stuff!
The last month or two, I've been pretty depressed - more than usual anyway. Apart from the London visit, I just didn't enjoy the things anymore that I usually enjoy. I got bored with everything, including myself. And since last week, I had this feeling of absolute uselessness; no-one needs me and I don't contribute to anything or anyone.
Since this week though, my mood has been somewhat lifted, I'm enjoying my hobbies again and I don't feeel as bored anymore. This may be temporal so I'll enjoy it while it lasts heh.
Anyway, let's talk about some of the good things:
I haven't mentioned this before, but a couple of months ago my mum bought a new car. A Peugeot 107 to be precise. It's a cute little car. You know I'm not a fan of cars, and definitely not of driving a car, but this one is actually quite fun to drive. I went for short rides with my mum at first, but since then I've used it by myself. Once to my dad, which is an hour away, and to a friend (also about an hour away, using the GPS because it was the first time I went there by car). It was fun! I think I'm a fairly good driver, at least when you consider the last time I drove a car was 8 years ago haha. The only thing I can't do is park the car properly, I really need to practice on that. Otherwise I think I'm going to have fun with it in the next couple of years...
Alps holiday is confirmed, by the way. In Valloire, looks like it's a pretty nice area. Read some bad things about the hotel, we'll see how that works out. The worst thing (so far!) is that we're going at the same time as Wimbledon, I'll miss the entire tournament except the men's final! Well, the hotel has wifi in the lobby, I'll probably be able to stream matches but most days I'll probably be too tired or just won't feel like sitting in the lobby staring at my screen for hours! Still going to do an effort to at least watch the quarterfinals and semifinals (depending on who's playing of course). But it obviously won't be like watching it at home on tv.
In any case I'm quite happy to be going back to the Alps, after our little failed Austrian experiment last year.
And I might go to London again for a week or so, but the guy I was staying with has some job trouble, depending on what's happening with that, I may or may not go. I'd really, really love to go, that guy has become a great friend and I might meet up with some other people as well. It should be fun... but I'm going to consider the worst case scenario so I won't be disappointed when I can't go heh. If I can't go I might do a short trip to...somewhere. Or do some more festivals.
Pukkelpop! In August! After last year's fiasco, I'm keen on going back. Line-up so far isn't anything special though, all stuff I've seen or stuff I'm not really interested in, the only exception being Björk. And I don't like her last album that much anyway... still, I haven't been to a big festival since 2009, so yeah... I was planning on just buying a day ticket for Björk day, but in the end I bought a 3-day ticket. The last day has a lot of famous bands (and day tickets are already sold out), but really nothing that I like, so I just might end up doing 2 days or so. Meh. We'll see.
Earlier this week, I've been to my first gig in about 6 months -_-
Yeah I know. There was a time I used to go to gigs or festivals about once a month or more. Those days are gone now... I talked about this before I think. I don't know what it is, I know it's partly because I've become more conservative and stick to my regular bands, and don't actively search out new bands anymore. I don't buy albums nearly as much as I used to, in fact, I don't think I bought any new albums this year!! And pretty much the only new song I liked is M.I.A. - Bad Girls (also because I really love the video), and that's from an artist I've been a fan of for quite some years now.
I think I've also became a lot more picky as to what I spend my money on. I've had several albums in my hands at the shop, but after previewing them there, none of them really made the cut, or I just thought "okay, I'll pick it up when it gets cheaper". I obviously never did heh.
I have to say though, in the last 2 years or so, I've been enjoying hiphop and rap again. For years I've been embarrassed about owning an Eminem album, but after listening to it again, it's actually pretty damn good. I was really looking forward to seeing him at Pukkelpop last year...
Anyway, I was going to talk about the gig! Well, it was a sort of gig/festival thing (part of a larger gig/festival thing), and the day I went it was 'DFA label night', with some of the lesser known bands on the label.
First up was Prinzhorn Dance School, which I didn't like that much.
Second was Yacht. Also didn't really know what to expect, but as the gig went on, I started liking them more and more. They have a couple of really good electro-pop songs, some of the music reminded me of Vive La Fête and the B-52s. It was good fun. I was tempted to pick up an album, but didn't, thinking they can't sound this good on record. Looked them up when I got back home, and I was right. My favourite song from the set was on the first album, and it sounded pretty boring. Also because from the second album on, they added a female singer, and she gives the band a lot more personality. I'd actually buy a live album, but not the 'normal' stuff. Wouldn't mind seeing them again live either.
