Future of Music?

Right I am more free now, so finally have the chance to blog without worrying about work hah!

Anyway yes as I mentioned in my previous post, I have been using Spotify for a month now. In fact, I have never opened iTunes for this month! Except for one time when I was transferring music to my iPod haha. Also PS: I formatted my iPod so it's now a "brand new" iPod touch which I exclusively use for Spotify. Cause previously my (5 year old) iPod Touch is really slow and laggy so yeah I decided to restore it, downloaded Spotify and use it! Pretty enlightening I'd say.

Lets begin with what I love about Spotify after using it for one month.

1. Loads of music

Basically like I said earlier this month, Spotify is like a huge online music library. There's a lot of songs from many years and you can just add them whenever and wherever. It deletes off the step where you need to download the song/transfer the song from CD etc. So it's pretty convenient. Now my music library consist of songs that I really like. If I don't feel like listening to them anymore, I can delete them off. So it doesn't take a lot of space I guess! Also I come to a realisation that I no longer have to worry about moving my music library in the future. Since Spotify has it.

2. Discovery

I discovered a lot of new artist and bands here too, another platform in addition to YouTube! From the radio stations which played after my playlist finished, or when I just go create my own stations. Also from the "fans also like" tab which shows a few similar bands with the same sounds as the artist.

3. Convenience

It works just like my iTunes, where I make my own monthly playlists. But I can add them right away without having the need to connect my phone/iPod to my laptop. And I can add/delete songs on the go too. I just have to remember to download the playlist so I can listen to them anytime.

Which brings me to the only thing I don't like about Spotify: the need for internet!

I'm kinda stingy when it comes to data usage haha. Please, I'm only given 2GB of data so yeah, pretty stingy. So I just have to remember to download the playlist! I like to listen to music when I drive so yeah it is important heh. But I do read online that the data use for music streaming isn't a lot unless you listen to music like throughout the day. To me I only listen to music (from my phone) when I do work or when I drive, so it isn't a lot. So yeah maybe isn't much of problem.

But all in all, Spotify has bought my heart haha. One month of using it, and I'm pretty convinced that this is the future of enjoying music I'd say? But fret not I am still going to collect physical formats! Actually these days I only buy records heh, I have stopped buying CDs unless it's something I really really love. I have also stopped buying songs from iTunes since Spotify, cause streaming has defeated its purpose I would say! But yeah I do read articles that artists don't get a lot of money from streaming.

The best way to support your favourite artists and bands is to buy their physical formats still, and also attend their gigs. And share the love to other people so that they'll get more listeners!

Well yup, it's been a cool month with Spotify. And it seems like I am going to stick with it now. I might give Apple Music a try, Chris was telling me about it and also I read that if you're using Apple products, it might be easier to use an navigate. But let me continue using Spotify hah. It's quite crazy to think that I have experienced 3 eras of music. From cassettes, to CDs, MP3s, and now streaming. 

It's kinda incredible to see how the world has moved thus far!

Alright that's all from me now. July has ended and here's to an awesome August ahead! Damn, 5 more months to the end of 2018. Lets finish off this year well I guess. See ya soon :)

Hypnotised

It's been one hell of a crazy week and I'm just taking time to blog about the great music of July!

Here goes.

Great Music of July:

- Palo Santo by Years and Years

- Lovers by Anna of The North

- Komorebi by Craft Spells

- Letting Go by Wild Nothing

Song of the month: Hypnotised by Years and Years

Right I have discovered a few new artists and bands thanks to Spotify actually! I will talk about this on another separate post. But yes, discovered Anna of The North and Craft Spells from Spotify!

Years and Years just released their 2nd album on the 6th of July and it's a really good album I would say! Although hmm, I kinda prefer Communion. But everything that they did for the release of this album is so brilliant. And the whole theme surrounding the album also patches everything well. They did call this "the difficult 2nd album" and I kinda understand why. But it's so worth the 3 year wait I'd say. I am hoping that they will release the H&M version of Hypnotised!

So yes I discovered Anna and Craft Spells from Spotify. From the "radio" playing after my playlist finished, and from the "fans also like" tab haha. I love Anna of The North's album. It's such an atmospheric pop album? She reminds me of Shura and I think it'll be incredible if they can collab hah. Favourite song include Lovers and Fire! Looking forward to listening to more music from her.

