Song of the week Sept 29

Goodbye Blue Sky- Pink Floyed
Obviously you need to listen to the wall album as a whole, but this is my favourite track of the album by far. Its very beautiful and haunting. Opens with the voice of a little British boy talking. Creepy stuff. Then it gets very odd. It gets even creepier if you watch the scene from the film version.
did you ever wonder why we had to run for shelter
When the promise of a brave new world
Unfurled beneath a clear blue sky?
That line in itself is pure poetry, but the way they work it in with the music is just brilliant.

Song of the week sept 19

In the New Year- The Walkmen
These guys excel in making music that hits and emotional chord and sounds very epic, while rocking at the same time. Just got into this song and I have a feeling that it is going to be in heavy rotation this coming week. Hence the song of the week this week.
Today was maybe my third listen over, what I am getting from it thus far is sort of a relationship that is about to end, and how time effects everyone. But thats just what I was picking up. If you have yet to check these guys out I would of course recommend you do so. This week is going to be heavy on the Walkmen when i am in the mood for something intense.

FRINGE

So, I think its about time I posted about Fringe. For those of us who are not tv/ sci fi dorks, Fringe is a tv show about a small group of people who investigate a series of strage occurances that fall under the catagory "fringe science". Olivia Dunham, FBI agent, Walter Bishop, mad scientist, and Peter Bishop, roped into the show to look after his insane father. While it may seem like a CSI type show, its far from it. Each occurance begins to lend itself to some sort of pattern, and each begins to seem connected to each of the characters on the team. The show was began by JJ Abrams, creator of Lost. I adore this man, I dont even know what to say. Everything he touches turns to gold.
While it may seem that this show operates on a "monster of the week" basis, its not usually the case. Its a bit like buffy the vampire slayer in its use of both moster of the week, coupled with some very cool "special" episodes, such as a musical one, taking place in an alternate universe. The show has never been the biggest ratins grab, the production quality is exceptional. And after their secnd season's cliffhanger finale i hope they can bring in a few more viewers.
Whats so great about the show is how falwlessly intricate it is. Not Lost levels of complexity, thank god. But it has its own mythology very well worked out. The character development is second to none, as well. Rather than keeping everyone the same rigid character to keep the show consistant, they play off the relationships of the characters, and show how they are all connected in ways they didnt even know.
This show is intense, clever, very intelligent, and pretty goddam epic.
I know where I am going to be one week from now. Watching the hell out of Fringe's season 3 finale.

Song of the Week, Sept 13

Its back! My short lived weekly feature shared with Great Big Pants: song of the week. Not that anyone cares that it was gone for so long or anything. This weeks song is:
Burning Pile: Mother Mother
First time I heard this song i couldnt help but smile. Its one of those songs that can sort of make you feel just a little better about any given situation. Not to mention that Mother Mother is one of the coolest new bands on the scene at the moment. They are clever, just a little bit epic, fun,and very accessible I find. This song is sort of about saying fuck it all, and not letting your problems and issues take a hike. Which is something we all need to hear about from time to time. Lyrics:
All my style, all my grace,
all I try to save my face,
all my guts try to spill,
all my holes try to fill.
All my money been a long time spent,
On my drugs, on my rent.
On my saving philosophy, it goes:
one in the bank and the rest for me.

It goes:
All my troubles on a burning pile,
all lit up and I start to smile.
Live up,
Catch fire then I change my aim,
Throw my troubles at the pearly gates?
Oohh.. oh oh oh..
oh.. oh oh oh ohhh..
Ohh oh oh..
My my my lonely maid,
....
Renaissance man,
sailed away and he never came back again.

All my troubles on a burning pile,
all lit up and I start to smile.
Live up,
Catch fire then I change my aim,
Throw my troubles at the pearly gates?
Ooohh.. ooohhh...
oohhh you won't be ...
I said all your troubles,
you don't need a thing.

All my troubles on a burning pile,
all lit up and I start to smile.
Live up,
Catch fire then I change my aim,
Throw my troubles at the world again!

It goes:
All my troubles on a burning pile,
all lit up and I start to smile.
Live up,
Catch fire then I take my turn,
to burn and burn, and burn and buurrnn..
Bahh bah bah bahh..

at least thats my take on the song.

So much life. So much high fidelity.

