Galaxy

5 years ago I was busy not paying attention in high school. The teacher was talking about something I couldn't care less about and standing in front of the projector so I couldn't see even if I wanted to. BUT it looked really cool projecting on her. Of course, while the idea was simple in theory, it was much harder to actually secure a projector. So I forgot about it for awhile...

galaxy girl 1

(^^ This was the main inspiration)

galaxy girl 2

galaxy girl 3

Fast forward to my Wednesday Electronic and Computer Music 1 Class. The room is too small for all 15 of us so we have to rearrange every few minutes, depending on whether we need to see the computer, white board, or projector. WAIT. PROJECTOR. We each get 2 hours in the studio every week to do that week's assignment. So I seized my chance. Unfortunately, sacrifices had to be made so the assignment didn't exactly get done, but- WORTH IT. I came prepared. I brought my camera and tripod and had picked out pictures to project. My friends came and we infiltrated room 117. And yeah we needed our backs to be bare... This is what we got:

You can find these in better quality on flickr here

Climbing Trees

Maybe you've felt like this before. Or, I don't know you, maybe you haven't. But I do now. It's the feeling 
of swallowing the lump.
of not enough oxygen when you breathe in.
of freefalling and grasping at air.
of the walls of this carefully constructed numbness caving in.
It's the feeling of being overwhelmed. 
When I get to this place, all I can think about is art. I can't sleep because I know I have things to do but I'll stay up and still not do them. Instead, I get incredibly creative.  It's a coping mechanism and it's a curse. There's that quote about "If you judge a fish on it's ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid"... and I don't know why but I haven't been able to get that out of my head since I heard it three years ago because it is just so relevant. I am judged everyday on my ability to do science when I know that's not what I am best at. So, right when I need to study the most, in the days before the test, I turn to art to prove to myself that I still have value even if I can't climb the tree. It's just kind of sad that the fish in this case was unlucky enough to be born into a world that pays its treeclimbers far better than its swimmers. And maybe it's good for me to learn to climb the tree but it's not exactly what I was designed for and sometimes it hurts when I fall off. But it's 5:21am and I'm hungry and I really need to study...

Flour Angel

I'm a slave to the fantasy.

But this has set me free.

inspired by http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerinthebox/4115866663/

http://5t0rm.tumblr.com

And music:

https://soundcloud.com/570rm/compass

veils

The Dandy Warhols: Rest Your Head

https://soundcloud.com/570rm/out

every scar tells a story

here's a pretty basic/boring piano soundscape to accompany my musings :)
https://soundcloud.com/570rmxiii/every-scar-tells-a-story


Lately I've been fascinated by scars. Each scar is uniquely yours and symbolizes a time when you were stronger than whatever challenged you. Your skin grew back tougher, thicker- marking you as braver than before. Scars are second chances and also an insight into the human who bears them. Chances are you remember the stories behind yours because they've made you who you are. 

So tell me, what are the best stories your scars tell?

i love you

maintain the mystery

Oops I think this just became a photography blog. Well kind of. As usual, my musical output isn't really anything impressive but I have been working on photography stuff so I uploaded some. I hope that's ok!

To start with, here's a really old shot that I just re-edited

NZT

http://5t0rm.tumblr.com/post/50400043678

There is way too much to be done these days. Stupid shit like studying which for some reason takes like 987764652x as much time and effort for me than any other human. And on top of that I'm lazy. So my only time left is pretty much reserved for sleeping and complaining how busy I am, kind of like I'm doing now.

I came across some new music the other day and for some reason really connected with it. Surprisingly it's borderline classical, but the lack of lyrics frees your mind to wander and by the end of it you've scripted the next Citizen Kane and feel like you're on NZT from Limitless. Since I usually only ever blog about my own stuff, I thought this by Einaudi deserved a shoutout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq1hPXJPtto
See if it does for you what it did for me.

Aaaand there it is.
https://soundcloud.com/570rm/atmospheric
Don't tell me you didn't see that one coming :)

XXX
Storm

Still

I've gotten everything that I used as an excuse for not making better music. I used to say that I could do it when I had a Macbook. Then, only if I had my own Macbook. I said that I needed a synth. A better guitar. The right cords and converters. Guitar lessons. A band. New software is still on the list, and a tabla or drum machine, but you and I can both see how this is going. Tonight I realized how pathetic my attempts have been. Since I moved into my dorm, I have only touched my guitar and Garageband once. ONCE. And, (even though I try not to say this out loud), I may have some ridiculous dreams of actually doing music for a living someday. I am a contradiction. I want to take the world by storm with my music, but yet I don't write or even play. I've heard it said that if something is important enough to you, you'll make time for it. But music is important to me. The only reason I can think of is that I'm scared- it might not turn out like I imagined (read: perfect), and then I would feel like permanently quitting. Isn't it better if I just postpone the failure so at least right now I can feel like I'm good at music?

Tonight, I broke out an unfinished song, one which explores new musical territory for me. That means that there is a huge risk involved. If my attempt to.... rap (yes, little middle-class white girl, blah blah blah- shut up)... if rap doesn't doesn't go well this time, I might never touch it again. I found some old synth/iPad recordings and tried to put the two together. Perfect? NO. But at least I opened Garageband.

I need to remember to keep getting back on the horse, even though it's big and it's scary and it is wayyyy too easy to fall off. And tomorrow, I will open Garageband again.

XXX
storm

Tumblr!

This is pretty unrelated to music-making, but I thought I'd mention that I have a tumblr that I'm currently obsessed with, so maybe follow me so I'm not super lonely? I would love to look at yours too, so here's the link:
http://5t0rm.tumblr.com

And, uh, I'd love to say there's more original stuff on there, but mostly it's pictures I find inspiring...

XXX
storm