Merry Christmas!!
This year has been an incredible year for music, the best of the decade, by far!!
My top twenty best albums of 2009:
1. Florence and the Machine- Lungs
2. Yeah Yeah Yeah’s- It’s Blitz!
3. The XX- The XX
4. Regina Spektor- Far
5. White Lies- To lose my life
6. Paloma Faith- Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
7. Jack Penate-Everything is New
8. Golden Silvers- True Romance
9. The Big Pink- A Brief History of Love
10. Slow Club- Yeah, so
11. The Horrors- Primary Colours
12. Little Boots-Hands
13. Jamie T- Kings and Queens
14. Friendly Fires- Friendly Fires
15. The Maccabees- Wall of arms
16. Passion Pit- Manners
17. Lily Allen- It’s not me, it’s you
18. Mumford and Sons-Sigh no more
19. Bombay Bycicle Club- I had the blues and I shook them loose
20. Lady Gaga- The Fame
Predictions for 2010!:
1. Marina and the Diamonds
2. Ellie Goulding
3. Frightened Rabbit
4. Laura Marling (whatever her second album will be called)
5. Los Campesinos! (Romance is Boring)
6. Lightspeed Champion (life is sweet! Nice to meet you)
7. Late of the Pier
8. Frankie & the Heartstrings (youtube’Fragile’, it’s lovely)
9. The drums (Heading on the NME Shockwaves tour in February, I have my ticket!)
10. Everything Everything (I’ve already sung their praises!)
11. Duchess says
12. Delphic (see Leeds Festival Blog)
13. Dimbleby and Capper
14. Sparky Deathcap (he is amazing and I have great expectations for this man, he writes beautiful songs and recently supported Los Campesinos! On their tour)
15. Joy Orbison (critically acclaimed already by the bbc, currently being played by Huw Stephens, Nick Grimshaw and Zane Lowe)
16. Gold Panda (they know how to make people dance!)
17. Chew Lips
18. Ghostcat
19. Wetdog
20. Ou est le swimming pool?
My favourite xmas songs:
Paloma Faith and Josh Weller- It’s Christmas (and I hate you)
Frightened Rabbit- It’s Christmas so we’ll stop
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs- All I want for Christmas
Slow Club- Christmas (baby please come home)
Listen to it here: http://rcrdlbl.com/2009/12/03/exclusive_new_download_slow_club_christmas_baby_please_come_home_
The Pogues- Fairytale of New York
Have a great 2010 everybody! Comment up this blog with your opinions on my favourite albums for 2009 and your predictions for 2010!I want to know what you think!
Katie x
Sunday, 13 December 2009
Friday, 11 December 2009
Radicle past 2 weeks!!!
I'm sorry for my lack of blogging but I have been very, very busy!! However, I still managed to squeeze 3 gigs into the past 2 weeks!!
Firstly, I saw Regina Spektor, that lady is so disgustingly talented, it's unbelievable! She treated her audience to a flawless one and a half hour set, it was just perfect, She did songs from all of her albums apart from 11:11. It was also so cute when she came out and tried to do an english accent with her little Russian lilt!
And then on Thursday the 3rd of December was the re-scedualed Paloma Faith gig at Birmingham Academy 2, I took my mother along! We had a great time, Paloma was as great as I thought she was going to be, however, although I already had high expectations of Josh Weller, he even out did my expectations. He's phenemenal live! His live shows really showcase his song writing skills, his performance capability and refreshing unique sound. Although my mum did compare him to Elvis Costello! It's outrageous that he's not signed, he's so good and he's been part of the music scene for quite some times now, he is particularly popular in Paris, however.
And finally, on Wednesday (the 9th Dec) I saw for the second time this year, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the following video basically says it all, their pure brilliance!
Supporting them was a band from Montreal called 'Duchess says.' Now there's an interesting band! I think the stewards nearly had a heart attack when the lead singer, Annie-Claude, jumped into the crowd and sung the majority of the set moshing, whilst still singing, in the audience. She moved from one end of the crowd to the other and back, whilst the audience members participated in passing the microphone lead over their heads. That woman managed to change people first impressions of her in the space of half an hour. When she came on, in a flowery night gown, pretending that she had been excosised, people immediatley though "gosh, she's wierd and arrogant, we don't even know who she is!" but by the end the set, she was being called a total ledgend. She was crazy in the same sort of way that Alice Glass is and I can imagine Duchess Says having a simular cult following and sold out shows in the way that Crystal Castles do. Their music was a mixture of grunge/punk and elctroinca/shoegaze, they had a very original sound and I truel believe that they will go on to do great things!
That's all for now, but I'm going to post another blog very soon!
Katie x
Firstly, I saw Regina Spektor, that lady is so disgustingly talented, it's unbelievable! She treated her audience to a flawless one and a half hour set, it was just perfect, She did songs from all of her albums apart from 11:11. It was also so cute when she came out and tried to do an english accent with her little Russian lilt!
And then on Thursday the 3rd of December was the re-scedualed Paloma Faith gig at Birmingham Academy 2, I took my mother along! We had a great time, Paloma was as great as I thought she was going to be, however, although I already had high expectations of Josh Weller, he even out did my expectations. He's phenemenal live! His live shows really showcase his song writing skills, his performance capability and refreshing unique sound. Although my mum did compare him to Elvis Costello! It's outrageous that he's not signed, he's so good and he's been part of the music scene for quite some times now, he is particularly popular in Paris, however.
And finally, on Wednesday (the 9th Dec) I saw for the second time this year, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the following video basically says it all, their pure brilliance!
Supporting them was a band from Montreal called 'Duchess says.' Now there's an interesting band! I think the stewards nearly had a heart attack when the lead singer, Annie-Claude, jumped into the crowd and sung the majority of the set moshing, whilst still singing, in the audience. She moved from one end of the crowd to the other and back, whilst the audience members participated in passing the microphone lead over their heads. That woman managed to change people first impressions of her in the space of half an hour. When she came on, in a flowery night gown, pretending that she had been excosised, people immediatley though "gosh, she's wierd and arrogant, we don't even know who she is!" but by the end the set, she was being called a total ledgend. She was crazy in the same sort of way that Alice Glass is and I can imagine Duchess Says having a simular cult following and sold out shows in the way that Crystal Castles do. Their music was a mixture of grunge/punk and elctroinca/shoegaze, they had a very original sound and I truel believe that they will go on to do great things!
That's all for now, but I'm going to post another blog very soon!
Katie x
Monday, 23 November 2009
Chapel Club and Dimbleby and Capper
I'm completley in love with a London band called 'CHAPEL CLUB' at the moment, their new single 'Surfacing' samples the classic song 'Dream a little dream of me' which they have maliciously fucked up using gothic and religious imagery and heavily amplified guitars. If you like White Lies and The Smiths, you will LOVE these! Check them out at their myspace page here
The next artist I've already mentioned before, when I spoke of her demo 'Beautiful but boring', she writes excellent pop music, her first ever proper single 'Slick Maturity' is already being played by Huw Stephens on Radio1 and it's up on her myspace page
Katie x
The next artist I've already mentioned before, when I spoke of her demo 'Beautiful but boring', she writes excellent pop music, her first ever proper single 'Slick Maturity' is already being played by Huw Stephens on Radio1 and it's up on her myspace page
Katie x
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Single reviews- all out on the 15th November!
Single Reviews- Ellie Goulding, Florence and the Machine and Wolf Gang
Ellie Goulding- Under the sheets (Neon Gold) - for video see here
Here, Ellie Goulding, the chic hoodie and trainers supporter delivers her debut single. Having already performed on ‘Later live with Jools Holland’ without a release to her name, this 21 year old Hereford girl sees the release of ‘Under the Sheets’ on Neon Gold record label, previously home to Passion Pit and Marina and the Diamonds, who has just left the label to pursue her debut album release on a major label. This excellent debut, cleverly produced by up and coming producer ‘Starsmith’ is filled with a scrumptious pop melody, contagious drum beats, some form of electronic harp sounds and strong choruses. Her interesting (yet not too uncommercial) angelic voice caries the song well through honest and striking lyrics from the simple “we’re in a mess babe” to the metaphorical “You left a bloodstain on the floor.”
Florence and the Machine- You’ve got the Love (Island)
This exciting take on the original Candi Staton 90’s anthem is an absolute treat, I love how she has changed it vocally to her original recording for the B side of ‘Dog Days Are Over’ and the one found hooked onto the end of her stunning album ‘Lungs’ (for my review of this click here). The infamous strings riff found in the classic song has been replaced with a soaring harp and progressing keyboard, Candi’s remarkable voice of course replaced by the quirky and equally powerful voice of Florence Welch. You can hear Miss Welch’s passion when she sings this song, like it’s so personal to her, it’s clearly a favourite song of her which bestows many memories, just like her version does for me, I have seen her many times and more than often cried hysterically and smiled ridiculously during this song (see here here and here and here for reviews of her live performances). Her version unexpectedly became one of the most popular songs off her album and I think that it why it has been released, it’s certainly not an obvious choice and to be honest I would have rather seen ‘Cosmic Love’, ‘Hurricane Drunk’ or ‘Howl’ released as I would never want her precious version of ‘You’ve got the Love’ to be overplayed by sleazy radio presenters that don’t know what they’re talking about half of the time.
Wolf Gang- The King and all of his Men (Neon Gold, again!)
This song is everything that I expected of this talented gang of men, everything that I’ve heard from them has been fantastic! I would say that their music belongs mainly underneath the ‘synthpop’ bracket but they are excellent musicians rather than technology geeks. ‘The King and all of his Men’ contains fantastic instrumentation, a strapping chorus with catchy and well written lyrics and dancibilty on behalf of the drums. The song has been well polished off by producer ‘Blue May’ but not disgustingly so, this song contains all of the ingredients for a perfect pop song and I think that its qualities have been well mixed to create a butterfly of a song; it’s a very beautiful thing, something that anyone would wish to have created.
