Eva Moe

Tag: music

  • my special song for big moments

    Ever since August 2008, there’s been one special song I play before every nerve-wracking endeavor: Bennie And The Jets by Elton John. I’ve played it before giving my 2-weeks notice, asking someone out, the first day in a new country and a new life, you get the idea.

    The first time I heard it was in the movie 27 Dresses, and that summer was orchestra camp. It was an hour before our big performance and my nerves wouldn’t let go of me. At the time I kept telling myself, “the song will be the same no matter how good you are or how bad you suck.” Some kind of anchor. And now it’s my tradition! Happy belated birthday, Elton John!

  • What I’m listening to 1/6/26

    1. The buckets on my floor filling up with water drip by drip. I’ve already been in one ceiling collapse so if it happens again, it’s a little embarrassing.
    2. Cameron Winter’s “Vines” – particularly struck by the line “Didn’t I say, didn’t I tell you / So long and so often / This house is falling apart / And you don’t give a damn.” The water on my floor, the windows that won’t shut all the way, the burst pipe in the kitchen. I wonder if he wrote this from the perspective of a crumbling building. Or maybe my apartment sent him the lyrics.
    3. Howard Hanson’s Elegy – You’re on a rock by the ocean, watching a storm roll through, and when that one special theme hits (you’ll know which one) the fury clears and leaves you with a glistening peace over the glittering orange and blue water.
    4. Manuel De Falla’s “The Three Cornered Hat – final dance/jota” – I played both the Elegy and Jota in high school. Always thought this one sounded the way it feels to fall in love.
    5. Space heaters.
    6. My car’s engine trying too hard to make it up that ice rink of a driveway.
    7. The Powerpuff Girls (End Theme) – from Bis, a Scottish band. Never noticed the accent until yesterday.

    Hope the first week of 2026 is going all right.
    Eva

  • Introducing Baxter!

    Hello! The new band I’m in is called Baxter! We like it because it sounds like a very good dog.

    Here’s our first demo: For After

    Lyrics:
    Open like a jaw in the morning
    it’s underground now, the soft down.
    Your smile, the dining hall, the pattern
    what you don’t learn the hard way.
    Miles left before you sleep

    Time leaves forever
    it eats the old clock in the tower, and your broken cup.
    The armor, the silken veil in marble
    what you must learn the hard way.
    Miles left before you sleep
    left before you sleep.

  • 8/27/2025 What I’m listening to lately

    Music. It’s what dreams are made of. There’s something strange in the air but let’s not talk about it yet. Things are changing in my life, and here’s what I’ve been listening to while that happens.

    1. VINYL! I have a record player set up now complete with bookshelf speakers, an old Audio-Technica turntable, and an Onkyo receiver. The bookshelf speakers are not resting on the same table as the turntable anymore, worry not. I only have about 10 records, 2 of which are from bands I was in. Vinyl is like $20-40 new though and takes up space, so it’s a highly selective process. You better believe I’ve got Heavy Metal and 3D Country. Torn between preordering Geese’s upcoming Getting Killed or buying it from the merch table at their show. I want a signed copy!
    2. Cameron Winter’s unreleased “Leave Me Alone/If You Turn Back Now” – As soon as I heard this. Leaned back in my chair and sighed. What am I supposed to do now.
    3. “100 Horses” by Geese – particularly fond of the line “But we have danced for too long / We have danced for far too long and now I must change completely” and yes it’s because of the Winds of Change in my life rn
    4. Bryter Layter and Pink Moon by Nick Drake – Just getting into Nick Drake for the first time. My current favorite is “One of These Things First“.
    5. RadioK.org – I used to work there, and it’s one of the first places I turn to when it’s time to branch out. I requested “For Ella” by Friko but they vetoed it because it was too sad. Fair. Now that I have an actual radio, it’s tuned to 100.7 FM <3 Twin Cities, baby!
    6. Gustav Holst’s “Mars“ – It. Does. Not. Fucking. Miss. Some strange remix was playing at the Electric Fetus, and the store guy said it was “The Devil’s Triangle” by King Crimson. Right on. When it’s time to lose your smile and do what must be done, Mars will give you strength.