Wild Nothing released their new song "Letting Go" from an upcoming new album they are releasing in September. I love this song and it feels like they are coming back to the Nocturne era. Wasn't a huge fan of their last album. So I'm looking forward to their new album, Indigo!

And while listening to Wild Nothing, I saw Craft Spells from their "fans also like" tab and decided to click on it. The first song I heard from them is Komorebi and man, those flute and flowy piano riffs are so nice. Such a great song to listen to on a Sunday afternoon drinking tea and lazing around.

I've been using Spotify for the whole of July now and the experience so far has been life changing! Hmm, I am going to stick with it I guess. Currently enjoying the 5000 Rupiah for 3 months offer but nah, I'm going to stick with it after that I guess. Writing this on another separate post!

Alright that's all from me now, gotta get back to work. See you tomorrow!

The Universe

Blood moon rising

So last Friday, I managed to witness the longest total lunar eclipse of the century! Thankfully I managed to see it from the beginning till totality, and this time round I even managed to take a photo of the moon during totality. I don't have a zoom lens so it's just the photo of the sky. With the red moon and mars accompanying her. As someone who loves astronomy, it's such a cool experience!

I've always been interested in astronomy. Thanks to the Young Scientist badge thingy that we always participate in primary school haha. I remember I took the astronomy challenge and I learned a lot about the solar system from it! That's how my interest in the solar system began.

And I've always been fascinated with the universe as a whole. As I learned more about the solar system, and the universe, I realised how small we are here. It's both a terrifying to think that may or may not be alone here. In the middle of this great nowhere. Although personally I believe that we are not! When I look at the stars at night, there's no way we can be alone here. Right...?

Am I the only person who's actually "weirded" out by the idea of our existence here on this planet, on this blue dot, in this solar system, in this galaxy? Like I mean... Why are we here? On this planet who's been spinning for millions of years. Where evolution has taken place for over thousands and thousands of years. Where civilisations have been here for thousands of years.

Why are we the third planet from the sun? Why not the 4th? Why is it the right distance from the sun to keep us warm and to keep us alive? All of these questions, no one can answer.

I think it's funny how we always search for the meaning of life. Yet we don't really know the reason of our own existence. Why we're here. Walking on this planet, surviving all the odds that could have killed us. Surviving all the other options that didn't happen. It's so... Fascinating.

And at times I'm convinced that we'll never know the answer to all of these burning questions. But I have this belief that we'll know them after we die. Somehow, somewhat....

Alright that's all for this random post about the universe hah. July is ending really soon. I hope it's been a fantastic month for you! Oh gosh, officially 5 more months to 2019!

We The Fest 2018!

Thank you We The Fest, my heart was full

Hello hello, it's Saturday night now, time to reminisce about the good time I had at day 2 of We The Fest 2018 a week ago! Man, still thinking of Lorde's set haha, it was so amazing. At the same time, it's too amazing that I didn't remember what happened much hahaha. It felt like a ritual, an out of body experience or something like that. I think all music festival is a form of that!

Anyway I left my house in the morning for Jakarta. I went earlier because I heard that there might be a jam due to some road construction on the way there. I reached Jakarta at 2 PM, and checked into my hotel and waited to meet Chris at PIK! The drive there was quite jammed really, forgot it was the weekend heh. Thankfully after that jammed part everything else went smooth. Had a (late) lunch with Chris at a vegan cafe called Fortunate Coffee! Been wanting to dine here and finally had the chance to.

After that we head to the Festival Ground at PRJ Kemayoran. We were expecting a long line as a lot of people were coming for day 2 thanks to Lorde haha. Queue was long but it moved along fine so yup, no problem. Went to walk around the festival area first before we went for our first set: Efek Rumah Kaca!

Sebelah mataku~

I've been wanting to watch ERK for sometime now, so glad I managed to see them. I only get to know them after I returned here actually. I love how poetic and meaningful their lyrics are. The first song I heard from them was Sebelah Mata, and to listen to that song live felt like a rite of passage. Also they played a new song called "Rahim Ibu" which is a collab with Mata Najwa and it's such a deep song really. Listening to the lyrics while seeing them live is an emotionally beautiful experience.

Next we went to eat dinner first because we were prepping for Lorde mwahaha. So went to get some food, which to our dismay, the food area was so so full. Wanted to get Pizza but the stall guy said the queue was closed because there were too many people haha. Thankfully there was another food area, but when we went there... The sushi stall ran out of rice ahaha. I had some bakmi without meat. And Chris got a burger. Then we went to get more drinks. After that we went to see Barasuara!

