spirare listens: a peek at my playlist

Welcome back, peeps.

Today I'm gonna give you guys a sample of my music playlist from about 5 years ago, when I was trudging my way through f.sc (pre-med) and suffering through nearly every minute of it. I despised the schedule that left me little time to sleep and for my hobbies. I'll admit I wasn't the intense studying type but after two years of a very demanding schedule my creative juices seemed to have gone stagnant. I listened to a lot of Garbage, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Paramore, Emilie Autumn, the Rasmus and Sugababes, as well as a smattering of completely random classical music and film scores.

So, let's start with Garbage:

1. Push it - Garbage (Album: Version 2.0)

This is the noise that keeps me awake
my head explodes and my body aches

The lyrics are memorable, sung in Shirley Manson's distinctive earthy voice. The music is like a vortex - it sucks you and in and then gasps and whirls and spits you out.

2. Shalott - Emilie Autumn (from the album 'Opheliac')

...I'm half-sick of shadows...

Emilie Autumn's appearance and snarling, growling vocals might put many people off, but this song is one of my favourites. I am in love with the opening chords (played on a harpsichord) among the sound of gulls crying and the slamming of doors. Emilie has that slight rough edge to her voice that grates on the ears a bit, but it's unnoticeable as the song draws to a close. The song is fast-paced and there's a sense of urgency, as if one must tell a story and leap off to an adventure. The lyrics are based on the poem, 'The lady of Shalott' by Lord Tennyson. The cello and violin wreathe their merry way over and around the harpsichord arrangement. 

3.The Call - Regina Spektor

This gorgeous song is from the soundtrack to The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. It plays nearly at the end, as the Pevensies return to their own world. The bittersweet mood of this song makes me ache for happy times, for old friends, for things out of reach.

4. Precious Things - Tori Amos

This song is dark and moody with a brilliant piano build up. The lyrics get odder and odder (to me). But it's Tori Amos. I forgive her, since the chorus is so good. I'm still trying to figure out the second verse though. I couldn't find a non-youtube studio version, so you'll have to do with this live version. The quality's a bit iffy, but it can't be helped. It's a very good live version though. 

5.  Sail Away - The Rasmus

I remember hearing this song one day on some random german music channel. Since that day, it's been one of my favourites. I love Lauri's husky vocals here. This is a song for a rainy day.

So, have you ever listened to Garbage or any of the above mentioned music acts? What songs do you like?

-spirare

spirare listens: a peek at my playlist

Lahore is pretty serene today, after all the rain and the andhis and dust. Especially the dust. I swear I  dug up a truckload of it as I cleaned up my bookshelf. Then there was a ton of old kiddy books of mine I had to transfer to areas of the house with a lower, um, population density. All that running up and down the stairs tired me out, man. And it reminded me of so many things I was meant to do before classes start.

So as I was saying, Lahore is serene and so am I. Today I'm in the mood to sit back with a cup of doodh patti wali chai and blog about what music I'm listening to currently.  Maybe I'll even make this a weekly section. It might motivate me to blog more, ha.

1. Absence - Asfandyar Khan

This a lovely, lovely track. It starts out so gentle and ripples inwards, outwards like waves of water stroking your brain. The music moves inch by inch until it creeps into every crevice of your brain. The mood seems sweetly melancholic, it whispers of nostalgia and longing. At least to me.

2. Teardrop by Massive Attack - Covered by Newton Faulkner

While the original version had soft, rather mysteriously enunciated vocals, this version is more, shall we say, gritty. Newton Faulkner melodiously growls the words, and its a pleasure to hear him sing the lyrics. I love this song's original version, but this one is very, very good.

3. Life - Ludovico Einaudi

When ever I hear this track, I get a sense of deja vu. I cannot, for the life of me remember where I've heard it before. It sounds like something heard years ago but I discovered it a few months ago and was blown away. The real fun with such classical tracks is guessing the instruments used. It starts off so beautifully with what I think is a harp and a glockenspiel, then is joined by a tinkling piano melody and builds up with a violin arrangement that weaves around the piano chords and truly takes off at the 2:44 mark and then gradually fades back into the glockenspiel. We come full circle. This is a track that makes you wish that you grew up in the middle of a forest with a clattering brook running through it. Since most of us didn't have that luxury, all I'll say is this track suggests: go outside.

4. Worlds Apart - Seven Lions ft. Kerli 

I love this track so much. I have been the humming the chorus to myself ever since I heard it. Kerli's vocals are taut and ethereal, floating over shimmering synths and tight percussion. And when the beat drops - oh man. There's also a really nice vocals only mix by Kerli of this song, but you get it if you sign up here.