    Stay bold. Stay passionate.
    Eva

  • 8/5/25 What I’m Listening To Lately

    Most of this was exclusively what I needed to assist me with the Geese essay. Music, ASMR, an audiobook, and now I’m worming my way back to Japanese immersion and other music.

    1. “Taxes” by Geese. Well of course. Though after I finished the essay, it has been on the shelf. Perhaps a deep dive was an overindulgence in the food of this song, and I may never be able to taste it the same way again. Who’s to say.
    2. FrivolousFox’s background ASMR. I haven’t watched this video and can’t even tell you what all the triggers are. But whenever this plays, I immediately lock in. Oddly, no other video has worked this time. Usually a pomodoro will do it, but no. Can’t even be Frivvy’s other videos. Gotta be This. One.
    3. “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson – audiobook from Libby. I was super stuck with my essay and figured I better return to Emerson for help, as I haven’t read him since high school. I was into the transcendentalists back then and am pleased I can actually understand what he’s talking about now. The audiobook is only an hour, so give it a shot!
    4. Heavy Metal by Cameron Winter. I worry that one day I’ll listen to this album and it’ll sound like the summer I was stuck in traffic.
    5. “Trinidad” by Geese. Couldn’t get a more perfect song for a drive to work with the windows down. Cameron Winter released/leaked it – there’s speculation that it was a cute thing to do for hardcore fans – 4 days before the official release. I lucked out and hopped on his IG live during his announcement. Being a fan of people who are both real and still alive is pretty neat!
    6. Furen-san’s Let’s Play of Supermarket Simulator Now that the wave of insanity has quelled, I am slowly inching my way back to Japanese immersion. Haven’t started up Anki again this month. Wondering if I’ll take the JLPT in December after all.
    7. Cut Worms by Cut Worms. This album’s only 35 minutes and it’s perfect for a drive or a walk. It sounds old, but it’s from 2023! Notably, this is the only non-Geese music I’ve been able to sink into in recent months. On repeat: “Is it Magic?” and “Let’s Go Out On The Town” (does someone wanna dance with me to this song?)

    That’ll do it for this round!
    See ya later,
    Eva

  • What I’m listening to this week 7/07

    707 LOL. I like when numbers do that. 808 BOB.

    Lately I’ve been listening to Sarah Chang again. She’s got a special place in my heart, because when I first started playing the violin at 8, my grandma gave me her 1992 Debut. It was a little girl (Chang) on the front cover not much older than me, and she was playing violin with such ease and mastery. That album had Sarasate’s Carmen on it, which I recognized from an episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog. I thought this was scary as hell so naturally I kept listening to it.

    Here’s what’s been going on in my ears this week:

    1. Sarah Chang – Pablo de Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy . The story of the opera (Bizet) is wild. It’s an opera, though. Someone’s gotta die.
    2. Sarah Chang – Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. It goes hard when you hear it in its own context, rather than whatever dumbass commercial it’s slapped across.
    3. Sarah Chang – The Sibelius Violin Concerto in D Minor. Had me crying tears of awe in my apartment at midnight after 4th of July. You can’t keep me away from Sarah Chang’s music! You cannot!
    4. Scott Walker – his album Scott 4. My first foray into his music. I liked The Seventh Seal (based on Ingmar Bergman’s movie of the same name) for both the wrong reason and the right one. Right reason: I like chess and songs that have stories in them. Wrong reason: I thought this was named after Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa. Which is a movie I have seen recently. Which has a different name than the song. Which has nothing to do with chess.
    5. Cameron Winter’s Heavy Metal. Same as last week and the month before. Bought the vinyl this week, don’t have a record player.

    Idk if this is more or less depressing than the last time I did this. Either way, new Geese music drops tomorrow. Hell yeah.

    See you soon,
    Eva

  • New Song, New(ish) YouTube

    Hello,

    I started a YouTube channel for my own music! Well, I linked the account I’ve had for ages to my DistroKid. If you can see all my goofy comments since 2013 I’m begging you to inform me.

