Bjork - Hyperballad

we live on a mountain
right at the top
there's a beautiful view
from the top of the mountain
every morning i walk towards the edge
and throw little things off
like:
car-parts, bottles and cutlery
or whatever i find lying around

it's become a habit
a way
to start the day

i go through this
before you wake up
so i can feel happier
to be safe up here with you

it's real early morning
no-one is awake
i'm back at my cliff
still throwing things off
i listen to the sounds they make
on their way down
i follow with my eyes 'til they crash
imagine what my body would sound like
slamming against those rocks

and when it lands
will my eyes
be closed or open?

i'll go through all this
before you wake up
so i can feel happier
to be safe up here with you

Elbow - Open Arms

You're a law unto yourself
And we don't suffer dreamers
But neither should you walk the earth alone

So with finger rolls and folding chairs
And a volley of streamers
We can be there for tweaks and repairs
Should you come back home

We got open arms for broken hearts
Like yours my boy, come home again

Tables are for pounding here
And when we've got you surrounded
The man you are will know the boy you were

And you're not the man who fell to earth
You're the man of La Mancha
And we've love enough to light the street
'Cause everybody's here

We got open arms for broken hearts
Like yours my boy, come home again
We got open arms for broken hearts
Like yours my boy, come home again

Everyone's here
Everyone's here
The moon is out looking for trouble
And everyone's here

Everyone's here
Everyone's here
The moon wants a scrap or a cuddle
And everyone's here

We got open arms for broken hearts
Like yours my boy, come home again
We got open arms for broken hearts
Like yours my boy, come home again

Everyone's here
Everyone's here
Everyone's here
Come home again

The moon is out looking for trouble
The moon wants a scrap or a cuddle
The moon is face down in a puddle
And everyone's here

The Mire - Shadows

Great Expectations

I've been thinking lately that when I feel disappointed, angry or upset about something, that it's really because something didn't meet my expectations. And while there may be good reason sometimes for me to actually have those expectations, it is the clinging to them that causes the suffering.

This works with the aesthetics of my hobbies (being disappointed in a particular artist's album); watching the media, pundits and politicians debate with sophistry and casuistry (which I try to avoid these days); or having disagreements and conflicts with friends, family and co-workers (somebody does something I don't agree with, whether it is merely an inconvenience or some sort of perceived moral failing).

Is it helpful to establish blame and wield anger and resentment as sword and shield? Or should we accept that sometimes things do not live up to our expectations of them and simply work towards a solution and/or move on?

Pip got his heart broken, Estella was cruel and unhappy, and Miss Havisham went up in flames in her mouldering wedding dress. Maybe sometimes expectations shouldn't be great.

Been meaning to post about this guy for awhile: Diego Stocco - Makes music in unexpected ways.

Thru Jerusalem

Found this on Wired.com here

Low - Especially Me

Cry me a river
So I can float over to you
The bearer to deliver the news
I'm over the moon
And underfoot
All these elixirs would be moot

'Cause if we knew where we belong
There'd be no doubt where we're from
But as it stands, we don't have a clue
Especially me and probably you

You've fallen in a slumber
Just wake one more time
To miss or put asunder
Would be a crime
Some songs feel like butter
Some songs sound like cake
This little number is for your sake

'Cause if we knew where we belong
There'd be no doubt where we're from
But as it stands, we don't have a clue
Especially me and probably you

'Cause if we knew where we belong
There'd be no doubt where we're from
But as it stands, we all need the truth
Especially me and probably you
Definitely you

Iron & Wine - Walking Far From Home

I was walking far from home
Where the names were not burned along the wall
Saw a building high as heaven
But the door was so small, door was so small

I saw rain clouds, little babies
And a bridge that had tumbled to the ground
I saw sinners making music
And I dreamt of that sound, dreamt of that sound

I was walking far from home
But I carried your letters all the while
I saw lovers in a window
Whisper "want me like time, want me like time"

I saw sickness bloom in fruit trees
I saw blood and a bit of it was mine
I saw children in a river
But their lips were still dry, lips were still dry

I was walking far from home
And I found your face mingled in the crowd
Saw a boat full of believers
Sail off talking too loud, talking too loud

I saw sunlight on the water
Saw a bird fall like a hammer from the sky
An old woman on the speed train
She was closing her eyes, closing her eyes

I saw flowers on a hillside
And a millionaire pissing on the lawn
Saw a prisoner take a pistol
And say "join me in song, join me song"

Saw a car crash in the country
Where the prayers run like weeds along the road
I saw strangers stealing kisses
Leaving only their clothes, only their clothes

Saw a white dog chase its tail
And a pair of hearts carved into a stone
I saw kindness and an angel
Crying take me back home, take me back home

Saw a highway, saw an ocean
I saw widows in the temple to the Lord
Naked dancers in the city
How they spoke for us all, spoke for us all

I saw loaded linen tables
And a motherless colt then it was gone
I saw hungry brothers waiting
With the radio on, radio on

I was walking far from home
Where the names were not burned along the wall
Saw a wet road form a circle
And it came like a call, came like a call from the Lord

Round That Sun

As I spin round that sun,
All the while, thinking I’m at the center—
As the circle comes undone,
And in my eyes, planks replace the splinter—

The Gemini becomes the Taurus,
And who the moon and stars tell me I am
In the paradox of harmonic chorus
Versus the static, stubborn man.

The poet and the scientist
Walk hand in hand along the crashing tide,
Looking for another whom somehow missed
That they were simply following his stride.

They push and pull like arguing brothers,
As if they could mimic circadian rhythms.
One voice of Self, one voice of the Other—
Both voices drowning out all hymns.

Sometimes, a song breaks through their din,
And sometimes, they may pause
To listen to the siren-calls of whales.
Overhead, the sun bakes brown their skins,
Burns through their hounding cause,
And my sins drop off my soul like scales.

For you see, I am those brothers,
As well as for whom they search.
I am not broken upon the island rocks.
I am the sun, the self, the others,
Each tiny grain of sand, the church.
I am the watchmaker and his discarded clock.

And despite the solitude he craves,
They still say, “No man’s an island.”
But we are islands, each and every one,
And if you baptize your eyes below the waves,
You’ll see those brothers, hand in hand,
Joined together, spinning round that sun.

Jonsi - Go Do

Jónsi - Go Do from Jónsi on Vimeo.

Go sing, too loud
Make your voice break- Sing it out
Go scream, do shout
Make an earthquake...

You wish fire would die and turn colder
You wish your love could see you grow older
We should always know that we can do anything

Go drum, do proud
Make your hands ache - Play it out
Go march through crowd
Make your day break...

You wish silence released massive tremors
You wish, I know it, surrender to summers
We should always know that we can do anything

Go do, you'll learn to
Just let yourself, fall into landslide

Go do, you'll learn to
Just let yourself, give into low tide

Go do!

Tie strings to clouds
Make your own lake - Let it flow
Throw seeds to sprout
Make your own break - Let them grow

Let them grow (Endless summers)
Let them grow (Endless summers)

(Go do endless summers)

You wish surprise, will never stop wonders
You wish sunrise, will never fall under

You wish surprise, will never stop wonders
You wish sunrise, will never fall under
We should always know that we can do anything

Go do!

2CELLOS

More Saul Williams. . .

Vegan Black Metal Chef

Everybody needs some Careless Whispers from time to time. . .

2011 contenders, or, the story so far. . .

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Tao Of The Dead
A Storm Of Light - As The Valley Of Death Becomes Us, Our Silver Memories Fade
A Storm of Light - Untitled (Latitudes)
Across Tundras - Sage
John Luther Adams - Four Thousand Holes
Álfheimr - What Allows Us To Endure
Batillus - Furnace
Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Beileid
Book Of Black Earth - The Cold Testament
Cave In - White Silence
Elbow - Build A Rocket Boys!
Enslaved - The Sleeping Gods
Esmerine - La Lechuza
Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
From Exile - Just Like You Imagined
Glorie - Glorie
Graveyard - Hisingen Blues
Ben Harper - Give Till It's Gone
The Human Abstract - Digital Veil
Idol and the Whip - Heavy Sleeper
Incubus - If Not Now, When?
Indian - Guiltless
Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
Johann Johannsson - The Miners' Hymns
Julia Kent - Green and Grey
The Killamanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - From the Stairwell
Lamb - 5
Lo-Pan - Salvador
Low - C'mon
The Matador - Descent Into The Maelstrom
Meek is Murder - Algorithms
Men Eater - Gold
Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Bo Molasses - You've Put Your Voodoo On Me
M. Ostermeier - The Rules of Another Small World
Red Fang - Murder the Mountains
Red Snapper - Key
Saul Williams - Volcanic Sunlight
Septicflesh - The Great Mass
Shining - VII Fodd Forlorare
Thomas Giles - Pulse
Trap Them - Darker Handcraft
TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
The Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps

Jury's still out:
Arms & Sleepers - The Organ Hearts
Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues
British Sea Power - Valhalla Dancehall
Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Colloseum - Chapter III: Parasomnia
The Dear Hunter - The Color Spectrum
The Decemberists - The King Is Dead
The Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction / Ghost
Dredg - Chuckles And Mr. Squeezy
Ryan Francis - Works For Piano
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
Fucked Up - David Comes To Life
Glassjaw - Coloring Book / Our Color Green
Grayceon - All We Destroy
The Kills - Blood Pressures
Lazarus AD - Black Rivers Flow
Light Bearer - Lapsus
Man Man - Life Fantastic
Scott Matthew - Gallantry's Favorite Son
The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation - Anthropomorphic
New Keepers Of The Water Towers - The Calydonian Hunt
Obscura - Omnivium
O'Death - Outside
Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
Owen Hart - Earth Control
Primate - Draw Back A Stump
Radiohead - The King of Limbs
Rotten Sound - Cursed
Six Organs Of Admittance - Asleep on the Floodplain / Maria Kapel
Spiders - Spiders
Tephra - Tempel
Tombs - Path of Totality
TV Ghost - Mass Dreams
U.S. Christmas - The Valley Path
VYGR - Hypersleep
Xerath - II
Young Widows - In and Out of Youth and Lightness