Then the reason why I bought my (very cheap) ticket months in advance: Planningtorock. I wrote about her album in my 2011 music review, saying I quite liked it, despite being a bit of a The Knife/Fever Ray rip off. I looked up a setlist from her previous gigs, and was quite surprised that she only played songs from the new album + a cover. I only know one or two songs from the first album, so I didn't really mind.
The gig was good fun anyway! I did all the usual things I do when I enjoy a gig: smiling like an idiot, mumbling along with the lyrics, pulling weird faces for no apparent reason. And dancing like someone who is not used to dancing. I even did a mini-jump at some point (that awesome drop-restart in Living it up). I have to say a big part of my fun came from seeing other people really enjoying the gig as well. I was fairly in front and surrounded by people dancing and singing along as well, the 'hardcore' fans ahaha. I sometimes think I'm the only one listening to and really enjoying this kind of music, so it was good to see I wasn't alone!
The highlight for me was, as expected, The Breaks. It's one of those depressive songs you can actually dance to, and people did just that. After Pukkelpop 2011 I have an emotional connection to this song, and it was good to finally see and hear it live. She also played my favourite song from the recent album: 9! It has such a lovely flow, but live they added some extra bits to make it more danceable. I didn't mind, it was fun hearing it live. Living it up (the most outgoing song on the album) was obviously a highlight as well.
The gig was pretty short (50 minutes maybe?), a festival set I guess, but with 2 albums I sort of expected more. When we kept clapping and shouting after the last song, she came on again to say "well we would love to play more, but we ran out of songs!" What, why not rework songs from the first album to work in this set? Everything was done on laptop/synth/other not-really-live stuff anyway. But I forgive her.
So yeah, it was a fun night out. Why did it take me 6 months to go to a gig again? I should really force myself to get out more. On the day of the gig itself I usually think "bleh, I don't really feel like going", but I KNOW I always have fun, some times more than others, but still.
There was a Liars gig (on my birthday!) I was sort of interested in, but when I came home from this gig, I learned that it was sold out -_- Oh well. Like I said, I might do some more festivals this summer than last year at least (in which I did....0?), having access to a car a big plus now as well.
Okay, that's it for now!
Since this week though, my mood has been somewhat lifted, I'm enjoying my hobbies again and I don't feeel as bored anymore. This may be temporal so I'll enjoy it while it lasts heh.
Anyway, let's talk about some of the good things:
I haven't mentioned this before, but a couple of months ago my mum bought a new car. A Peugeot 107 to be precise. It's a cute little car. You know I'm not a fan of cars, and definitely not of driving a car, but this one is actually quite fun to drive. I went for short rides with my mum at first, but since then I've used it by myself. Once to my dad, which is an hour away, and to a friend (also about an hour away, using the GPS because it was the first time I went there by car). It was fun! I think I'm a fairly good driver, at least when you consider the last time I drove a car was 8 years ago haha. The only thing I can't do is park the car properly, I really need to practice on that. Otherwise I think I'm going to have fun with it in the next couple of years...
Alps holiday is confirmed, by the way. In Valloire, looks like it's a pretty nice area. Read some bad things about the hotel, we'll see how that works out. The worst thing (so far!) is that we're going at the same time as Wimbledon, I'll miss the entire tournament except the men's final! Well, the hotel has wifi in the lobby, I'll probably be able to stream matches but most days I'll probably be too tired or just won't feel like sitting in the lobby staring at my screen for hours! Still going to do an effort to at least watch the quarterfinals and semifinals (depending on who's playing of course). But it obviously won't be like watching it at home on tv.
In any case I'm quite happy to be going back to the Alps, after our little failed Austrian experiment last year.
And I might go to London again for a week or so, but the guy I was staying with has some job trouble, depending on what's happening with that, I may or may not go. I'd really, really love to go, that guy has become a great friend and I might meet up with some other people as well. It should be fun... but I'm going to consider the worst case scenario so I won't be disappointed when I can't go heh. If I can't go I might do a short trip to...somewhere. Or do some more festivals.
