Petronia

(By the way, if you still want these I'm taking them down soon!)

Gianmaria Testa - Città Lunga
Gianmaria Testa - La Traiettorie Delle Mongolfiere
Gianmaria Testa - Come Un'america
Gianmaria Testa - Cavalli Di Frisia

I promise I'm not trying to learn Italian via song lyrics. ...Okay, only sort of. Gianmaria Testa is a singer-songwriter I've been listening to a lot lately, ever since I discovered the Grande Bibliothèque has an excellent contemporary music collection you can borrow three CDs at a time. XD The most popular albums tends to be permanently out, of course, but I'm more interested in out-of-the-way stuff anyhow.

The first two tracks are from Mongolfières, the last two from Extra Muros (French "world music" releases, I think, not corresponding to the original tracklisting). Basically it's jazz, tango, etc. arrangements around a core of old Italian dude on acoustic guitar, Jazz Fest world music showcase indoors sit-down concert style - you know beforehand whether you dig this stuff or not. XD The lyrics have a sort of ambiguous loveliness, ( when they're intelligible: )

Today the subjunctive, tomorrow the world. XD Actually this particular text reminds me of a poem I liked when I was little (also Italian - I read it in translation); it's online, surprisingly.

Dominik Eulberg - Goldammer
Dominik Eulberg - Die Alpenstrandläufer Von Spiekeroog (Album Version)
Dominik Eulberg - Stelldichein Des Westerwälder Volgelchores

A CREATION MYTH: one day the King of All Cosmos made the Prince roll a katamari through the Library of Babel. Then he tossed it into the sky and it became the German language.

In case you're wondering, this is a "Goldammer" and this is an "Alpenstrandläufer" (Spiekeroog and Westerwälder are place names). I used to think Dominik Eulberg named his releases like this to be funny. Then I found out he was a national park ranger. Like, before he became a famous techno DJ. See RA review for more wacky track titles and proof I'm not making this up. orz Basically this album - Heimische Gefilde - is one snippet of Dominik Eulberg hiking through the woods and teaching you the bird and insect calls of the Rhine, followed by one techno track, rinse and repeat. After I listened to it twice I realized it was even more deadly serious than that: this album is programmatic. Like Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. The drums are the rocky beach, the sustained synth line is the wind, the trebly bits are the little sandpipers running along the edge of the water, that kind of programmatic. The third track up there is 9:30 long and built entirely out of birdsong samples. It's kind of the best thing ever. I mean the music is great if you like dark, clean, dancefloor-oriented minimal techno that you can do aerobic workouts to, but I just keep having Dominik Eulberg explain that yellow buntings say "wie wie wie hab ich Dich lieb" in German. And cracking up. XD

Quick work, entry unlocked, p1mp as required, must run~

( To be edited )

( Last page of Finder no sekiyoku aka Viewfinder vol.3 )

...I just wanted to translate it so other people can have fuel for speculation. XD

(May as well feed the Mero.) Suga Shikao, "Sanagi".

サナギ
スガ シカオ

体のうすい粘膜を直接ベタベタと触られるような
あなたのその無神経な指も
ゾクゾクして嫌いじゃなかった

でも　いつだってあなたときたら
放っておくと嘘ばかり

私のことを馬鹿だと　はじめから思っていたくせに・・・

こんな日が来ると　思いもしなかったけど
まだそこにあなたが　いる気配すら感じるの

あなたがいなくなってからもうずっと
体はサナギ色になって渇いて

冬の寒い部屋で生まれ変わるの
まるでそれは美しい蝶みたいに

まだ濡れているその羽根を
誰かに駄目にされないように

少しずつひらいていくの　空を飛ぶユメを見て・・・

そんな日が不意に　やってくるのだとしたら
その羽根でどこへ　飛んでいけばいいかしら

家畜に名前がないように
あなたの名前を忘れてしまうの

思い出して泣いてしまうよりも
あなた自体を消してしまうの

そんな日がいつか　やってくるのでしょうか
あなたとの日々が　もう許されるのでしょうか
そんな日がいつか　やってくるのでしょうか
素晴らしい日々が　いつの日か・・・

( English )

Kind of random but I really like it. Although since I first heard it I've been going nuts trying to relate it to XXXHolic. Why are all the sublimely happy-sounding Suga Shikao songs so sad? XD;

For sesame_seed as requested. This turned out to be a rather odd and interesting song. XD

( Japanese )

( Romaji )

( English )

( Translation chat )

Now that I have all of Astromantic (she says wild-eyed) I'm only missing m-flo inside i.e. Sotoshigoto Part II, and Astromantic Charm School the requisite remix album - yeah, just when you were thinking m-flo are the Japanese Handsome Boy Modeling School equivalent too.

m-flo loves Emi Hinouchi, AI and Rum - Starstruck~ The Return of the LuvBytes

The guiding aesthetic of the "m-flo loves..." series of singles culminating in the Astromantic album is essentially the scenario presented in this track: a most excellent discoball par-tay deejayed by Taku, emceed by Verbal, and full of beautiful and idolized Japanese people (also Johnny Depp, because two outta three ain't bad). To be played on equipment that does justice to the bassline, under circumstances when the listener can bounce along. Guest list for all! ...God, I love that synth organ bit.

m-flo loves CHEMISTRY - Astrosexy

アストロマンチック： それは、未知の世界への憧れを持つこと。未知の可能性を常に追求すること。普段、DJがいるなチューンをフロア出かけた時、ロマンチックなボイズはフライなガルズと踊らずにいられないのはずだ。目と目を合わせ、二人は極普通に素敵な夜を過ごすだろう。しかし、アストロマンチックなボイズ、いや、アストロマンチック・ジェンタルマンの場合：DJがホットなチューンをかけた時、ブースに入り込んで、今まで誰に聞いてもないようなヴァースをスピットする。そしてパーチィーピポルの心全員でロック・ダウンしてしまう。
Astromantic: state of yearning for the world of the unknown. State of constantly pursuing the possibilities of the unknown. Under normal circumstances, when the DJ puts a great tune on the dancefloor, romantic boys and fly girls can't help but dance. Their eyes meet, and the two of them spend a wonderful night in an extremely normal fashion. However, in the case of the astromantic boy - no, astromantic gentleman - when the DJ put on a hot tune, he breaks into the booth, spits out a verse like no one has ever heard before, and rocks down in the hearts of all the party people.

--m-flo, "How to be Astromantic"

(Yes, I transcribed that. I'm really that insane.)

I feel exceedingly awful. =_= On top of the lingering rhinitis I developed a gastrointestinal upset - I hate gastros, because they prevent me from eating, which is the axis around which my world revolves. The weird thing is that my sister had the exact same thing yesterday. The day before she was at a wine-and-cheese after her piano teacher's recital. As of course she could not drink the wine she ate tons of cheese, and was sick thereafter. Brilliantly not learning from example, last night I went out with Erin and had a giant portion of aubergine parmigiana, which (I'd never seen the dish before) turned out to be essentially vegetarian lasagna. And now I'm sick. So either our frail Asian stomachs had the same reaction to too much cheese, or whatever my sister had was catching. Or it was catching, but only organisms weakened by cheese are at risk.

( Yuki - JOY )