Barasuara

I caught Barasuara once during Java Soundsfair 2014 I think. They are really good actually, even though I'm not a huge fan of rock music hah. But you have to see them live, their energy is indescribable really. Do catch them live when you have the chance to alrighty.

Totally feeling warm on a not-so-cold night hahaha

Next up was Honne! I think everyone was waiting for Lorde's Set since Honne, so yup everyone was just filling in the arena. It was so stuffy really, coupled by Jakarta's awesome weather and humidity ahaha. Nevertheless it was such a great time singing along with Honne and the rest! The music definitely made me forget about the heat haha. Everyone was singing along fine.

Waited for 5 years to see this scene :')

After Honne's set was Lorde and thankfully some people actually left the stage. So Chris and I managed to get closer to the stage! We're probably 20 people away from Lorde. Anyway I've been waiting for 5 years to see her so I'm so thankful for this great moment! She started off with Sober and everyone went wild mwahaha. Anyway not gonna talk about the whole set but....

Lets see, I actually cried three times. During Ribs, Team and Perfect Places HAHAHA. Never cried so much during a concert. Okay Pure Heroine was the album that accompanied me through end of 2013-2014. The periods of change and uncertainty. Ribs and Team were two of my favourite songs from the album and they perfect described that period. So yeah, listening to it live brought back those memories and I feel so... Sentimental haha. As for Perfect Places, it's just a perfect song to describe the whole idea of life's uncertainty? To me the song is about just embracing the places we're going to arrive in, because there's no such things as perfect places! I remember during the last chorus when she sang "What the fuck are perfect places anyway?", tears were rolling down my cheek!

Thank you, Ella!

Oh also people were literally sobbing and crying after she sang Liability. It's such a heart-wreck song really. I've never experienced heartbreak before... But Lorde's performance made me tear too heh. Also I'm not sure but I think she cried after that song too? After she said "Thank You Jakarta!"

Aww we love you too Ella, please don't be sad, you're going to so many more beautiful places!

Odesza bringing us to Higher Ground

Last but not least, to close the night off, was Odesza! I'm actually a new fan of them! Thanks to Brenda who asked me to listen to their new album "A Moment Apart". And boy it's such a good album! Had a great time dancing to their music from the new album and the old one too. It was such a great way to end a wonderful wonderful Saturday. I can't wait for my next gig haha.

Thanks Chris for coming with me!

After that I went to send Chris and her sister (who was also at day 2!) back, and then back to the hotel, and called it a night! Thank you We The Fest for the incredible lineup, and thank you Chris for coming along as well! I hope to return next year, depending on the lineup as always heh.

Well I have always regarded music as a form of escape. An escape from life, where I can forget about things for a while. It doesn't necessarily have to be in the form of festivals/gigs, just music in general! But now I think I shouldn't call it an escape. Because it seems like I'm denying reality and that music doesn't help much. I think now, music is like a transporter for me. 

It transports me to another place, without having me physically move to that place. 

I always find it quite funny how when I go inside the concert venue, it seems that life is slowly leaving me behind. And when the music plays, I just "lost" myself and life seems to completely leave me behind. And... As I leave the venue, life comes back to me again slowly. So yeah, doesn't seem much like an escape, but more of a vehicle? Transporter? You know what I mean.

I have a few gigs that I'm planning to watch next. I'll make them happen!

Alright that's all for this reminiscent trip. I will see you soon, I gotta blog more eeep.

Perfect Places

Hello hello, I just got back from We The Fest 2018 last Saturday! And it was such an amazing weekend together with Chris! Well we only went for day 2 but the lineup for day 2 was superb. I did miss a few of my favourite bands though, who were playing on day 1 and 3 eeeep. But well just like last year, I can't stay for the whole 3 days. Wanted to stay for day 1 and 2 but same, got work on Friday so I can't go for it sigh. But thankfully I can make it for day 2!

Anyway not gonna blog about it tonight cause it's pretty late already, just finished with work! I'm gonna do it on a separate post. Been quite busy ever since I returned back, as usual with work haha. So I didn't have the chance to blog. But yup it was a wonderful Saturday.