I also love the video, set in some sort of Victorian (these seems to be a popular style amongst the band, they certainly seem to like this era, see their myspace pictures for more details on this!)masquerade party:
Katie
x
Ellie Goulding- Under the sheets (Neon Gold) - for video see here
Here, Ellie Goulding, the chic hoodie and trainers supporter delivers her debut single. Having already performed on ‘Later live with Jools Holland’ without a release to her name, this 21 year old Hereford girl sees the release of ‘Under the Sheets’ on Neon Gold record label, previously home to Passion Pit and Marina and the Diamonds, who has just left the label to pursue her debut album release on a major label. This excellent debut, cleverly produced by up and coming producer ‘Starsmith’ is filled with a scrumptious pop melody, contagious drum beats, some form of electronic harp sounds and strong choruses. Her interesting (yet not too uncommercial) angelic voice caries the song well through honest and striking lyrics from the simple “we’re in a mess babe” to the metaphorical “You left a bloodstain on the floor.”
Florence and the Machine- You’ve got the Love (Island)
This exciting take on the original Candi Staton 90’s anthem is an absolute treat, I love how she has changed it vocally to her original recording for the B side of ‘Dog Days Are Over’ and the one found hooked onto the end of her stunning album ‘Lungs’ (for my review of this click here). The infamous strings riff found in the classic song has been replaced with a soaring harp and progressing keyboard, Candi’s remarkable voice of course replaced by the quirky and equally powerful voice of Florence Welch. You can hear Miss Welch’s passion when she sings this song, like it’s so personal to her, it’s clearly a favourite song of her which bestows many memories, just like her version does for me, I have seen her many times and more than often cried hysterically and smiled ridiculously during this song (see here here and here and here for reviews of her live performances). Her version unexpectedly became one of the most popular songs off her album and I think that it why it has been released, it’s certainly not an obvious choice and to be honest I would have rather seen ‘Cosmic Love’, ‘Hurricane Drunk’ or ‘Howl’ released as I would never want her precious version of ‘You’ve got the Love’ to be overplayed by sleazy radio presenters that don’t know what they’re talking about half of the time.
Wolf Gang- The King and all of his Men (Neon Gold, again!)
This song is everything that I expected of this talented gang of men, everything that I’ve heard from them has been fantastic! I would say that their music belongs mainly underneath the ‘synthpop’ bracket but they are excellent musicians rather than technology geeks. ‘The King and all of his Men’ contains fantastic instrumentation, a strapping chorus with catchy and well written lyrics and dancibilty on behalf of the drums. The song has been well polished off by producer ‘Blue May’ but not disgustingly so, this song contains all of the ingredients for a perfect pop song and I think that its qualities have been well mixed to create a butterfly of a song; it’s a very beautiful thing, something that anyone would wish to have created.
I also love the video, set in some sort of Victorian (these seems to be a popular style amongst the band, they certainly seem to like this era, see their myspace pictures for more details on this!)masquerade party:
Katie
x
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Chew Lips- Slick
Chew Lips are celebrating the release of their debut album by giving away free tracks everyday, today's track is an excellent gem called 'Slick.' It's a mellow electropop number, have a listen and follow the download link below if you like it!
http://www.chewlips.co.uk/newsletter/
Katie
x
http://www.chewlips.co.uk/newsletter/
Katie
x
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Also found this golden nugget of a band today...
I absolutely love this, it's delicious, perfect even. This lot are from Toronto, home of punk but they are clearly also influenced by pop and electronica. They are now living in London I believe. Here is a band called 'Ghostcat'...
Katie x
Katie x
The Unkindness of Ravens
What do you think of them, a new sonic youth but more electro and PJ Harveyesque vocals? I think I like this..
Let me know what you think!
Katie
x
Let me know what you think!
Katie
x
Art Vs Science
This quirky, Melbourne, electronica band sure know how to whip up a pop storm. Their lyrics are catchy and witty and their songs impossible to resist dancing to.
I love the video for this song!
Katie x
I love the video for this song!
Katie x
Friday, 6 November 2009
Miike Snow in session for Nick Grimshaw
Her is the excellent session that they did for Nick Grimshaw this week!
Enjoy!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/videos/nickgrimshaw/video/091030_miikesnow_tk1
Their self titled album is out now!
Katie
x
Enjoy!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/videos/nickgrimshaw/video/091030_miikesnow_tk1
Their self titled album is out now!
Katie
x
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Local Natives- Gorilla Manner
Local Natives are streaming 30 second samples of each track off their debut album 'Gorilla Manner' here:
http://www.nme.com/news/local-natives/48040
It's sounding beautiful, pre-order it at Rough Trade (for £10.99) and get a free bonus cd
http://www.nme.com/news/local-natives/48040
It's sounding beautiful, pre-order it at Rough Trade (for £10.99) and get a free bonus cd
Monday, 26 October 2009
Music Go Music
Ok, so they don't have a very inventive name but their outfits and music make up for this:
Also, did anyone else spend £1.90 on the Guardian this saturday just so that they could get the link for the live Fever Ray album? Good stuff yes?
Katie X
Also, did anyone else spend £1.90 on the Guardian this saturday just so that they could get the link for the live Fever Ray album? Good stuff yes?
Katie X
Sunday, 25 October 2009
John Peel 5 year anniversary
I was always too young to stay up and listen to John Peels show, as I'm only 17 (although 18 in March :)) so I'm making up for it now by listening to these spotify playlists, it seems he was a great man with excellent musical taste...
http://drownedinsound.com/news/4136745
Have a listen, they are brilliant,
Katie
x
http://drownedinsound.com/news/4136745
Have a listen, they are brilliant,
Katie
x
Thursday, 15 October 2009
I'm soooo sorry I haven't written on here in ages!
I've been a very busy girl, so therefore this blog may be a long one....
first of all I'd like to introduce you to a new band called 'The Middle Ones.' If you like Emmy the Great, Laura Marling, Slow Club or Ruby and her Whorses, then you'll definately like these. Check them out on myspace here:
http://www.myspace.com/themiddleones
So, bands I've seen since I last wrote:
Florence and the Machine, for the 5th time this year! She did an excellent cover of Etta James' 'Somethings got a hold on me'
The XX supported and they were great too, although a lot of people I know that went didn't like them for some stupid reason!
Next gig was The NME Tour. That was brilliant, all of the bands were amazing!
They were: Yes Giantess!
Local Natives- notice how all of the drummers come on and support them :)
Marina and the Diamonds- Already spoke a lot about this girl, she's fantastic and sooo sweet, she is absolutley lovely!
And of course headlineing were Golden Silvers!
Here are some pictures from the gig:
Yes Giantess!
Local Natives
Marina-
Golden Silvers-
Slow Club- I only managed to catch half of thier set as I had to leave at 12 o clock, but what I saw of them was excellent
Here's some footage of them playing 'I was unconscious It was a dream'
I think that will do for now, I hope I haven't bored you with this mighty long blog! I'll try and write on here sooner next time! Have a great week!
Katie
x
first of all I'd like to introduce you to a new band called 'The Middle Ones.' If you like Emmy the Great, Laura Marling, Slow Club or Ruby and her Whorses, then you'll definately like these. Check them out on myspace here:
http://www.myspace.com/themiddleones
So, bands I've seen since I last wrote:
Florence and the Machine, for the 5th time this year! She did an excellent cover of Etta James' 'Somethings got a hold on me'
The XX supported and they were great too, although a lot of people I know that went didn't like them for some stupid reason!
Next gig was The NME Tour. That was brilliant, all of the bands were amazing!
They were: Yes Giantess!
Local Natives- notice how all of the drummers come on and support them :)
Marina and the Diamonds- Already spoke a lot about this girl, she's fantastic and sooo sweet, she is absolutley lovely!
And of course headlineing were Golden Silvers!
Here are some pictures from the gig:
Yes Giantess!
Local Natives
Marina-
Golden Silvers-
Slow Club- I only managed to catch half of thier set as I had to leave at 12 o clock, but what I saw of them was excellent
Here's some footage of them playing 'I was unconscious It was a dream'
I think that will do for now, I hope I haven't bored you with this mighty long blog! I'll try and write on here sooner next time! Have a great week!
Katie
x
Thursday, 10 September 2009
The Mercury's
So, I'm sure that you are all very well aware by now that Speech Debelle won. What do you all think about this? I don't personally have the album but I do like what I've heard of her songs. I don't think the album will be quite as strong as its contenders but the things that she's been through which have inspired her album make me think that she really does deserve the £20 000. She is an ex drug addict with no qualifications what so ever who was thrown out of her house by her mother when she was a teenager. Make of her what you will but I think that she's wonderful and I admire her strength and the fact that she sings about real things which have happened to her with real emotion.
Of course I'm a bit disappointed that Florence did not win with her beautiful album 'Lungs' as I do strongly believe that it's the best of the bunch (see my album review for more details). I'm not just saying this because I'm a huge Florence fan but the reasons that I don't think she won were:
a) She was favourite to win- The judges clearly knew this when decision making and didn't want to go for such an obvious choice
b) She has already won a Brit award- They didn't want her to win a second award, they wanted someone who hasn't won one to have it
c) Her recent increase in popularity- She doesn't really need the exposure of winning. I know a lot of people who have recently started to like Florence, simply due to the exposure that the BBC/radio1 have given her.
Other people I'd have liked to see win
The Horrors- I've bought Primary Colours recently, it's excellent and I think I'm a little bit in love with Faris Rotter/Badwan as well!
Friendly Fires- It would have been nice to see these boys win something after all of the effort they've put in to reach the exposure that they have now and thoroughly deserve!
Bat for Lashes- Beautiful album, it's a real shame that this is the time that she has lost out on winning the Mercury Music Prize.
Jack Penate- I know her wasn't nominated but he was robbed of a nomination! 'Everything is New' is a gorgeous album, it's currently in my car. I don't see why it wasn't nominated!
Predictions of Next Years Nominees
The XX- An absolutely STUNNING album, see older post for more details
Jamie T- His new album is amazing! I've never really been a huge fan of his work but this album has changed everything for me. This is a very cleverly written and produced album (he did a lot of the production himself in his home studio) which showcases his privately educated background. He's a very smart man, an incredible poet.
That's all for now but leave me a comment with your thoughts on the Mercury's!
