Music – MAMsterdam

Lists Music

7 Songs to Sing at Karaoke

September 5, 2014

Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation karaoke scene

Which song would you like to sing at a karaoke? I’m mostly dissapointed at karaoke bars because I think they almost never have good songs to chose from. In my ideal world, a karaoke bar would have many nice songs to chose from and I would pick these:

Zombie – The Cranberries

I absolutely adore this songs and it fits well with my voice. With this song I always win at SingStar, hence it’s my number once choice.

ironic – Alanis Morissette

I was a huge Alanis Morissette fan and to this day this is one of my favorite songs. Her lyrics and way of singing allow you to get rid of a lot of frustrations, and that’s always a good thing.

Don’t Speak – No Doubt

A true 90’s hit and which girl sung this after having her heart broken?

I Think I’m Paranoid – Garbage

I had to sing this one once with my back-up Garage Band and it was awesome. It was harder than I thought but what was I expecting? It’s Shirley Manson!

One of Us – Joan Osborne

I actually owned this CD and One of Us is the only song on it that I can remember. Is it just me or did women in the 90’s write awesome karaoke songs?

Mamma Mia – Abba

Another instant hit from Sing Star. This is just super fun.

Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’

I have an agreement with a friend: as soon as he comes back from Australia we will sing this at some karaoke bar. Preferably the original version or the Rock of Ages musical version.

Which karaoke songs would you chose?

The subject of this post was suggested by Rotaroots, a Brazilian group of bloggers that long for the good old days when blogging was personal.

7 Comments

Music People

MNDR – Feed Me Diamonds featuring Raven

August 29, 2014

My favorite queen from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 2 is Raven. She’s dark, dramatic, beautiful… a true diva. I was happily surprised to discover she’s in the video clip for MNDR’s Feed Me Diamonds. The remix version of this song plays a lot at work, so I decided to check out who sang it and Google gave me the video as one of the search results. Needless to say I immediately had to check it out.

0 Comments

Music

Florence Welch – Not Fade Away

February 6, 2014

I absolutely adore, love Florence Welch. Her voice is magical, her songs addictive. I’ve seen Florence + the Machine twice live and wish I could hear her live at least once a month.

Found a link to this video on Pinterest and have seen it already 10 times. It’s called: Florence Welch in “Not Fade Away” by Tabitha Denholm and the song is a cover from Buddy Holly. Enjoy!

0 Comments

Lists Music

30 Day Song Challenge

May 3, 2011

So, besides de 30 Day Movie Challenge, I also decided to simultaneously do the 30 Day Song Challenge on Facebook. Here is the result of my song challenge:

Day 01 – your favorite song

Florence + the Machine – Cosmic Love

Day 02 – your least favorite song

Katatonia – We Must Bury You

Ok, this list is gigantic, but I chose the one song I hate by a band that I love.

Day 03 – a song that makes you happy

Bat For Lashes – Daniel

Day 04 – a song that makes you sad

The Gathering – Like Fountains

Day 05 – a song that reminds you of someone

Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars

It’s our song – me & my future husband.

Day 06 – a song that reminds you of somewhere

Moonspell – Alma Mater

Day 07 – a song that reminds you of a certain event

Alanis Morissette – Mary Jane

1996, Metropolitan – Rio de Janeiro
Alanis’ 1st tour in Brazil. My sister and I were standing in front of the stage and we both felt as if she was singing this song for us.

Day 08 – a song that you know all the words to

The National – Slow Show

Day 09 – a song that you can dance to

New Order – Blue Monday

Day 10 – a song that makes you fall asleep

Loreena McKennitt – The Mystic’s Dream

Doesn’t really makes me fall asleep but it wonderful to relax.

Day 11 – a song from your favorite band

Anathema – Fragile Dreams

Day 12 – a song from a band you hate

Jamiroquai – Space Cowboy

I cannot express how much I HATE Jamiroquai.

Day 13 – a song that is a guilty pleasure

Lady GaGa – Bad Romance

Yes, I’m guilty. I have to admit I really like this song.

Day 14 – a song that no one would expect you to love

Chico Science & Nação Zumbi – Maracatu Atômico

Day 15 – a song that describes you

Depeche Mode – Walking in my Shoes

Day 16 – a song that you used to love but now hate

Mika – Relax, Take it Easy

I love Mika and this song but I used this tune as my alarm. Everytime I hear it now I think it’s time to wake up and go to work.

Day 17 – a song that you hear often on the radio

Caro Emerald – That Man

Day 18 – a song that you wish you heard on the radio

Fleet Foxes – Mykonos

Day 19 – a song from your favorite album

The Cure – Pictures of You

Perfect song from a perfect album.

