Found Some New Bands

I tried to write this last night but the site was not working or something. Anyway, yesterday after I'd been on the walk and whatnot around my parents neighborhood I moved on to my 'new year's resolution' (I hate them but I don't really have a better word for it. The way I see it, if you really want to do something or change something about yourself, you shouldn't wait until the new year to start it, you should start the moment you decide that you really want to do it and that you are really ready to start. For me, this just happened to be the right time) which is to work on my French for at least an hour every day in various ways, mainly by reading (books, newspapers, magazines, whatever I can get my hands on), studying flash cards, and writing. I have a flash card program (iFlash) but I don't really like the format. It's too rigid. I want to be able to have a word or a phrase on the front and the definition and a few sentences on the back. I spent an hour or so trying to find a different program that I liked (and was preferably free) to no avail.

I got distracted from that and started cleaning up my computer. I've got so many documents and programs that I don't use anymore. That led me one document that was a list of songs I liked that I had heard on an internet radio station at least five years ago. I went through all of the songs and looked them up on YouTube. And surprisingly, I still really liked most of them, win. I actually bought one of the albums on iTunes (Quelqu'un m'a dit by Carla Bruni). It's funny because the first song of the album "Quelqu'un m'a dit" (video) is also on the 500 Days of Summer soundtrack and it's probably my favorite from that album. So I'd heard it, like, 5 years ago, forgotten about it, liked it when I saw the movie and then refound out about it just yesterday :). It's pretty similar to the music that I've been in the mood for lately (the last seven months or so): pieces that are pretty much just an acoustic guitar and singer that is almost just talking while they are singing (I know there is a term for this but I forget what it is called. One of my old roommates was studying it for a while). Oh btdub, it's all in French! Apparently, though, she is an Italian supermodel. Anyway, I'm really into this style right now; it feels very intimate, like it's just the artist, me and maybe a few other people alone in a dark basement bar. At first listen, I'm liking "Tout le monde" (video) most, probably because it's a waltz.

Some other old favorites that I found, and plan on buying the full albums once I have the money are:
Soko: I'll Kill Her (just really listen to the lyrics, that's all I have to say. I absolutely love this song and would buy the whole album now except that it was only available for purchase for about a year and a half starting in April 2007)
Mumm - ra: She's Got You High (it's a really awesome video too)
The Cloud Room: Hey Now Now
The Pigeon Detectives: Take Her Back
Milburn: The Genius & The Tramp
The Runners: All Over Again
MGMT: Time to Pretend (weirdest most awesome video ever)

Then I remember this French guy that my brother told me about 9 months ago or so. He's called Tété. The way my brother described it, he's kind of like a French Jack Johnson, which is pretty true. I got his first EP release "Le Préamble" which is pretty good as well as his second release "L'air de rien". The first song I heard of his which turned me on to him was either this one or this one, neither of which are on the albums I bought. I have this thing: when I find a new person/band that I like I want to listen to their albums in the order they were released. Usually I can't actually do it because either I can't find the first release or I don't have the money to spend on it. I splurged a bit on this, telling myself that listening to French music is a form of 'studying' lawl.

Well, that was pretty much all of yesterday. I'm going to try to write on today later tonight if the site will let me.