Katie
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
Leeds festival 2009
So here's a list of who I saw!
Thursday night-
Blood Red Shoes- awesome, their new songs are great, however I though their set was a little short
Wierd clothes swap disco thing- so basically this was a big disco and whenever the klaxon sounded you had to swap clothes with someone, it was a lot of fun, the music was great too, the DJ's were excellent!
Friday-
Disnosour Pile-up- a great new band
Delphic- same as above really
Spinnerette- I had never heard of them before but they were a good rock band
Metric- they were really good and the lead singers jacket was amazing I want it!
Patrick Wolf- one of the best acts I saw all weekend, he's sooo dramatic, it's brilliant, as were his outfits. I almost touched him!
Marina and the Diamonds- loved her for 2 years so it was lovely to see her live finally! She was wonderful and was wearing a beautiful jacket also. She did a good cover of space in the woods by late of the pier!
You me and six- fucking terrible and some of their fans were munching each others facing off, disgusting
The Maccabees- rather good although, the tent was very, very packed, I could hardly see
White Lies- Excellent as per
The Prodigy- the 15 mins which I caught of them were full of dancing :)
Arctic Monkeys- Excellent, Alex pulled the plug out of something by accident and at one point and all of the sound went but then everything just carried on like it never happened
Saturday
Noah and the Whale- caught half of their set, it was pretty good, I love thier new stuff, their album's out this week, think I'll get it
The XX- eXXcelent (God, that was lame) but yeah I wanted their set to go on forever, it was too short!
Oh and everyone got free T shirts which was awesome of them I thought!
Frank Turner- Wonderful and a very lovely man, there was a lot of love for him in that tent
Magistrates- Brilliant, the lead singer is a great front man!
Metronomy- I caught the tail end of thier set, it was really good, lots of raving going on
Passion Pit- Really good, I just wished that a bit more of the crowd were into them
Vampire Weekend- Really great, sooooo glad they played Walcott too, I love that song!
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Maybe the best I saw all weekend? I WANT TO BE KAREN O, so did the girl next to me, it was all good! I'm certainly going to try and catch them on their next tour!
Bloc Party- Very good
Radiohead- What I saw of thier set was beautiful
La Roux- The tent was jam packed, she was on fire, just wish I was a little closer towards the front. There was lots of chanting going on of: "La roux, la roux, la roux is on fire" and also my cousin decided to shout "who's you mum?" because her mum was in The Bill
Smash and grab- The best DJ's I have ever seen, I stayed there for about 3 hours and during this 3 hours I was grabbed by Tabitha and told to come onto the stage, so I jumped over the barrier, revealling my underwear to everyone (but i didn't care and neither did anyone else!) and did 'sexual aerobics' with two drag queens, excellent! I got snapped a fair few times by smash and grab photographers, I see some embarrassing pictures on the horizon!
Sunday
Dananananakroyd- utter shit
Manchester Orchestra- I'm sure I'd have had a good time if I was into hardcore music
The Virgins- Really good, I'd love to see them at their own gig, I'm sure I'd have a great time!
Amazing Baby- Very good, my new favourite band, it was nice that The Virgins came to watch them too!
Little Boots- 10 times better than I thought she'd be, I thought she may be slightly dull but she's actually really good live, I might buy the album
The Horrors- fucking brilliant, I had a great time moshing and crowd surfing to them!
Jack Penate- Excellent as per
FF- the same as above, although, the crowd were a bit rough, FF fans usually have more class and why do fatties insist on crowd surfing?!
Florence and the Machine- really excellent as per but the crowd really made this gig, we all sung happy birthday to Florence and basically everyone was just going insane, which was nice as most of the time, it's only really me!
Kings of Leon- Beautiful set, a nice mixture of new and old songs, the crowd knew pretty much every single word, lovely, they weren't just there for two songs like some of the Reading people were apparently!
So all in all, an EXCELLENT weekend, I may have to go next year if i managed to find some money from somewhere once I've bought my glasto ticket!
Here are a few pictures: Patrick Wolf-
Arctic Monkeys
The XX-
Passion Pit-
Nick from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs-
Karen O!-
The Virgins
Amazing Baby
Little Boots
Thursday night-
Blood Red Shoes- awesome, their new songs are great, however I though their set was a little short
Wierd clothes swap disco thing- so basically this was a big disco and whenever the klaxon sounded you had to swap clothes with someone, it was a lot of fun, the music was great too, the DJ's were excellent!
Friday-
Disnosour Pile-up- a great new band
Delphic- same as above really
Spinnerette- I had never heard of them before but they were a good rock band
Metric- they were really good and the lead singers jacket was amazing I want it!
Patrick Wolf- one of the best acts I saw all weekend, he's sooo dramatic, it's brilliant, as were his outfits. I almost touched him!
Marina and the Diamonds- loved her for 2 years so it was lovely to see her live finally! She was wonderful and was wearing a beautiful jacket also. She did a good cover of space in the woods by late of the pier!
You me and six- fucking terrible and some of their fans were munching each others facing off, disgusting
The Maccabees- rather good although, the tent was very, very packed, I could hardly see
White Lies- Excellent as per
The Prodigy- the 15 mins which I caught of them were full of dancing :)
Arctic Monkeys- Excellent, Alex pulled the plug out of something by accident and at one point and all of the sound went but then everything just carried on like it never happened
Saturday
Noah and the Whale- caught half of their set, it was pretty good, I love thier new stuff, their album's out this week, think I'll get it
The XX- eXXcelent (God, that was lame) but yeah I wanted their set to go on forever, it was too short!
Oh and everyone got free T shirts which was awesome of them I thought!
Frank Turner- Wonderful and a very lovely man, there was a lot of love for him in that tent
Magistrates- Brilliant, the lead singer is a great front man!
Metronomy- I caught the tail end of thier set, it was really good, lots of raving going on
Passion Pit- Really good, I just wished that a bit more of the crowd were into them
Vampire Weekend- Really great, sooooo glad they played Walcott too, I love that song!
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Maybe the best I saw all weekend? I WANT TO BE KAREN O, so did the girl next to me, it was all good! I'm certainly going to try and catch them on their next tour!
Bloc Party- Very good
Radiohead- What I saw of thier set was beautiful
La Roux- The tent was jam packed, she was on fire, just wish I was a little closer towards the front. There was lots of chanting going on of: "La roux, la roux, la roux is on fire" and also my cousin decided to shout "who's you mum?" because her mum was in The Bill
Smash and grab- The best DJ's I have ever seen, I stayed there for about 3 hours and during this 3 hours I was grabbed by Tabitha and told to come onto the stage, so I jumped over the barrier, revealling my underwear to everyone (but i didn't care and neither did anyone else!) and did 'sexual aerobics' with two drag queens, excellent! I got snapped a fair few times by smash and grab photographers, I see some embarrassing pictures on the horizon!
Sunday
Dananananakroyd- utter shit
Manchester Orchestra- I'm sure I'd have had a good time if I was into hardcore music
The Virgins- Really good, I'd love to see them at their own gig, I'm sure I'd have a great time!
Amazing Baby- Very good, my new favourite band, it was nice that The Virgins came to watch them too!
Little Boots- 10 times better than I thought she'd be, I thought she may be slightly dull but she's actually really good live, I might buy the album
The Horrors- fucking brilliant, I had a great time moshing and crowd surfing to them!
Jack Penate- Excellent as per
FF- the same as above, although, the crowd were a bit rough, FF fans usually have more class and why do fatties insist on crowd surfing?!
Florence and the Machine- really excellent as per but the crowd really made this gig, we all sung happy birthday to Florence and basically everyone was just going insane, which was nice as most of the time, it's only really me!
Kings of Leon- Beautiful set, a nice mixture of new and old songs, the crowd knew pretty much every single word, lovely, they weren't just there for two songs like some of the Reading people were apparently!
So all in all, an EXCELLENT weekend, I may have to go next year if i managed to find some money from somewhere once I've bought my glasto ticket!
Here are a few pictures: Patrick Wolf-
Arctic Monkeys
The XX-
Passion Pit-
Nick from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs-
Karen O!-
The Virgins
Amazing Baby
Little Boots
Thursday, 20 August 2009
The XX's album- review
I have to say, this album is the best I've bought since Lungs by Florence and the Machine, from the moment I picked it I wanted to listen to it sooo bad, not only because of the brilliant reviews it's had but because of the mystery that the artwork beholds. I feel that The XX are a band which love to remain mysterious, for example the lack of blogs and information on thier myspace, they seem to like you to find out everything youselves. The album artwork contains no flashy photoshoots or drawings just the tracklisting, the lyrics and a large X on the front. I was intruiged to find out what the contents of the album were, musicwise.
The epic introduction led to more suspense and then burst into the beautiful song 'VCR.' The lyrics are simple but heart warming. Next up is the first single 'Crystalised' and then 'Islands' which has already became a personal favourite. Then it's the dazzling song 'Heart skipped a beat', the lyrics to this song are ravishing.
Fantasy, is an interesting number, it's particularly different to the rest, it was written by just Oliver and is a very atmostpheric song that you just have to 'get' if you don't 'get it' you'll just be like "what on earth is this?"
After Fantasy is 'Shelter', which is another favourite which was written by Romy. It's absolutely STUNNING, this one. It's just so intense, emotional and comes across as very personal. It's absolutley beautiful. This is followed by the last single, Basic Space, which I'm sure you're already familiar with if you listen to the radio a lot in the evenings, if not, here's the video:
Infinity, is lovely slow song, which is a nice contrast and then the penultimate track 'Night Time' which is again very intense, it's about extreme love in the same kind of way 'Howl' by Florence and the Machine is (as well as being about a werewolf of course.)
And the last track, if you haven't heard it already, although if you've been following my blogs you will have already done, is 'Stars,' a song which I can't see how anyone cannot fall instantly in love with, it's just so charming and heart melting. It's a beautiful way to finish the album.
This album most certainly deserves a 5/5, if you have any sense you would go and buy it right now! Ohhh and also try and catch them on tour with Florence and the Machine in September!