Day 20 – a song that you listen to when you’re angry

System of a Down – Psycho

Day 21 – a song that you listen to when you’re happy

Marina & the Diamonds – Oh No!

Marina is lovely and makes pop music that doesn’t sound like crap. It makes me really happy.

Day 22 – a song that you listen to when you’re sad

Opeth – In My Time of Need

Day 23 – a song that you want to play at your wedding

Johnny Cash – Ring of Fire

Day 24 – a song that you want to play at your funeral

The Smiths – Asleep

Day 25 – a song that makes you laugh

Arrogant Worms – It’s Great to be a Nerd

Have you read the lyrics? It’s hilarious!

Day 26 – a song that you can play on an instrument

Lacuna Coil – 1:19

Since I can’t play any instruments, I chose a song I can sing and have actually performed live.

Day 27 – a song that you wish you could play

Verdi’s Piece from La Traviata – Sempre Libera

Since I can’t play an instrument I chose a song I wish I could sing instead.

Day 28 – a song that makes you feel guilty

London After Midnight – Kiss

Day 29 – a song from your childhood

Neil Young – From Hank to Hendrix

I was in doubt between this or Cat Stevens, but ended up with Mr. Young

Day 30 – your favorite song at this time last year

Angus and Julia Stone – Hold On

1 Comment

Lists Music

2009 Best CD’s

December 31, 2009

I’m not going to make a list of the best CD’s released in 2009, instead I’m making a list of the CD’s that made a difference in my 2009.So, here we go.

Bat For Lashes – Two Suns

It only took listening to Natasha Khan’s voice and I surrendered myself to her. Her voice, the melodies, lyrics… everything fits perfectly. She kicks ass live and I still chills everytime I listen to her songs. Bat For Lashes reminds me of Tori Amos, some of it. My favorite tunes: Moon & Moon, Daniel, Siren Song e The Big Sleep.

Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

I grew up listening to Neil Young and Cat Stevens. Chatting to a friend about this he suggested I should listen to Fleet Foxes. The harmony of the voices was the first thing to get my attention and I ended up listening to their album 20 times in a row. I loved it so much I managed to get tickets to their already sold out concert and had the chance of admiring their talent live. Favorite songs: White Winter Hymnal, Your Protector, Meadowlarks e He Doesn’t Know Why.

Metric – Fantasies

I never really payed attention to Metric., I only listened to Emily Hanes’ solo work… until I saw them live. They are amazing and very energetic. The concert was sold out; everyone jumping, clapping and singing along (something that is rare here in the Netherlands). Beating like a hammer… beating like a hammer… got into my head and stuck there. Emily Haines was inspired by Buenos Aires and Fantasies is an awesome album. Favorite songs: Help, I’m Alive, Satellite Mind, Gimme Sympathy e Blindness.

Mew – No More Stories Are Told Today So

I like all their albums and I have to admit that, until know, this one is the weakest. But even so, it’s a great album by an excellent band. The guys are even better live and their gig was the best of the year. A fantastic sound and magical videos made their performance unforgettable. My favorite tunes: Hawaii, Silas the Magic Car e Reprise.

Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson – Break Up

It’s just a delicious album. Everyone loves bashing Scarlett but I think she’s awesome and her work on this album is good. Besides, with Pete Yorn it couldn’t really go wrong. Favorite tunes: Relator, Blackie’s Dead, I Am The Cosmos e Shampoo.

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

I was a bit reluctant to listen to Bon Iver. It wasn’t love at first sight but… after a while I got used to his high-pitched voice and I gave in. His concert was what I missed in 2009. Favoite songs: Blindsided, For Emma, Re:Stacks e Creature Fear.

Anneke van Giersbergen & Danny Cavanagh – In Parallel

This CD is a record of a magical night in which two artists I admired got on stage together. And, like I’ve mentioned before, 5 of the 6 pictures on the artwork were taken by me. Favorite songs:Teardrop (Massive Attack Cover), Jolene (Dolly Parton cover), Songbird e Big Love (ambas covers do Fleetwood Mac). And, of course, One Last Goodbye, sung by Danny.

Florence + the Machine – Lungs

I had already listened to it but without paying to much attention, but since my friend Kinho listed it as his number 1, I decided to give it another shot. Well… it’s been playing on repeat for 3 days straight. I’m sad the tickets to her concert are already sold out. Her voice reminds me sometimes of Natalie Merchant and her sound is a bit similar to Bat For Lashes. I’m glad to see two extremely talented women enjoying success. Florence and Natasha are proof that the’re no need to be blonde and shaking one’s ass to be successful. Favorite songs: Cosmic Love, Drumming, Between Two Lungs e Girl With One Eye.

