Maree('s) Muses

Could this be? The return of the long lost and dearly missed music posts? Maybe… :) We shall see where autumn and winter take us, but October was one of those months again, that had me hooked on a couple of tracks and/or interprets, so here I am to share them with you. Je to možné? Návrat dlouho ztracených a postrádaných článků o hudbě? Možná… :) Uvidíme, kam nás podzim a zima zavanou, ale říjen byl opět jedním z těch měsíců, kdy jsem byla až „posedlá“ několika písničkami nebo interprety, tak jsem tu, abych se o ně s vámi podělila. Musically, there were 2 main themes to my October. The first one you can easily decipher from the title of this post :) In case you have not noticed, I am a bit mad about my latin dancing  right now and naturally, music plays a crucial role in that. Music is what breathes life to a set of steps and turns them into a dance, a beautiful, magical experience. I’ve been taking my classes for just over a year now, and I think it’s safe to say, that...

It's only half of April, that's not too bad for March Music Monthly, is it?  And it's finally begining to look a lot like... spring! Without further delay, let's listen to some music. For me March was slightly more on the contemporary radio pop side. but we don't mind that, do we? Click below to read more and listen to X Ambassadors, Duke Dumont, a bit of James Bay and more ;) Here comes the sun...

Shh, let's pretend there's been a distortion in the fabric of time and somehow this was posted at the beginning of March. I've been at a loss about what to put in February monthly collection. The  respective note section in my calendar was glaringly empty. I thought about it long and hard, tried to remember what I listened to at work, what I sang to myself when waiting for a tram... And then the theme was clear: musicals. I usually go through a "musical" phase during witner time. This year has been no different. So I suppose this is something between February music and a compilation of my all time  favourite musicals. Here they come, in no particular order:

It's here again! No, I haven't given up on it completely. Let's see how long it sticks this time :D If you don't know what I'm referring to, I'm talking about Music Monthly, which is a regular series I used to to here on the blog. Only then the regularity died (hence Music Irregular) and then... Somehow everytime I try to get the series back on track, it dies on me. Either I don't have music to write about or I don't have the time to do it. In spite of all the bad luck Music Monthly has been attracting, I'm trying once again to beat the odds. Here's a music taste of my January 2016.

Autumn begins tomorrow. So I want to get in quickly before it's too late and send the summer off with some music, which, as you have guessed already, I intend to share with you. Given that I've been neglecting you and this blog for so long, today you'll be getting an extra large portion of tunes (and possibly of my unnecesarry ramblings as well). Here are some of my favourite tracks that I've been listening to this summer. Click here if you want to listen/watch all together in a neat YouTube playlist (including a surprise). Starting off with a bit of a cheat, because this song has been begging for my attention on and off all the way throughout the spring. Mainly when it featured (multiple times) on Dancing With the Stars. I am yet to test this at an actual party with other people, but I daresay this song such an upbeat ball of energy that it just pulls you up to the dancefloor! And then you're hit with the painful realization that your feet are not quite...

Oh look, if it isn't the long lost Music Monthly! Remember when I used to do this (more or less) regularly? :D Towards the end of the last year I realized how much I miss writing about music and so I decided to give it a try once more :) The first Music Monthly of 2015 is a bit of a winter tie-in. Some of these songs I've been enjoying since autumn, some are embarrassingly new to me, but above all, it's good fun :) For any new readers around here (Welcome!), let me re-introduce the feature and how it was originally born: It occurred to me once that what you go through in life often reflects in the songs that keep you company. And through these songs that are with you in your good times and in bad, you build a relationship to a new interpret or a new style of music that you haven’t listened to before. Music Monthly is more or less regular summary of my musical life experience, an insight into what songs have caught my attention and why, which ones got stuck i...

Hello my little monkeys :) Can't believe it's been a week since got back from my trip to another universe aka London. (If you're not in the loop on what's that all about, check out the " Travelling Tales " label above :) I'm still digging through photos and diary notes... It makes me emotional... Today however, I have some pre-London music for you. I had this post almost ready before I went and now it shall keep you entertained (I hope) while I prepare some of London stories and pictures to be shared with you. And believe me there is a lot to be said and A LOT of new music for you to listen to :) For now though, let's pretend I haven't gone anywhere yet and listen to a couple of songs that caught my ear in the past weeks/months. I shall keep them in chronological order. Just because I like things to be chronological :D Right, no more useless rambling, I'll just get on with it, shall I? First up a little bit of HAIM . Mainly, it's j...

