Today is my first day of school!

So glad I found this! It's Paul Simon's son, Harper, and the video features Jenna Malone. So adorable!

What does glasgow sound like?

The Glaswegian accent is something to hear at least once. It's quite a thick Scottish accent; I think I understand something like 45% of what is said to me at any given time.

Here is a very instructional video!



It's slowly getting better though - I've started to pick up what is being said to me, and I'm starting to think in a Scottish accent a bit. ("Teeeeuuuuuuuusday" and "Steeeeeuuuuuuert" are the most prevalent ones in my brain so far, as classes start on Tuesday and I met a guy named Stewart in my program.)


Oh, and for music? Belle & Sebastian is on constant repeat! Check out Dear Catastrophe Waitress if you haven't (download it here). DCW may not their best effort, but it is definitely appropriately Glaswegian. It makes a lot more sense hearing it after being here!

Albums I listen to while flying rainicorns

Hi guys. So a few weeks ago on facebook my friend Jeremy posted a not too deliberated over and quick list of his favorite 15 albums. He prompted me to do the same, and I did. Ashley saw that and prompted me to post it here, so I am. This isn't a definitive list of my favorite albums, there were some thing that had to be cut sadly, and some that i just didn't think about. But anyway, i can assure you that every album on this list will transport you to a state absolute aural bliss. Most of them should be easily available in the usual places, like mediafire.

1. World's End Girlfriend - Hurtbreak Wonderland

2. Animal Collective - Feels

3. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane over the Sea

4. Joanna Newsom - Ys

5. Sigur Ros - Agaetis Bryjun

6. At the Drive-In - The Relationship of Command

7. Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase

8. Marnie Stern - This is it...

9. Mount Eerie - No Flashlight

10. Phillip Glass - Glassworks

11. Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport

12. Anton Bagatov - Tetractys (find partial here: http://beta.wnyc.org/shows/newsounds/2010/mar/15/)

13. Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West

14. The Books - Lost and Safe

15. Toumani Diabate - The Mande Variations

Now that fall is (almost) here, I've yet again commenced with playing Robyn Hitchcock's I Often Dream of Trains (1985), my absolute favorite fall album, by one of my all-time favorite artists. Robyn Hitchcock has been around since he was in this punk band called Soft Boys in the late 70s, and has been a solo artist since the early 80s. He's not really well known outside of England, which is unfortunate because he's amazing and has influenced countless musicians/bands that operate outside of the mainstream. (He also does stand-up comedy, often mixed in with his more acoustic shows - I saw him live a couple of years ago and he's just as bizarre as you'd think and fucking HILARIOUS.)

Anyways, here's a link to some of my favorite songs from him, the first being the title track from the wonderful autumn-themed album I mentioned.

"I Often Dream of Trains"


"Cynthia Mask" (from the album Eye)


"The Man with the Lightbulb Head" (from the album Fegmania! with his band the Egyptians)

Ok The Books are playing UNH for free. That's cool and I just discovered this song. Very reminiscent of Simon and Garfunkel, no?

heather's pick: songs for A Big Move

Tomorrow night (wednesday) at 10 pm, I am getting on an airplane that will take me to London; my connecting flight to Glasgow is on Thursday morning. I'm not a writer and I'm not a musician, so sometimes I have to adopt other people's words and sounds as my own.

Here are some songs I have been listening to a lot lately.

Terrible Love, The National
"It takes an ocean not to break." I could shorten this entire list to The National... but where's the fun in that? (But seriously, listen to The National.)

Think Long, Mates of State
Am I allowed to have a packing anthem? If so, it's this.

Going To Georgia, The Mountain Goats
"The most remarkable thing about coming home to you is the feeling of being in motion again: its the most extraordinary thing in the world." I listened to this as I drove away from NH and watched the sun set on the highway this past sunday night.

This Time Tomorrow, The Kinks
"I feel the world below me looking up at me / Leave the sun behind me, and watch the clouds as they sadly pass me by / And I'm in perpetual motion and the world below doesn't matter much to me"

Come Downstairs And Say Hello, Guster
high-school heather would be happy to see this song on this playlist.

Aside, The Weakerthans
"And I'm leaning on this broken fence, between past and present tense"
a nice reminder that we've gone far, but we're still so young.

I and Love and You, The Avett Brothers
this whole album is amazing, but this first song gets me every time.

A New Career In A New Town, David Bowie
This song strikes me as being oddly appropriate for any sort of move. FUN FACT: it is one of my favorite Bowie songs ever.

Staráfur, Sigur Ros
i always listen to this song as my plane descends over its destination, right as we're about to land. if you can get the timing right, it's absolutely beautiful.

download these songs here.

And, if you happen to be awake at 4:25 am EST, you should listen to Staráfur with me while my plane lands in London.

Loving this song right now. Reminds me of Elton?

Sleepy Sunday

I kinda liked my YouTube playlist thing from last time, so I'm doin' it again. Like last time, I'm not really a fan of the videos, just the tunes. I have to mention, I'm really frustrated with the fact that nobody has a solid upload of "Unmade Bed" on YouTube, and while I enjoy the live version posted above, the recorded version is one of my most favorite songs of all time. Lykke Li, also, I'm a big fan. Scandinavians! Ahh! Love! And Vetiver, well, they will probably be on every playlist I make, so get used to it. The Kinks are also a staple, there must be Kinks all year round.

SLEEPY SUNDAY PLAYLIST

1. Floating Vibes ~ Surfer Blood

2. The Lonesome Border ~ Dear Nora

3. Unmade Bed ~ Sonic Youth

4. Around My Smile ~ Hope Sandoval

5. Happy ~ Mazzy Star

6. I'm Good, I'm Gone ~ Lykke Li

7. How Many Hearts ~ Travis

8. The Right Place ~ Monsters of Folk

9. Sphagnum Esplanade ~ The Shins

10. Everyday ~ Vetiver

11. Days ~ The Kinks

12. Ease Your Feet in the Sea ~ Belle & Sebastian

On another note, I just got ODDSAC (the new Animal Collective film) in the mail and I can't wait to watch! I saw them live for the first time last year in London at the Forum, seems so long ago now. I am keeping an open mind about the film, I just hope that it is as visually stunning as their music deserves. I've always wanted to make a music video for "Winter's Love", which is probably my #1 most favorite song of all time ("Unmade Bed" above is like, #5 most favorite). Their music always brings me into a certain environment, and I hope that ODDSAC will prove to be a fun one to jump inside for 55 minutes.

Hooray for Drooly Cats!

Here's my "Good Things I've Been Listening to Lately" playlist. Enjoy! PS. Use Grooveshark to get tunes to play on here. You can make a playlist right on the site and they give you a code to copy and paste wherever :)

Shaboob!

^This is most of the below playlist, playable via YouTube. Watch the Cee Lo vid!

Revival ~ Deerhunter

Taos ~ Menomena

Five O'Clock World ~ The Vogues

Girls With English Accents ~ Fergus & Geronimo

Baby ~ Devendra Banhart

Marathon - Mastered AAC ~ Tennis

Strictly Rule ~ Vetiver

Baby I'm Yours ~ Arctic Monkeys

Oh! Sweet Nuthin' ~ The Velvet Underground

Fuck You ~ Cee-Lo Green

Blue Spotted Tail ~ White Antelope

Johnny's Theme ~ The Skygreen Leopards

Ahh! I can't figure out for the life of me how to make music play from this blog. Until then, I figured it would be better to just post this playlist as is. In a day or so, I'll post a link to download the whole thing, but for now, I've linked the songs to places where they can be heard (YouTube, MySpace), and that being said, I don't support whatever videos that have been put to the songs, so just ignore them. I'm pretty much obsessed with the first track by Deerhunter lately, so good to listen to while driving. I listen to most of this stuff while driving to school...


I get most of my inspiration from Pandora radio, to be honest. I really love crafting my own station with the system of "thumbs up" or "thumbs down". I like lots of different kinds of music, but in general I'm drawn to retro folky psychadelic stuff. It's so hard to categorize music! Enough of this.

My Pandora station that I work on and listen to all the time is called Guksi. My own blog is also called Guksi, but I mostly post projects or photos on there. On my next post I'll make a playlist comprised of some of my favorite bands of all time. Most of my playlists are pretty relaxed, chilled out, but I do like to rock out once in awhile. 

changing leaves, crisp weather, and hot cider

Hi everyone! my name is Heather and I'm not sure if we should be doing introductions but I'm going to do it anyway.

In my head I call this Team Droolycat and I am very excited to be a part of it! I can't wait to hear what you guys have put together. I like most music, and one of my life goals is to meet someone who writes/produces pop music. I'm about to be (read: in two weeks) a graduate student at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland and I maintain a blog about that.

My first playlist is a variation of a cd that's been in my car for the past year. These songs make me think of changing leaves, crisp weather, and hot cider.


FALLTASTIC: a playlist by heather
1. undone in sorrow - crooked still
2. kingdom of the animals - iron & wine
3. satellite skin - modest mouse
4. girl on the wing - the shins
5. sleep the clock around - belle & sebastian
6. my flying saucer - billy bragg & wilco
7. this tornado loves you - neko case
8. measuring cups - andrew bird
9. carey - joni mitchell
10. second hand news - fleetwood mac
11. soul meets body - death cab for cutie
12. speak for me - cat power
13. don't look back - she & him
14. i hear the bells - mike doughty
you can download this mix here.

First post! Welcome to a funky little music project called 

DROOLYCAT!

We are just a bunch of friends posting playlists of stuff we like, themed or un-themed.

It's going to be a lot of fun, and maybe we'll find some new music through eachother.