Katie
x
The epic introduction led to more suspense and then burst into the beautiful song 'VCR.' The lyrics are simple but heart warming. Next up is the first single 'Crystalised' and then 'Islands' which has already became a personal favourite. Then it's the dazzling song 'Heart skipped a beat', the lyrics to this song are ravishing.
Fantasy, is an interesting number, it's particularly different to the rest, it was written by just Oliver and is a very atmostpheric song that you just have to 'get' if you don't 'get it' you'll just be like "what on earth is this?"
After Fantasy is 'Shelter', which is another favourite which was written by Romy. It's absolutely STUNNING, this one. It's just so intense, emotional and comes across as very personal. It's absolutley beautiful. This is followed by the last single, Basic Space, which I'm sure you're already familiar with if you listen to the radio a lot in the evenings, if not, here's the video:
Infinity, is lovely slow song, which is a nice contrast and then the penultimate track 'Night Time' which is again very intense, it's about extreme love in the same kind of way 'Howl' by Florence and the Machine is (as well as being about a werewolf of course.)
And the last track, if you haven't heard it already, although if you've been following my blogs you will have already done, is 'Stars,' a song which I can't see how anyone cannot fall instantly in love with, it's just so charming and heart melting. It's a beautiful way to finish the album.
This album most certainly deserves a 5/5, if you have any sense you would go and buy it right now! Ohhh and also try and catch them on tour with Florence and the Machine in September!
Katie
x
Sunday, 16 August 2009
Ten things I'm listening to this week
1. Amazing Baby- Bayonets
2. Rosie & the Goldbug- You've Changed - This band have just split up which I'm pretty distraught about as I never got to see them live :( So I'm listening to them a lot at the moment in rememberance of them!
3. Marina and the Diamonds- I am not a Robot - You have no idea how excited I am about seeing her on the NME Tour in October, I've been waiting 2 years to see her!
4. Chairlift- Evident Utensil (here it is live at this years Latitude festival)
5. The Temper trap- Sweet Disposition
6. Boy Crisis- Dressed to Disgress
7. Orphans and Vandals- Not just one of thier songs but all of them, their songwriting is superb
8. The XX- All of their singles and demos in prepartion for their album release tomorrow, I can't wait to buy their album, I know that it's going to be BRILLIANT!
9. Slow Cllub's new album, Yeahs So, it's beautiful, a definate must buy!
10. Chromeo- Fancy footwork
A Couple of Video Treats
Drumming Song is out on the 13th September
Have a wonderful week!
Katie
x
2. Rosie & the Goldbug- You've Changed - This band have just split up which I'm pretty distraught about as I never got to see them live :( So I'm listening to them a lot at the moment in rememberance of them!
3. Marina and the Diamonds- I am not a Robot - You have no idea how excited I am about seeing her on the NME Tour in October, I've been waiting 2 years to see her!
4. Chairlift- Evident Utensil (here it is live at this years Latitude festival)
5. The Temper trap- Sweet Disposition
6. Boy Crisis- Dressed to Disgress
7. Orphans and Vandals- Not just one of thier songs but all of them, their songwriting is superb
8. The XX- All of their singles and demos in prepartion for their album release tomorrow, I can't wait to buy their album, I know that it's going to be BRILLIANT!
9. Slow Cllub's new album, Yeahs So, it's beautiful, a definate must buy!
10. Chromeo- Fancy footwork
A Couple of Video Treats
Drumming Song is out on the 13th September
Have a wonderful week!
Katie
x
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
The Mercury Music Prize
The Nominies are named!! Here you go:
The nominations in full:
The Horrors – 'Primary Colours'
Friendly Fires – 'Friendly Fires'
Florence And The Machine – 'Lungs'
Bat For Lashes – 'Two Suns'
Led Bib – 'Sensible Shoes'
La Roux – 'La Roux'
Lisa Hannigan – 'Sea Sew'
The Invisible - 'The Invisible'
Speech Debelle – 'Speech Therapy'
Kasabian – 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum'
Sweet Billy Pilgrim – 'Twice Born Men'
Glasvegas – 'Glasvegas'
I haven't got Primary Colours (but I want it, what I've heard of it is good though), FF are awesome, I don't mind them winning, although the album has nothing on their live shows! I still haven't got La Roux, I think it'll be good though but not as good as Florence's album. I like Lisa Hannigan but I haven't got the album. I do have Bat for Lashes though, it's good, but not as good as Lungs! The Glasvegas one has flickers of beauty and genius but some of the songs are just a bit boring (eg, ice cream van) and Kasabian have nothing on Lungs either so I'm backing Florence all the way!!
What I'm listening to a lot at the moment
The new Bombay Bicycle Club album- it's actually pretty great, I wasn't sure about them when I first heard the song 'how are you?' a year and a half ago but they've done a really good job with this album, their sound has developed nicely and the album is boderlining epic actually!
The Rumble Strips- Welcome to the walk alone- They're just great musicians and the help they've had off Mark Ronson on this album has just added the polish to thier music. It's great and I saw them on saturday and I must say, they're a very good looking band ;)
Florence and the Machine Lungs- See older blog
VV Brown- Also saw her again at Lovebox Festival on saturday and she was brilliant, I shall definatley be buying the album once I have more money!
Duran Duruan- They were absolutley amazing at Lovebox and I had so much fun singing and dancing along with my new, drunken, 40 year old friends which I met!
Have a great week!
Katie
x
The nominations in full:
The Horrors – 'Primary Colours'
Friendly Fires – 'Friendly Fires'
Florence And The Machine – 'Lungs'
Bat For Lashes – 'Two Suns'
Led Bib – 'Sensible Shoes'
La Roux – 'La Roux'
Lisa Hannigan – 'Sea Sew'
The Invisible - 'The Invisible'
Speech Debelle – 'Speech Therapy'
Kasabian – 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum'
Sweet Billy Pilgrim – 'Twice Born Men'
Glasvegas – 'Glasvegas'
I haven't got Primary Colours (but I want it, what I've heard of it is good though), FF are awesome, I don't mind them winning, although the album has nothing on their live shows! I still haven't got La Roux, I think it'll be good though but not as good as Florence's album. I like Lisa Hannigan but I haven't got the album. I do have Bat for Lashes though, it's good, but not as good as Lungs! The Glasvegas one has flickers of beauty and genius but some of the songs are just a bit boring (eg, ice cream van) and Kasabian have nothing on Lungs either so I'm backing Florence all the way!!
What I'm listening to a lot at the moment
The new Bombay Bicycle Club album- it's actually pretty great, I wasn't sure about them when I first heard the song 'how are you?' a year and a half ago but they've done a really good job with this album, their sound has developed nicely and the album is boderlining epic actually!
The Rumble Strips- Welcome to the walk alone- They're just great musicians and the help they've had off Mark Ronson on this album has just added the polish to thier music. It's great and I saw them on saturday and I must say, they're a very good looking band ;)
Florence and the Machine Lungs- See older blog
VV Brown- Also saw her again at Lovebox Festival on saturday and she was brilliant, I shall definatley be buying the album once I have more money!
Duran Duruan- They were absolutley amazing at Lovebox and I had so much fun singing and dancing along with my new, drunken, 40 year old friends which I met!
Have a great week!
Katie
x
Thursday, 9 July 2009
The Rumble Strips
a href="http://s92.photobucket.com/albums/l37/katiewilkinson_2006/?action=view¤t=therumblestrips.jpg" target="_blank">
Monday, 6 July 2009
Lungs- Track by track
This is an album which I have been waiting nearly two years for, and it was well worth the wait and the great hype which it has received from the press! Not only is it a great CD but it is a journey, it takes you to places and releases emotions that you didn’t even know you had. It’s one of the most intense LP’s since Bon Iver’s ‘For Emma forever ago.’ Even the artwork is beautiful, it has a very Victorian feel to it, it feels like an antique!
Dog Days Are Over
This edit is pretty much the same as the single edit but a bit heavier instrument wise, the percussion texture is certainly a lot thicker, yet the original ‘wall bangs’ are still present. It’s quite a good start to the album, although I do feel that ‘Between two lungs’ would have perhaps been a little more appropriate, but nonetheless, this is a great entry into the strange world of Florence Welch.
Rabbit Heart
Again, similar to the singe edit but longer due to the Balearic inspired piano and drum breakdown section in the middle. This song particularly showcases the brilliant harp skills of Florence’s harpist (Tom Monger) with the sawing arpeggios, it’s truly beautiful.
I’m not calling you a Liar
This song is a breakaway from the rest of the album really I think as it’s ve
ry stripped back in comparison. It cleverly builds up and down throughout and contains slightly haunting backing vocals which tie in nicely as this song was originally called ‘ghosts’ as it’s about the ghosts of ex-lovers present in new lovers.
Howl
Since the first time I heard this song back in February when I saw her perform at the NME Tour, it has remained one of my favourite Florence songs. It’s a song which started of being originally about a Werewolf and then gradually seems to have developed into a song about extremely passionate love. The lyrics “until I wrap myself inside your arms, I cannot rest”, demonstrating this. Even from the very beginning of this song, you know that the song is going to be epic, as it starts with a strange sound effect from Isabella’s (Florence’s keyboard player) keyboard and then there is a burst of a strong chords and a violin riff. The drum beat is wonderfully unusual, it sounds very ceremonial, almost sacrificial even, if you close your eyes, you feel like you’re at some strange tribal gathering. The lyrics are very poetic and you can tell that Florence has been clearly influenced by gothic horror. You can tell that whilst recording this song she’s very much into character and the ‘zone’, this may be due to the moon which she projected onto the studio walls during the recording of the song.
Kiss with a fist
I was slightly disappointed that Florence chose to use the original mix of this on the album as the live version is absolutely INSANE. Although, I suppose vocally it could be considered as inappropriate for an album as it contains so much screaming and shouting. But still, it’s an important song for Florence and it was one of the things which hooked in listeners after its single release in June 2008. It will always be a Florence favourite to all of her fans.
Girl with one eye
It was nice to hear a new recording of this song as the only one I’ve heard it the one which she put up for free download on her myspace site in 2007 which was a ‘home-recorded demo’ which just featured her and an acoustic guitar. The silent pauses, gasps, guitar slides and vocal acrobatics make gives this song a haunting, blues feel, which makes it very different from what the original version of the song by the London punk band ‘The Ludes’, must have been like.
Drumming
The drum part is very interesting with its slow fills and then heavy, simple beat in the chorus; it’s really dramatic, as is the violin part with its long, sustained notes. Florence uses religious imagery and semantic fields of heaven and hell to portray the intense emotions described in this song. It’s a song about being obsessed with someone because you are so in love with them. From the backing vocals to the clever little twinkles of Isabella’s keyboard, for me, it’s pretty much, musical perfection.
Between two Lungs
It begins with another odd keyboard sound! This song’s remained fairly simple, it still has the simple piano and drum parts in it which were made up and recorded by Florence herself. The Choir like backing vocals are lovely and are just perfect for the song.
Cosmic Love
This is Florence’s personal favourite song which she’s written and must mean a lot to her as she gets very emotional when she plays it on stage. The lyrics are stunning and powerful, as is the harp, which complements them. The drums and rhythmic piano are very simple but effective and the harp ending is just beautiful, this song is enough to melt anyone’s heart, in the same way that ‘Stars’ by The XX does. The extreme love which Florence wants to come across in this song really shines out.
Hurricane Drunk
The first four bars of this song sound deliciously oriental. The quiet verses that are just vocals beautifully intertwined with harp and piano build up for the chorus, forming a strong and catchy chorus. The multilayered vocal effects give the chorus a gospel feel and the lyrics are very heartfelt as the story she is telling is a true one, a tale of heartbreak and pain, which glimmer through nicely. It’s a song about the emotions that you feel when you have been heartbroken and I think one of the lines in the middle eight is one of my favourites in the whole song and show extreme confusion of emotions; “I’ve never felt so alive and so dead.”
Blinding
This song is EPIC with a capital E! It’s has a very dreamy sound to it which is exactly the feel which Florence wanted to create as she recorded it slumped on a bed. The introduction is awash with haunting laughter, screams and pizzicato violin. The lyrics, spine-tingling, this song is blissfully unsettling; from the way she twists the childhood fairytale of Snow White and takes it to darker places, to the spooky gasps, particularly the one which it ends on. The drumming, again, is strong and ceremonial and the song contains semantic fields of the human body, death and imagery of the undead. The way she sings about a girl “so in love with the wrong world” suggests it’s herself whom she’s singing about. The whole thing is just an explosion of darkness, as it would be if you were singing about the dreams that you have of your dead grandmother, which is what Florence claims the song is about.
You’ve got the love
This is Florence’s take on the Candi Staton, 90’s classic. The sawing violins are swapped for a harp, it’s simply stunning. Last time I saw Florence play this live I cried, it was so intense and Florence created so much love with this song alone. She’s re-created the love which she felt when this was played at raves when she was younger in this recording.
I hope it hasn’t taken you as long to read this as it took me to write this! But yeah, that’s it for this review. The album is definitely worth a buy, especially the deluxe version as it contains a bonus cd with demo versions and exclusive (never heard before) songs on it. I’d give it a 9 and half- 10 out of 10!
Dog Days Are Over
This edit is pretty much the same as the single edit but a bit heavier instrument wise, the percussion texture is certainly a lot thicker, yet the original ‘wall bangs’ are still present. It’s quite a good start to the album, although I do feel that ‘Between two lungs’ would have perhaps been a little more appropriate, but nonetheless, this is a great entry into the strange world of Florence Welch.
Rabbit Heart
Again, similar to the singe edit but longer due to the Balearic inspired piano and drum breakdown section in the middle. This song particularly showcases the brilliant harp skills of Florence’s harpist (Tom Monger) with the sawing arpeggios, it’s truly beautiful.
I’m not calling you a Liar
This song is a breakaway from the rest of the album really I think as it’s ve
ry stripped back in comparison. It cleverly builds up and down throughout and contains slightly haunting backing vocals which tie in nicely as this song was originally called ‘ghosts’ as it’s about the ghosts of ex-lovers present in new lovers.
Howl
Since the first time I heard this song back in February when I saw her perform at the NME Tour, it has remained one of my favourite Florence songs. It’s a song which started of being originally about a Werewolf and then gradually seems to have developed into a song about extremely passionate love. The lyrics “until I wrap myself inside your arms, I cannot rest”, demonstrating this. Even from the very beginning of this song, you know that the song is going to be epic, as it starts with a strange sound effect from Isabella’s (Florence’s keyboard player) keyboard and then there is a burst of a strong chords and a violin riff. The drum beat is wonderfully unusual, it sounds very ceremonial, almost sacrificial even, if you close your eyes, you feel like you’re at some strange tribal gathering. The lyrics are very poetic and you can tell that Florence has been clearly influenced by gothic horror. You can tell that whilst recording this song she’s very much into character and the ‘zone’, this may be due to the moon which she projected onto the studio walls during the recording of the song.
Kiss with a fist
I was slightly disappointed that Florence chose to use the original mix of this on the album as the live version is absolutely INSANE. Although, I suppose vocally it could be considered as inappropriate for an album as it contains so much screaming and shouting. But still, it’s an important song for Florence and it was one of the things which hooked in listeners after its single release in June 2008. It will always be a Florence favourite to all of her fans.
Girl with one eye
It was nice to hear a new recording of this song as the only one I’ve heard it the one which she put up for free download on her myspace site in 2007 which was a ‘home-recorded demo’ which just featured her and an acoustic guitar. The silent pauses, gasps, guitar slides and vocal acrobatics make gives this song a haunting, blues feel, which makes it very different from what the original version of the song by the London punk band ‘The Ludes’, must have been like.
Drumming
The drum part is very interesting with its slow fills and then heavy, simple beat in the chorus; it’s really dramatic, as is the violin part with its long, sustained notes. Florence uses religious imagery and semantic fields of heaven and hell to portray the intense emotions described in this song. It’s a song about being obsessed with someone because you are so in love with them. From the backing vocals to the clever little twinkles of Isabella’s keyboard, for me, it’s pretty much, musical perfection.
Between two Lungs
It begins with another odd keyboard sound! This song’s remained fairly simple, it still has the simple piano and drum parts in it which were made up and recorded by Florence herself. The Choir like backing vocals are lovely and are just perfect for the song.
Cosmic Love
This is Florence’s personal favourite song which she’s written and must mean a lot to her as she gets very emotional when she plays it on stage. The lyrics are stunning and powerful, as is the harp, which complements them. The drums and rhythmic piano are very simple but effective and the harp ending is just beautiful, this song is enough to melt anyone’s heart, in the same way that ‘Stars’ by The XX does. The extreme love which Florence wants to come across in this song really shines out.
Hurricane Drunk
The first four bars of this song sound deliciously oriental. The quiet verses that are just vocals beautifully intertwined with harp and piano build up for the chorus, forming a strong and catchy chorus. The multilayered vocal effects give the chorus a gospel feel and the lyrics are very heartfelt as the story she is telling is a true one, a tale of heartbreak and pain, which glimmer through nicely. It’s a song about the emotions that you feel when you have been heartbroken and I think one of the lines in the middle eight is one of my favourites in the whole song and show extreme confusion of emotions; “I’ve never felt so alive and so dead.”
Blinding
This song is EPIC with a capital E! It’s has a very dreamy sound to it which is exactly the feel which Florence wanted to create as she recorded it slumped on a bed. The introduction is awash with haunting laughter, screams and pizzicato violin. The lyrics, spine-tingling, this song is blissfully unsettling; from the way she twists the childhood fairytale of Snow White and takes it to darker places, to the spooky gasps, particularly the one which it ends on. The drumming, again, is strong and ceremonial and the song contains semantic fields of the human body, death and imagery of the undead. The way she sings about a girl “so in love with the wrong world” suggests it’s herself whom she’s singing about. The whole thing is just an explosion of darkness, as it would be if you were singing about the dreams that you have of your dead grandmother, which is what Florence claims the song is about.
You’ve got the love
This is Florence’s take on the Candi Staton, 90’s classic. The sawing violins are swapped for a harp, it’s simply stunning. Last time I saw Florence play this live I cried, it was so intense and Florence created so much love with this song alone. She’s re-created the love which she felt when this was played at raves when she was younger in this recording.
I hope it hasn’t taken you as long to read this as it took me to write this! But yeah, that’s it for this review. The album is definitely worth a buy, especially the deluxe version as it contains a bonus cd with demo versions and exclusive (never heard before) songs on it. I’d give it a 9 and half- 10 out of 10!
Lungs out today!!
Go and buy it, I recommend the deluxe addition, the bonus cd is brilliant! I got my copy on saturday as I pre-ordered it, it's amazing! I'll write a proper review of it later I think :)
Also out today- 'I had the blues but I shook them loose' by Bombay Bicycle Blub and 'Yeah so' by Slow Club, both of which I really, really want!
Also out today- 'I had the blues but I shook them loose' by Bombay Bicycle Blub and 'Yeah so' by Slow Club, both of which I really, really want!
Saturday, 27 June 2009
I'm sorry it's been a while
university open days etc........
Well, where oh where do I start?
I saw Jack Penate on the 13th June, he was amazing, I think I'm a little bit in love...
Also, I've recently bought his album and it's excellent, stand out tracks are: both the singles, Let's all die and Give yourself away
I've also bought Regina Spektor's new album, entitled 'Far' which I've already mentioned. It's brilliant, there's a nice mix of uplifting songs and darker songs such as 'laughing with.' The woman's a genius!
See her performance of Glastonbury from this weekend here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2009/artists/reginaspektor/New Artists
Dimbelby and Capper- writes good pop music, here's a link to her myspace: http://www.myspace.com/dimblebyandcapper
Lianne La Havas- She's Paloma Faith's backing singer,she has a really beautiful voice and writes lovely, slightly jazzy songs, here's her myspace-http://www.myspace.com/liannelahavas
I'm also listening to a lot of The Big Pink, their new single, 'Stop the world' is out on monday. Their music is really beautiful and hazy. I'm listening to the XX a lot as well, thier music is also beautiful and their supporting Florence and the machine on her UK september tour so I'm looking forward to seeing them then. Their
song Star's is absolutley gorgeous, it melted my heart on the first listen of it.
