indie | Snapshots and Needle Drops

Wine Tasting in Môtiers

June 25, 2011 by snapshotsandneedledrops

Môtiers is a sweet little town in the Val-de-Travers district, in the canton of Neuchâtel, in the country of Switzerland. Val-de-Travers, besides having some magnificent hiking trails, is a region famous for being the birthplace of absinthe. Interestingly enough, the drink was banned in the country in 1908 after a factory worker killed his wife and children in an hallucinatory frenzy said to have been caused by the “green fairy.” The prohibition was not lifted until 2005. Fortunately, I moved to […]

Categories: Acoustic, Folk, Indie, Soundtrack • Tags: Acoustic, folk, indie, Irish, music, photography, soundtrack

The Old Port After a Storm

June 21, 2011 by snapshotsandneedledrops

Bon Iver was on the Colbert Report last night as his album “Bon Iver” was released TODAY. Justin said that this disk is a bit more colourful than the last “a little less like laying with your face on the floor,” which is amazingly accurate. Regardless, “For Emma, Forever Ago” is one of my most favourite albums. Having said this, I already used Bon Iver in a recent post so I’m not going to use him today. Instead, I’m embedding Matt […]

Categories: Indie, Rock • Tags: indie, Matt Kanelos & the Smooth Maria, music, photography, Rock

There’s no need to convert a believer

June 20, 2011 by snapshotsandneedledrops

Bahamas aka Afie Jurvanen is a Torontonian artist. The tracks on his album Pink Strat are short and sweet- like the early Beatles stuff, with only three of the twelve songs reaching the three-minute mark. Bahamas has toured with other Canadian indie artists like Amy Milan, the Stills and Hayden. On the 24th he’s opening for Robert Plant & the Band of Joy on the first night of the Montreal Jazz Festival. He is great. The end. Already Yours by […]

Categories: Canadian, Folk, Indie • Tags: Bahamas, Canadian, folk, indie, Locarno, music, photography, Switzerland, Ticino

À la prochain, les FrancoFolies

June 18, 2011 by snapshotsandneedledrops

The last acts of this year’s Les FrancoFolies de Montréal are currently underway. This annual ten-day music festival features over a thousand french-language acts and Francophone performers from around the world. Like other music festivals in Montreal, there are hundreds of free outdoor shows around Place des Arts (in case you had questions about how awesome Montreal is, it is hundreds-of-free-concerts awesome). Feeling the FrancoFolies vibe, I’ve decided to feature Canadian bassist and singer Marie-Pierre Arthur. Elle by Marie-Pierre Arthur

Categories: Canadian, Folk, French, Indie • Tags: Canadian, festival, flower, folk, french music, Geneva, Geneva Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, indie, Marie-Pierre Arthur, Montreal, music, photography

Cathedral arches, St Paul's Basilique, Paris

He is… his daughter’s father.

June 17, 2011 by snapshotsandneedledrops

I spent a long time trying to find a photo to match the song I had selected for today. I eventually decided on this one because the band, Fleet Foxes, often use incredible and layered vocal harmonies… they’re almost choral-like. As well, there’s this reverb quality to their sound almost as if they record in an empty cathedral. This week I was a very proud daughter. My dad was visiting for a couple days and we spent some time in HMV. […]

Categories: Americana, Folk, Indie, Rock • Tags: Basilique Saint-Denis, cathedral, father-daughter, Fleet Foxes, folk, indie, music, Paris, photography, Rock, shopping

Highway north of Whitehorse, mountain, forest,

“Put the friggin’ camera down!”

June 16, 2011 by snapshotsandneedledrops

Alaskan Highway, Yukon Three cheers for the Yukon! This is on the Alaskan highway going north from Whitehorse. My aunt repeatedly yelled at me to put the camera down but I just couldn’t, that whole territory is breathtakingly gorgeous. The song is A Million Years by Alexander. He’s the lead singer from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Ima Robot. I feel like ‘Alexander’ is one of the most un-google-able artist names out there. You pretty much have to know […]

Categories: Folk, Indie • Tags: Alexander, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, folk, googol, indie, music, photography, Rock, Yukon

Walls Fall Down

June 13, 2011 by snapshotsandneedledrops

I think I just ate some questionable cheese. Okay yes, another Paris photo. I was listening to The Zolas and ‘Zolas’ makes me think of Émile Zola, who makes me think two things: 1) “J’ACCUSE!” 2) the French Revolution. Which is why The Zolas are being paired with this images of Les Invalides, a series of buildings that honours french military history and where Napoléon Bonaparte is entombed. “Cause we all want something that’s bigger than fashion.” You’re Too Cool […]

Categories: Canadian, Indie, Rock • Tags: Canadian, indie, music, night, Paris, photography, Pont Alexandre III, Rock, Seine, The Zolas

Favourites at Second Cup

June 10, 2011 by snapshotsandneedledrops

One of my favourite photos of one of my favourite people deserved to be paired with one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite bands. Pairings with The Temper Trap might just keep happening… they’re just so stellar. I saw them last fall when they came to Montréal the onstage sound these guys have is incredible. This pic came in second in a photography competition, the one that came in first I used for my first entry. Sweet Disposition […]

Categories: Indie, Rock • Tags: Australian, award, competition, indie, Montreal, music, photography, prize, Rock, Second Cup, studying, The Temper Trap

That Colourful Swiss Sky

June 9, 2011 by snapshotsandneedledrops

Today has been a good day. There’s been quite a lot of things going on lately, among them include my brother getting his pilot’s licence and I found a DVD full of photos from European travels that I thought I had lost! …. Okay, arguably it was a better day for him than me, but anyway this means that the images on this blog are going to get even more euro-centric. Starting with these, unfocused, images of the sky above the city […]

Categories: Indie, Rock • Tags: Alps, Bombay Bicycle Club, indie, music, Neuchatel, photography, Rock, sunset, Switzerland

Snapshots and Needle Drops

Music meets international photography.

Tag: indie