I’m calling the playlist for today:  Valentine’s is coming!

Why? what do you think? It’s because V-day is coming!  And I can’t quite decide if I should be stressed or happy about it?  Malay. Enihoodles, the playlist consists of songs that I’ve been listening to these past few weeks. I’ve tweeted about most of them, or tumblred or posted in facebook. So enjoy!

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1. Eskimo Kiss, the Kooks

– Gave the new Kooks’ album a good listening to going to Tagaytay, fell in love with a song about falling in love. I’m a sucker for the lyrics.

2. Effect Desired None, Imago

–This song makes me think of enjoying the moment. Reminds me of happy times.

3. Dead and Gone, the Black Keys

– One of my favorite (if not my favorite) songs in the new album, the intro is golden and the chorus is catchy as hell. And isa pa, who wouldn’t want hearing— “i’d go anywhere you’d go…all the way…”, di ba?

4. Winter Calls, the Rifles

– I love songs that sound like this and this  whole thing seems eerily familiar. haha!

5. Hot and Cold, Katy Perry

– I just had to put this in here because I did watch the Katy Perry Concert and this is my favorite Katy Perry song!   Teenage dream’s a close second!

6. Just Say Yes, Snow Patrol

– This song has always elicited “awww shucks”. What’s there not to love about this song? When he sings “please take my hand” inaabot ko na kamay ko e! haha!

7. Suicide Policeman, Yuck

–”And I just want to let you know, I can be your suicide policeman. Don’t you go.” For me, the best relationships are the one that they inspire another person to save themselves, big difference from someone saving another person ei? (Wow.. bakit biglang deep at this part?)

8. I Thought About You, The Beautiful Girls

– A favorite getting over-it song…or is it? I remember listening to this before over and over from Real to Manila. Popped into my head again a few days ago. Surfy too!

9. Needing/Getting, Ok Go

–One, this song is awesome. Two, the video is awesome. Three, needing is one thing, and getting is another.

10. You go, Toe

– This makes me feel peaceful and a great goodbye song for me. And they’re coming to Manila, I’m watching!

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This maybe the weirdest Valentine’s Day playlist yet. Who cares? It’s mine.

Are you ready for Valentine’s day? Ako di pa!

But just in case I don’t see yah! Happy Valentine’s day!

it’s a medley of my very own piano compositions – “Spring Song”, “Summer Song”, “Autumn Song” and “Winter Calls”. Hope you enjoy my “Seasons”

also, something a little different from my usual vids….dancing! =)

on my own original compositions. I came up with one a few months ago entitled 

“Winter Calls” then late last nite I was playing piano like

usual and came up with 3 short tunes about 4-8 bars each,

then thought that this would be perfect to name them after all the seasons

“Summer Song”, “Autumn Song”, and “Spring Song”.

I hope to complete them fully very soon!

Liz x 

Entitled The Great Escape, this is the band’s second album, after their debut No Love Lost. Ok, lets open the CD case and put the disc into the CD player…

Bang. Track one, Science Is Violence, booms into life straight away. You can’t help but sit up and take note at what you are listening to. A crashing guitar intro reverberates round your head before it settles down, and Joel Stoker’s voice strikes up. A cracking opening track finishes strongly with a chorus of ‘the world is ours and ours alone’. Next up is the title track, and the opening single from the new album. In a similar vein to the first track, it mocks society, talking about changing religions based on what you see on television, and buying ‘a brand new semi next door to the Taliban.’

Blimey, this has got you gripped already. Fall To Sorrow is next up, the latest single release, and though it may be one of the weaker songs, it’s catchy riffs will still have you whistling all day long. Sometimes has the same effect; perhaps not a stand out, but all the same, not one to ignore.

It’s clear by now that this is a statement of disillusionment with modern society. Toerag reinforces the idea, a simple three chord guitar backing with a soft drumbeat. It’s like a stream of consciousness pouring from Stoker’s mouth as he talks about ‘shattered glass on the floor’ because the ‘kids have run out of games.’ The harmony is completed by a duo chorus, Lucus Crowther, nicknamed Robin Hood by the group’s fans, joining in with Stoker to declare ‘I don’t see that it’s ever gonna change.’

Five tracks in, and this is really something. This band should be far better known than they are. Could this be the year that The Rifles come to the fore? Track six, History, serves only as a reinforcement to the argument that this could be the case. A simply delightful and unforgettable tune, with a blinding chorus you’ll be humming for days on end.

Fans of the band may be familiar with the next track, Winter Calls. It was released on an earlier EP, but this time it’s slower, and more classy. Then, just when you don’t think it can get any better, Out In The Past flatters to deceive. A brilliant opening builds up as the guitars fade in, and then the drums kick in for a foot stomping number. Romeo and Julie comes next, an upbeat, modern time love song based around Shakespeare’s aged play. The Romeo and Juliet thing has been done a million times, yet The Rifles still pull it off.

Listening through this, it’s fantastic, but you still get the impression we’re building up to something special. That’s exactly the case. Track 10. The General. Wow. This is the piéce de résistance. A fantastic opening salvo of four different guitar riffs, backed by keyboard synths and banging drums. And then the lyrics. ‘When he was younger he could rumble like a hurricane, and leave you lying with a hunger for some more again…’ Very apt; this song is like a whirlwind adventure. You feel like you need to get up and jump around, as the track changes pace throughout. You’re exhausted just listening to it.

Luckily though, For The Meantime serves as a gentle soothing end to a quite stunning album. Heed my advice, get this album. It’ll leave you wanting more. I’m off to play it again, as it happens…

Why not vote for your favourite track from the album!