Well, that's all for now, I'll try and write on here again asap :)
Katie
x
Well, where oh where do I start?
I saw Jack Penate on the 13th June, he was amazing, I think I'm a little bit in love...
Also, I've recently bought his album and it's excellent, stand out tracks are: both the singles, Let's all die and Give yourself away
I've also bought Regina Spektor's new album, entitled 'Far' which I've already mentioned. It's brilliant, there's a nice mix of uplifting songs and darker songs such as 'laughing with.' The woman's a genius!
See her performance of Glastonbury from this weekend here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2009/artists/reginaspektor/New Artists
Dimbelby and Capper- writes good pop music, here's a link to her myspace: http://www.myspace.com/dimblebyandcapper
Lianne La Havas- She's Paloma Faith's backing singer,she has a really beautiful voice and writes lovely, slightly jazzy songs, here's her myspace-http://www.myspace.com/liannelahavas
I'm also listening to a lot of The Big Pink, their new single, 'Stop the world' is out on monday. Their music is really beautiful and hazy. I'm listening to the XX a lot as well, thier music is also beautiful and their supporting Florence and the machine on her UK september tour so I'm looking forward to seeing them then. Their
song Star's is absolutley gorgeous, it melted my heart on the first listen of it.
Well, that's all for now, I'll try and write on here again asap :)
Katie
x
Saturday, 6 June 2009
a little update on what I'm loving right now...
First of all, this:
I've loved Paloma for a while now, like a year possibly? Can't believe I haven't menioned her yet, she's brilliant! Simply brilliant!
I'm loving her new single and I'm really pleased that she's finally getting some exposure!
The second band which I want to mention are 'Magistrates.' They supported La Roux on the radar tour which she's just done and their first single (it was out a couple of weeks ago) 'Heartbreak' is an absolute tune. They're quite electropop, check them out!
The next band are hotly tipped my Zane Lowe and Huw Stephens for big things, they're called Everything Everything and their new single Photoshop handsome is wonderfully quirky, check it out here: http://www.myspace.com/everythingeverythinguk
Another band which I heard whilst listening to Zane was 'The Phenomenal Handclap band. It's impossible not to sing and dance along to their new single 15 to 20! They've got a distinctive CSS influence
Also has anyone heard the new Rumble Strips song? Amazing, is it not? I love it dearly.
I'm also listening to 'Rivals' by Theatrical girl, it's a really hauntingly catchy
electro pop song, listen to it here: http://www.myspace.com/iamtheoreticalgirl
And the final band which I'm going to mention is 'Dear Reader,' they're very different to everything that I've mentioned in this blog so far. They're from Johannesburg and their music's really, really sweet. check it out here: http://www.myspace.com/dearreadermusic
Well, that's all for now, have a great week,
Katie
xxxxx
I've loved Paloma for a while now, like a year possibly? Can't believe I haven't menioned her yet, she's brilliant! Simply brilliant!
I'm loving her new single and I'm really pleased that she's finally getting some exposure!
The second band which I want to mention are 'Magistrates.' They supported La Roux on the radar tour which she's just done and their first single (it was out a couple of weeks ago) 'Heartbreak' is an absolute tune. They're quite electropop, check them out!
The next band are hotly tipped my Zane Lowe and Huw Stephens for big things, they're called Everything Everything and their new single Photoshop handsome is wonderfully quirky, check it out here: http://www.myspace.com/everythingeverythinguk
Another band which I heard whilst listening to Zane was 'The Phenomenal Handclap band. It's impossible not to sing and dance along to their new single 15 to 20! They've got a distinctive CSS influence
Also has anyone heard the new Rumble Strips song? Amazing, is it not? I love it dearly.
I'm also listening to 'Rivals' by Theatrical girl, it's a really hauntingly catchy
electro pop song, listen to it here: http://www.myspace.com/iamtheoreticalgirl
And the final band which I'm going to mention is 'Dear Reader,' they're very different to everything that I've mentioned in this blog so far. They're from Johannesburg and their music's really, really sweet. check it out here: http://www.myspace.com/dearreadermusic
Well, that's all for now, have a great week,
Katie
xxxxx
Saturday, 23 May 2009
I saw Florence last night
And it was the best night of my life ever! It was soo emotional, I cried! There was just mass hysteria!
First of all I must say, brummies are soooooooooooo nice! I was street teaming and they were all really sweet and friendly!
Golden Silvers were incredible, they're just sooooo talented, 'Another Universe' was gorgeous:
Then. when they did 'True Romance' I was dancing manicly, definatley more manically than everyone else as I was so high on life and caffine but then I turned round and saw a big mass of red hair running and dancing towards me and thought 'Ooo that woman's going for it even more than me' and then after about 3 seconds realised it was Florence!
And then everyone started dancing as maincally as I was then, which was good :)
After about a 30 minute break Florence came and started with between two lungs:
Ahhh, the set just got better and better, I can't even describe how good it was, it just made me the happiest and most emotional that I've ever been in my life! It was really great how everyone else knew all of the lyrics, even to the new songs as well as me, everyone just loved her and went mental!
It was lovely how she sneaked in My boy builds Coffins with the album tracks, it's such a crowd pleaser and really warmed the crowd up. The new songs are incredible, hurricane drunk is beautiful and Howl is imensly dramatic. A random girl who loves howl grabbed me so that I could be closer to the stage too. Kiss with a fist involved the usually crowd surfing, she nearly fell on my head and her braclet broke.
For me though, I would probably say that the encore was the best bit, she did Blinding (an incredible, headbanging tune about dreaming of dead people) and everyone loved it as people had been requesting it throughout her set and then she did You've Got the Love and I cried because I was so happy.
After was a 'clubnight' thing and the DJ was really good, considering he told me his laptop was broken (when I requested the Skream remix of In for the Kill), so hats off to him.
Loads of people hung around after and we met Florence and we had a sing a long to Sex on Fire, ahhh it was awesome. I then had to run to the train station for the last train with no shoes on because my feet hurt so much, it was quite liberating actually, I sung Dog Days are over on the way :)
Here's a picture of me, Emily and Florence, the flash on my camera stopped working though, so it's a bit dodgey :S
I CANNOT wait to see her again, she's just the best, nothing can top her!
Katie
x
First of all I must say, brummies are soooooooooooo nice! I was street teaming and they were all really sweet and friendly!
Golden Silvers were incredible, they're just sooooo talented, 'Another Universe' was gorgeous:
Then. when they did 'True Romance' I was dancing manicly, definatley more manically than everyone else as I was so high on life and caffine but then I turned round and saw a big mass of red hair running and dancing towards me and thought 'Ooo that woman's going for it even more than me' and then after about 3 seconds realised it was Florence!
And then everyone started dancing as maincally as I was then, which was good :)
After about a 30 minute break Florence came and started with between two lungs:
Ahhh, the set just got better and better, I can't even describe how good it was, it just made me the happiest and most emotional that I've ever been in my life! It was really great how everyone else knew all of the lyrics, even to the new songs as well as me, everyone just loved her and went mental!
It was lovely how she sneaked in My boy builds Coffins with the album tracks, it's such a crowd pleaser and really warmed the crowd up. The new songs are incredible, hurricane drunk is beautiful and Howl is imensly dramatic. A random girl who loves howl grabbed me so that I could be closer to the stage too. Kiss with a fist involved the usually crowd surfing, she nearly fell on my head and her braclet broke.
For me though, I would probably say that the encore was the best bit, she did Blinding (an incredible, headbanging tune about dreaming of dead people) and everyone loved it as people had been requesting it throughout her set and then she did You've Got the Love and I cried because I was so happy.
After was a 'clubnight' thing and the DJ was really good, considering he told me his laptop was broken (when I requested the Skream remix of In for the Kill), so hats off to him.
Loads of people hung around after and we met Florence and we had a sing a long to Sex on Fire, ahhh it was awesome. I then had to run to the train station for the last train with no shoes on because my feet hurt so much, it was quite liberating actually, I sung Dog Days are over on the way :)
Here's a picture of me, Emily and Florence, the flash on my camera stopped working though, so it's a bit dodgey :S
I CANNOT wait to see her again, she's just the best, nothing can top her!
Katie
x
Saturday, 9 May 2009
2nd Blog of the day
Sorry, I wanted to post this bit seperate to the other blog...
Regina's artwork for her new album has been confirmed to be this:
I think it's quite cute
Also her new song 'Laughing with' is up on her myspace page, it's beautiful:
www.myspace.com/reginaspektor
I'm really excited about the new album (hence my last blog) as well as Florence's new album 'Lungs' here's the tracklisting...
'Lungs' hits the shops on July 6
STANDARD ALBUM
1. Dog Days Are Over
2. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
3. I'm Not Calling You A Liar
4. Howl
5. Kiss With A Fist
6. Girl With One Eye
7. Drumming
8. Between Two Lungs
9. Cosmic Love
10. My Boy Builds Coffins
11. Hurricane Drunk
12. Blinding Bonus: You've Got The Love
SPECIAL EDITION ALBUM (Limited edition deluxe album)
Disc 1
1. Dog Days Are Over
2. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
3. I'm Not Calling You A Liar
4. Howl
5. Kiss With A Fist
6. Girl With One Eye
7. Drumming
8. Between Two Lungs
9. Cosmic Love
10. My Boy Builds Coffins
11. Hurricane Drunk
12. Blinding Bonus: You've Got The Love
Disc 2
1. Bird Song
2. Dog Doys Are Over (Demo)
3. Falling
4. Hardest Of Hearts
5. I’m Not Calling You A Liar (Demo)
6. Girl With 1 Eye (James Ford version)
VINYL ALBUM
1. Dog Days Are Over
2. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
3. I'm Not Calling You A Liar
4. Howl
5. Kiss With A Fist
6. Girl With One Eye
7. Drumming
8. Between Two Lungs
9. Cosmic Love
10. My Boy Builds Coffins
11. Hurricane Drunk
12. Blinding Bonus: You've Got The Love
Click here to pre-order 'Lungs' now.