Well hello there, dear readers. All zero of you. It would seem that I am back. Back sitting at my computer with nothing to do but write this blog. (This is of course, a lie. I have far too many things to be getting done right now instead of writing this.) But all the same. I am here. My first day of grade 11 came and went. It was the kind of day that told me all about how the rest of this year is going to look.
Law Class. Oh dear god. I may just go insane and kill things in that class. We will just have to wait and see.
Comm Tech. This class is filled with people who actually know what they are doing, and are very talented with computers/videos/photography and such. Just like last year, I will scrambling to get my work done and figure out what is going on.
English- Same English teacher 3rd year in a row now. Luckily I can actually stand the guy, even enjoy his classes. Crazy, I know. He got everyone (well, some of us) involved in an existential sort of societal observational conversation, starting by showing us a picture of Charles Manson next to Martin Luther. It just sort of went from there.
Math- Sweet Jesus. Same math teacher as last semester. The one where I went from a 60 to 50 upon her arrival as teacher. On the plus side, I did fill out a mandatory questionnaire with very ridiculous answers and a fake name. Thats always fun.
So why have I been absent all this time from the blog o sphere? Well...if you are reading this you already probably know. This past month I was part of a new musical called Alligator Tears written by a brilliant young woman named Britta Johnson. Give her a year or two. You will be seeing her name all over the place. By place, I mean Broadway or somewhere just as spectacular. Trust me on this one. Anyhow, we had 3 months to get this 2 hour ish musical on its feet. The first week was spent with about half the script, with many different script readings and introducing the newbies to this crazy new thing called Theater. Week two was trying to put the show on some very tentative first legs. Stress was all over the place as the deadline for opening came closer and closer. For some reason we got our shit together (after a day's extension) and had a so so opening night, to a sold out house. As the show ran through the week we got better and better. On closing night we hit a level of awesome like never before. Its a shame we couldn't run any longer than we did. So thats what I did. I got to live out my musical theater dream for a month, which was cool.
I worked weekends, saw some crazy awesome shows, spent a day in Toronto with some very cool people, shopped in Kensington Market, a rad comic store with a half off sale (half off an amazing selection of comics and graphic Novels. yeeah) Saw a free Morning Benders concert, took in some very cool music, met some wonderful people, as well as some old friends, came to some much needed conclusions, and had the time of my life. So there is that. I have totes my goats neglected my weekly Song of The Week blog. Its going to be back.
So, stuff I have coming up:
Putting together a show for the Sears Drama Festival, writing it/ directing it and all.
Filming the film I wrote with my friend Scarlett, fellow blogger.
Shooting videos with my production company Sheldon and Friends Film Co.
Dealing with High School. Lame city.
Updating this thing
Another musical in October, or something like that.

Shit like that.

The Suburbs: Song by Song

The Suburbs
This song gets it: "sometimes I cant believe it, Im moving past the feeling."
Its deffinetly one of Arcade Fire's faster beat kind of songs, very guitar heavy, but with some very cool orchestra stuff going on in the back.
Ready To Start: I Think this one may be my life anthem at the moment. "If the businessmen drink my blood/ like the kids in artschool said they would/ then I geuss i'll just begin again" The line: "My mind is open wide, Now Im Ready To Start" is one of those lines that sums up my life at the moment. I am so fucking ready for something. Ready to start.
Arcade Fire has a really cool way of taking emotions everyone feels and putting them in a totally new way. This is a prime example.
Modern Man: Arcade Fire also has a way of making their actual music less like instuments being played, and more like an actual emotion. This one is sort of weary, but with a faster tempo. To me this one is about how fleeting and confusing modern life can be. Perhaps this is an oversimplification, but I find most of their music difficult to put into words. Side Note: Fantastic build up in this track.
Rococo: About youth, I believe. The music reminds me of that feeling of standing still in my highschool with everyone else storming by. "Lets build it up just to burn it back down" is a very apt way to describe this society. Plus, the violin in this song is devine.
Empty Room: Fuck. I dont even know with this one. The opening violin= oh so much yes. Owen Pallet is all over this song, which is always a cool thing.
"When Im by myself I can be myself, and my life is coming but I dont know when"
Always reminds me of sitting in my room, reading comics and listening to Belle and Sabastian. Waiting for something cool to happen. This song deffinetly has that lonliness factor to it, but with so much more. A sort of acceptance of that, if not celebration.
City With No Children: Regret, and waiting for something bad to happen. War, if nothing else. Thats what I always get, anyhow. Another example of the music striking a very emotional chord. These guys are not heavy on the specifics of Suburban life, rather the emotional journey and expiriance of it. I think this song is about watching people leave your life. But thats just my take on it.
Half Light 1: Aghhhhh, another song that gets to me. I think this one is about self discovery and that time in a life when you just begin to see the world as a more complex, huge place. Going out with friends and seeing the world in the dark.
Strange how the half light
Can make a place new
You can't recognize me
And I can't recognize you

