Tunes to Share #6

The posting of new tunes seems to be all that I'm truly capable of at this time - I wish I could be making more artwork, but instead I will keenly peruse the hidy-holes I have discovered, for music that will inspire all of thee to create and make and do all that makes one happy!


Here are some very good ones to rock your boats;

Here We Go Magic
Hands to the Sky

Just delicious - heard this on Bfm the other day and was completely mesmerised whilst driving through a rainstorm - danger, no?

Little Scream
Heron and The Fox 
(whats with me and foxy tunes lately??)

Wrote a very sweet and well intentioned Facebook message to some dear friends with this track attached, but alas, somehow made some major f-up and have managed to create some weird-ass 'Group' instead ~ I feel like I'm trying to incite a cult or something.... oh the shame!

Alela Diane
The Pirates Gospel

An absolutely delicious track posted by my lovely friend Em from her dear brother Louie - great taste guys - I love me a good 'n dark pirate,  shanty.


Thats all for now my lovelies - hope to post with something more exciting and personal soon xoxox

Tunes To Share #5

Browsing for some new tunes to appease my illness... its now been 2 weeks since I first got the sickness; the longest amount of time I think Ive ever had to fight something off! I think its probably a lot of State Of Mind = State Of Being; to be truly well, you have to be truly content...something that I am striving to find every day.

While each day I am inspired by the beautiful imagery and people of Blogworld, it is really the music that makes me leap out of my seat (haggardly swaying in my PJ's!). I have a particular fascination with this whole REMIX biz; most of the tracks that I find when perusing have been remade/mixed/mashed - this is, most times, the only way to score free downloads - when the track has been altered to within an inch of its life and is now so far removed from the original that it is now okay to mooch for zero dollero. I say that like its a bad thing but sometimes, SOMETIMES,  it just makes them better!! Ouch...

Here are some tracks that are not necessarily on high rotation for me yet, but have intrigued me enough to add them here to share. Ive included the remixed track that caught my ear and then the original track that is also as good in its own way - its weird though, i sometimes get this whole chicken/egg thing going on in my mind - when you hear the remix before the original; how does that change our view of either? Oh crikey ~ tangents! Get me off the cough med's!

Natty - Bedroom Eyes (Roots Manuva Remix)

Original - acoustic version

Micachu and The Shapes

Micachu and The Shapes - Lips - NTEIBINT REMIX (SoundCloud Link)

Some more goodies by this cool and quirky chick/band...

Micachu & The Shapes - Low Dogg (stone lions remix) (SoundCloud Link)

PLUS..... This most excellent track.... very old school Digable Planets; I want to hear more...no remix here, this is just the original in all its goodness!

Shabazz Palaces - Swerve...

LINDY HOPPING CRAZY!

Im so psyched right now! Through the magic of Facebook, and the beauty of finding like-minded peeps, I have just discovered, (or rediscovered!!) the amazing dance style of Lindy Hop!! 

I only just got a wee taste of it a few years ago when this video came out by the New Zealand band Elemeno P  - I never knew the name of this style of dancing but it really struck a chord with me at the time; with its sweetly chaotic (but actually extremely choreographed!) style and the way that these dancers look like they are simply playing around, kind of goofing off to each other, showing off their crazy cool moves!

Then today a friend uploaded this INCREDIBLE video that just got me so damn excited that I have now spent the last half hour trying to find EVERY available Lindy Hop class here in Auckland!! This video is absolutely awe-inspiring! I just spent the whole time grinning and whooping like a schmuck!! Love it!!

Finally found some classes through Jitterbugs; The School Of Swingdance, which I'm hoping will be a sure thing to sign up for - the classes are reasonably close enough to home and are actually SUPER cheap at just $15 a session ($10 students), plus the first one is FREE - I just cant wait to start!! It will be perfect for getting back to health and back to a comfortable and happy, healthy weight; I will kick this 'winter weight's ass!! Bring on the wild moves man!! Anyone who's keen, let me know and we can all meet up there, otherwise I'm gonna take a crack at it lone-wolf styles; I'm sure it will be a great way to meet people! 


Also found this cool showreel by the girl who dances in the Elemeno P video, Sharon Davis. I will wistfully watch and hope that I can be a sixteenth as good as she is!! M xoxox

New Tunes To Share #4

It is not often these days that I get to go out into the wild world of the interweb and seek out new music, but these few tracks have just recently popped up into my peripheries and made quite an impact. With 3 days off school, sick with the dreaded lurgy, I now have some time to sit, gather my thoughts and express my absolute love for these new discoveries! Enjoy!


