Hallowed Ground

I have been wanting to post since before the bombings, procrastinated, and now feel compelled to write about the place I spent the majority of my life.

I was supposed to go home to Boston Thursday night for my grandmother’s 87th birthday. After the bombings on Monday at the Boston Marathon, I decided it was not a good time to go home.  Waking up Friday morning to hearing the news about the manhunt for the suspects after the shootout/explosives the night prior in Watertown (what’s up ex-boyfriend’s old stomping grounds.. don’t worry, he’s safe), I am thanking Monday Amanda for making the decision to stay in New York City.  Sorry, Nina (my grandma). I hope you loved the flowers.

Lately, I have been learning a lot about positive psychology, and trying to rework your brain to be a happier person. I consider myself a very happy, fortunate, and positive thinking person, but everyday annoyances, or big, stressful situations get in the way of your happiness sometimes – it’s just a natural part of the entropy in the universe.  When things get in the way of your happiness, you cannot be your full, free, creative, productive self.  You can not be living at your fullest potential when you are not happy.

Where am I going with these topics: the Boston Marathon Bombings and happiness? All week, all we heard about was the real-life episode of 24 happening in Boston. Bombs. Death. Families and loved ones now learning how to cope with less limbs on their bodies. Before the Boston Marathon Bombings, all you really hear about in the news is generally really effing depressing stuff.  Bombs. Death. Families and loved ones learning how to cope with less limbs on their bodies. When it happens in Boston, and not in a country you can’t pronounce halfway around the world, it hits home and we give it a lot more attention, and it interrupts our flow.  You wouldn’t be human if you weren’t shaken up by what happened in Boston, and letting it upset you.

The thing that positive psychology has taught me is to spin what happened into some sort of positive light.  It feels almost impossible, but there are things to work with here.  Facebook and Twitter were blowing up with photos of first-responders and volunteers who were running towards the bombs to help those suffering.  On the news, I saw a photo that a woman took who was stuck in her house on lockdown with her infant, who ran out of milk.  The photo was of a Boston Police Officer hand delivering two cartons of milk to this woman and baby.  The NYPD drove to Boston with grills and meat, to start cooking hamburgers and hot dogs for the BPD.  I have a friend who was 10 feet away from the first bomb who I haven’t spoken to in 3 years – I got back in touch with her (injured, but is safe and will recover). The camaraderie in Boston, and For Boston has been remarkable from the residents and people around the country. It’s been so touching all week. Finding heroes and acknowledging their presence in a world where evil prevails, is the ONLY way to cope with unbelievably horrific situations like the one that happened this week in my home city.

[Because THIS, is overwhelmingly beautiful. We don’t SING in Boston. But I have eaten a hamburger with Rene Rancourt at Casey’s once or twice.]

Now, for something that ALWAYS makes me happy!? Moo-zik. I have been finding myself seeking out ambient music lately, because I am so impressed with what’s out there these days from the artists in this genre.  Some of this stuff is totally work-out-able, but you have to go into it with a clear mind so you can get lost in it. I think this music is cool because of the vast amount of sound you really hear in every second of these songs.

1. xxyyxx, DMT (4:20): This guy, xxyyxx, also known as Marcel Everett, is going to be big. I can feel it coming. He’s experimental, trip hop, indie, and electronic all in one sound.  This song has an beat you can get down with that isn’t overpowering of the echoey lyrics. 

2. Giraffage (ft. xxyyxx), Even Though (Teen Daze Remix) (5:04): Another one with xxyyxx, and this one’s got more energy in it to help you sweat, with a drop during the 2 minute. I smell a sprint.

3. How to Destroy Angels, The Loop Closes (4:15): This group is comprised of Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, his wife, Atticus Ross who helped Reznor produce The Social Network score, and Rob Sheridan who has worked with NIN creatively since 1999.  A friend introduced me to this group as we were streaming the Coachella show, and I can’t stop listening to them now.  They’re downtempo electronic, but also experimental and quite trippy.  As we have learned from the past, anything Reznor touches turns to gold, so this is no exception.  This song in particular, The Loop Closes, sort of reminds me of NIN’s “Closer”, which I can’t get enough of either.  It’s a long, steady build, and it just starts to get so loud and nuts toward the end that it makes you want to get a little wild. 

4. How to Destroy Angels, Hallowed Ground (7:19): Here’s more of their sound. This one’s very ambient and relaxing.

5. Active Child, Diamond Heart (Man Without Country Remix) (4:27): Now this guy is cool. Active Child sounds a little James Blake-y, and it’s really freaking good. This songs got a good beat, sounds a little indie, with a pretty female vocalist.  Check this ish out, for sure.

6. Daft Punk, Get Lucky ft. Pharrel (4:20): I mean, are you KIDDING me? How long have we waited for a new album? I won’t count the Tron Legacy album, so thus it’s been since 2008. Five of the most painful years of my life. I think this song, is SO classically perfect. Listening to it, you could think it’s from 1970, or today. It’s disco. Pure and simple. No dubstep. No indie bullshit. No drops. They’re creating something so genuine and pure, which is so hard to come across in music these days. They are the KINGS of electro, and this is why. They are not competing with anyone for anything, and they are simply there to exist and just rule the world. How many shitty remixes have already been created out of this single, I wonder? Leave it be. It’s perfect. Counting down the days until their new album, Random Access Memories, comes out in May. Bravo, frenchies.

7. Pretty Lights, Around the Block ft. Talib Kweli (4:04): Pretty Lights almost never collaborates with singers/rappers… usually his stuff is sampled from past records.  This new single, (which comes along with a NEW CD SOON! Just in time for me to go see him in OHIO AT ALL GOOD this summer! Typical chill PL song with heavy beats, with a rapper! It’s cool to see what he can do when he gets to control the lyrics of a song (although there are past samples mixed in).  PL is the love of my life… I’ll just come out and say it.

8. Ghost Loft, Seconds (2:52): Short song, chill beat, some samples, just an all around good tune. Excited to see where Ghost Loft goes this year.

9. The Black and White Brothers, Put Your Hands Up (5:51): Had to throw some high energy dance music in here.. This is from a few years ago (at least?), and I want to dance my face off to it. That is all.

10. Michael Jackson, Bad (Remix by Afrojack) (4:10): I have fond memories of an extended late-night dance version of Bad at one of the festivals I went to over the years.. I think it was Superball IX. Some kick-ass speaker system was set up at a truck that you could hear from very far away, and Bad could never have sounded better. What a classic.