Bye September

Can you believe it's the last day of September already! 9 months of the year, gone just like that. I swear 2015 is the fastest year that I've ever experienced in life so far. It feels like time didn't have any substance in this year. Everything just moves in its own pace but without us realising it. We are left with 3 more months of the year and I just have this feeling that these 3 months will zoom by even quicker than the previous 9. Well I've always felt the last months of the year fly faster.

I think it's too early to start my reflection for the year. I'll save the best for last haha.

Alright time to share with you the great music I discovered in September! :)

Great Music of September:
- The Morning Hills by Layur
- Brush by Oscar Key Sung
- Her Ghost by Woman's Hour
- Conversations by Woman's Hour
- Les Voiles by Poom
- Like It Here by Stars and Rabbit
- Man Upon The Hill by Stars and Rabbit
- Whole of Chvrches 2nd album
- Whole of Oh Wonder debut album

Song of the month: Clearest Blue by Chvrches

I discovered The Morning Hills by Layur, who's an Indonesian musician, from Jalan Jalan Men's video on YouTube! I love how the song literally sounds like a beautiful morning on rolling hills somewhere in Indonesia heh. I think he's a talented musician! And I am looking forward to seeing more of his work. Stars and Rabbit is a new favourite Indonesian band that I discovered earlier this month. I feel that Elda is the Bjork of Indonesia haha. I love how unique her voice is. And I think they're gonna make it big! :)

Brush by Oscar Key Sung is a nice song with a catchy beat. Just like the video, I feel like dancing freely whenever I listen to the song too haha. I discovered the song through Majestic Casual. My favourite "Indie Music" channel on Youtube, Morindie, has been organising live streams where he puts up a playlist of songs from Soundcloud as we chat the night away together with people from around the globe! Les Voiles by Poom was played on his 2nd live stream and I am just hooked! Thanks Morindie!

Discovered a new favourite band, Woman's Hour, via YouTube again! Just randomly clicked their video for "Her Ghost" on Youtube and well you have a new fan right away! I love how minimalistic and simple their songs are. Yet they feel sublime and just beautiful. They really make me fall in love with this kind of music. Simple melodies, simple instrumentation, but filled with beauty.

As mentioned previously, this month is a great month for music cause Chvrches just released their 2nd album like last Friday, and Oh Wonder debuted their album earlier this month! But I only received it last Friday too. I've been listening to Oh Wonder's songs for the past year, it feels good to have a physical format of their songs finally! I remember asking them when they will release their album and here I am owning a copy of their album haha. Time does fly indeed. One year, 12 songs, now they hav an album

I still can't describe and put into words about how much I love Chvrches' 2nd album. I love everything about it. Lauren's empowering voice, beautifully layered synths and also their impact! Not forgetting Martin's voice on 2 songs in the album. I feel their 2nd album is a better album than their debut. But well I love Bones a lot too. And I don't know, I just love them, and their 2 albums haha. You know I was listening to Bones again this evening and there's this sense of happiness, joy and pride for this favoourite electronic band of mine. I just feel so happy for them to release such a great album! :')

Alright that's all for today. 3 more months to the year. May it be a beautiful epilogue to 2015! :)

Great Music Friday!

 My version of Every Open Eye's album cover

The background image is a bougainvillea flower I shot last Sunday

Today is such an awesome day because of two things. Two awesome music-related things.

First of all I wanna congratulate one of my favourite bands ever, Chvrches, for releasing their second album today! Although I have been streaming the album on NPR for the past 2 nights or so, I am still feeling so happy that the album is finally released! I have pre-ordered the album and I'm just waiting for it to arrive here on the other end of the planet heh. And talking about pre-orders...

My pre-ordered Oh Wonder debut album arrived today too! Double happiness! I am so worried because I didn't receive the email notification if my order has been shipped or not. But after clarifying with the staff over there, I was told that my order has been shipped so I was just waiting for it and it finally arrived! :)

Okay to celebrate the release of Chvrches' Every Open Eye, I shall share with you how I discovered this awesome band! Which through the years, have become one of my favourite.

I discovered Chvrches back in 2013. The first song I heard from them was "Gun". I was on YouTube when the music video for Gun was on my recommended tab. So I clicked on it and hmm I was hooked on the song. Especially the synths and the catchy beat. So I went on to search more of their songs and "The Mother We Share" was the next song I listen to and... That's it. I fell in love!

I discovered them back in end of September-ish I think, so it was also when their debut album, The Bones of What You Believe, was released. I went to Jakarta to look for the album but to no avail, so I decided to buy the album on iTunes. I only got their physical CD in January, when I went back to Singapore. This is the reason why I went to pre-order Every Open Eye right away cause... I lost faith in the music store here. I don't think it will be available in Indonesia (hopefully not!).

I missed their Laneway performance in 2014 and I was pretty sad cause I really want to see them live. But they decided to come back to Singapore back in November and I was like I don't care, I have to see them live! And I went to see them with Brenda. And we even had the chance to MEET them during a meet-and-greet session! I suppose we were very lucky. I'll never forget that night.

When I saw their Instagram that they were recording their second album, I was feeling so excited! Photos after photos and tweets after tweets, they released their first single from the second album titled "Leave A Trace" (during my birthday!) and I just really couldn't wait for the new album to be released. I knew that it's going to be a great album. And when they allow us to stream it on NPR, I streamed it for 2 nights and whew, I fell in love with it. I think they have improved so much from their first album. Maybe it's because of their tour experience, or maybe they just grow incredibly as a band in the past 2 years. I just love the whole energy of the band in their 2nd album!