Pukkelpop! In August! After last year's fiasco, I'm keen on going back. Line-up so far isn't anything special though, all stuff I've seen or stuff I'm not really interested in, the only exception being Björk. And I don't like her last album that much anyway... still, I haven't been to a big festival since 2009, so yeah... I was planning on just buying a day ticket for Björk day, but in the end I bought a 3-day ticket. The last day has a lot of famous bands (and day tickets are already sold out), but really nothing that I like, so I just might end up doing 2 days or so. Meh. We'll see.
Earlier this week, I've been to my first gig in about 6 months -_-
Yeah I know. There was a time I used to go to gigs or festivals about once a month or more. Those days are gone now... I talked about this before I think. I don't know what it is, I know it's partly because I've become more conservative and stick to my regular bands, and don't actively search out new bands anymore. I don't buy albums nearly as much as I used to, in fact, I don't think I bought any new albums this year!! And pretty much the only new song I liked is M.I.A. - Bad Girls (also because I really love the video), and that's from an artist I've been a fan of for quite some years now.
I think I've also became a lot more picky as to what I spend my money on. I've had several albums in my hands at the shop, but after previewing them there, none of them really made the cut, or I just thought "okay, I'll pick it up when it gets cheaper". I obviously never did heh.
I have to say though, in the last 2 years or so, I've been enjoying hiphop and rap again. For years I've been embarrassed about owning an Eminem album, but after listening to it again, it's actually pretty damn good. I was really looking forward to seeing him at Pukkelpop last year...
Anyway, I was going to talk about the gig! Well, it was a sort of gig/festival thing (part of a larger gig/festival thing), and the day I went it was 'DFA label night', with some of the lesser known bands on the label.
First up was Prinzhorn Dance School, which I didn't like that much.
Second was Yacht. Also didn't really know what to expect, but as the gig went on, I started liking them more and more. They have a couple of really good electro-pop songs, some of the music reminded me of Vive La Fête and the B-52s. It was good fun. I was tempted to pick up an album, but didn't, thinking they can't sound this good on record. Looked them up when I got back home, and I was right. My favourite song from the set was on the first album, and it sounded pretty boring. Also because from the second album on, they added a female singer, and she gives the band a lot more personality. I'd actually buy a live album, but not the 'normal' stuff. Wouldn't mind seeing them again live either.
Then the reason why I bought my (very cheap) ticket months in advance: Planningtorock. I wrote about her album in my 2011 music review, saying I quite liked it, despite being a bit of a The Knife/Fever Ray rip off. I looked up a setlist from her previous gigs, and was quite surprised that she only played songs from the new album + a cover. I only know one or two songs from the first album, so I didn't really mind.
The gig was good fun anyway! I did all the usual things I do when I enjoy a gig: smiling like an idiot, mumbling along with the lyrics, pulling weird faces for no apparent reason. And dancing like someone who is not used to dancing. I even did a mini-jump at some point (that awesome drop-restart in Living it up). I have to say a big part of my fun came from seeing other people really enjoying the gig as well. I was fairly in front and surrounded by people dancing and singing along as well, the 'hardcore' fans ahaha. I sometimes think I'm the only one listening to and really enjoying this kind of music, so it was good to see I wasn't alone!
The highlight for me was, as expected, The Breaks. It's one of those depressive songs you can actually dance to, and people did just that. After Pukkelpop 2011 I have an emotional connection to this song, and it was good to finally see and hear it live. She also played my favourite song from the recent album: 9! It has such a lovely flow, but live they added some extra bits to make it more danceable. I didn't mind, it was fun hearing it live. Living it up (the most outgoing song on the album) was obviously a highlight as well.
The gig was pretty short (50 minutes maybe?), a festival set I guess, but with 2 albums I sort of expected more. When we kept clapping and shouting after the last song, she came on again to say "well we would love to play more, but we ran out of songs!" What, why not rework songs from the first album to work in this set? Everything was done on laptop/synth/other not-really-live stuff anyway. But I forgive her.
So yeah, it was a fun night out. Why did it take me 6 months to go to a gig again? I should really force myself to get out more. On the day of the gig itself I usually think "bleh, I don't really feel like going", but I KNOW I always have fun, some times more than others, but still.
There was a Liars gig (on my birthday!) I was sort of interested in, but when I came home from this gig, I learned that it was sold out -_- Oh well. Like I said, I might do some more festivals this summer than last year at least (in which I did....0?), having access to a car a big plus now as well.
Okay, that's it for now!