my father's side). after merienda cena, we would all go to the ballroom... nah, it's really just the living room hehe... and dance the afternoon away. my one of my titas even invited a DI (dance instructor) just so we could learn other ballroom/social dances besides the swing. but i like swing the best :)

how about you? what's your favorite ballroom dance?

LSS

for those who aren't familiar with this acronym, it stands for Last Song Syndrome. ^^

and the song that's been on my mind for the past few days is suicidal, err, beautiful girls by jojo. young as she is (i think she's 16 or 17), she has a mature voice which i prefer to the squeaky-girly teenybopper singing voices. the original version of beautiful girls is by sean kingston, this cool 17 year-old kid from the USA and Jamaica. i think i better check out more of this guy's music before i say more, but as of this time, i'm betting on his making it big in the music industry. same thing goes for jojo.

the very first time i heard beautiful girls i immediately thought that it's some imitation song to the beat of that 60's song stand by me so it didn't register at all. my officemates and even my brother sing it on some occasions and i was like,"how jologs naman this song," in my best kris aquino impersonation. and then it completely slipped my mind. so two saturdays ago when my brother made me listen to the song again (jojo's version), i totally forgot what i initially thought of it and said, "oh, this is nice. sounds like a song from the 60's." from then on, i got hooked... so now i'm also jologs. wait, i'm actually jologs since long ago lol ;-P but seriously, i find both versions nice. they make me dance. heheheh :-) and oh, look how many times they're played already.

i'm sure these songs are already overkill by this time but i don't care. here are both versions, for your listening pleasure.

beautiful girls (jojo)


beautiful girl (sean kingston)

song survey

got this survey from friendster =)

Name 13 songs in ur mind and answer the following questions.

1. nothing in my way - keane
2. romance for journey - daishi dance
3. put a little love away
4. i'm no angel - dido
5. stranger in paradise - sarah brightman
6. abot kamay - orange and lemons
7. hanggang kailan - orange and lemons
8. para sa akin - sitti
9. for your eyes only - sheena easton
10. if i didn't care - jack lawrence/the inkspots
11. somewhere only we know - keane
12. bad day - daniel powter
13. honneur à tous - mulan

who do u remember when u hear no. 4?
erm... secret

does no.8 make u happy?
- of course, it relaxes me as well and i don't get tired of listening to this song.

has no. 3 made u cry?
nope, but it gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling

in what occasion did you hear no. 9?
when i looked it up on youtube hehehe. the first time i heard this was when i listened to sitti live! CD

do u miss no.10?
this song was released in 1939 but it was only last week that i first heard this song, from my cousin's oldies tape that he gave me

which lyrics do u like the best from no.1?
it's just another day, nothing in my way

do u imagine something when u hear no.2?
i imagine something warm and fuzzy

who do u remember when u hear no. 6?
this question should start with "what"... i remember manila.

when was the last time u heard no .11?
i think that was last month

who told u about no. 8?
just heard it on the radio

do u often sing no.11?
only when i listen to it

have u sung no.7 to anyone?
there's no one to sing this song to =)

does no. 10 inspire ur life?
it inspires me to learn more about the past

does no. 5 tell about ur feelings?
heehee i think so... take my hand, i'm a stranger in paradise... =)

what do u feel wen u hear no.7?
i really love old manila

do u smile when u hear no 11?
not really

when was the first time u heard no.1?
earlier this year

if u could dedicate no. 9 to someone,who would it be?
my goodness, this question hits the mark... i'll just leave this to the imagination of whoever reads this hehehe. ;)

does no 7 mean a lot to u?
of course

what’s so special about no 2?
it makes me dance

would u sing no.1 to anyone? to whom?
no, and anyway there's no one for me to sing this song to.

does no.8 remind u of someone?
nope

what memory comes to ur mind when u hear no.5?
when i watched sarah brightman in june 2004!!!!!!!! yaaayyyy!!!!!!!!!!!

do u want to hear no 12 right now?
maybe later

can u remember clearly the first time u heard no 13?
sometime last year in the office on youtube (on breaktime, dearies, on breaktime. ü). oh yeah, this is the french version of "honor to us all." (Chers ancêtres, aidez-moi! Je ne doi pas faire un seul faux pas! lalalala...)