Half Light 11 (No Celebration)
I take this one to be about seeing the world, and watching as it is eaten up. About finding a new home, and finding that nothing feels new or beautiful. What gets me: "One day, they will find us long gone." Something I have felt for a very long time, and something this song nails on the head.
Suburban War: Weary, again. And very self aware. I take this one to be about growing up and seeing your life change before your eyes, and your friends leave and change too.
And now the music divides
Us into tribes
You grew your hair so I grew mine
They said the past won't rest
Until we jump the fence and leave it behind
Month Of May: About the music scene, if nothing else. And how it and its people have evolved to something that is far beyond art and artists. "Now the kids are all standing with their arms folded tight
The kids are all standing with their arms folded tight
Now some things are pure and some things are right
But the kids are still standing with their arms folded tight. Very dancy, too. Also sort of...streamlined, perhaps? It gets at its point with a select choice of few words, and is very fun all at the same time.
Wasted Hours: That feeling of spening time with no point at all, and feeling as if you are wasting your life. Arcade Fire does it again with this one, celebrating that time and those feelings, almost finding the positive in them.
Deep Blue: Endings and beginings happening all over your life. Thats what I get.
We watched the end of the century
Compressed on a tiny screen
A dead star collapsing and we could see
Something was ending
Are you through pretending?
We saw the signs in the suburbs
We Used To Wait: Feels like remembering how life used to be, with little hints at how it has changed since, and how difficult it is to hold onto something meaningful. Its interesting to note the amount of times the word "pure" shows up in their music,in all 3 albums. Its something people look for, and never really find.

Sprawl 1(Flatland)Finding something that is yours, or something to hold onto. Slower, heavy in world wearyness.
Sprawl 2 (Mountains Beyond Mountains) This song is about me. No question. We are not even going to debate this one.
http://lifeinhighfidelity.blogspot.com/2010/08/song-of-week-third.html

The Suburbs (Continued) The first track continued, fading into and end. Not really offereing up any sort of conclusions other than that its time to step out into the night, and find whatever life has in store for you.

This album.
Ugh.
So. Good. And changing my life as we speak.

song of the week the third

Ok. So, I am supposed to be doing a write up on The Suburbs. But at the moment I am trying to let it purkolate. This thing is all over the place blowing my mind. *boom*

Ok, so it goes without saying that the song this week is going to be from that album

Sprawl 2- Mountains beyond mountains
Many people are calling this song almost ABBA like in its dancy, synth sound.
But it is so much more than that, my friend.
This song is Regine's, with just a little bit of her hubbyn Win Butler in the backround. SIDENOTE: Can I just say how cool it is they are married? I mean, I may be in love with the both of them, but still. Just something to note.
Anyhow, the song is all about how bleak and pointless working life can be, and how she wants to just shut it all out.
And Im pretty sure this song was written about me, just saying.
Not litteraly. But in that sort of, everyone gets it kind of way. Did anyone catch Arcade Fire's performance Thursday night at Madison Square Garden?Why am I even asking? Most of the audiance for my blog was in the same house with me while I was watching it. It was made into a whole big live show on youtube, and Regine's performance was beautiful with this song. Plus, she started to dance with these weird ass streamer things.
Again. I love her.
So, full write up to come. Just let me listen to The Suburbs once more. Or...4 more times, you know.

Lyrics:
They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
These days my life, I feel it has no purpose
But late at night the feelings swim to the surface

'Cause on the surface the city lights shine
They're calling at me, come and find your kind
Sometimes I wonder if the World's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl
Living in the sprawl
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights

We rode our bikes to the nearest park
Sat under the swings and kissed in the dark
We shield our eyes from the police lights
We run away, but we don't know why

On the black river, the city lights shine
They're screaming at us, we don't need your kind
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl
Living in the sprawl
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights

They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
Can we ever get away from the sprawl?
Living in the sprawl
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights