New DEP Single: "Farewell, Mona Lisa"

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Pulling the puzzles apart

It's way past bedtime, and I've got nothing to do but write. Write about my day, this night, or is it my life? This life. Who cares? I'll catch the next train to sleep, the one sleep specialists say comes at 2.

The bus driver looks like a nice guy. I didn't even know there could still be a bus there at 11:30 pm, which makes him seem somewhat nicer. Does this bus stop at my stop? Apparently not, but he says he can drop me on the other side of the hotel, and that it's not too long a walk. I don't really care, I don't mind the walking. I like walking, especially on dark gloomy streets. I love the contrast between the faint orange street lights and the dark, the shadows of buildings and the white neon lights. Or maybe it's just that everything looks so quiet, so calm. Past a certain time, this world can very much seem like a sleeping giant.

In a way it makes me feel more alive, to think that there may be a risk to walk on the road less traveled. Funny it should be dark, that's not how I usually imagine it.

Well, the guy assumes I just want to get home as soon as possible. It's true, but it doesn't really matter that much.

Oh shit, no change in my pockets, just my credit card! The driver tells me that at this time in the evening, no one is going to check anyways. I can travel for free.

We keep talking about where he's going to drop me off. If only he had known how little I actually cared, we wouldn't have talked at all. But I wanted to talk about it. Seems like the appropriate thing to do, act like you care. And he's really nice and looks like he enjoys talking to people, which is why I didn't let the conversation die.

Are you a student? Yep. You go to ESSEC? Yes. I surprised myself on this one. Tonight like for most of this semester, I didn't give a crap where I went to school. Not like a few months ago, when I could never prevent my overinflated ego to shine all across my face when people who couldn't care less asked me where I studied out of sheer politeness. Why? Is it pride? Am I proud? Of what? Going to a good school? What the hell, I don't even know what that means, a "good school". What the hell happened to me in the last 12 years?

But tonight I was in touch with the child I brought home from Africa. The one who got beat up in 7th grade. The one who didn't understand the world around him, but was eager to learn. The one who was infinitely wiser than I have been these past years. I didn't give a crap, I was just me, not the other ESSEC guy I hate and wish would disappear.

I said it the way I meant it, not the way I thought he would want me to say it. A liberating feeling truly, to be yourself. It's kind of like taking off the make-up, and liking what you see in the mirror. Obviously, I don't actually wear make-up. Well, not the visible kind anyways.

So are you going to the party on Tuesday? Ha! He knows about it. What should I say? Yes, of course I am going to the party!

I don't really enjoy the parties, I just like spending time with my friends. I don't see them enough this semester. Or not for long enough periods of time. But who am I kidding? They want me to get drunk. It would be the first time if I did, and frankly it would kill me to do it. Those who know me know that I stand firmly against alcohol and getting drunk. It's a question of values. Or non-conformism or something. Or health, safety...integrity. Yeah, integrity. Sounds good but can I really say I always act with integrity? Hell no. So what's it to me? Who knows. Defending what's left of my past, perhaps. I always look to the future by nature. I've always been like that. Sort of like a refuge, but it makes me neglect the present, and regret the past.

So it turns out the bus driver volunteered to drive us drunken and worn out students back home, throughout the early morning hours on Wednesday. He won't make a single dime for the extra hours. He just does it for the students. So does he care about helping students? Does he like cleaning up puke at 4 o'clock in the morning? I knew it! He tries to look like he doesn't care about his surroundings, with his slightly detached attitude. But he loves his job. He loves meeting new people. I can tell. I can always tell these things.

"Oh what good is it to live, with nothing left to give
Forget but not forgive, not loving all you see"

What's home when you're all alone? Well, maybe the incredible music of Coldplay playing through the late hours of the night. People like us don't care much for short-term purpose. We enjoy the little, insignificant things and savor them as much as possible. Every note on that keyboard. The beauty of every thought shared with a complete stranger. Every strum on that abrasive guitar. Every little cloud of fog moving mysteriously under a street light. Every ray of morning light that tries to wake you up. Every drop of rain on your skin. The look in someone's eyes on the bus. The concrete arches of the tunnel's ceiling gliding in and out of the back window.

For the first time in ages, I sang my heart out today.

And it felt like I was telling a tale of a billion years.

ESSEC Lipdub!!

I love my school!!!

Lipdub ESSEC 2009

The Converge Nouveau is coming! :P

Ooooh YEAH!!! This, my friend, is going to be one amazing album, I can feel it. This kind of heaviness and blasting around is a very very good sign that, by the end of this year, Epitaph will have treated us to some great music. I am so excited!!

Memories: 1 song = 1 place

Budapest (Hungary).

Quimper (France).

Pont-l'Abbé (France).

Muscat (Sultanate Of Oman).

Al Ain (United Arab Emirates).

Liverpool (United Kingdom).

San Francisco (USA).

Abidjan (Ivory Coast).

Abu Dhabi (UAE).

Dubai (UAE).

Oldies!!!

Iiiiiiiit's... LAME TIME!! 90's electro/pop baby!To think we grew up listening to this lol. I thought I'd make a collection of some of my personal favorites. Some of these are actually still fun, ageless really! Others...but I'll let you be the judge of that hehe ^^

Anyways, be prepared,chances are these next videos will be a wild trip down memory lane for you too ;-)


ATC - "Around The World"




Alice Deejay - "Better Off Alone"

Haddaway - "What Is Love?"

Corona - "The Rhythm Of The Night"

Gala - "Free From Desire"

Ace of Base - "All That She Wants"

Aqua - "Barbie Girl"



Spice Girls - "Wannabe"

Meiko

Discover Meiko!