I've also spoken to Flamboyant Bella this week and they say that their album is coming along nicely, it won't be out for a while but when it does, woweeeeeeee, I know for a fact that it's going to be fantastic!
That'll be all for today, I'm seeing Golden Silvers tomorrow night so I might take a few videos and post them in a review so keep your eyes pealed for it :)
Katie
xxxxxx
Ps. I'm listening to the Calvin Harris remix of Passion Pit's new single 'The Reeling' tuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnneeeeeee
Regina's artwork for her new album has been confirmed to be this:
I think it's quite cute
Also her new song 'Laughing with' is up on her myspace page, it's beautiful:
www.myspace.com/reginaspektor
I'm really excited about the new album (hence my last blog) as well as Florence's new album 'Lungs' here's the tracklisting...
'Lungs' hits the shops on July 6
STANDARD ALBUM
1. Dog Days Are Over
2. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
3. I'm Not Calling You A Liar
4. Howl
5. Kiss With A Fist
6. Girl With One Eye
7. Drumming
8. Between Two Lungs
9. Cosmic Love
10. My Boy Builds Coffins
11. Hurricane Drunk
12. Blinding Bonus: You've Got The Love
SPECIAL EDITION ALBUM (Limited edition deluxe album)
Disc 1
1. Dog Days Are Over
2. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
3. I'm Not Calling You A Liar
4. Howl
5. Kiss With A Fist
6. Girl With One Eye
7. Drumming
8. Between Two Lungs
9. Cosmic Love
10. My Boy Builds Coffins
11. Hurricane Drunk
12. Blinding Bonus: You've Got The Love
Disc 2
1. Bird Song
2. Dog Doys Are Over (Demo)
3. Falling
4. Hardest Of Hearts
5. I’m Not Calling You A Liar (Demo)
6. Girl With 1 Eye (James Ford version)
VINYL ALBUM
1. Dog Days Are Over
2. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
3. I'm Not Calling You A Liar
4. Howl
5. Kiss With A Fist
6. Girl With One Eye
7. Drumming
8. Between Two Lungs
9. Cosmic Love
10. My Boy Builds Coffins
11. Hurricane Drunk
12. Blinding Bonus: You've Got The Love
Click here to pre-order 'Lungs' now.
I've also spoken to Flamboyant Bella this week and they say that their album is coming along nicely, it won't be out for a while but when it does, woweeeeeeee, I know for a fact that it's going to be fantastic!
That'll be all for today, I'm seeing Golden Silvers tomorrow night so I might take a few videos and post them in a review so keep your eyes pealed for it :)
Katie
xxxxxx
Ps. I'm listening to the Calvin Harris remix of Passion Pit's new single 'The Reeling' tuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnneeeeeee
Indie is dead
Me and Emily came to this conclusion in a 'study' lesson. With the whole 80's revival going on it means not only is everyone prancing about in jumpsuits, leotards and batwinged tops but Disco is back! Electro, disco and rave is what it's all about de nos jours. I'm kind of happy about it, it's opened up a whole new musical world for. I'm listening to more electro than ever before, dub step, rave and I'm even starting to venture into stuff like Dizzy and Chipmunk!! My 'recently added' playlist is bursting at the seems with soulwax remixes, dub step remixes and The Prodigy. I'm finding it all really exciting. Everyone seems to be coming back with electro pop albums, Jack Penate, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs etc.....
Speaking of Jack, anyone heard his new single? Brilliant isn't it?! It's better than the first in my opinion. I can't find anywhere that it's being streamed yet, but here's a live vid of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgOdlC5TS3I
Album wise I'm addicted to the new Golden Silvers album (True Romance) and also the new Prodigy album (Invaders must Die), it's perfect for the gym, it makes your workout go about ten million times quicker!
Also new Florence tune is a treat, although in my opinion, slightly overproduced, it's in true Florence style but still it's GREAT epecially with the whole rave revival thing happening, I think it has a real 90's rave feel to it, it'll be AMAZING to hear at a festival!
Here you go, have listen if you haven't already, I CAN'T WAIT for the video, I've seen the pictures, there's coffins, pigs heads, tunics and all sorts!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dMYxGrSLZg
and here's a link to see pictures from the video shoot:
http://www.authoritydesign.com/florence/rabbit/flovid_rabbit.htm
In conclusion, ditch boring Indie bands like 'The Pigeon Detectives' and 'The Enemy' and enter a new journey of dance music and electro pop music because that's where it's at right now. Listen to radio shows like 'Annie Mac's Mash up' and your head will be filled with new ideas!
I hope you're all having a lovely weekend so far, and to every who's got exams (like me) Good luck!!
Katie
xxxxx
Speaking of Jack, anyone heard his new single? Brilliant isn't it?! It's better than the first in my opinion. I can't find anywhere that it's being streamed yet, but here's a live vid of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgOdlC5TS3I
Album wise I'm addicted to the new Golden Silvers album (True Romance) and also the new Prodigy album (Invaders must Die), it's perfect for the gym, it makes your workout go about ten million times quicker!
Also new Florence tune is a treat, although in my opinion, slightly overproduced, it's in true Florence style but still it's GREAT epecially with the whole rave revival thing happening, I think it has a real 90's rave feel to it, it'll be AMAZING to hear at a festival!
Here you go, have listen if you haven't already, I CAN'T WAIT for the video, I've seen the pictures, there's coffins, pigs heads, tunics and all sorts!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dMYxGrSLZg
and here's a link to see pictures from the video shoot:
http://www.authoritydesign.com/florence/rabbit/flovid_rabbit.htm
In conclusion, ditch boring Indie bands like 'The Pigeon Detectives' and 'The Enemy' and enter a new journey of dance music and electro pop music because that's where it's at right now. Listen to radio shows like 'Annie Mac's Mash up' and your head will be filled with new ideas!
I hope you're all having a lovely weekend so far, and to every who's got exams (like me) Good luck!!
Katie
xxxxx
Monday, 20 April 2009
Current mood:headachey :S
I'm listening to Regina Spektor and wishing I had the money to go to Latitude :( On the plus side: it's soothing my headache and I'm seing Jack Penate in June, got my ticket today :) + LEEEEEEEEEDS! Anyone going? Let me know if you are yh? :) I spent a good 2 hours in the park today and got bitten, but I got a watch mark :)
The Noisettes album 'Wild Young Hearts' is out today, I want it soooooooooo bad, if you have it, sendage? As is 'True Romance' by Golden Silvers, which I also can't really afford :( Someone from a music magazine should hire me, and then I would no longer be skint and would be able to afford to buy tickets and Cds. Email it to me if you have it anyway? I feel bad for not buying but, I'm seeing Golden Silveres next month, so that could kind of make up for it I guess :S
katiewilkinson599@hotmail.com
I'm also listening to a lot of Passion Pit at the moment, their album is out today too, ahh man, I need money :( And a lot of 'Peaches' and I'm loving Sam Isaac's new stuff too, I want to buy his album when it's out too :(
An album which I have investing in though, is The Yeah Yeah Yeah's 'It's Blitz!' it's awesommmmmmmmmeeeeeeeee! I'm loving 'Off with your head' 'Runaway' and 'Hysteria' and 'Little Shadow' too, ahhhhhhhh, they're all so good to be honest!
over and out,
Katie
xxxxx
Ps. I have my AS spanish speaking on thursday, wish me luck :S
Currently listening:
Soviet Kitsch
By Regina Spektor
Release date: 2007-03-12
7:17 PM 0 Comments(Add Comment) |0 KudosTranslatePowered by
I'm listening to Regina Spektor and wishing I had the money to go to Latitude :( On the plus side: it's soothing my headache and I'm seing Jack Penate in June, got my ticket today :) + LEEEEEEEEEDS! Anyone going? Let me know if you are yh? :) I spent a good 2 hours in the park today and got bitten, but I got a watch mark :)
The Noisettes album 'Wild Young Hearts' is out today, I want it soooooooooo bad, if you have it, sendage? As is 'True Romance' by Golden Silvers, which I also can't really afford :( Someone from a music magazine should hire me, and then I would no longer be skint and would be able to afford to buy tickets and Cds. Email it to me if you have it anyway? I feel bad for not buying but, I'm seeing Golden Silveres next month, so that could kind of make up for it I guess :S
katiewilkinson599@hotmail.com
I'm also listening to a lot of Passion Pit at the moment, their album is out today too, ahh man, I need money :( And a lot of 'Peaches' and I'm loving Sam Isaac's new stuff too, I want to buy his album when it's out too :(
An album which I have investing in though, is The Yeah Yeah Yeah's 'It's Blitz!' it's awesommmmmmmmmeeeeeeeee! I'm loving 'Off with your head' 'Runaway' and 'Hysteria' and 'Little Shadow' too, ahhhhhhhh, they're all so good to be honest!
over and out,
Katie
xxxxx
Ps. I have my AS spanish speaking on thursday, wish me luck :S
Currently listening:
Soviet Kitsch
By Regina Spektor
Release date: 2007-03-12
7:17 PM 0 Comments(Add Comment) |0 KudosTranslatePowered by
Monday, 23 March 2009
What I've been listening to.........
Sorry, it's been a while since I last blogged I've been very busy with revision and my 17th Birthday :)
So lately I've been listening to:
The Good Natured- She sounds a bit like Kate Nash but her music is way better, it's more electro-pop as that seems to be the direction that many artists are taking a the moment, think Jack Penate, La Roux, etc.