On the other hand, I'm supposed to watch Chvrches in Jakarta tomorrow but the concert is cancelled because of some "unforeseen circumstances" by the promotor. A bit bumped, but wasn't surprised. Because we don't receive any news of ticket exchange, door opening time etc even though it was one week before the concert. So yeah suspected something fishy, and my suspicion came true haha.

Anyway Chvrches said that they are returning to Asia in early 2019 so I'm looking forward to seeing em again! Like what I wrote in my previous post, I believe everything happened for a reason. So I'm not sad to be honest, I hope the universe will conspire me to reunite me with Chvrches again!

Alright that's all for now, I will return with the WTF'18 post soon! See ya.

Twenty Six

Thank you my beloved Baros United!

Another day, another year, and here I am surviving the 26th time that I circled around the sun on this wonderful planet! Ahaha. I love to term my birthday that way now, it's pretty interesting right. But yes, I turned 26 today, I am officially closer to 50 than I am to when I was born. Isn't that amazing.

I don't feel old, I don't feel whatever to be honest. Just shocked because I have officially surpassed the mid twenties, and I will be in my late twenties next year. Man, where did time go really. It feels like yesterday when I was celebrating my birthday with my poly friends (Hi Candy and Lizzie). But that was a proper 6 years ago? That's crazy right. But I had a great time today!

It was just an ordinary Tuesday, helped out at the factory in the afternoon and did some calculations in the evening. Then I went to have dinner with my family! Also celebrating my uncle's birthday which fell on Sunday. Sadly this year my aunt is no longer with us, if not we'll be celebrating our birthdays together on this special day. Oh well, happy birthday Oucun! :)

I don't have a lot of thoughts for today. Weird, as you grow older, your birthday is just another day. Although I would say the mid twenties is an interesting time of your life. I was just pondering just now, because this year marked the 5th year that I'm home. The 5th year that I entered the adult life, being an adult, and having everything that revolves around it. And it's an interesting journey.

More of this on another separate post I guess.

Well I hope that 26 will be a better year ahead for me. More wisdom, great health and... I don't want happiness. As I said once, I want mindfulness. Because mindfulness is better than happiness! I hope that the universe will guide me always, and show me clarity and light in this space. Give me courage, give me patience, and conspire with me to walk on this path together. Till the end of time.

Alright that's all for me today. Thank you to everyone who has wished me! I hope you're having a great week so far, and may you have an awesome other half of July. See ya soon :)

The Three Laws

I've been wanting to blog about this, since the holiday last month actually! But never had the chance to do so, don't even know why heh. But oh well here it is! It's a chill Saturday night now.

Right. So in life I'm pretty sure we all have rules and laws that we all follow. Some rules that we keep for ourselves, like habits and patterns and so on. And there are also beliefs like your religion and tradition (and superstition). There are also things that don't take shape in a form of object/subject, but just a law of life that you believe and follow. Tonight I'm gonna talk about it!

So there are three laws of the universe that I believe in. I like to call this a "universal law" because I realise that at the end of the day, I will always go back to these three laws. And I have come across many teachings and "laws" of life as well, but they can all be summarised into these three.

The three laws that I believe in are:

1. Everything happens for a reason

2. There is time for everything

3. Whatever will be yours, will be yours

The first law is pretty straightforward I guess. I think it is self-explanatory. Basically everything happens (and doesn't happen) for a reason. If they don't, they wouldn't have happened at all right? Even though most of the time, we won't know the reason straight away. Sometimes it takes a day, a week, a month or even a year. But eventually, one day, we will know the reason. And everything will make sense.

Which brings me to the second law, that everything has its time. It is sort of an extension to the first law. Sometimes we wonder why things happen at a certain timing, especially at times that we don't want it to happen haha. Most of the time, we will eventually discover why they happen at that particular timing, and not other timings. It's crazy but yeah, another reminder that everything has its time.

Last but not least, everything will come to a full circle when you accept all the things that happened to you; when you know the reason, when you know why it happened at that point of your life. For a period of time, we might still be unable to accept the reality. but eventually we will accept everything with out hear. And understand that whatever that is meant to happen to us, will happen.

AKA whatever will be yours, will be yours.

Following these three laws have made me a happier person in a way. And a lot of calmer and peaceful too. I question less and accept more. Or should I say... I see more. There are a lot of events in life that that has made me come to this point. It's like I will always come back to these three laws. 