Others

Corrupted by Depeche Mode has been on repeat since the True Blood video clip. Another song from the show has also stuck on my mind: Bad Things by Jace Everett. Mika was a hit with his pop music and even Lady GaGa gained my sympathy with Bad Romance (I still dislike her fans). Michael Jackson is gone but he left us songs like Smooth Criminal, Beat It e Thriller. Agua de Annique released a weak CD but Adore, Wonder and Home Again make up for it. And Fleet Foxes’ Mykonos was the song I heard most in 2009.

2 Comments

Music Personal

Back to 1996

December 20, 2009

♫ Alanis Moritssette – Mary Jane ♫

This week I started listening to the acoustic version of Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill. And in doing so, I ended up in 1996, when I was 14 years old and listened to the plugged version day and night. How I loved Alanis… her yelling voice, her weird ways, her lyrics. I saw her live, in the late Metropolitan in Rio de Janeiro. I left the concert voiceless; all the voice I had, I lost singing along. And I could swear she sang Mary Jane looking at me.

This adoration went on for many years but slowly faded away. I don’t know what happens to musicians, it seems like the music industry sucks out their souls. It has been a real pleasure listening this new version of Jagged Little Pill. These continue to be my favorite songs: Mary Jane, I’m Not the Doctor and Wake Up. And the cool thing is that they are really new versions of the same songs.

2 Comments

Music

Bat For Lashes live in Amsterdam

November 21, 2009

This post should have been written a few weeks ago. But I wouldn’t be Tessa if I hadn’t procrastinated about it. On October 30th I went to see Bat For Lashes here in Amsterdam.

Opening act

The opening band Hecuva was, hmm how should I put it, interesting? That’s all I can say. The vocalist’s voice was actually very nice but the songs were just weird, extremelly weird. Electronic beats with non-sense text sung in a totally different rhythm. The audience applauded hoping the torture would come to an end.

Natasha’s magic world

Finally, after a 30 minute delay, Natasha Khan got on stage. In a magical moment, the concert started with her song Glass. Natasha’s voice is even better live and she is beautiful, friendly and energetic. The band: magnificent.

set list

Some of the songs that were performed: Sleep Alone, Moon and Moon, Daniel, Siren’s Song, The Big Sleep, Pearl’s Dream, Horse and I, What’s A Girl To Do, Tahiti, The Wizard e Prescilla. The other pictures I took can be seen here.

0 Comments

Music Personal Photography

In Parallel

November 4, 2009

♫ Anneke van Giersbergen & Danny Cavanagh – Teardrop ♫

In the beginning of 2008 two of my favorite musicians got together for a very special performance. One year later, Anneke van Giersbergen (ex-The Gathering, Agua de Annique) and Danny Cavanagh (Anathema), got back on stage together for 2 other amazing gigs. Each of them played their own set list and at the end they performed together. I was there, both years, photographing and enjoying the music.

The day I arrived for my vacation in Rio, I received an unexpected e-mail. The mail was from Anneke telling me about the release of the album recorded live and that she would like to use my pictures. I was extremely happy; my first published photos would be for a CD of two artists I admire.

Well, various e-mails were written and a long time has passed but, yesterday, finally, I received my copy of In Parallel. From the six photos published, five are mine. The artwork turned out really nice and elegant.

And here you can have a better look at the photos I took.

1 Comment

Music

Bat for Lashes

October 7, 2009

♫ Bat for Lashes – Siren’s Song ♫

Eu estou tão feliz que eu vou no show dela. Eu já conhecia algumas músicas mas nunca tinha realmente prestado atenção. Agora, estou completamente viciada e fico escutando isso dia e noite. E pra minha felicidade, vai ter show dia 30 e eu já estou com os ingressos comprados.

0 Comments

Music

Brazilian Sounds

December 11, 2008

♫ Paralamas do Sucesso – Uma Brasileira ♫

There are only a few brazilian musicians that I actually like. Zeca Baleiro, Marisa Monte & Adriana Calcanhoto are on my list. estão nessa minha lista. But I’ve been a bit nostalgic so I decided to look things up on YouTube and ended up on memory lane. I went all the way back to 1996. when I used to go to the old concert hall Metropolitan in Rio very often. In that year I saw Paralamas do Sucesso, Skank, Cássia Eller, Raimundos, O Rappa… I remembered how I used to think Raimundos was very “heavy”. I looked up their video Puteiro em João Pessoa and had a blast (the song title translated to Whorehouse in João Pessoa). In 1997 in moved to João Pessoa and years later I saw Cabruêra perfome live in Roda Viva, the famous whorehouse in João Pessoa. In my trip down memory lane I realized how good brazilian video clips were. I don’t know if they still are, but compared to european and american clips, the brazilian ones were very creative.

0 Comments

Older Posts