so, i lied about the consignment shop haul post today -- however, i did get a good bit & i'm hoping i can post pictures tomorrow or the day after. but more importantly, it's alan wilder's birthday! he's age 51 today, and i assure you he's still amazing. :)
he is so gorgeous! especially during the 80's... le sigh.
master & servant screenshot. come onnnn! ;D
alan wilder is a musical genius. while i still LOVE depeche mode without him, his influence on the albums previous to ultra (besides speak & spell) is obvious. but recoil is his absolutely amazing solo project, which uses many contributors. i admire him greatly.
and the more current pictures. still gorgeous.
today will also be the belated music!monday. enjoy~
i'm exhausted, so i haven't much to say except i really freaking love this song, & i applaud lincoln for using it in their mkz commercial! now if only they can get cat power to do a full cover of "space oddity"...
i love the makeup & clothes in this video, too! sparkles~
guess what day it is. dave gahan's birthday! is it bad i kind of celebrate this like a holiday? i ate cake & everything. xD
but yes, today my blog is going to get dave gahan picture happy, & i'll go ahead & do my music!monday today as well. you'll never guess who this week's will be devoted to. xD
these are some of the pictures i took at the depeche mode concert back in september. <3>
SOFAD (songs of faith and devotion) era. he was so fragile. i'm so happy he's gotten healthier.
i decided to try this out instead of not being able to find all the songs i wanted on youtube. how do you like it in comparison?
also, it's mother's day as well! i am so thankful for my mom, my stepmom, my grandma ruth, and my grandma mary. i am so blessed to have these amazing women in my life. <3
so happy birthday dave gahan! if you ever see this, i hope year 48 treats you kindly.
goodness, mondays always seem like the longest days of the week, huh? mine has been rather tiring; tons of homework, errands to run, etc. i walked 2.5 miles at the park today, though, so that felt rather lovely. but enough of my rambling: it's music!monday!
today's post will be focused on one of my favorite songs of all time. i don't think this song will ever lose meaning to me. what's this song, you ask? "kingdom" by dave gahan. (this is where the blog-title comes from.)
what a monday! went on two college tours: one at birmingham-southern & one at UAB. i absolutely loved birmingham-southern! it's the type of college i could see myself at... however, i didn't like the vibes at UAB much at all. i don't like the idea of such a spread-out college which doesn't really distinguish itself from the downtown of the city. of course, i'm not very fond of the actual city of birmingham, alabama, either. UAB just feels different from auburn (whose campus makes up a good portion of the downtown). nothing against the establishment; it's just not for me.
however, birmingham-southern was amazing! it was compact and enclosed, with nice facilities and beautiful grounds -- not to mention they had recycling bins all over the place. they're striving to become more eco-friendly, which is something i highly appreciate. so they're on my list to take another, more extensive, tour with.
but onto the title of this blog post: music!monday! i bought "surrender" by depeche mode (one of their b-sides) a few days ago, and this song has completely stolen my soul. it's so beautiful and sensual and just amazing.
while it's actually sung by dave gahan on the single, i found this amazing backstage video of martin singing, with peter gordeno on piano/keyboard. i believe it's from the exciter tour. martin can sing while putting on mascara, and sound good! it's just unfair... :P
man, i hate mondays. i think most people do, actually. so how to combat this?
lady gaga!
c'mon, she makes good pop music. & good pop music always makes me happy. haha. & she's unique -- at least, more so than other pop stars -- & unafraid to be herself! so props to her! here we go~
just danceeee. this video is crazy! so, of course i love it. :D
RA-RA-RA-AH-AH, ROMA-RO-MA-MA, GA-GA, OH-LA-LA, RA-RA-RA-ROMANCEEE. i really love this video. the costumes are excellent! in fact, all the aesthetics are. i think lady gaga is gorgeous. and also, please tell me someone noticed those alexander mcqueen skull/bone heels?
beautiful. dirty. rich. i totally listen to this song when i'm getting ready or i need a confidence boost. it does the trick! :D
so, yeah. three lady gaga music videos to make your day that much more fabulous! lady gaga's sense of fashion really inspires me -- all three of these videos have amazing outfits/costumes!
