Alex Goot

Spent some time roaming YouTube last night for the first time in a while and came across a guy named Alex Goot. He's pretty dang good, in my opinion. Here's a video of him covering "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga.

Just thought I'd share. Hope everyone's doing all right.

Title Track

I've been disappointed with my effort, recently. Not enough studying, not enough reading, not enough volunteering, not enough sleeping, not enough eating, not enough talking, not enough of this and that, not enough of this. So, beyond the uncooked chicken, the unfinished assignments, the lack of drive, and the slimming possibilities, I'm starting to see other side-effects. My health is like that: I get a cold and my body is sore; I get a headache and throw up. I guess it makes sense that the psyche would work similarly.

So, since I've been struggling with effort, I've decided to try a few things to challenge myself. I'm going to see if I can make challenge a routine. For instance, I'm making playlists an hour on the dot, I'm getting back into casual reading, I'm trying to meet more people, and I'm trying to do more thinking before my actions (so there's less thinking after). In any case, I hope to shake this soon. I'm sure I will, but until then, here's to the crutch!

I can post the songs from one of these playlists if you want. So far there's six, each with a title track that: Conversation 16, God's Gonna Cut You Down, King Night, Man on the Moon (The Anthem), The Joker, and Where To Now. Take your pick. I try to keep the song variety wide while keeping the feeling specific. Keeps me busy.

Anyone feeling like the lousy weather is draining?









Sorry about the low-effort post. I'm still not there.

Re: Q&A #3

1. Brooke Fraser-Flags
You may know her from Hillsong fame (apparently shes a popstar in newzealand as well) but shes done some pretty cool solo work.
I think what I enjoyed about this album the most was how she seemed to grow since her last album. She noticeably mixes things up and takes a few risks on this one which in my opinion worked out really well. To give a bit of background to that thought - her last album was something girls around the age of 15 would love. I think shes really come out of that box with flags which is very cool to see and is much appreciated.
I particularly like the writing on this newest one. Its pretty thoughtful.

2. Jonsi - Go
This album is super fun. Its epic, awe inspiring, orchestral, upbeat... The guy is from Sigur Ros. If your familiar with that band at all you'll have a loose idea of what to expect. I like this album more than anything I've listened to of there's though.
It really has to be heard. GO Do it.

3. Future of Forestry

I've been listening to two EPs by this band under the names Travel I and Travel II. Both are fantastic and seem to go together and grow upon the previous nicely.
I really like the sound. As I think about it, its hard to describe but at the same time seems so clear to me. From what I've read, hes a Christian guy, and it does come out in the music. Not in a nauseating, overt way (in my opinion) but in a 'oh! that's neat to hear that' kinda way. Get my drift? Again I like the writing and the images he uses. There's also some cool instruments and sounds happening that you don't hear all to often.


*A few songs from each are up on mediafire

Re: Q&A #3

So i'm actually going to post in here for once...

I couldn't tell you which are my absolute favourite albums, so I'll just share a few of the ones that have been getting me through my work over the past few weeks.

1. Florence and the Machine - Lungs

I had a few songs by her before, but only fairly recently got the whole album. I like.

Fav songs:

- Drumming

- Howl

- Dog Days Are Over

2. Foy Vance - Hope

I've had this album for years, but you know when you re-discover an old album in your collection and listening to it just makes you feel all warm and content and reminiscent? Well that's this album for me. He's been a favourite since I first heard him.

Fav songs:

- Be With Me

- First of July

- Gabriel and the Vegabond

- Indiscriminate Acts of Kindness

- If Only You Could See Yourself Like I See

... basically just the whole thing.

3. James Blunt - Some Kind of Trouble

Don't even laugh, guys.... it's so UPBEAT!

Fav songs:

- Stay the Night

- I'll Be Your Man

Others that I want to include but won't in order to keep it shortish:

- Marc Broussard - Carenco

- Meiko - Meiko

- Joshua Radin - The Rock and the Tide

Re: Q&A 3

I had a hard time doing this because I don't listen to albums, but rather just songs in general that I like. I'm not expecting any of you to like this or even bother to listen to this given the fact that you all know my taste in music and have all voiced your opinions before. Here it is anyways:

Songs:
Back to December
Mine
Mean
Enchanted
Never Grow Up
Innocent
Sparks Fly

RE: Q&A Number 3

All right, so I think I've finally got this thing figured out. And by "this thing" I mean the whole mediafire, file-sharing set up. So let's see if this worked.

So, since I live in no-wheresville, my internet is pretty slow. Since it's pretty slow, I didn't get to put up as many songs as I'd have liked, but there comes a certain point where you just say "that's good enough," and walk away.

And since pictures are nice, here you go.Just to reiterate, these songs are from Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City (Stay or Leave, So Damn Lucky, Lie in Our Graves), and Dave Matthews Band: Live at Piedmont Park (One Sweet World, Grey Street, Melissa). They should all be up on the mediafire account.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Re: Q3

Wintersleep - Welcome to the Night Sky
(Good for chilling)

Umm not really new, and you may have it. but just been listening to random recently.

Re: Q&A 3 Albums

I promised I'd answer my own question once I had a little bit of time freed up, and I suppose that time is now. Or, rather, I suppose that if now isn't that time, then I should be doing some homework. But I don't really want to cross that bridge just yet.

For me, currently, music usually comes in waves. I'll really like something for a few weeks/months, and then it'll fade out as it's replaced by something new. The downside to constantly looking for new material. But then sometimes I get caught in a riptide as a really good album or song comes back from the past to carry me off to music-induced-euphoria (that's a link that showed up when I Googled "euphoria"; check it out). But on to the stuff I'm really digging right now (without throwing you into the deep end of my musical tastes, I'll try and move there slowly while still attempting to expand your horizons).

Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager



A very unearthly feeling for another album titled Man on the Moon. It's really a great musical journey from the perspective of things really sucking and deciding to blow past them. In other words, when you feel like you're going one-on-one with the world and figure, somehow, that you might still win. Love the album artwork, too. Because even though it's kind of overdone, it really feels like it fits.
Top Songs:
Scott Mescudi Vs. The World
Don't Play This Song (ft. Mary J. Blige)
Mr. Rager
These Worries (ft. Mary J. Blige)
GHOST!
All Along

For Emma, Forever Ago



Everyone has already heard my bit on the Bon Iver album, but it's really good. I love the hollow sound, or whatever it is you want to call it. Everything about the way that it was recorded gives it that whole "recorded in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere during a period of isolation and hermit living" feeling. Like the fact that it TOTALLY WAS.
Top Songs:
Skinny Love
The Wolves (Act I and II)
Blindsided
Re:Stacks
Creature Fear

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy



Saved it for last, because it's just crazy-good. I don't know how to explain it. If anyone heard 808s & Heartbreak, that was the cut-down, simple, and clean Kanye West. Then this is the glorious, exaggerated, complete Kanye West. Everything is symphonic, in a brilliant way. I just wish I could get that inventive sometimes, y'know? Seriously, every song has a five star rating on my iTunes. Anyway, here's my favourites off the album.
Top Songs:
Dark Fantasy
All Of The Lights (ft. everyone ever)
Runaway (ft. Pusha T.)
Blame Game (ft. John Legend)
Lost In The World (ft. Bon Iver)


All of those songs will be up on mediafire. I know I already had the Bon Iver ones there, but just in case. Also, I know that some of you may be hesitant to download stuff by Kanye West or KiD CuDi, but trust me, I'm not wrong.

http://www.mediafire.com/?dq2ejt14j0729

Q&A 3

First off, I'll apologize for the long hiatus.

Today it's a bit of a more superficial kind of thing. Of course, knowing how much we all like our music, it'll probably digress into something a lot more than that. My question for everyone is this: What are your favourite albums right now? Not individual songs. Not individual artists. Not three songs by the same artist.

And in an effort to get this going, I'm expecting all of you to post your favourite song from each album onto the Mediafire account. Because sharing is sparing me the effort of finding it myself.

So let's go. Bonus marks for in depth analysis as to why they're your favourites.

In honor of what was one of the best months of music, for me. As well as iTunes releasing The Beatles stuff. Which really was a bigger deal than it should have been. But at the same time is a bigger deal than we made it. Let's face it, the world's going digital.

And finally, all of you should join Twitter. I know, I know, "Twitter is just a whole mess of self-indulgence and idiocy." But it's really not idiotic. And besides, you all wrote/write on blogs for the whole world to see. How much more goddamn self-indulgent can we be? This much!

Lost in the Week.

Something I discovered today:
Bon Iver. Honestly, I'm a little shocked at how far behind I am on this one. Anyway, I'm hoping at least a few of you are even further behind on it than I am. It's nice to have a bit of a break from my current trend of music. I threw up four songs that I've been listening to a lot, recently. I've got to admit that my interest in Bon Iver was perked by Kanye West.

So much for getting away from what I usually listen to. But guys, really, I'll try and avoid just posting a metric shit ton of hip hop or rap or whatever it is you guys think I listen to. Because neither of us want that. Neither. Uh.

Oh man. This is gonna be tough.



I've started working in a psych lab just this past week, doing social psychology experiments. Haven't got a chance to run any, just yet, but we're in the prep stage. It should be pretty interesting, tampering with the door-in-the-face technique that a lot of you have probably learned about. Feel free to ask if you've never heard of it/can't remember. Considering I should probably learn to explain it in my sleep, now.

And that's cool and all, but it's really brought to light the fact that I need to start making decisions about my life that I've been putting off for the last few months. Well, years. Specifically (in this conversation), it's my running debate of pursuing clinical psychology or branching off into the social psychology sphere. I've essentially been telling myself that I'll keep pursuing what I consider to be the harder one of the two, and the one I prefer, until I realize that it's no longer attainable. That is, I'll keep working to become a legitimate clinical psychologist until someone says that I'm not qualified. Then I'll switch to social psychology and perhaps a run at marketing, or even law.

Really, I just think I'd look good in a suit.

The problem I'm facing is that until someone actually says those words ("Andy, you don't have what it takes."), I'll never know when it's time to call it a career. But this lab had got me thinking that I'd thrown in the towel, and decided that social psychology is the way to go. Then, as the ball in my brain started rolling, I realized that no, I wasn't ready to give up. So next semester, when my commitment to my lab is up, I'm going for a position in a clinical lab. I've also been looking into grad school, recently. I suppose, ever since I received an email about Ryerson's clinical psychology graduate program. Yeah. That'd do it.

I think I'm just afraid that if I postpone this decision too long, I'll find out that I'm chasing a pipe dream just a minute too late and both my plan and my backup plan will pass me by.

But I'm not going to let that stop me from taking the risk.



It's fall. Winter's just around the corner. How do you guys feel about that? Personally, I feel like this year's going a lot faster. I like that, but at the same time I feel like I should be a lot further ahead than I am. It's troubling.



Files:
Skinny Love - Bon Iver
The Wolves (Act I and II) - Bon Iver
Re: Stacks - Bon Iver
Blindsided - Bon Iver
Lost in the World - Kanye West ft. Bon Iver
here