Weeeeeell, how shall I say this... I hope you have your tissues ready. As you might have guessed, in my 3-week blogging silence, Music Monthly would not be happening. Amidst of me being super social (ergo super exhausted), trying to be a good family person, increasing the job hunting efforts and planning exciting adventures... I will be taking a little Music Monthly break . Let's call it a hiatus. I might bring it back next month, in a couple of months or next year, who knows. But for now, I think I need to let go... Let go of the pressure I've put on myself. I need it to be fun again. I apologize to those of you, who are fond of my playlists and music-y writings, specifically to Adalberto, who is the one outspoken supporter of this feature. Do not despair. Taking a break in Music Monthly doesn't mean I won't write about any music at all. Maybe I will end up spicing up some of my other posts with a song or two. And of course if there are any major development...

Well hello, music lovers! So... it seems that this monthly thing is not working out very well this year. Soon my only regular feature will be as regular as Ben Cook's "weekly" series Becoming YouTube, if you know what I mean ;) It's starting to worry me. I should probably seriously re-think the strategy of how I put these together, or I need to put Music Monthly to sleep completely. Just let it die quietly without anybody noticing... And then maybe I could focus on all the other music posts and general life things that I want to blog about... Tricky decision this. If you have any opinion on the matter or any blogging advice, please leave a comment below! Now for a bit of time travel: let's talk about February. February seems to have been very exciting month for me. ... Wait haven't  I been saying that for the last 6 months? Somehow I manage to make my life feel very exciting and that's without having a job. Imagine the excitement if I had one... :D On...

My dear music readers, if you are still here, I'm not going to lie: I don't know what's happening. I've had some sort of a blogger's block on the January music compilation, which is slightly impractical, given that it was supposed to start off the new series for 2014. Ah well, what can you do. I will try to keep this as short and concise as possible. And you, please try to forgive me and overlook this slip up. On with the show, then! No more delays! * Don't forget to vote in my little poll over in the right bar, where you can have your say on what kind of content you like to see on here!   So far the results are turning out quite interestingly :) * I started the year in a bit of a Gabrielle Aplin mood :) (Already on the wave of my upcoming post, hopefully.) I have been loving this song since December and still haven't got bored of it. I doubt that I ever will :) "Salvation" is the latest single from Gabby's current debut album a...

Five days into the new year and already I feel like I'm lagging behind with loads of things. Mainly with my beloved bloggie. But fear not readers, I'm on a mission to fix things asap. Here is your complimentary edition of Music Monthly to wrap up 2013. Starting off with a bit of a dark waltz by a Czech band Mandrage . I'm not particularly interested in them, but from time to time they come up with something fresh and new that catches my ears. Moreover, as I have been indulging in Dancing With The Stars again (American season and the concurring Czech one), when I first heard this, my head immediately translated it onto the dance floor. I wish somebody could dance to this on the show. Happy. I think this doesn't need any explaining. That was me in the first half of December. All busy with singing, blogging and other life thingies... I was intentionally trying to keep myself busy so that I wouldn't have time to be sad. You know what? It works :) It works, but...

Is it me or does the time really fly by faster and faster? We've turned our calendars onto the next month and you know what that means: that I should be sitting down and writing up some music. Here it is :) Music-wise November has been very optimistic. Not just music-wise. I'm still putting on a brave face and refusing to get upset about life things. Yay! First up, let me play you something a little bit personal. On the very first of November, the choir that I sing in had a little launch party for our new CD :) Technically it's our 4th album, but the first that we recorded properly in a studio, so it is quite a big deal for us. The record is a compilation of (mainly) advent and Christmas songs from all over Europe, in our own arrangements. Sometimes I say that it's our attempt to see how many languages we manage to mutilate within one hour :D Then again, we are not linguists, we are musicians and what we lack sometimes in pronunciation, we make up for with our hear...

Why does it always get so hard to post regularly in this time of year? It was the same last year. Actually last year it was probably even a little bit worse. Which then resulted in the whole thing crumbling down and the last 4 articles never saw the light of day. Well, in 2013 I actually intend to struggle and post them, however late that may be. If you need somebody to blame for the horrible blogpost delay, blame some of my friends who ask me to translate stuff for them, or write magazine articles. Or blame me that I agree to do such silly things instead of focusing on the realy important stuff like my blog is, am I right? ;)   Never mind that. October in music turned a little bit more indie for me. At least that's what I like to call it. I started watching a new music channel introduced to my tv channels package (Óčko Expres, if any of you Czech readers are wondering). I like it because it is much more varied in genres of music and definitely a lot less mainstream-pop-for-tee...