(i've been abusing the '~' lately, haven't i? i don't even know what it's called; i just like it. xDD) happy march! maybe spring will be here soon, that would make me so happy!
today is my SIX MONTH anniversary of going to see depeche mode in atlanta. ah, september 1, 2009, you will be one of my most favorite days ever.
in celebration of such a monumental occasion (okay, i'm being slightly sarcastic), this music!monday is devoted to the one&only, DEPECHE MODE! :)
OH MY GOODNESS, ALAN PERFORMED WITH DM AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL BENEFIT?! IN 2010?! how did i not know this? ohmygoodness! (i just found this, btw.) this is SO GREAT! super!fan freaking out aside, i adore this song; it's such a beautiful love song. whenever i get really really sappy, i imagine martin, i mean alan, i mean my husband singing this to me whenever we get married or some shit like that. xD ... i can't believe i just admitted that. anyways.
walking in my shoes. this is one of the best dm songs ever made, and has some of the strongest lyrics martin's ever written. it's so sensual and "i don't give a fuck what you say because you don't have a clue." definitely one of my favorite songs. definitely.
"now I'm not looking for absolution: forgiveness for the things i do. but before you come to any conclusions, try walking in my shoes.
you'll stumble in my footsteps, keep the same appointments i kept, if you try walking in my shoes. try walking in my shoes."
hello, this song is pure sex. pure, uncensored, sensual, amazingness. this is probably the most famous dm song -- at least, in the US. this vid is actually pretty current; it's from 2006. saying as this song is from 1990... haha.
so, my dears, i hope you enjoy these videos! my obsession with depeche mode & it's beautiful members (past & present) is pretty obvious, as it should be! tell me what you think~
i've been feeling very down-tempo lately. most of this music is actually pretty depressing. good, but depressing. i think i've been listening to it because i'm so exhausted -- i swear to god i'm running off coffee and willpower sometimes.
anywho, onto the music:
creep -- radiohead. i love radiohead, and i really love this song.
my sweet prince. ah, another placebo song. i can't stop listening to them! this song is so beautiful; it gives me chills. it feels so hopeless and beautiful and it pretty much leaves me beyond words.
oh my goodness, what a busy weekend i had! auburn honor band was just lovely -- in fact, i think it's one of the best i've ever been to. i made fourth chair in the second band, which was directed by gregg gosslin, the associate director of bands from the university of georgia! i was so excited about that, because i've been thinking about going there. (i've also been looking at auburn, but not as much as uga.) he was very nice, and i talked to him about coming to an honor band uga hosts next october.
we had two people from our school make first chair in the top band, which is a BIG deal. i was so proud of them! another guy (a freshman) made first chair in the second band, and another person in my grade made third chair in the top band. i was a little bummed out to make fourth chair in the second band, but i also came to the realization that i am not the best flutist, which is fine. someone has to fill those fourth chairs, right? :)
auburn was also SO GORGEOUS. it snowed heavily friday (for alabama, anyway) and practice friday was canceled. we went to the campus to play in the snow. i've never seen so many snowmen in my life! there were some cute themed ones: some in bikinis, some with auburn attire. i even saw one with an uga cap! there were plenty of snowball fights as well. some guys i saw had snowBLOCKS as big as my carpet bag purse! it was crazy.
i had so much fun! i roomed with mrs seymour (my middle school band director) and brenna, her daughter. they're such lovely people. brenna's style is also AMAZING. in fact, she's one of my real-life inspirations. mrs seymour is actually one of the main reasons i even got started with honor bands.
everyone was so friendly at this honor band! or maybe i talked more, i don't know. but i had a blast, and if you're in alabama & get the chance to go to this honor band, i highly reccommend it.
also, i have all-state band tryouts tomorrow, so wish me luck! i'm definitely going to need it.
here are some pictures of the snow i got. isn't it beautiful?
