Well, well, April's been a weird month for me so far. Not only am I forced to get up earlier than 12am now, but I also have a pretty rough rollercoaster of emotions behind me. The fact that I'm in a kind of "quarantine" right now, waiting for a certain person[*] to open up a bit and give me another chance, and my current lack of selfconfidence make it hard for me to devote myself to my studies... and all the other stuff...like, life in general...

I found a new way to clear my head - writing. In particular, writing songs/ a song.
I downloaded this song by 'Electric Guest' and when I hear the first few seconds of it, I have this melody in my head that has nothing to do with the actual song. So I'm like "Hey, why not make your OWN song inspired by these few seconds...?" - HERE is the song I'm talking about...
And since I wanted to write about something I experienced myself and want to share what I feel felt, I wrote / am writing a song about a person called "Eric" - which will also be the title of the song. [EDIT: " 'Eric' is not the one I talked about in the poem...!]
Having Electric Guest's song as an inspiration for the song, I want it to sound a bit like them, too. Them, and maybe a bit like Foster the People and Mumford&Sons. But neither do I know how to play the guitar (which would be essential to get this feeling and sound that I want) nor how to record something. Soooo maybe I'm able to do everything with... my mouth!?!? (*that's what she said!*)
"Camille" has/have made a whole album using only voices and hands (to create sound and rhythm) and more or less no instruments.. and. it. was. AWESOME. (Maybe I could try that??) .. Oh, I love me some French music, mh-hm :D
Camille - Ta Douleur


And this is what my "writing process" looks like:
















a pen, paper and liquor.



wuaaaaaah.. enough with this personal, touchy-feely[**] stuff... let's get to my favorites of the month!!!
([**]an expression I heard at a seminar... felt right to use it here :D)



In my first post, I used "Lofticries" to show what this blog is more or less about. Now I've found "Obedear" by Purity Ring, as well as many other songs by them, and I remember why I love this band so much. A young, dreamy voice combined with these weirdbutatthesametimeinteresting sound elements.
Purity Ring - Obedear


Before I continue - Can it be that one can have some sort of "female artists -phase" when it comes to music? The next artist is female as well... and I bet there are more women to come. Anyways...
The next one is a themoreyoulistentoitthemoreyoulikeit-song. It's such a catchy tune that it's #1 on my list right now...
Meiko - Leave The Lights On (Radio Mix)


Aaaaand, what did I tell you? Another female artist! ... It must be something about a woman's voice that I dig at the moment... The next one is produced by Pharell Williams and for that reason alone a fantastic thing by itself. Plus, it is a song you can use perfectly for one purpose - lying in the grass, feeling great, watching the clouds go by and creating shapes with your arms and fingers above your face while moving your head in the rhythm of the song...
Yuna - Live Your Life


The last woman of today / this blog is Marion Cotillard. Yeah, I mean this one right here:
Yes. This one. The star from "Inception" and numerous other great movies did a song. With Franz Ferdinand. Of course.
...
o.o
...
It's actually a VERY good song, which sounds nothing like the usual Franz Ferdinand, and it's the theme for one of Dior's collections (it seems)... Although I had this one in my itunes for a very long time, I'm starting to re-love it now for the past few days. Is that a word - "re-love"? No?.. IT IS NOW!.. BAM!
Franz Ferdinand (feat. Marion Cotillard) - The Eyes Of Mars



Let's come to an end. Here is Jai Paul's beeeaaauuuuuuuuutiful "BTSTU", which I only found because of a cover by the awesome Niia (more about her cover in an up-coming post) ... Enjoy!
Jai Paul - BTSTU

 Just like mashups combine 2 or more songs to create a nice intermix of ideas and sounds, remixes can take a song, add beats/sounds/vocals/etc and unleash an overwhelming experience. Sometimes there are songs which are, quite frankly, a bit blank and then turn into a favorite of yours as the remixed version. DJs have the gift of understanding a song's buildup; they divide the song into different parts, reorder them with extra bits and BAMbelangPOW! produce a better version of the original.Some say that remixes spoil a song by ruining its originality. That the DJs aren't really that creative, because they just use what's already there and just alter a few things [something which is also said about covers - one of the upcoming Wave-topics] ... The examples beneath will show just how wrong they are!! ;)

The following remixes have no particular order and represent - just as everything you see and read on this blog - my personal taste. You may like some of them, maybe even love them as much as I do, or hate them. Let's give it a try!

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I saw this one pop up at the top of the "popular" page of hypem.com before I ever heard of the original. Listened to it for the first time -> love!
Bon Iver - Skinny Love (Das Kapital Rerub)


The original might be very old (well, considering how fast the world of music is changing) and the remix isn't that current, either, but it still is one of my favorite remixes because of its funky charm ^^
Sam Sparrow - Black & Gold (Al Usher Remix)

And now a series of remixes made by RAC (http://rac.fm/) - a group of DJs who "strive for excellence and good taste" with their remixes. They. f*cking. pwn! xO
Honeythieves - Reminder (RAC Remix)

The Gossip - Heavy Cross (RAC Remix)

Peter Bjorn & John - Second Chance (RAC Remix)


Everyone who knows me in real life knows my addiction to Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" - hence the original's mentioning in one of the first posts - and I never really found a remix that could do Gotye's version justice. Then I found M-phazes' remix of it and it really accentuates  the sounds used by Gotye. I might even consider it as good as the original. And that's a huge thing to say!
Gotye ft. Kimbra - Somebody That I Used To Know (M-phazes Remix)


This one I found with my mobile phone app - no, not the iphone kind, just a normal web-enabled phone. Gives a whole new twist to Franz Ferdinand's sound :)
Franz Ferdinand - No You Girls (Nôze Remix)


One of the best examples that show how a remix changes the whole dynamic of a song while still keeping its important sound-bits is this one. Off-beat -> Back-beat. GENIUS!
Lykke Li - Little Bit (Autoerotique Remix)


And now the last one for today. Being a fan of Rüfüs, I totally enjoy their remixes. This one is no exception. Please also check out the video to the song ;)
Elizabeth Rose - Stars Ago (Rüfüs Remix)