singer-songwriter | Snapshots and Needle Drops

Mussles on bottle drifted ashore from ocean

The Secret Life of Vappz

January 21, 2014 by snapshotsandneedledrops

Sunrise, Tulum, Mexico Have you seen The Secret Life of Walter Mitty? I recommend it. I believe it was written for me and a handful of my friends: travel, photography and music are the films three great strengths. My secret life is not-so-secret to those of you who follow Snapshots. I have been very fortunate with travel opportunities, which is reflected in my photography. What is more of a secret is what I manage to get up to between snapping […]

Categories: Alternative, Folk, Indie, Rock, singer-songwriter, Soundtrack, Swedish • Tags: blog, explore, folk, indie, jose gonzales, music, photography, Rock, singer-songwriter, soundtrack, Swedish, the Secret Life of Walter Mitty, travel

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

Carry Me Home… to my Australian Christmas

December 23, 2013 by snapshotsandneedledrops

Now excuse me for getting sentimental with you all, but Christmas is a time for family. Whether with your own homegrown kin, or some hand-selected, family-like creatures of your own choosing, it’s always wise to have fellows around to be merry and to save you from eating all the cake. As regular followers know, the past three months have lead my passive wanderlusting-self away from my norm to work on a farm in South Australia. A scenic break and a […]

Categories: Alternative, Canadian, Christmas, Indie, Pop, Rock, singer-songwriter, Soul • Tags: alternative, art, Australia, Austrlian Christmas, Canada, Christmas, family, Hey Rosetta, holidays, indie, music, photography, pop, Rock

A little thunder’s good

December 9, 2013 by ebembo

In movies and TV shows, there is a trope that, if properly executed, can be utterly charming, and if poorly handled, can be the most grating thing in the world, and that is the oft-used character of the Wise Beyond Her Years Child. In the movie 500 Days of Summer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character seeks life advice from his kid sister, played by a pre-teen Chloë Grace Moretz, as she waxes philosophical from the sidelines of her soccer game. At first, […]

Categories: Canadian, Folk, Indie, Rock, singer-songwriter • Tags: Canada, Canadian music, indie, indie folk, Indie Rock, Montreal, singer-songwriter

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Writing a Life of the Stars

October 15, 2013 by ebembo

New York Public Library’s Rose Reading Room Ah, Spencer Krug. In his latest incarnation as a solo artist, he goes by Moonface. It seems you can’t mention Spencer Krug without touching on his former bands, the most prominent of which was Wolf Parade. Full disclosure: I think their first album, Apologies to the Queen Mary, is a masterpiece and, not to get too High Fidelity here, is one of my top five albums of all time. Needless to say, I […]

Categories: 21st Century Classical, Canadian, Classical, Indie, singer-songwriter • Tags: Canada, Canadian music, classical, concert, indie, Montreal, Moonface, music festival, piano, Pop Montreal, singer-songwriter, Spencer Krug, Wolf Parade

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The Echo from the Mountain

October 7, 2013 by ebembo

View from the Ubisoft rooftop terrace in Montreal Pop Montreal has come and gone in a flash. This year’s line-up was particularly strong and the festival was made all the better by gorgeous, unseasonably warm weather. As is often the case at Pop, deciding which concert to see when there are so many amazing acts playing at the same time proved to be especially challenging. But there was one show in particular that I knew, hands-down, I would not miss: […]

Categories: Canadian, Concert Pics, Experimental, Folk, Indie, Pop, singer-songwriter • Tags: art folk, Canadian, concert photos, experimental, festival, folk, indie, indie folk, indie pop, music festival, night photography, photography, pop, Pop Montreal, Swedish, Thus:Owls

The Nature of a Renaissance Girl

September 30, 2013 by ebembo

It is my pleasure to be back with yet another SS&ND guest blog! Oh Land’s “Renaissance Girls” is like an updated version of No Doubt’s “Just a Girl”; a 21st century tongue-in-cheek take on femininity – short bangs and all! If the mid-90s were about ironically playing on the “dumb blonde” stereotype (in addition to Gwen Stefani, we had Buffy and Cher Horowitz , to name a few), the 2010s have been about addressing the expectation that girls be all things […]

Categories: 90s, Dance, Electronic, Electropop, Experimental, Indie, Pop, singer-songwriter • Tags: American, Danish, electronic, electropop, experimental, fun, indie, music, Oh Land, photography, pop

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Merry Happy

August 26, 2013 by snapshotsandneedledrops

Lavender lattes with Nams makes me merry happy. In two years of music blogging, I cannot believe I have not shared a Kate Nash tune. I often go months without listening to Kate, only to stumble across one of her gems and want to listen to nothing but this fiery Londoner for the next week. I might not have featured her, but Kate Nash did inspire the post “Because Kate Nash Said…” when she, personally (through her facebook fan page), […]

Categories: Alternative, anti-folk, British, Indie, Pop, Renegade Pop, Rock, singer-songwriter • Tags: anti-folk, coffee, happy, indie, kate nash, lunch dates, music, photograhy, pop, Rock, travel, Vancouver

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Osh-itimmissing-eaga 2013

July 22, 2013 by snapshotsandneedledrops

Osheaga 2013 is less than two weeks away. That, along with missing Just for Laughs, Jazz Fest, the new food trucks (street meat!!) and hikes up to Mile End for St Viateur bagels is enough to make anyone severely nostalgic for Montreal summer days and nights. Fortunately, I am very happy in my Australian life and will only feel slight pangs of jealousy when you all start increasingly posting about this epic indie festival. Like previous years, Osheaga 2013 features […]

Categories: Alternative, art rock, British, Canadian, Concert Pics, Dance, Dreamwave, Electronic, Electropop, Experimental, Folk, French, Funk, Hip Hop, Indie, Instrumental, Lists, New Wave, Playlists, Pop, Post-Punk, Rap, Rock, singer-songwriter, Soul, Synthpop • Tags: 2013, concert, festival, folk, Montreal, music, music festival, Osheaga, photography

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Snapshots and Needle Drops

Music meets international photography.

Category Archives: singer-songwriter

The Secret Life of Vappz

Top Drops 2013

Carry Me Home… to my Australian Christmas

A little thunder’s good

Writing a Life of the Stars

The Echo from the Mountain

The Nature of a Renaissance Girl

Merry Happy

Osh-itimmissing-eaga 2013