The Colour of Sound

So, to those of you who know me know my six year connection to the retail giant, the Gap. It's a love-hate relationship and while they had a rocky 2007, there are lots of changes in the air. They have a new head designer, Patrick Robinson, whose first collection should be the Fall 2008 line. He has worked for the high end market such as Giorgio Armani, Anne Klein and Perry Ellis.

The company is also taking a new route in terms of advertising but the way of music. Due to the enormous success of the past few years of music and merchandising advertisements a la Feist/IPod and Moby/everything else, Gap has commissioned a series of music videos to the San Francisco production company Rehab for their Spring 2008 campaign. The result is a a representation of five colours, each given to a different artist to interpret. The Raveonettes, the Blakes, Marie Digby, the Swizz Beatz and Dntel are involved with this project and free downloads are available until March 15, 2008.

For the full story and corresponding music videos, please visit the Sound of Color.

Red
Dntel - Turning Red (mp3)

Yellow
Marie Digby - Paint me in your Sunshine (mp3)

Green
Swizz Beatz - Candy Green (mp3)

Blue
The Blakes - Magic (mp3)

Black/White
The Raveonettes - Black/White (mp3)


Raveonettes - Black/White

I'm biased, but I'm especially liking the video for the Raveonettes' Black/White.

Valentine's 2008

Happy Valentine's 2008. It's a holiday both loved and hated. No matter what your opinion on February the 14th, there's always a song to encapsulate the way you feel. Of course, some are more cliche than most, and other songs can get pretty specific. I'm sure you'll find something interesting whether you're pro or anti Valentine's.

The song for new and naive stages of romance:
Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman - Elephant Love Medley (MP3)

Ewan:We could be lovers!
Nicole: We can't do that.
Ewan: We should be lovers!
And that's a fact!
Oh man, I loved that movie. Go watch Moulin Rouge if you haven't already. I think this medley is the epitome of Valentine tunes. So many great songs all wrapped into a neat, adorable package. Enough said.

The song for the cynical relationship:
Marcy's Playground - Sex and Candy (MP3)

When I first heard this song, I was but a child. I didn't know what it meant. A meaning dawned on me when I listened to it again only recently. And isn't sex and candy what Valentine's is on about anyway?
I smell sex and candy here.
Who's that lounging in my chair?
Who's that casting devious stares in my direction?

The song for a sense of an impending breakup:
White Town - Your Woman (MP3)

I like how this one begins with the makings of a death march.
Well I guess what you say is true.
I could never be the right kind of girl for you.
I could never be your woman.

The teenage desperation song:
Mika - Grace Kelly (MP3)

Maybe these lines are taken a tiny bit out of context, but don't they capture everything about teenage lust?
Why don't you like me?
Why don't you like me?
Why don't you walk through the door?

The bittersweet acceptance of being alone song:
Earlimart - Happy Alone (MP3)

Don't give me any crap about eating comfort food, watching chick flicks and crying under your blankets. The 14th is just another day on the calendar.
I'm my home, I've always known
I've gotta be happy alone.
So burn the mail, destroy the phone.
I've gotta be happy alone.

The screw-romance-let's-just-get-drunk-and-party song:
Ok Go - Crash the Party (MP3)

Of all the songs listed here today, I have to say this one has my favourite lyrics. A celebration of bachelor life and an answer to Happy Alone.
You're not the prettiest girl in town.
I'm not the only boy with sullied clothes and a sullen frown,
So to hell with Valentine's, to hell with perfume,
to hell with chocolates and picnics and Sinatra tunes.


Now don't get me wrong, of course these aren't the only ways you're allowed to feel on Valentine's Day, nor are the songs the only ones that correspond to those feelings.


Whatever the case, have a happy Valentine's.

Happiness is not a fish that you can catch?

Okay, so the title is misleading because it is the title of an Our Lady Peace album, but it describes the new City and Colour album Bring Me Your Love (released today) so well. While this record continues in the same introspective vein as Sometimes, it has a bit more range and dare I say it? Much happier, like there's a light at the end of the tunnel. It's still muted but you can can hear through his voice that the future can look bright.

City and Colour - Casey's Song (mp3) from Sometimes (2005)
City and Colour - Comin' Home (mp3) from Sometimes (2005)

City and Colour - Waiting (mp3) from Bring Me Your Love (2008)
City and Colour - That Girl (mp3) from Bring Me Your Love (2008)

Baby, I'm a Lost Cause

So it's been a while, but that's only because I'm been daydreaming and procrastinating.

I've been dreaming of owning my own Toyota Jazz Scooter. I saw it at the Green Show at the Metro Convention Center in last year and it's been popping up in my mind ever since. And since the weather has been horrible lately, its easy to fantasize about zipping around in one of these in nice sunny weather with the wind in my hair. The base price is $3000 and while it isn't exactly practical since I don't even have a full time car, it's so adorable! I don't know, I'll have to see about this extravagance.



My cell phone is busted because my water bottle leaked in my bag (which is surprising waterproof) creating a fish tank for about half an hour before I realized that everything was floating around in water. So hopefully it will be fine once it dries out. Fingers crossed.

There's been alot of homework in my classes. I don't remember University requiring this much work. The assignment right now (which I will start later tonight) is to create a floor plan for a bungalow. This is supposed be a basic inspiration for our major project, which is to design a bungalow. I'm thinking of understated modern and compact spaces, almost like a split condo space with curving likes a la Alvar Aalto. I'm excited thinking about it but it's so hard to get started!

Handsome Furs - Cannot Get Started (mp3)

Happy Chinese New Year to all my Asian friends and family out there!

While the Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" seems like a weird choice to post for the New Year, I've always thought it sounded like the theme song for Wong Faye Hoang. If you speak Chinese, you've heard the song. Jet Li played Wong Faye Hoang in "Once Upon a Time in China" in a newer version of it. Take a listen both and tell me, am I right?

Arcade Fire - Wake Up (mp3)

Feist - It's cool to love your family (mp3)