I'm in shock. Really. Meiko took me completely off-guard. I wasn't expecting anything like that to ever be written, not in my lifetime. This is the first time I encounter a song that feels at once so very familiar yet strangely at the same time completely distant, almost alien. I've never felt anything comparable. This sort of sublime emotion I only knew (and believed I would only ever know) through a few movies, that very unique breed of movies where epic violence and utmost peace are put in startling contrast. This song is nothing violent, don't get me wrong, but musically speaking it's exactly the soundtrack I'd choose for, say, a long, contemplative scene in a sci-fi disaster movie of some sort...I don't know if I'm clear, if I'm making any sense with this, please excuse me if it's not the case but this song shook me to the core. Also, along with that breathtaking and confusing melody are personal lyrics about love that would make you feel lonely if you were in New York! How the heck do I respond to that??? That up-and-coming 1/4th Japanese L.A. indie artist is one big question mark. She somehow seeked out limits in my listening habits I would've never imagined, deleted tags here and there and shuffled a whole part of my mind in such a way that I'm not taking too many chances saying this song changed me. I have now to see how this will affect my future approaches to music, but I'm telling you after this song, I feel...washed. They say that's what music does, it cleans the soul. I used to think of it as just a nice idea to consider when there was nothing else to do. But this song made me a believer.

Just have a listen, and tell me. Should I like this? Should I not? Do I love it like fear itself? Or do I hate it for making me feel this lost??? This Meiko girl has to be a genius, and she's messing with my brain on this one! I am now launching what must be my 10th consecutive listen of "Hawaii", and still can't fully grasp the incredible magic that drives it, and makes it so hypnotic, so weirdly addictive. Let me sleep!!!

IWRESTELDABEARONCE

iwrestledabearonce - "Tastes like Kevin Bacon"

Iwrestledabearonce- "Tastes like kevin bacon"

Very interesting music, by a slightly twisted band (check out their myspace). You're not sure what that means?

Here's an excerpt of the blog post on myspace introducing the new members (line-up has changed since the video):

"First is mikey on drums... mikey is a sexual beast and enjoys long walks on the beach as well as spooning.

next is mim on guitar... she is krysta's sister and she shreds balls. period. the end.

anndd finally we have dave on bass. he is a beast and makes love to the bass like it's an underage malaysian prostitute."

Heavy mosh parts + original music + lead singer and lead guitarist are sisters + funny bits + varied structure = one new fan...me! he!

:)

IWRESTLEDABEARONCE - "ULRICH FIRELORD: BREAKER OF MOUNTAINS"

2:27 to 3:11 destroys all!!!

Future Of The Left: my discovery for this week :-)

Future Of The Left, a band I discovered 2...days ago. ^^ Good music, straightforward yet complex enough. Perfect to re-conciliate yourself with good ol' rock'n'roll spirit.

This particular song, "adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood" makes me think of some sort of noise-style Rage Against The Machine. Veeeeery catchy, groovy tune :P

"Manchasm": The ending is fun: the cam starts following a cat called Collin instead of the white-haired man, and the band sing along stuff like "Colin was a pussy, a very pretty pussy" ^^ And it is kind of cute, I have to admit lol

Heavier music I love

The song by Zao, "The Rising End" is great stuff, albeit perhaps a liiiittle repetitive, but both the main riff and the break (x2) are fantastic! Can you believe these guys are fervent christians? 

Converge - Drop out: The beginning is "ok", but the end of this song is PERFECT!!!

Soft, harmless pop (before I post some more "catchy" stuff later on :P)

Most of the time I listen to violent stuff, so people might think that's ALL I like. It's not true, I sometimes appreciate a little pop or pop/rock...given it's not too plain and/or that it's beautiful.

This song is extremely well-known, "commercial" in a way, soft. But I love it!

But THESE guys below really get to me! Such amazing music. Both of their albums soooo great, from A to Z. Presenting Needtobreathe!

Blast from the past!

Silence Is Sexy!

And it's FREE, too! (Oh! And legal!) :P

Check it out...here!

Free drum lessons!

I really miss formal musical education, like I said already, but there are things on the net that come quite close to a formal teacher/student learning process.

NO, It's not a chat room where you talk to drummers live and play together via webcam... this could be very interesting, but extremely difficult to manage and supervise. And music is one of these things you either learn by yourself, or with someone with whom you have to work "live", or else it's just distracting...

HOWEVER, I really like this website Free Drum Lessons.

It offers very high quality drum lessons. From beginners to polyrhythm masters, anyone can learn on this site. There are a few e-teachers on this project, and all of them seem quite passionate about teaching drums.

Each lesson looks at a particular aspect of drumming. You find everything on there, from drum tuning to music notation, from dynamics to rudiments, or counting in 5/4. You can learn rock drumming, jazz drumming, latin drumming, and double-bass. you name it they have it. Each lesson is also associated to downloadable sheet music of the stuff covered in the video, so you can print it out, jot down a few things from the video, shut down the computer and PLAY!.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!! If one day you just don't feel like "learning" (in the formal sense) all that much, but still feel that urge to play for fun...you can conciliate both! Because free drum lessons has a whole bunch of pretty cool play-alongs, and you can download the drumless audio-only mp3 track for free as well!

Ex. of a play-along: 

So yeah, just thought I'd share this with you ;-)

Flying stool

Hi everyone!

Today I wanted to share this sweet video by a band I love: The Dillinger Escape Plan. The music video for "Milk Lizard", an interesting (albeit not as violent as other DEP songs) new single from their album "Ire Works". This video depicts the amazing adventures (and city exploration) of a selfless flying stool thrown by a girl during a bar fight. I thought that it wasn't that cool a video at first, but the end just got me laughing, so I think watching this is really worth it. Note also that this is one of Gil Sharone's first appearances with DEP as their new drummer. Enjoy!