Category Archives: Acoustic

My Favourite Faded Fantasy

November 10, 2014 by snapshotsandneedledrops

He’s back guys! He’s back! He’s back! Irish, “self-lacerating troubador” Damien Rice has, after an eight-year absence, released his newest album My Favourite Faded Fantasy today in North America. I’m still on my first run-though, but this album is so classic Damien it’s hard to believe he’s been radio silent for this long. In expected form, the majority of the songs are slow, quiet and introspective– but with 30 seconds to spare he usually builds up to a screeching, voice-cracking […]

Categories: Acoustic, Album Review, Folk, Folk Rock, Irish, singer-songwriter, Soul • Tags: 2014 music, album review, Damien Rice, folk rock, indie folk, Irish, music, My Favourite Faded Fantasy, new music, photography

Top Drops 2013

January 7, 2014 by snapshotsandneedledrops

As promised in last week’s Top Shots 2013, I have painstakingly culled my precious music selections from the past year and whittled down a top ten list for 2013’s Needle Drops. It was no simple task. I hummed and hawed, listened and relistened, made lists and reversed them and eventually came up with the following. Am I obsessive? Probably. Did I put too much time into this? Most likely. Am I happy with the results? Yes… I think so… Yeah…………. […]

Categories: 80s, Acoustic, Alternative, art rock, Australian, British, Canadian, Cover, Dance, Dreamwave, Electronic, Electropop, Experimental, Folk, Indie, Kiwi, Lists, Playlists, Pop, Rock, singer-songwriter, Soul, Synthpop • Tags: alternative, Australian, best of, Canadian, indie, Kiwi, music, music lovers, photography, top ten

Let Your Mind Wander & Your Heart Soar

November 4, 2013 by ebembo

The Guggenheim Museum, New York City (My thanks to Vappz for giving me the opportunity to write another guest blog.) Many months ago, I was overwhelmed with school assignments and exams. Despite needing to spend every waking moment writing, researching, and studying, I kept finding myself staring off into space, daydreaming. The reason behind these lost moments? I had gone to a concert and exchanged Meaningful Eye Contact (TM) with a bassist. I knew it was silly to keep thinking […]

Categories: Acoustic, Canadian, Folk, Indie, Jazz, Pop, Strings • Tags: Acoustic, Canadian, Groenland, indie, indie folk, indie pop, jazz, Montreal, orchestral, strings

Canadian Gold

July 1, 2013 by snapshotsandneedledrops

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANADA! I spent this Canada Day’s eve as a happy little ex-pat: baking maple cookies, wearing red flannel and unabashedly, albeit ironically, belting out Sloan lyrics– “One thing I know about the rest of my life… I KNOW THAT I’LL BE LIVING IT IN CANADA”. And, while I imagined you all drinking beer on the dock and enjoying your day off, I was toiling away at my desk– not-so-secretly sporting a CANUCK tshirt under my blazer. Classic Canadiana: […]

Categories: Acoustic, Alternative, Canadian, Dance, Electronic, Electropop, Experimental, Folk, Hip Hop, Indie, Mashups, New Wave, Playlists, Pop, Rap, Remix, Rock, Sample, singer-songwriter, Soul, Synthpop, Thugstep, Trip Hop, World • Tags: Canada, Canada Day, Canadian music, folk, indie, maestro fresh wes, music, photography, rap, Rock

Running down to the riptide

May 27, 2013 by snapshotsandneedledrops

Stockton Beach, Worimi Conservation Lands, NSW, Australia It’s another Australian homegrown act for you this week with Melbourne artist Vance Joy. It has been a crazy roller-coaster hectic kinda weekend, but I still managed to listen to this track about 30 times in the last 72 hours. An instant favourite. I hope all you Canadians are enjoying the end of your Victoria Day. Very upset that I missed my day, but heartened to hear you found a way to soldier […]

Categories: Acoustic, Alternative, Australian, Folk, Indie, Pop, singer-songwriter, Unreleased • Tags: Acoustic, Australian, beach, entertainment, folk, indie, live, music, photography, pop, singer-songwriter

Australian graffiti black and white man silhouetted Canberra

Dancing in the Dark

February 5, 2013 by snapshotsandneedledrops

Some of my first memories involve my matinee performances of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Showcased daily from our living room. I adored that soundtrack. I would clear off all the laundry from a wooden chest behind the couch, climb up, dance and sing out all the lyrics– including the twenty-nine shades, repeated twice so it sounds endless, listed in his “coat of many colours.” If I really wanted to pull out a particularly show-stopping performance I would wear […]

Categories: Acoustic, Alternative, British, Cover, Covers, Folk, French, Indie, Lo-fi, singer-songwriter, Soul, Soundtrack • Tags: Acoustic, alternative, Australia, Ben Howard, British, Bruce Springsteen, childhood, contemporary, cover, covers, dance, entertainment, folk, french, indie, lo-fi, Matt Luck, memories, modern, music, new, performance, photography, photos, singer-songwriter, soul, soundtrack, swimming, travel, Yael Naim

Top of the Drops 2012

December 30, 2012 by snapshotsandneedledrops

Music and I got off to a rocky start in 2012. Most of the new releases from early 2012 left me underwhelmed. Everyone seemed to be wrapped up in a big electro-techno wave that I was not whole-heartedly on board for. While I see these genres as great platforms for creativity and modernity, the majority of it does little to captivate me. This disheartened attitude took a turn for the better in the summer when I started discovering amazing new […]

Categories: Acoustic, Alternative, Americana, anti-folk, British, Canadian, Dance, Electropop, Experimental, Folk, Indie, Lists, Pop, Rock, Sample, singer-songwriter, Soul, Synthpop, Unsigned • Tags: 2012, Acoustic, alternative, Americana, best of, best of 2012, British, Canadian, dance, electropop, entertainment, experimental, folk, indie, list, music, photography, photos, pop, Rock, singer-songwriter, soul

The Mumford Effect

September 24, 2012 by snapshotsandneedledrops

Three days ago Mumford and Sons released their much-anticipated second album, Babel. Okay, here’s the thing: I haven’t actually listened to it yet apart from the single “I Will Wait” and the leaked tunes from a few months ago. So… I kinda dropped the ball on that one. From what I can remember though, the songs followed the Mumford standard: start slow- then, with rustic fervour, get faster and faster and faster. Really though, you’ve got nothing to worry, it’ll just more of […]

Categories: Acoustic, Alternative, Americana, Folk, Indie, Rock • Tags: alternative, Americana, banjo, banjo style, Canada, entertainment, farm, folk, folk groups, lumineers, Mumford and Sons, music, Ontario, photography, Rock, The Lumineers

Locked: A Crash Course on Coldplay

July 11, 2012 by snapshotsandneedledrops

The love locks of Paris. It seems like everyone has an opinion on Coldplay. Today, I asked a good friend what hers was. Mixed reviews it seems. My opinion? Let me say this about Coldplay, they are the only artist that I have gone out and bought every one of their albums. This is saying something as I currently have some 1,633 different artists on my itunes. The “too mainstream” argument, which is often used against Coldplay, is one I can’t […]

Categories: Acoustic, Alternative, Pop, Rock, singer-songwriter • Tags: Acoustic, album review, alternative, Coldplay, France, love, music, Paris, photography, pop, Rock, travel

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Snapshots and Needle Drops

Music meets international photography.