5. Astro - Dynoman

I already reviewed Travels to Janaicah here (rather crudely I might say), but I really wanted to include this track on my list. I think it's an interesting track - I find myself rewinding to hear the beginning again and again. It's all bouncy layered beats and stuttering vocals, and immerses the listener in a chilled out but pensive mood. It's music for actively daydreaming away about, say, rock climbing, making a sandcastle or urban exploration.Yeah. A background for serious, thoughtful stuff. 

Any interesting music in your playlist? Comment and tell me about it!

-spirare

expansion

I decided to upload dust:threads:sunbeams at Bandcamp. Here it is, with a couple of bonus extras!

    

The Zoologist Chronicles: The Diary of Morpheus

So, guys, welcome back to the Zoologist Chronicles! Which as you would remember I started since I study zoology and have always had an interest in animals, besides music. I also would like to mention I'll be starting my Masters in Zoology this month, with a specialization in entomology. That's the study of arthropods which includes bugs and spiders and all that. And yeah, spiders are not insects. More on that later.

This post is about a beautiful lime butterfly called Morpheus.

He started out as an egg laid on a tiny lemon-less lemon tree in my house, but I found him as a caterpillar and decided to keep him.

The 3rd instar stage

He ate a lot of lemon leaves and spent time exploring his jar home. After two more molting sessions, he became a green thing. (I know, that sounds so like a zoology student.)

After he ate a lot more, he became like this. Almost like he was ready to explode.

I became more excited since I knew he was gonna pupate soon (and I wouldn't have to wake up so early to bring him fresh leaves. More time to sleep in, yeah!).

When a caterpillar is ready to pupate, it starts to climb around to find a nice patch for hanging around and spins a silk cradle of sorts for itself. The silk is released from spinnerettes near its mouth. My caterpillar managed to find a place to attach but the chrysalis fell down. I placed it in a paper cone to keep it upright. It came in handy for the newly eclosed butterfly to rest as it dried its wings. One of the most amazing things was to watch the chrysalis transition from a somewhat crumpled green thing to something that looked like a folded butterfly wrapped in a transparent green membrane. Wow. I missed the butterfly 'hatching' or eclosing, but I got to hold it until it dried off its wings and flew away. 

Day 1 as a chrysalis

About day 5 as a chrysalis

Day 9 (I think). Almost right before eclosion

drying off wings

Since then, I've tried raising more butterflies - three more lime butterflies to be exact. Two of them I left on the tree outside and met a nasty death due to parasitoid wasps when they pupated. It was kinda heartbreaking, honestly. The empty chrysalis swung from the little lemon tree for a long time. 

The fourth attempt was a success though. Here is the unnamed little guy.

I would encourage everyone to raise butterflies as long as they are a species native to Pakistan. All you need for them is a plastic container that can be easily cleaned and covered, and a fresh supply of the leaves for the caterpillar. The caterpillars eat the leaves of the plants they hatch on. You'll know its the one if the leaves are all chewed and eaten. It's a beautiful feeling to watch the emerged butterfly fly away. Something inside me usually wants to keep it, but then it won't be able to benefit the environment. 

So, here we go. The tale of Morpheus, may not be very interesting to humans, but look at life from the butterfly's point of view. It fights to be born so hard. I like to think it is born twice - first from an egg and then from a chrysalis. 

The Shut-Eye Kind

Hi all
So I'm finishing up on Obscura, and there was this track that didn't want to fit in at all. I decided to upload it earlier on Soundcloud. It's inspired by a conversation I had with Rija Yousaf on one of her blog posts "music like you". While you're there, check out the rest of her posts. She's a really good writer, and you might just learn something about life.

So, do you:
a( Like it? 
b) Feel 'meh' about it? 
c) Want to shove it in the Earth's core and never hear it again? 

Do tell me. I'd like some constructive criticism!

-spirare

Chop and paste

Some months ago I made a video by stitching together random sock footage for my old track Plain Winds just for fun. It's a rough sort of video but I thought I'd share it here anyway. Clips used in the video were from this website.

          
             Plain Winds - spirare from spirare on Vimeo.

Tear drop

Anyone ever hear this beautiful song called "Teardrop" by Massive Attack? Although I am not an active listener of Massive Attack, this song caught my eye when my sister was on a House M.D. watching spree (it's the opening theme). The vocals are by Elizabeth  Fraser of the Cocteau Twins. She has a lovely, floaty dreamlike voice, and I guarantee you'll find yourself humming along. I've had this song stuck in my head for so long now. The lyrics, "...fearless on my breath.." particularly. The video is strange, yet it seems to really go with the song. Here are the lyrics.

  

                          

Teardrop - Massive Attack (Subtitulada) from José Luis on Vimeo.