I am not even going to try and come up with an apology for this article being 2 weeks late. It just is. Deal with it :) Why not take a little mid-October brake from digging in the back of our closets, searching for where the heck are all the gloves and scarves and warm wolly sweaters, make yourself and nice cuppa of something warm and listen to a couple of songs I assembled last month. As always, it's a little bit of everything: mainstream, indie, folky... I hope you find something you like. First up, yet again, Hudson Taylor . One more song and then I'll shut up about them. Haha, as if :D  First they would have to stop producing such lovely and heart warming music and that is unlikely. (New EP is out now, go get it on iTunes!) Anyway, this is about September and there was one song in particular that spoke to me more than the others. It's one of their oldies, from a couple of years back, and it's called "Concrete Walls" . Sadly, I must say that a lot of t...

Well hello, friendlies :) It's about time we listened to some music, don't you think? So, August... unlike my usual boring summer, it was actually a fun and busy month. Featuring the tragic story of how I didn't get to meet no YouTubers, more dental adventures (dislocated jaw. woop! woop!) and then a week in the mountains spent with my choir. Happy times! :) Musically, it has been very... erratic, which will be reflected in the absolute incoherence of this post, I am afraid. Anyway, what have I got for you today? My new discovery and love, a dance tune, a blast from the past and two current mainstream songs that I happen to like. Not necessarily in that order, we shall see. Read on and listen to an unlikely mix of Ricky Martin, The Cranberries, Rudimental and Hudson Taylor. Oh gosh, that sounds like I've no idea what I'm doing :D

Well hello there! How are you doing? I'm sorry this is is all so late. My home internet connection died on me, therefore everything bloggy got a bit more complicated. Sorry. Apparently it’s summer holidays for some lucky bastards who go to school. Good for them :) How was your July? Mine was slightly uneventful, if you don’t count a visit to the zoo *smiley face* and a dentist appointment *not smiley face*. I’ve spent the rest of the month hiding in the fridge, climbing out only to secure the windows when a thunderstorm was coming, so they wouldn’t get smashed. No, I’m only kidding. We don’t have a big enough fridge. How did you survive the heat wave? I turned to having ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner, in the end :) Let’s have a look at what I’ve been listening to while melting away…

Sorry, sorry, I apologize, darlings! I'm starting to suspect that there must some sort of a summer trickery going on, because as soon as there is generally more sun than clouds in the sky, I lose my ability to post articles more or less on time. This exact thing happened last year. Everything was fine for 5 months and then the series fell apart. But here I am again, fighting the laziness and giving you what you deserve, which is my 5 most listened to songs from June. I admit it wasn't easy to compile this playlist. I usually try to find at least an echo of a theme that would bind these particular songs together, and with this month it seemed particularly impossible. On the other hand, I suppose that the common denominator of these songs is, after all, me. Read on for a little bit of Lana Del Rey and some Doctor Who music...

I admit, under the current circumstances in my country it is really hard for me to sit down and write something cheery about the great songs that I listened to last month. My lovely hometown of Prague is being flooded. Luckily nobody I know is in immediate danger, and although I live only a couple of streets from the river, it is very very unlikely that the water would reach us. I am safe, but it is still an immensely frustrating and depressing situation. Imagine that somebody you live is being savagely attacked and beaten up, and you can do nothing to stop it. You just have to wait. That's how it feels :( However, I'm trying to "keep calm and carry on" - e.g. write my regular blog post. I owe it to the good songs that are on my list and I owe it to May for being a quite cheerful and lovely month for me. All because after 2 and a half months I was finally fit enough to slowly start going out and actually doing things and being with people and stuff :) Read on for Daf...

Hellooo, anybody reading this? No? That’s fine, don’t worry about it. I know we are already 10 days into May, but I am not giving up on this! Neither should you! How was your April? Mine was not very eventful. The living room sofa and I are in a pretty much symbiotic relationship by now. I’m not sure where I end and the sofa begins. I assure you it brings me no pleasure whatsoever. Not anymore. I just can’t wait to be able to jump up and start moving and exercising and dancing and… just doing all the things that I can’t do now! But it seems it will take some more time. So while we wait for my body to stop messing about and actually get better, why not listen to some good tunes? As usual, an all-genre playlist summarizing my recent musical experience is awaiting you:

Welcome, dear readers, to March edition of Music Monthly, historically the first one to be published simultaneously on both of my blogs. Yes, I have two, because I’m greedy. What interesting things have you done in March? I for example started my transformation into a professional couch potato. Due to medical reasons though, not by choice. Which makes it slightly less enjoyable. Anyway, I hope you’re ready to listen to some good music. I’ve all kinds of genres ready for you, so let’s dig in.