the wrong end of the telescope

Arcade Fire played in Stockholm tonight. I can't quite articulate what it--all words are insufficient right now.

It was one of the best shows I've ever seen. It was sheer, unadulterated magic, it was joyful, glorious musicianship, it was a band that just didn't stop doing more, with every song they played. It was so exactly what I needed that I'm still at a loss for what to do with myself. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

I just. They played Crown of Love mid-show, and I thought, "Surely that was it, they can't do more than that, but I'm sure the rest will be lovely," and then they followed that up with a transcendent version of The Suburbs and then they played Month of May with such furious energy that I screamed myself hoarse and danced until my feet hurt. There were more songs after that, and they were so good, so good.

And then, then they dedicated Wake Up to the Norway victims and ten thousand people raised their hands to the sky and sang along. And after that, when we thought they couldn't give us anything else, Régine danced us out with The Sprawl and the world was just, it felt filled with light.

So I've been making happy little mentions of that new album for a few days, but I haven't talked about it at length yet (except for in email with some lovely people who don't mind it when I capslock at them, er, come out with measured and considered commentary I mean). But I do want to talk about it here. (Partly because pollen season is starting and I woke up decidedly grumpy, and writing this will help.)

The following contains: incoherent commentary, music nerdery, delight, some talk about voices and production and fun (the regular kind, though I am horribly jealous of those of you who get fun. as an opening act), and all of it adds up to a great deal of excitement about seeing them live in May (if the stars all align in the right way), for I have heard VERY good things about their most recent live shows.

Also it got pretty long.

( makes me feel like summer will actually happen )

blindmouse reminded me of this meme, and it sounds about perfect for how I'm feeling today. (Which is great, btw. I'm feeling great. *clicks play again*)

Give me between three and five first lines from your own fics, and I'll write a comment-length drabble using one of them. Please include a link to the fic along with the line!

I reserve the right to change the pairing or the fandom, if either isn't specified in the first line.

PS. Ah, boys, thank you for coming back with something I fucking adore. ♥

I found this band very late, about ten months ago, and pretty much didn't figure out how much I really loved them until August. I was really sick in August, staying at our cottage and determinedly trying to get better, to feel better, and I kept hobbling down to the beach and lying down on the cliffs and listening to FaD and IoH on repeat, again and again and again. So it's--they're sunsets and determination and feeling awful but thinking it might really be alright in the end.

After we went back to the city, I started taking walks, trying to figure out how to make my body work again (I'd lost something like 25 pounds in three weeks), and I was listening to them. At first, I only made it down the hill before needing to sit down. Then a little further. Then across the street. I kept walking to the same place after that, when I had the energy to keep going for twenty minutes at a time, and it was this hill in the middle of a huge field where you can sit and watch the sun set over the city. That's--that's where I learned those two albums by heart.

Thank you for the music, boys. ♥


(You lot, come give me a hug. *holds out arms*)

The Music in You, a mix by astaria51

Aaaaah, oh god. The first time I listened to this mix, I was heading down into the subway, and suddenly I hear Geoff Rickly sing "In the shadow of the New York skyline, we grew up too fast" and I just froze (to the annoyance of many people behind me) and started smiling so hard. Because, yes. Exactly that, that's my story. (There's so much that resonates with me lyrically in this mix and in sweetnovicane's, and I'm probably going to post some babble on that soonish, because lyrics are so, so, so important to me when I listen to music. So my mixes were both amazing for me.)

Also, the cover art? *grins helplessly* I just--I want to know if my mixer drew it or where they found it or what--it's, I mean, it's like it's from the story.

( Have some more music... )

So I'm presenting Wednesday. This is, for those of you lucky enough to not have seen me in the throes of academia before, going to (read: has already begun to) make me a little crazy. Or unhappy. Or both. So if I'm making anguished faces at you, this is why. Suggested remedies include patting me on the head, hugs, and telling me to go do my work and stop being such a wretch.

But on to happier things! This got loooooooong.

Non-bandom related awesome

1. First, Amanda Palmer posted an essay written by Karl Paulnack of the Boston Conservatory, on Why Music Matters. Read it, oh, read it. ( A quote: )
   
   
2. More on the hilarity end of the happiness scale, sarahtales (formerly mistful) posted her parody of Star Trek here. If you're unfamiliar with her movie parodies, she doesn't tend toward the mean, but toward the ridiculous. Quote:
   
   SPOCK: Can't read my, no you can't read my poker face.
   KIRK: Sure I can. It says 'I want to cut a bitch.'
   SPOCK: ... Your insight is uncanny.
   
   
3. And the last non-bandom related piece of happiness is the vid Glorious by such_heights. I've been meaning to do a vid rec post forever, but it doesn't look like it's happening any time soon, so I'm reccing this one now. It's a multi-fandom female-centric vid, and it has so many female characters being awesome that it's sort of the best thing in the world to rewatch when you're feeling a little useless. Watch Teyla, Morgana, Martha Jones, Buffy, Faith, Bones, Angela and the other 170, just watch them. And the next time someone tells you that there aren't any interesting female characters, point them at this vid.

Bandom-related happy

1. This fandom is the best fandom, etcetera, forever, amen. Let's start with fic. Awesome fic.
   ( Awesome, awesome fic. )
   
   
   
2. Lastly, did you know I love Lyn-Z? Yeah? And here I thought I was being stealthy. *grins* I wanted to post about her on her birthday, but as it turned out, that was not a good day for me, so I'm doing it today instead. This is unrelated to the fact that she and Gerard just had the baby (not that the existence of Bandit Lee Way isn't also a happy thought, just, that's not why I love Lyn-Z, y'all). SO.
   ( badass, beautiful and bright )

This is part 2 of what I started over here, that is, this is the post of some of my favorite WoC musicians. Once more, this rec series started because of RaceFail 2009 (if you don’t know what this is about, the link goes to rydra_wong’s time line, which includes a link to a summary post). Like last time, I’m refraining from my own commentary on racism in favor of promoting these musicians (though I’m planning a post on what it means to be a Good Girl, and how that matters to this issue) but I will say this: one kind of oppression is not like another, and listening is sadly underrated. For the love of all that is holy, look up intersectionality somewhere.

Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list (ETA: I'm not pretending to be an expert of any kind, is what I actually meant by that), nor is this a list where one artist is like another, because much like last time, these women do not sound like each other simply by virtue of being Women of Color. As for why they’re here, well, some of it is that as a singer and a lyricist and a person, I owe something to every one of these women. And it might be wishful thinking, because who doesn’t wish they sounded like Aretha Franklin or wrote like Nina Simone; and it might be self-confidence, because singing Beverley Knight’s Who I Am with my sister on stage made everything click, all at once; and it might be my journal title (Vienna Teng) or inspiration for lines in a poem (Vienna Teng) or the truest, brightest moment of happiness of my junior year at college (dancing with the girl I love best to “Pata Pata” because it reminded her of home).

Here, then, have seven musicians. Clicking on their names below the cut will take you to their MySpace page or homepage or Wikipedia page, depending on what felt the most informative. In all of these places there are links that let you know how to buy their albums and/or other merchandise. I also added links to Amazon’s stores for Nina Simone, Miriam Makeba, and Aretha Franklin. The sample songs I offer here is intended to encourage you to further support these artists and other musicians of color in making music. If you like it, please spend some money on them. The information I used for their short biographies mostly came from their Wikipedia pages, from Musician Guide or my own background knowledge.

( Ryeisha “Rye Rye” Berrain )

( Tracy Chapman )

( Aretha Franklin )

( Beverley Knight )

( Miriam Makeba )

( Nina Simone )

( Vienna Teng )