I feel that Lauren's voice is so empowering and energetic in this album. I was talking to Brenda the other day and I was telling her that in this album, it feels like Lauren is a phoenix soaring bravely over Glasgow HAHAAH. But seriously, I love how empowering her voice is! Not forgetting Martin on "High Enough To Carry You Over". Damn, I have a crush on his voice now haha.

Every Open Eye is definitely one of the best albums that is released in this year. And I just feel so happy for Chvrches for the release of their second album. I don't know why... We don't personally know each other but I just feel so happy for this Glaswegian trio. They are definitely my favourite band in the electronic genre. And I will keep on supporting them forever. Congratulations Chvrches once again! :)

Clearest Blue by Chvrches

Just wanna say I am currently obsessed with this great song. Pitchfork released a video of Chvrches performing this at the Pitchfork festival in Chicago back a month ago. And I instantly fell in love with that song! I just love it. I played that Pitchfork video a lot of times. Like really really a lot of times. That's how much I love this song. And when Martin tweeted about them releasing the official audio, I just kept on replaying this video for the whole of last night. I was so excited I couldn't sleep HAHA.

2 more weeks till Every Open Eye is released. And I really can't wait to receive the album! :)

Chvrches Live in Singapore 2014!

Blown away by Chvrches!

Hello again, yup I just got back from Singapore last night to watch Chvrches live! It was such a great night really, but I was so tired after reaching home last night that I knocked out right away. Anyway the concert was so great oh gosh, it was so awesome that I had a difficult time "moving on" haha. Severe withdrawal syndrome right here! But I'm just glad that I went for it. Even though it means I have to fly to Singapore to catch them. Totally no regrets!

Anyway I went to the concert with Brenda! I went to Sentosa straight and met her there as she had work. There was a queue already when I reached there. The wait went by pretty quickly and we went inside. The Coliseum is such a hot venue to hold a concert, not sure if the fans beside us are actually functional heh. But no complains, I just can't wait to see Chvrches! Riot !n Magenta opened the act and they are so good! You have a new fan here haha.

And then Chvrches came on stage! They opened their gig with "We Sink" and damn I am loving the energy. I can still remember when they entered the stage, my heart was beating so fast and I was smiling like a retard. Like oh my god, I'm finally catching them live. It's a dream come true! Haha. I am so happy that they play all of their songs from their first album, and also my favourite new song from them "Get Away". It was such a joy singing to "Gun" and dancing the night away to their music. Life was forgotten in that one hour plus or so. Pure adrenaline and endorphin really.

 Martin blowing us away with Under The Tide

Also... Brenda won a lucky draw contest by HMV where we got to meet them for a meet-and-greet (shortening it to M&G) session! It was a pair given out so Brenda and I went for it. I am just so thankful to her for this opportunity! Anyway we were instructed to move to the back of the venue "when the last song plays". But we don't know what's the last song, but we do know it's usually "The Mother We Share" so with a bit of heartache (since we love that song so much!) we moved to the back of the venue. And turned out, they played like 4 more songs! Including one of my favourites from the new Mockingjay movie - "Dead Air". But it's okay, I got to enjoy it still from the back :P

 Speechless, happy and star-struck

"point at Martin's arm on my shoulder"

The M&G session happened rather quickly after their concert. There were 2 more people who won another concert (by Universal Music I think) and we were waiting for the session to start. We entered a room where the trio were there and they greeted us. I shook hands with all of them and introduced myself. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW STAR-STRUCK I WAS. I just froze and stumble my speeches out but I was trying hard to keep my cool and tried my best to chat with them. They are such lovely lovely and friendly people! Anyway there's a funny moment in this session!

Brenda and I prepared some gifts for them. So when the M&G session organiser guy told us to exit the room, I asked if I can give my gift for them.

Me: Hi, I actually prepared some gifts for the band, can I pass it to them?

M&G Guy: *looking annoyed* why don't you give to their manager? *points at manager*

Me to manager: Oh okay... Hi this is some gifts for the band from me...

Martin: Hey don't give it to her, give it to me!

*walks briskly towards him*

Me: Hi oh yeah this is my gift for you guys... It's postcards from my country... You see I'm an Indonesian.. And there are some polaroids of my hometown and cats!

Martin: Oh wow cool, thank you so much! So you flew in here?

Me: Yeah I did!

*Time running out and we left the room*

IT WAS THE BEST MOMENT OF THE SESSION HAHAHA.

Brenda and I were so overwhelmed by the experience we couldn't speak after we left the room and we're just so excited about the whole moment! I just can't believe I actually talked to them... It's a memory I will never forget really! And once again thank you Brenda for this! All of this wouldn't have happened without you. Thank you so so so very much! :)

 Thank you for being such an awesome partner for this gig!

We left Sentosa to have dinner and then I went to her house as she has something to pass for me. Thank you for the gifts from Hong Kong and Turkey as well! I hope you enjoy drinking the Luwak coffee I gave you too. Which was supposedly for Chvrches but I was too excited that I forgot to pass it to them (silly me!). And then I made my way back to the hostel. And knocked out right away too.

 Thanks Chvrches for the amazing night!

Oh man it was such a wonderful night... I seriously can't believe that I actually talked and shook hands with one of my favourite bands (and favourite electronic band). The concert itself was so so good really. I love their energy, love Lauren's bubbliness and basically the chemistry of the band and the audience. I hope one day they'll come to Indonesia and I'll definitely be there again!

Okay I'm going to talk about my Saturday in Singapore on another post! Chvrches was so good! I can't seem to move on from the concert hah. Alright till then, see you soon!