Up first is a track by a group that I discovered via an NZ blog I've been following recently I Nearly Died of Boredom. Niki and the Dove have made quite an impact on me with the track The Fox; I have a real thing for tracks that  change around alot; beautiful quiet sections that suddenly explode with sound - But I also have a searing love for songs about trees, wild forest creatures and flying on the backs of birds!! Ha! Its beautifully dark and mysterious and just makes me want to don a moss coloured cape and wander the woods at dusk!

The second track that has me swooning is a track by duo Cults - and what a word to Google when trying to find info about them!! Finally found this article about them via Spin. I have been checking out their sounds for a while now but just love the nostalgic sound of this new track You Know What I Mean ~ its just so wistful and pretty.

And lastly, I only discovered this track yesterday, Time to Begin by States, but it is warming nicely on me; especially that nice bass riff throughout the song. Her voice kind of reminds me of the chick from the Paramore, but how can you beat a catchy girly tune to get you going in the mornings! Loving it and looking forward to checking out some more of their tunes. Thanks to Tieka from Selective Potential for adding this tune to the Delightful Dozen's   May Music Monday Mix.

Funny; just realised that they are all female vocalists! And when I think about it, a lot of my favourite tracks recently have been from bands with female lead singers ~ Go Ladies!! Love to all ya'll! xoxox

Things I've Made: Tessellation Wall Art

Inspired by an artwork that we saw in Inside Out Magazine by Cameron Foggo (see photo below), Brendan and I created our own artwork for our bedroom - I wanted the final piece to look like a multicoloured patchwork when up on the wall.

I then added more pieces..... its all blutacked on so can be moved and changed at will!

Here is the process...



Cameron Foggo Artwork Inspiration

planning

measuring & ruling

cutting

test paint samples

painting / staining

playing

MUSIC FEATURE; Friends

Don't you hate it when you find a new band that you like and cant find NOTHING on the interweb about them?? Try typing a Google search on 'Friends'...... thats basically all i know about them, but I LOVE this track and I wanna know more!! I found their MySpace page but there is nothing on it!! Grrrrr! This is a SoundCloud link to their released track "Friend Crush" (freakin awesome lyrics!) but there is also this cool, rough video of them playing live! This song has defintly made my 'tunes of the week' list! yeeah!

..... did some research.... ....found this

MIX TAPES 2011

So, here they are, the two mix cd's that I've been working on for the last few months. Ive finally had the time to finish off the covers and organise the mixes and I'm really happy with the final products. I wanted the Summer cover to be really simple but grungy, in crisp blues and turquoises, but decided at the last minute to add the fuchsia sunburst. My Autumn/Winter cover was based around vintage dressmaking pattern packaging, plus the tracks on this one have a kind of darkness to them that I wanted to come though in the design. Looking forward to passing these goodies on to my dear friends :-)

BACKDATING....

Soooooooo........... I hate doing this, but I've had so many bits and pieces that I've meant to put on here and its just been waaaaay too long since I last did a proper post so, What the Hell, I'm gonna just do one massive catch up session! This is gonna be some random ass shit y'all! 

In the beginning, there was Christmas 2010.....yikes!

So, as with every year, I planned to make many of our gifts for family and friends, and intended to get them all on here straight away, but xmas was so scattered last year that many didn't get their presents until February! What The! Will NOT happen again this year, what a nightmare!! Here are some of the gifties I made...

Made these cute wee birdies following the instructions on this blog 'One Golden Apple' 

Made, what seemed like, a million of these LOVE paintings to raise some cash for the Christmas/summer holidays... here is one.... i have seven more blank ones left.... will need to change it up a bit on the next ones to bring back the magic!!

A hot pink mosquito net adorned with purple and paua shell handmade butterflies and a few extra bought ones... little niece Caitlin LOVED it! 

Recycling our 2010 retro comic book calender into envelopes of all sizes... heaps of fun; quite relaxing churning them out actually ~ Pepper would agree!! 

Made a necklace.... haven't worn yet.... want to change the rope to leather or brass chain...

yummy frittata - too pretty to not take a photo!  

Big clean up and sort out in my art room

 all set up for christmas screenprinting orders

My Classroom - all bare and boring....

 I actually have ART TABLES!!!!!! YAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!......

.....and here it is all made up and pretty (minus children)

I went for a retro fabric theme this year with a tattoo parlor style twist - hence the swallows!! hahaha :-) 

 

Class Library

 

My tidy desk...... um...yeah 

On Ma and Pa's Visit up to Auckland for the Little Bushman gig - they came and took shots of the beast in her element! hahaha!

jeez dad, do i feel cheesy or what??

Mad Hatters Costume for Millys Hens Night - Made the hat and absolutely LOVED the cotton reel belt! Felt like a saucy hatter that night!

So I'm probably gonna remember heaps of other goodies that should have been added on here, but never mind... im on holiday now so I can add whatever I want whenever I want! Yesss! 

Peas to u all xoxoxox