Let me talk about an example that I went through.

As some of you might know, I was supposed to go to Stanford University for my internship back in year 3. I was shortlisted and chosen to go there. I was pretty excited about it, because I've always wanted to go for an overseas internship, like my sister who went to Sweden for a year. So I was imagining my internship, life in the USA, meeting new people and things like that. I was even planning to meet up with some friends who were also interning in the USA hahaha. 

But three weeks before the school holiday, I wasn't being told anything about this internship. I wasn't being briefed about it, unlike Darren and Jesslyn who were being briefed about their internship in Harvard. I didn't think about it much, until I was called to the office, to be told that due to logistics issue, I'm no longer going to the Stanford but to go for a local internship instead.

Part of me was crushed, cause well I've been imagining things HAHAHA (In Shakespeare's words, expectation is the root of all heartache heh). But part of me was also happy because I get to be close with the others. So yeah. But I was still quite "bitter" especially when my social media timeline was flooded with photos of my friends who were interning abroad heh. But then yup, I told myself the first law, I was pretty sure that I was meant to have a local internship.

It was only until the end of 2012 that made me realise a lot of things. So I asked myself, if I did go to Stanford, how will my 2012 be? I would probably not be able to play for my last Musical Delight, I wouldn't be able to join Stand Chart half marathon, and the dozens of runs I went as well, and many many more. So I felt both relieved and stupid at the end of 2012 - relieved because I have learned why my 2012 worked out that way, and stupid for the time I wasted feeling "bitter".

This is just one of the many things that taught me about these universal laws. As life goes along, especially after I come back home, these laws are becoming more and more evident in life. Accompanied with the Buddhist teaching of emptiness, everything seems to fall into place.

I think life is incredible in this way - that there are so many things we are unsure about in life. But life will always find a way to tell us why, and to teach us lessons and things we don't understand. Sometimes in a short time, sometimes, a lifetime. But whatever the case is, the universe will always be here to give us reasons why we are here. Why we lead such a life, and why life flows in such a way. 

Specks of dust

We are specks of dust in this universe.
But isn't it quite amazing, 
how these specks of dust exist,
in the middle of this great nowhere?

And one day we'll learn why we're here.

Taken 2 nights ago! The night was so clear.

Streamy Spotify

So... I have decided to give Spotify a try! I know, I once wrote on my blog that I don't like the idea of streaming music, and also the fact that I prefer having music files from iTunes etc. But it's on offer of 5000 rupiah (50 cents!) for three months so... I signed up for Premium haha. So far the experience has been life changing actually. I kinda see why streaming music is the future.

Anyway so I was listening to Florence and The Machine new album, which was released at the end of June. I have pre-ordered the vinyl and I'm just waiting for it to arrive, which now I learned that it's gonna take a longer time. So with the non-premium version of Spotify, the ads are really annoying hahaha. I think Spotify is smart, they use really annoying ads that drive you crazy and go for premium :O Like for example there's an ad for Samsung and it's a 1 minute ad (I think) of a spoilt phone which can't play music properly. It's basically an ad of cut-off music and just the sound of a spoilt audio.

And there's an ad for Spotify itself which is filled with the sound of car-horns and the bustling of a city, saying there's music for everything! Yada yada hahaha. But anyway, I was talking with Syaz once about Spotify and she was telling me how I should give it a try! Actually a few people told me to try it too. But the "old stubborn" me still don't give in heh. But seriously the ads are hindering my enjoyment of listening to music, so there I go! Signed up for premium.

Also the 5000 Rupiah for three months offer was ending in June.

So yep, I've been using Spotify not for about a week and learning its tips and tricks. Like how I learned that we can make playlists and download them so we can play without internet. And creating our own library and so on. It's been revolutionary and well I'm gonna give it more time to try it. But yep this past week has made me realise why streaming music will be the future of music. 

Spotify is basically like owning your own music library, but with more choices and more versatility. You don't have to download one by one, and you can still choose the music you want to listen to. In this day and age of cloud storage etc, we're entering the next phase of music I guess. From live music, to recordings, to MP3s and now streaming music. It's pretty interesting I must say, from someone who experienced this revolution of music. From casette tapes, CDs, iPod, now Spotify.

Alright I'm going to play around with it more. Also the new Years and Years album is finally out! Of course, I've been listening to it from Spotify haha. It's an amazing album. See you real soon!