    There’s only one video up right now but there are some tracks to listen to!
    Video: Basho (ukulele)

    The song was inspired by the stone turtles that act as a bridge in the Kamo River. Also inspired by Basho’s haiku, “Even in Kyoto / Hearing the cuckoo’s cry / I long for Kyoto”

    Lyrics:
    Hop across
    Nothing lost
    Shimmer light
    Golden gloss

    In the summer
    by the riverside
    In the picture
    you’re the only eye

    I’m home, I want to go home
    I’m home, I want to go home

  • Superfloor’s debut EP!

    Hello! Today, the band I’m in released our debut EP! Check it out wherever you stream music <3 Here’s the spotify link! And here’s our instagram.

    It took quite a while to get this done start-to-finish. We started recording late 2023/early 2024, and couldn’t finish my vocals until I got back from Japan. So there was a solid 8 months of no progress. But it’s here, and while it’s new to everyone else, it already feels old to me! If my memory’s right, we wrote Forget the Science and Santa Fe all the way back in 2019 when I was just starting to play the drums. LONG time to be sitting on a song. I can actually play the drums now lol

    If you haven’t been able to catch one of our shows, we had a fun time performing at Crumbling Heights back in March.

    Who knows… we might get radio play soon ? stay tuned <3

    See you!
    Eva

  • new band

    Music goes from one of you
    to the other
    the same way a lake will
    skip the stone
    back to you, place it gently
    in your hands.

    A chorus cloud parts.
    Open, yellowing sky.
    You are both
    fish without Poseidon
    and gods with
    one church.

  • on repeat May 2025

    A list of songs and 1 album I’ve had on repeat for a while. Most of these are inspired by the Kilby Block Party.

    1. Cameron Winter’s Heavy Metal. It’s pretty rare that I put an entire album on repeat. This whole thing opened my chest and pulled out enough crayons and agony to share with the class. The lyrics have a touch of surrealism that is worthy of a poetry chapbook. And my god the vocals. Fucking hell. Playful and daunting at the same time. Like there was no other choice but to record these. I feel like a ghost listening to someone pour their soul out to themselves in their own kitchen.
    2. Geese’s “I See Myself” off of 3D Country. It’s just fun to scream along to! Cameron Winter is the vocalist of this band, and I got to see them live at the Kilby Block Party this year. Lovely! Great to sing with your friends! The music video is fun too.
    3. Friko’s “For Ella” off of Where we’ve been, Where we go from here. It’s a gut wrenching song that’ll pull you into the ocean by your ankles. First time I heard it I thought, “this song hurts too much, I probably can’t listen to it again safely.” I’m a few dozen listens in. “Open water by your bedside / broke a promise that I stand by.” Hurt me then! FINE!
      Also got to see the last bit of Friko’s set at Kilby, but sadly didn’t hear this one, don’t know if they played it.
    4. Molly Lewis, Thee Sacred Souls’ “Crushed Velvet” off On The Lips is an instrumental track that makes me feel like a tough-talking, gun-slinging cowboy with an unrequited love. Listen to this under a full moon and yearn as hard as possible. Shake your head about your terrible luck, even. It does something.
    5. Gorillaz’ “All Alone” off Demon Days. I’ve been listening to Demon Days since it came out in 2005. “All Alone” was never my favorite track. Didn’t skip it, but didn’t put it on repeat til now. Maybe it’s because I can finally read/understand the lyrics, but these days there’s really something special about Martina Topley-Bird’s part. Her vocals in the middle of everything “’cause I don’t leave / when the morning comes it doesn’t / seem to say an awful lot / to me” ugh. Squeeze me like a sponge, why don’t you.
    6. Tennis’ “I’ll Haunt You” off Swimmer. I said this in my last post, but Alaina Moore’s voice is angelic. Crisp as an apple. Seeing her live, you can tell she’s got a voice you don’t have to worry about. She’s not gonna mess a note up in a million years so you can just relax. Honestly sounds 100% in control of her voice. Hard to believe, but she’s even better live. Glad I got to see them on their Farewell Tour!

    There you have it! …kinda sad overall huh? It’s summer? I’ll have to choose happier music ahaha yikes girl. I stand by these repeats!