You Might Have Noticed

:O WHAT’S THIS? A NEW BLOG POST?! What sorcery is this?!

First of all, I should probably offer some sort of explanation for my rather long, unannounced leave of absence. In short, this happened:

…yup. So basically, that’s what I was up to for most of the first term. Then there was the rather alarming fact that school is starting to become a very serious business indeed, and now assessments etc actually *do* matter, and even I, the most ardent non-studier known to my year level, have found it necessary to do some occasional revision. Sad times indeed. But happily, it is now holidays and I can have two glorious weeks of blogging misadventures :D

So, a number of things have happened since I last took to keyboard to expound upon my musical exploits. Short Stack and The Academy Is… have called it quits (sadness), The All-American Rejects have dropped a new single and released an album (excitement!) and I went to see Taylor Swift live for the second time (JOY). All of these will most likely get a dedicated post within these next two weeks of freedom, as well as a new post on Aussie music (see what I did there? I’ve promised posts so now I have to follow through. Sneaky ;D). But I thought for today we’ll keep it straightforward, short and sweet, and hopefully y’all will forgive me and leave lots of lovely, encouraging comments ^_^

So I’m sure, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve noticed a certain amount of hype surrounding the long-anticipated release of The Hunger Games, the film adaptation of the wildly popular poster-book of YA dystopia. Naturally, being a bookworm as well as a muso, and having read and enjoyed the books (even if they are *slightly* overrated), my interest was pricked for two reasons: for the film itself, obviously, but also for that essential part of every movie, the soundtrack. Well, not the actual soundtrack. That’s instrumental and not particularly of interest. The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond is the name of the companion album, a collection of songs by contemporary artists inspired by HG (rather like Almost Alice).

The album’s main selling point is probably its contributions from artists such as Taylor Swift and Maroon 5, but in a stroke of unexpected insight, the producers of this album have actually decided to make it a worthwhile listen. It would have been so easy for them to put together a collection of ‘edgy’ pop-punk of the type that sits so well with dystopian themes. But the direction they’ve decided to take the album is instead a strange and beautiful mix of alternative, folk and ballad-styled songs, which capture the themes and ideals of the books so well (no comment on the film, I haven’t seen it yet :P). Contributions from lesser known artists such as The Civil Wars, The Carolina Chocolate Drops and Birdy make the album refreshing to listen to, and even the items from the more ‘mainstream’ people have a different feel and sound to their popular works. In other words, make sure you do listen to a few of the tracks, even if you haven’t read or seen the book or film, because some of them are truly special.

I’ll leave you with two of my favourite (and very different) tracks, and I promise to be back soon ;)