Month: January 2010

look around round round

Nikki1 Comment
I never know what to answer when people ask me what my favorite Beatles song is. I seem to rotate through several favorites, depending on my mood. Lately, with all the rain and gloom, I was ecstatic when the sun finally came out and “Dear Prudence” happened to play on my itunes. In fact, I was so happy that I decided to write a short tribute to the song (along with some interesting trivia, woo).

First of all, I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I am AMAZED that there are still Beatles lyrics I don’t know. I honestly and truly believed I could sing every word to every song, but alas, I looked up the lyrics to “Dear Prudence” and found a line in the third verse that was new to me:

Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It’s beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play

Dear Prudence, open up your eyes
Dear Prudence, see the sunny skies
The wind is low, the birds will sing
That you are part of everything
Dear Prudence, won’t you open up your eyes?

Look around round round
Look around round round
Oh look around

Dear Prudence, let me see you smile
Dear Prudence, like a little child
The clouds will be a daisy chain
So let me see you smile again
Dear Prudence, won’t you let me see you smile?

Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It’s beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play

“The clouds will be a daisy chain”?!?! How have I never heard that before?? What great imagery! Haha, maybe it seems insignificant but it’s a really big deal to me, as I’ve been loving to this song for 10 years and apparently never even knew all the lyrics. Same thing happened with “Baby You’re A Rich Man”, which contains the following verse:

How does it feel to be
One of the beautiful people?
Tuned to a natural E
Happy to be that way.
Now that you’ve found another key
What are you going to play?

I guess this is a prime example of my terrible habit of passive listening. I know I’ve heard these songs hundreds of times and still never paid attention to all the words. It’s also proof that the Beatles still never fail to amaze me. :)

Also interesting to note: For a while during the White Album sessions, Ringo got fed up and left the band temporarily, so Paul actually played drums on this song. Along the same lines as the lyrics stuff, I never realized how cool the drum part was until I tried to play it on Beatles Rock Band. About 3 minutes in it gets pretty rockin’. Go Paul!

Asura

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My friend Ryan just released his first album under the name Asura, and I want to celebrate it with a blog post! The official release date is tomorrow, January 19, but I was lucky enough to hear the entire album on vinyl last quarter when a small group of us got together to preview it. The record label, Non Projects, is a local label founded by recent UCLA grad Brian Simon, and also features LA artists Nicholas Morera and Ana Caravelle.

I’ve had the immense privilege of seeing Ryan/Asura at work, both creating and performing his material, and I have to admit that I previously had no idea the kind of detail and attention that goes into creating this kind of music. I’m hesitant to call it “atmospheric” because it’s way more layered and powerful than that. I’m also trying to avoid the word “electronic” which usually makes one think of techno or dance, and besides, a lot of the instrumental parts were actually recorded by Ryan himself, as well as the vocals. Just check it out yourself!

Asura on Boomkat – you can listen to all of the songs but there are pesky little beeps every 30 seconds to prevent copying. My favorites are “Manzanita”, “Timber”, and “Feathers”. I can’t wait to get the album on vinyl!

Also see:
Asura on Myspace
Non Projects website
LA Weekly review

More to come soon!

Of the Blue Colour of the Sky

Nikki1 Comment

edit: OK. Just stop everything right now and take a couple minutes to watch this video and you will see why OK Go is so amazing to me. SERIOUSLY. It is unbelievable how amazing they are.

Original post: OK Go’s new album comes out tomorrow!!!! You better bet I’ll be on the first bus to Amoeba after class gets out. I am stoked. Back in May last year when Jocelyn, Lauren, and I saw OK Go in San Diego, they played a bunch of songs from this album and we’ve been (not so) patiently waiting for it ever since! You can listen to the album in full here. So far my favorites are “This Too Shall Pass”, “Skyscrapers”, and “Last Leaf”. I LOVE THIS BAND!

The new single/video for the song is a major trip (in Damian’s words, “psychediculous”). Check it out!

The “making of” video is also pretty great. Dan-with-chair is still my favorite part.

Also, I feel terrible for not knowing this until today, but Ringo Starr also has a new album due out tomorrow! Ahhh what a horrible Beatles fan I am! The first two videos here give you a sneak peek. I’ve never really gotten too into Ringo’s solo stuff, but the two songs in these videos feature Paul McCartney aaaand tabla. What’s not to like??