First off, I recently made an addition to my plain layout to this site a couple of weeks ago - I added the sunset banner. I took the picture about a year ago during a serene Santa Monica sunset. Santa Monica is one of my favorite beach spots, beautiful shores. I recommend everyone to check that place out. I haven't been to many LA beaches, but someone told me Venice beach is pretty amazing too, got to go there one day.
I've also been listening to some amazing musical performances the last couple of weeks, many times right before I head off to bed. Nothing better than amazing music before sleep.
"We Are Young" by Fun. Cover by Andie.
I absolutely love the way Andie sings. She lives in Australia, and I love her Australian accent by the way, it's pretty sweet to my ears. And then there's her music... just wonderful. She's made many covers on Youtube of many popular Top 40 songs, and many covers too from bands I haven't met yet, but she does amazing takes on them. I love how she truly performs her own original rendition of the songs, which she executes, I think, so boldly and wonderfully... she hears and sings melodies, tones, notes that the real versions of the songs don't have... and I love them and her for that. I love when she really rings out her high notes! Her range is broad and her control is superb. And unbelievably to me at first is that she's only 14! (if memory serves right)... I'm so excited to follow her journey and see how her voice will mature... from my following of her so far for the past year, she's grown in her craft, much more refined and balanced tone. Here's more covers I've been loving from her:
"Payphone" by Maroon 5. Cover by Andie.
"New Romantic" by Laura Marling. Cover by Andie
"Islands" by Young the Giant (Live).
Young the Giant is a new band I'm still hearing out, and "Islands" is an amazing sound. The on-set location is perfect with this song, and the acoustic bass sounds heavenly. It would be pretty amazing to see this live performance actually...live.
"Something In The Way You Are" by Kimbra
Hey Kimbra's also from Australia too! I've been listening to her album "Vows", and it's a really nice record, really a breath of fresh air for me. She's amazingly creative in her production, and her voice... Oh I love her roughness in this song. Her control is masterly, she's smooth icy some places, then just the right amount of vibrato other parts, and the way she rings out her voice... on top of that, her edgy "umph" is so apparent here... wowza. Beautiful.
"Lights" by Ellie Goulding. Live acoustic.
Moving across the world to England, we find Miss Ellie Goulding. This songs been a smash on the American radio stations, and I'm so happy for her. I really enjoy her song "Guns and Horses" too, but I wanted to share her live performance of "Lights" most. She changes key for the chorus, so hearing her studio version for a long time, when hearing this for the first time my ears were completely interested, and rightly so. More roughness, rawness in this performance... and so much passion and sincerity and enjoyment as well. She loses herself in the song, and that's really where, I think, you can really tell the depth of a musician, or for that matter, any type of passionate person. It's not something you can fake, I think, even with amazing talent.
Wine Review, Italian Barbera - Kyle Meyer
So a couple of blogs back, I mentioned how I started tasting wines (from the standpoint of a coffee lover), and I'm so interested in the art now that I'm so giddy to start tasting more and more wines! I guess I have been bitten by what wine lovers call "the wine bug". I really like this Kyle guy, extremely descriptive, and, to me, he shows his great love for wine... He seems like a friendly guy, not uptight, but at the same time very, very respectful for the craft, I can tell he takes it seriously, but also enjoys it too. I haven't have the Italian varietal Barbera yet, but I got to try it in my life. I guess this sharing isn't so much about the wine, but more of a show of the love of wine, how one can get so in love with the art.
Austrian Reds - Kyle Meyer
One of the things that taste does sometimes, and it happens to me too when I drink certain coffees, is it's uncanny ability to conjure up some vivid memories causing it to come out as some wacky descriptors, but that's the fun of something like coffee and wine, and I love that.
Barbara Review - Gary Vaynerchuk
First impression, man, this guy's energy! Hahaha the first couple of seconds are really in your face, but I love the enthusiasm. You should see me when I'm drinking amazing coffee... it would probably make you laugh but I don't care, some coffee/wine just has to be rightfully appreciated - a lot of hard work goes into that cup of love - and if it's so good as to tear down all my composure exposing my bare feelings, then so be it!
So those are some beautiful things that I've been Youtubing, reading, experiencing. It's definitely summer for me. At the least, now I have a well organized list of the things I want to rewatch on my blog hahaha!
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