Canadian band Stars is getting ready to release their new album, and if the first single, “The Night Starts Here” is any indicator, it should be a amazing, breakthrough album!!! Check out their MySpace page and listen to this song! They are going on tour and will be in San Francisco in November. The new album will be out soon.

In the meantime, also enjoy the video for the song “Your Ex-lover Is Dead” from the current album Set Yourself On Fire.

Stars – “Your Ex-lover Is Dead”

In Februery, i posted about the beautiful song “Invierno” by the Baja based (Mexican) band Reik, and yesterday received a comment asking if i knew where to find an English translation of the lyrics. I decided to translate it myself. I’m glad i did this, because i had no idea how amazingly beautiful these lyrics are! I had an idea about what the meaning of the song was, but since i’m not fluent in Spanish, i didn’t know until now how incredibly poetic it is! I started by using FreeTranslation.com to get a generic, jumbled translation of most of the words. However, what it gave me was a confusing mess of English words that made no sense, (and a lot of the phrases “don’t translate,”) so i had to look back at the Spanish lyrics and use my own knowledge to slowly shape it into something that makes sense in English. (My Rosetta Stone studies are working!) Here it is:

Winter

It’s raining outside, and even though it rains,
the city is a desert
while you and i take refuge in eternity
I don’t feel cold when i’m close to you
within me, the sun is shining

(chorus:)
The sky falls and falls
but we have our own world
our day stays sunny and blue if we are together
all that matters
is that here, with you, will never be winter

So much noise, so much loneliness
people running without stopping
Inside the door, this universe of infinite peace
I need the calm you give me

(chorus)

Clouds, wind, fear, rain
gray nights, nor the moon
of dark winter
You kiss me, you heal me
your heat and tenderness
don’t leave me alone

winter, winter, winter

(chorus)

The sky falls and falls
but the day stays blue
the sky keeps falling
but we have our own world.

English translation by DancingNekkid.com

I’m so excited about this band that i had to share this other video i found from them. It is a very different feel from the driving “Do What You Like.” I still can’t quite figure out when their first album will be released, but i think i read September.
I also found a lot of interesting video on MySpace TV from before they were Passenger, when they were the Mike Rosenberg Band, as well as a live video of the song “Philadelphia.”
I also really enjoyed reading on their website about how Mike Rosenberg and Andrew Phillips, (guitarrist and composer,) met in London in 2002 when Mike was 17, at a Free Burma benefit gig where Mike had the opportunity to play 2 songs solo and Andrew was playing with a different band before an audience of 600 people, and how they formed the new band a year later.
And without further ado…Passenger – “Wicked Man’s Rest”
Wicked Man’s Rest

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As i was watching this video for “Do What You Like” by Passenger, gazing into the beautiful eyes of lead singer Mike Rosenberg and listening to his brassy voice and beautiful accent, something dawned on me. This is Bjork as a boy! Think about it, a short, strangely beautiful man with a thick accent and an elvish voice, giving an uninhibited, impassioned performance full of twitchy movements, and having an undeniable sex appeal, magnetism, and presence. And on top of all that, the music he sings is also incredible and unique! The resemblance is uncanny!

Seriously, though; i love this song and this band, and this video! The driving feel is SO intense! On MySpace you can also hear their song “Stray Dog” and “Girl I Once Knew,” 2 more beautiful songs!

By the way, as you watch this video, listen to these lyrics! This is another one of those songs where, as you listen, you can see a film playing in your mind so clearly… and this movie is really fucking good!

Passenger – “Do What You Like”

It never felt like it felt when I felt it for the first time with you
and you know I wouldn’t lie

So go on do what you like
Do what you like to me…..

My very first post on this blog on 11/25/06 was about the New 7 Wonders of the World, and the opportunity to vote for them, and that the winners would be announced on 7/7/07, (yesterday.) I of course voted for the only candidate i have actually been to, Chichen Itza, which, i am happy to announce, won a place in the top 7!

Jester coming back down

I figured i would start putting some of my music on my blog so i can get some feedback, but i decided to start with my cover of Berlin’s “No More Words” from 1984. I did this on my Mac laptop with garage band and an m-audio keyboard. I recorded the vocals in my bathroom for privacy, but the sound in there is really “echoe-ey” which you can hear in the recording. Oh well, it’s just a demo. I have to re-do the first verse because it turned out kind of lifeless. How do you like the rest of it though?

Ok, first i have to admit, i was never the biggest fan of Savage Garden. After Darren Hayes went solo, the only song i heard was “Insatiable,” which i loved! Still, i didn’t buy the album. That was back in 2002. As far as i
knew, that was the last thing Darren Hayes did.

Today, i stumbled upon the video for the first single “On The Verge Of Something Wonderful” from his new album This Delicate Thing We’ve Made, about to be released in August. After seeing the video, i went to his website and immediately was COMPLETELY BLOWN AWAY by two of his new songs, and i am now officially in love with Darren Hayes for the first time! The 2 songs i’m really excited about are “Who Would Have Thought?” and “Step Into The Light,” which has a seriously HOT bass line feels like a good fuck! (I also found videos for both of these on YouTube.) Also, be prepared to hear “Me Myself And (I)” in all the clubs.

The video shows Darren in a totally different light. He is the same age as me, and the maturity has not only done wonders for the sound of his voice, but also has given him fantastic spark and personality that i never saw in his face before! He’s also done with struggling with his image and is now apparently openly gay and proud, and it shows. He even has photos of his partner on his MySpace page, whom he recently married.

A lot of people who don’t know who Darren Hayes is are about to find out, and i fully expect him to begin a new career with this “debut” album.

Darren Hayes – “On The Verge Of Something Wonderful”

Darren hayes – “Who Would Have Thought?”

Darren Hayes – “Step Into The Light”

from his MySpace page