& to make this a tiny outfit post, here's what i'm wearing in this pic: loose-knit beanie from forever 21. peacock feather scarf from pac sun, black peacoat gotten as a gift, levi's jeans, & riding boots from somewhere or another. ;)
and don't think i've forgotten that today's music!monday! today i'm giving you one of my favorite songs i've discovered in 2010 -- running up that hill by placebo. placebo is quickly becoming one of my favorite bands. enjoy!
it's music!monday! turns out that all-state band tryouts were postponed... again. xD so i get to blog after all!
if you watched the super bowl this sunday, i'm sure you saw the who perform the halftime show -- which was pretty awesome, saying they are kinda old. xD so of course i'm going you give you a few of my favorites of the who! (i'll have to be honest, though, so far i've only listened to their mainstream stuff. you'll have to forgive me.)
and for the hell of it, BORN TO BE WILD. <3
although i can't embed the album version, i can give you the AMAZING WOODSTOCK VERSION. :D
baba o'riley. you know that song you can listen to and relate to over a timespan of years? this song is that song for me. it's my everlasting anthem. i also love the little tape skips in this video, but i guess i'm kinda weird like that.
OMFG THIS SONG IS SO GREAT. "like a true nature's child we were born, born to be wild. we can climb so high, i never wanna die. born to be wild." how great are those lyrics? yeah, definitely one of my favorite songs. it always makes me feel like nothing could come close to stopping me. :D
so! readers, how do you feel about my selections this week? does classic rock suit you? (i will be honest, i can enjoy it, but it's overrated in my opinion. however, that doesn't stop these songs from being tremendously awesome.) comment me! :)
so, for the past, oh, five months i've been working on music for all-state choir tryouts which are this wednesday. if you don't know what all-state choir is, it's pretty much where choral singers from all over the state audition to make one of either two state choirs for middle school or one of three state choirs for high school. i'm trying out for SATB high school. i made SATB last year, but personally i find this year's music to be quite harder! but excuse me, i'm rambling.
anywho! today i'm giving you my favorite piece out of what i'm singing for all-state: "african sanctus", arranged by david fanshawe.
today is also the five-month anniversary of me seeing my first depeche mode concert. (i'm obsessed, i swear.) so i'm going to enlighten you with some great live footage of them. :D
african sanctus. this isn't my favorite recording of this piece, but it's still very powerful. i'm a sucker for tribal music + latin choral music. xD
this is probably the first song i ever heard by dm. it's very... dirty. it's great to dance to, though. this video also has many close ups of alan (the dark haired man with the amazing cheekbones playing synth), whom is absolutely gorgeous. and don't you love their circa-1984 style? it's too great.
i think it may be a little obvious i love their old concerts/tv appearances. (don't get me wrong, i love their more recent appearances equally so! it's just harder to find those.) told you so is one of those "OMGI'MSOANGRY" songs. and i actually really do love their style here. maybe not their haircuts, but nonetheless. :D
and i'll leave you with those three. so, tell me! are you into the choral music scene? ever sang african sanctus? do you even like african sanctus? as for depeche mode... have you heard of them? you have no idea how few people know of them here -- of course, i'm starting to change that. ;) do you like their stuff, and if so, do you have a preference over old or new?
so, if you're on twitter, you probably know of the #musicmonday tag. i thought, heyyy, why not bring that to my blog?
so i'm giving you videos of a few of my current favorite songs, and perhaps some rambling with it.
you'll notice a trend: lately, i've been feeling very girl-grunge. namely, this means i've been listening to 90's era garbage & hole like it's water. shirley manson in the 90's was amazing, and she's probably one of my idols. i wish she'd get back to singing in the present, though! i'm a pretty new hole listener, but that doesn't mean i'm not perfectly obsessed. courtney love may be a little fucked up, but that doesn't mean the music isn't good.
on to the videos! i'm going to give you two for each awesome girl!grunge band. :D
this video is batshit insane. i think that's why i love it.
queer. garbage i can't embed this video, but OHMYGOD GO WATCH IT. this is one of my favorite songs of all time.
the lyrics to this are amazing. this video is insane, but i freaking love this song.
i think we've all felt like this at some point. some more than others.
so! tell me, what have you been listening to recently? if you happen to like these bands, what are your favorites by them?
i'm rachel. i'm 18 & live in the middle of nowhere, southern USA. i love fashion, depeche mode, reading, and singing choral music. actually, i have a love affair with most music. sometimes i enjoy writing. i'm a vegetarian & i like to cook, even though i'm not exactly a chef.
