Music Monday (194): Charli XCX, Lecrae, Tori Kelly, Soul Central

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: I wanted to share another one of my favorite songs from CRASH. Constant Repeat is so good. The whole album is a vibe, and I've had it on repeat. 

Adri: I'm currently listening to In-Ten-City by Soul Central. I  didn't realize that there was an instrumental version.

Andrea: Hi all! This week I'm listening to I'll Find You by Lecrae featuring Tori Kelly. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

Quarterly Recap: January-March

 

It’s already April, so it’s time for the first quarterly recap of the year. As always, I’m starting with reviews. 

January Reviews:

• Crimes and Covers by Amanda Flower
• Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
• The Appeal by Janice Hallett

February Reviews:

• Washington Square by Henry James
• Daughters of Chivalry by Kelcey Wilson-Lee

March Reviews:

• All the Horses of Iceland by Sarah Tolmie
• A Thousand Steps Into Night by Tracie Chee
• A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

Other January Posts:

• I Listened to Pop?, Rap?, and R&B? by Tierra Whack
• Happy New Year! It's 2022!
• I'm Back
• Most Anticipated Books & Music of 2022

Other February Posts:

• Short Stories I Read in January
• I Listened to Caprisongs by FKA Twigs
• I Listened to The Gods We Can Touch by Aurora 

Other March Posts:

• Short Stories I Read in February
• Upcoming Music I'm Waiting For (Part 2)
• I Listened to Motordrome by MØ

Looking ahead, I’m probably going to reread The Cruel Prince sometime in the next three months. It’s one of my blogging goals to finally finish that series. It’s been a while since I read it, and I want to refresh my memory of how the trilogy starts before I move on to The Wicked King and The Queen of Nothing. I also want to read The Purgatorio, the second part of The Divine Comedy.

Some upcoming reviews in May and June include Melissa Albert’s next young adult novel, Our Crooked Heats, as well as Shadow Grave by Marina Cohen, and Monsters in the Mist by Juliana Brandt.

Short Stories I Read In February

It’s the twenty-ninth of March. So it’s time to talk about the short stories, miscellaneous posts, and podcast episodes I read or listened to in February.

My Double, My Brother by Averi Kurth (Strange Horizons; Issue: 24 January 2022)

To start this month, I read some poetry over on Strange Horizons. One of my favorites from the bunch was My Double, My Brother by Averi Kurth. I liked the way it was written, as well as the way Kurth handled the theme.

Sestina For A friend Misplaced and Recovered by Katy Bond (Strange Horizons; Issue: 24 January 2022)

This was another good piece of poetry. I really liked what Bond did with it. It was lyrical and emotive, and a treat from beginning to end.

Gentle Dragon Fires by T.K. Rex and Lezlie Kinyon (Strange Horizons; Issue: 17 January 2022)

And finally, the short story I read on Strange Horizons was Gentle Dragon Fires. This story was excellent. The writing had me from the first sentence, and the narrator, Let, was one of my favorite aspects about the story besides the fantastical elements. In a lot of ways, the story felt close and personal, emphasizing things that are forgotten—knowledge, memories, traditions, and etc. that fall through the cracks—it was the changing times and the cost of modernization and the consequences of greed that painted the smoky imagery of Gentle Dragon Fires.

From Around the Web...

• Our Opinions Are Correct Episode #100: Journalist Superheroes
• Book Review: She Who Became the Sun by Shelly Parker-Chan (Aigner Loren Wilson; Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 141: February 2022) 

Music Monday (193): Charli XCX, Beyoncé

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: I'm currently listening to Charli XCX's new album, CRASH. Move Me is a phenomenal song, and it's one of the best from the album.

Andrea: Hi all! This week I'm listening to the King Richard soundtrack. Check out Be Alive by Beyoncé. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

Title: Journey to the Center of the Earth
Series: n/a
Author: Jules Verne
Source/Format: Purchased; Paperback
More Details: Classic; Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: First published November 25, 1864

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble     

Synopsis from Goodreads...

This high-tension odyssey follows three men in an awesome search for the mysterious center of the earth-as they risk their chances of ever returning to the surface alive.

I’ll admit it: I actually forgot that Jules Verne wrote a book called Journey to the Center of the Earth. But once I came across it while making a different purchase, I knew I had to get it too. While thinking about the movie that came out in 2008 (the one with Brendan Fraser in it)—which adapted the book but didn’t follow it exactly (as I realized later)—the more I got excited about reading Verne’s story.

