A Music Related Post on a Monday... That Sounds Familiar

When thinking of what topic to write about today literally only one thought crossed my mind, and so frankly it was an easy decision to make. Why am i telling you this? Well because whilst that decision might have been easy to make, i couldn't quite figure out how on earth to start this post. In my head i had a clear idea and when it came to writing it... well i forgot the essential first word of the sentence and without that it didn't make any sense whatsoever, so instead i did this and i think it's working pretty well as an intro. Well as the very least it's better than a sentence with the key word missing. 

So what is this topic? Is it the elusive story of the advent calendar? Or about the snow that greeted me as i arose this morn and drew back the curtains? No, no it's not, it's actually about my Christmas playlist, as i thought it's monday and once upon a time i set about trying to write music reviews every monday, if you do so recall. Now rather than letting those times fade into the past, i decided instead to highlight my inability to post regularly and make you all remember what happened that first time i attempted to write anything of a regular blog, it might serve as an explanation if at any point in the next 22 days i suddenly just stop, which will definitely not happen, though it might to be honest... i mean it won't... let's just see how it goes.

Every year i make a Christmas playlist filled with festive tunes, so i can wile away the hours in the build up to Christmas day, by filling my head with such happy tunes. This year was to be no different, though it was, as i couldn't make a playlist whilst at uni because all my music is on my ipod and on the home server and not on my actual computer, meaning itunes won't let me make a playlist, even though i have the songs on my ipod (sorry i won't get dragged into another itunes rant again, that can be saved for the future).

I realised this annoying fact a few days before my journey up north and so had very little time to make a playlist, as i was preoccupied with other pre-uni things, namely packing because somehow i think that bedding is more important than a Christmas playlist, though it is a very close call. So my playlist is sadly lacking, but nevertheless it still has some great stuff on it and of course Spotify is always here to help fill in some gaps and give me some new music to listen to.

Over the next few mondays i might take the time to talk about specific albums in particular, especially in 2 weeks time as i will be back home, with access to all the Christmas music (insert relevant meme here, if you have no idea what i'm talking about, then just ignore this brackets). But for now i shall simply list the current songs/albums on my playlist/ Spotify playlist

In no particular order (well actually the order they appear on the playlist, as i'm just reading them off): Peace On Earth - Casting Crowns; Let it Snow Baby.... Let it Reindeer - Relient K; Over The Hills And Everywhere - Seabird; How Many Kings - Downhere; Drummer Boy - Jars of Clay; X Christmas - Various; Christmas! - Newsboys; Christmas in Diverse City - TobyMac; Oh For Joy - David Crowder Band; Christmas - Michael Buble; Gloria - 29th Chapter; The Ultimate Jazz Christmas - Various; and as ever the best Christmas song ever: Fairytale of New York - The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl.

So that's all i've got at the moment, not much pop Christmas songs, though that's because they're the ones that didn't make the journey up north. Have any recommendations for me? Feel more than welcome to post them in the comments below. I will endeavour to go through the best ones out of that list in the next few weeks and believe me some of them are quite brilliant and others are.... well different, in a good way though. 

That's all for today, as i need to be getting off to a carol concert in Durham cathedral, which promises to be amazing. So happy listening, whether to your own playlist or to a few of mine or a mix, whichever it is, it doesn't matter, just have a Merry Christmas and don't feel too embarrassed to sing along, after all isn't that what Christmas songs are for?

Day 3 - I should probably sort out these photos at some point, as they're not that great.

My Mildly Mad, Maybe Mundane, Monday Music... Review

M⁷R: Intro

Intro? you say. To what? you say. Well honestly that is currently something i'm asking myself atm. This is just one of my several "oo that would be a good idea" ideas and that was definitely how i felt yesterday and today... well i thought to myself is it really such a good idea, but since you're reading this you know that i have just gone for it, and thrown caution to the wind. Also i do have another similar thing to this hopefully coming later this week, but i will have to see how i feel then.

So back to this thing, well to summarize it in a couple of sentences: After making a comment to my friend Emma, about how i seem to listen to a different artist each week, i've set myself the challenge of listening to a different album each week (enforcing that statement) and i thought hey why not write about this in some sort of blog review thing. So that's it basically, a music review although saying that i'm not one to have strong opinions on music and tend to listen to a wide range so the reviews will vary from genre to genre and will mostly be not very critical or in anyway probably helpful. 

Just a few points i've come up with to help with this task is a general template, which knowing me will change constantly (hopefully for the better), this will involve: a top 3 list of my 3 favourite songs on the album and a list of my skippable songs i.e. songs that i'd prefer to skip than listen to; and probably the way i found the music most enjoyable, as i spend much of my day listening to music, whether that be driving, revising, reading, eating crisps or just listening to the music. 

So i think that's mostly all i wanted to say, the first proper M⁷R will be next monday and should hopefully be run weekly, however if i can't make it to a computer i might have to post a few weeks at a time. Finally i would love to hear some input, whether that'd be album suggestions (new and old, i'm listening to them all, but i'm trying to find less well known ones), new ideas for the blog in general or M⁷R specifically (constructive criticism only please, and maybe even some positive comments who knows). Now this is where i would like to introduce you to my new fancy blog email... *trumpet fanfare* venividiblogavi@live.com this would be the ideal place to send your comments or you know just comment below either is fine, just one's not public.

 So that is that, i think. If you think i've forgotten anything just say, and if i remember anything i've forgotten i will post it in the next M⁷R. Apart from that regular VVB will continue, this will just run alongside. See you next monday for the first exciting (hopefully) M⁷R installment.