This book was kind of great. The beginning was a little slow, but there was the initial discovery and a lot of preparation as well as travel involved before the titular journey to the center of the earth could actually begin. I didn’t mind the pace though, as it gave a chance to see the characters in their normal lives and get a feel for their personalities (as well as two others in the side cast that are otherwise uninvolved with the main story) before plunging them—literally and figuratively—into the unknown. It was a travel book through and through, but it was also a fantastical and perilous journey.

Music Monday (192): Banks, Saweetie, H.E.R., Mary J Blige

 Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: Banks released a new single from her upcoming album, Serpentina. It's called Holding You Back, and I love it.

Andrea: Hi all! I've been busy spring cleaning while listening to Closer by Saweetie featuring H.E.R. and Rent Money by Mary J. Blige featuring Dave East. Have an amazing week!

 

What are you listening to this week?

The Friday 56 (214) & Book Beginnings: A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

This high-tension odyssey follows three men in an awesome search for the mysterious center of the earth-as they risk their chances of ever returning to the surface alive.

Beginning: "Looking back to all that has occurred to me since that eventful day, I am scarcely able to believe in the reality of my adventures."

56: "All this while we were advancing at a rapid pace."

Comments: I really liked A Journey to the Center of the Earth. What are you reading this week?

Upcoming Music I'm Waiting For Part 2 (2022)

Since its March (already three months into 2022), I thought I would revisit the subject of upcoming music. Some more stuff has been announced, and a couple of the albums I’m very excited for.  

Today is also the 15th of March, which is Our Thoughts Precisely's blogiversary. The blog is officially 9 years old! I never have anything specifically planned for this day, but I thought I would mention it here. Thanks again to all the people who have stopped by, read our posts, and left blog comments. 

Now, onto the list....

 

• Serpentina by Banks (April 8, 2022): Recently, there has been a trickle of singles coming out from Banks. Serpentina has finally been announced, and I like what I’ve heard so far. So I’m very excited to see what’s in store from the follow-up to 2019’s III.

• Back From the Dead by Halestorm (May 6, 2022): It’s been a while since I regularly followed Halestorm’s music, but I’m anticipating their next album, Back From the Dead.
• Explosions by Three Days Grace (May 6, 2022): Three Days Grace was a band I used to listen to when I was younger. I’ve been listening to some of their recent stuff, and I’m excited for this album.
• Palaces by Flume (Mary 20, 2022): I liked Flume’s 2016 album, Skin, so I had to add Palaces to this list.
• Other albums with limited information (TBA; To Be Announced): Saweetie, Rina Sawayama, Kimbra, Cardi B.

That’s it for now. As always, my lists are ever changing. So who knows, maybe there will be part three of "upcoming music I’m waiting for" later in the year. We’ll see.

What upcoming albums are you waiting for?

Music Monday (191): MØ, Oleksa Lozowchuk, Lovisa Bergdahl, Ariana Gillis

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: I'm still listening to Motordrome. Another one of my favorite songs is Wheelspin. It's one of the best tracks from the album.

Adri: I have been playing Horizon: Forbidden West, and I adore the soundtrack so much. One of the earliest cutscenes played the song In The Flood by Oleksa Lozowchuk and Lovisa Bergdahl featuring Ariana Gillis. And my second pick is Lovisa's version of In The Flood. 

What are you listening to this week?

I Listened to Motordrome by MØ

 

It’s been a while since MØ’s last album (Forever Neverland came out in 2018). So, another one of my most anticipated albums of the first part of 2022 was Motordrome. I didn’t closely follow the singles leading up to the January 28th release date, but I was still eager to dive into this album.

Motordrome is MØ’s third studio album. There were no features, but honestly it wasn’t needed. Motordrome was a solid foray into pop music, with touches of electronic and a few beats that felt like a brief reference to the sound of MØ’s first studio album, No Mythologies to Follow. It was so good. Some of my favorites included Live to Survive, Wheelspin, New Moon, Goosebumps, and Hip Bones.

Don’t get me wrong though, Motordrome is its own thing. MØ clearly had something to say, and the album feels as if it’s telling a story to its listeners and is, overall, carried by a different tone in a lot of aspects. It was still markedly a MØ album, and there was a lot to enjoy about Motordrome.