She also has a big bob, like Alice Glass'
http://www.myspace.com/thegoodnatured
I Blame Coco- her self titled song is sooooooo catchey, I was singing it all day yesterday. She's a reggae/ska girl with a really unique voice and she's supporting The Winehouse later on in the year, go her!
www.myspace.com/iblamecoco
The Riff Raff
These guys are a bit indie/skaish, they're a really good band. I actually found out about them because I follow Zezi Ifore on twitter and she absolutley loves them!
http://www.myspace.com/therealriffraff
The Crookes
Huw Stephens has been playing their song 'Backstreet Lovers', it's really gorgeous, all of their songs have beautiful lyrics which tell wonderful stories. Check them out, it's a must, their music is also really home grown, lots of clapping and such, I HATE music that is way over-produced!
http://www.myspace.com/thecrookesmusic
Will and the People
Yet another Reggae/Ska band! I'm just loving it at the moment. It makes me feel all summery :) This band are perfect for a summers day! Check them out thier music will make you happy :)
http://www.myspace.com/willandthepeople
The Howling Bells' new stuff is awesome too, as for Bat for Lashes'! Her song 'Daniel' is beautiful! Oh and the new yeah,yeah, yeah's stuff is great too!
Think I better wrap things up now because this could go on for ages because I'm listening to so much new stuff right now and I have some work to do!
Bye for now,
Katie
xxxxxx
So lately I've been listening to:
The Good Natured- She sounds a bit like Kate Nash but her music is way better, it's more electro-pop as that seems to be the direction that many artists are taking a the moment, think Jack Penate, La Roux, etc.
She also has a big bob, like Alice Glass'
http://www.myspace.com/thegoodnatured
I Blame Coco- her self titled song is sooooooo catchey, I was singing it all day yesterday. She's a reggae/ska girl with a really unique voice and she's supporting The Winehouse later on in the year, go her!
www.myspace.com/iblamecoco
The Riff Raff
These guys are a bit indie/skaish, they're a really good band. I actually found out about them because I follow Zezi Ifore on twitter and she absolutley loves them!
http://www.myspace.com/therealriffraff
The Crookes
Huw Stephens has been playing their song 'Backstreet Lovers', it's really gorgeous, all of their songs have beautiful lyrics which tell wonderful stories. Check them out, it's a must, their music is also really home grown, lots of clapping and such, I HATE music that is way over-produced!
http://www.myspace.com/thecrookesmusic
Will and the People
Yet another Reggae/Ska band! I'm just loving it at the moment. It makes me feel all summery :) This band are perfect for a summers day! Check them out thier music will make you happy :)
http://www.myspace.com/willandthepeople
The Howling Bells' new stuff is awesome too, as for Bat for Lashes'! Her song 'Daniel' is beautiful! Oh and the new yeah,yeah, yeah's stuff is great too!
Think I better wrap things up now because this could go on for ages because I'm listening to so much new stuff right now and I have some work to do!
Bye for now,
Katie
xxxxxx
Sunday, 8 March 2009
What I've been listening to.........
1) Polly Scattergood- She's simply amazing, her music is just epic and her lyrics are amazing, her album is out tomorrow and is called 'Polly Scattergood' I shall certainly be buying it :) www.myspace.com/pollyscattergood
2)Ladyhawke- I finally got her album, it's awesome
3) PJ Harvey-She is one of those artists who I knew I would like but have never bothered to check out until now
4) The B52's - you are not mistaken,yes, they are the ones that sing 'Love shack' but mum had radio2 on the other day in the car and I heard 'Rock Lobster' and enjoyed it. I think that they were a band who were far ahead of thier time, if they were around now, they'd be the band on everybodies lips, for sure!
5) Rosie and the Goldbug- I was reading an interview of theirs in Artrocker the other day and remembered they existed, they're wierd but wonderful
www.myspace.com/roiseandthegoldbug
6) La Roux- because I'm going to see her in May hopefully (as long as I don't have an exam the next morning), well hyped :D I'm really looking forward to it, her music's great, she's on tour will Lily Allen this month, if you're going get there early and check her out
7) Ruby and her Whorses- She's lovely, a really great lyricist and she's still at school! If you like Emmy the Great or Laura Marling then it's quite likely that you will enjoy her music
http://www.myspace.com/rubyandherwhorses
That's all for now, have a great week,
Katie
xxxxx
2)Ladyhawke- I finally got her album, it's awesome
3) PJ Harvey-She is one of those artists who I knew I would like but have never bothered to check out until now
4) The B52's - you are not mistaken,yes, they are the ones that sing 'Love shack' but mum had radio2 on the other day in the car and I heard 'Rock Lobster' and enjoyed it. I think that they were a band who were far ahead of thier time, if they were around now, they'd be the band on everybodies lips, for sure!
5) Rosie and the Goldbug- I was reading an interview of theirs in Artrocker the other day and remembered they existed, they're wierd but wonderful
www.myspace.com/roiseandthegoldbug
6) La Roux- because I'm going to see her in May hopefully (as long as I don't have an exam the next morning), well hyped :D I'm really looking forward to it, her music's great, she's on tour will Lily Allen this month, if you're going get there early and check her out
7) Ruby and her Whorses- She's lovely, a really great lyricist and she's still at school! If you like Emmy the Great or Laura Marling then it's quite likely that you will enjoy her music
http://www.myspace.com/rubyandherwhorses
That's all for now, have a great week,
Katie
xxxxx
Monday, 23 February 2009
Emmy the Great
I saw her last night and she was really amazing :) She signed my copy of the album too and she nearly stole my pen
The venue was far from full but fuller than I expected seen as it was a sunday night and Stoke is like 10 years behind everyone else so I didn't think that anyone would know Emmy the Great but there was an alright crowd, which was nice :)
First on was some fella called M.S. Thomasson, he was ok, he got better as the set went on, it was meant to be Exlovers on first but they were off supporting Pete Doherty in London which was a shame cos I'd have loved to have seen them again (I saw them support pete and the pirates), they're really good.
Second were Young Husband who were actually really good and performed with Emmy during her set, I bought their EP at the end, 'The Judas Cow', I like it, their music is quite uplifting. During their set Emmy and her keyboard guy held paper plates up from the balcony which said 'emo' and stuff on, it's was rather amusing, some kind of private joke I'm guessing.
Emmy came on stage to lots of cheers and her set went something like this:
We almost had a baby
Dylan
Easter Parade
Gabriel (she caught me singing along and smiled at me, it was quite embarrasing)
First Love (I love this song a lot!)
War
Museum Island (A place in Berlin apparently)
Short Country Song (although on the set list it is abbreviated to 'short cunt' which makes me giggle)
End of the world
MIA
Lost in Austin (about getting lost at SXSW)
Absentee
We are safe (one of my favourites off the album)
Everything reminds me of you (She dedicated it to Exlovers because they weren't there)
And then when Emmy came back on stage to get her plectrum (is that even how you spell it? I really should know seen as I play guitar :S ) people thought that she was going back on stage to perform more songs so they started clapping and cheering and she was like "ermmmmmmmmm....I only came back to get my plectrum" and this crazy man behind me demanded she played more songs. She then asked whether there were any requests and everyone requested 'Canopies and grapes', one of my personal favourites which I was pretty happy about, so she ended with that :)
I'm sorry about the briefness of this (I'm tired and have french and spanish revision to do) but I think I've covered everything, this blog also probably sounds like a 2 year old has written it and is swarming with grammatical errors but have mercy on me, I've just done my Mock AS english exam!
Anyway, here are some pictures and videos: and haha my phone makes a beeping noise when it records a video and Emmy heard it and was like "What's that beeping noise?" and her guitarist just pointed right at me and said "it was her" which was yet another embarrassing moment :S I had to record them too cos I told my friend Lizzie I would because she couldn't go!
The Hypnotists son (wait a minute, this wasn't in the setlist! I can't remember when she did this, I think it might have been near the end. oh yh and sorry about the water mark, I used a free trial version thing to edit the video)
Dylan (the zooms a bit dodgey at the beginning sorry :S )
Canopies and Grapes (I apologise for my terrible background singing, I'd just drunk a can of beer and ate a bag of haribo horror mix which were actually months old, they were really hard :S not that that matters )
bisous,
Katie
xxxxx
The venue was far from full but fuller than I expected seen as it was a sunday night and Stoke is like 10 years behind everyone else so I didn't think that anyone would know Emmy the Great but there was an alright crowd, which was nice :)
First on was some fella called M.S. Thomasson, he was ok, he got better as the set went on, it was meant to be Exlovers on first but they were off supporting Pete Doherty in London which was a shame cos I'd have loved to have seen them again (I saw them support pete and the pirates), they're really good.
Second were Young Husband who were actually really good and performed with Emmy during her set, I bought their EP at the end, 'The Judas Cow', I like it, their music is quite uplifting. During their set Emmy and her keyboard guy held paper plates up from the balcony which said 'emo' and stuff on, it's was rather amusing, some kind of private joke I'm guessing.
Emmy came on stage to lots of cheers and her set went something like this:
We almost had a baby
Dylan
Easter Parade
Gabriel (she caught me singing along and smiled at me, it was quite embarrasing)
First Love (I love this song a lot!)
War
Museum Island (A place in Berlin apparently)
Short Country Song (although on the set list it is abbreviated to 'short cunt' which makes me giggle)
End of the world
MIA
Lost in Austin (about getting lost at SXSW)
Absentee
We are safe (one of my favourites off the album)
Everything reminds me of you (She dedicated it to Exlovers because they weren't there)
And then when Emmy came back on stage to get her plectrum (is that even how you spell it? I really should know seen as I play guitar :S ) people thought that she was going back on stage to perform more songs so they started clapping and cheering and she was like "ermmmmmmmmm....I only came back to get my plectrum" and this crazy man behind me demanded she played more songs. She then asked whether there were any requests and everyone requested 'Canopies and grapes', one of my personal favourites which I was pretty happy about, so she ended with that :)
I'm sorry about the briefness of this (I'm tired and have french and spanish revision to do) but I think I've covered everything, this blog also probably sounds like a 2 year old has written it and is swarming with grammatical errors but have mercy on me, I've just done my Mock AS english exam!
Anyway, here are some pictures and videos: and haha my phone makes a beeping noise when it records a video and Emmy heard it and was like "What's that beeping noise?" and her guitarist just pointed right at me and said "it was her" which was yet another embarrassing moment :S I had to record them too cos I told my friend Lizzie I would because she couldn't go!
The Hypnotists son (wait a minute, this wasn't in the setlist! I can't remember when she did this, I think it might have been near the end. oh yh and sorry about the water mark, I used a free trial version thing to edit the video)
Dylan (the zooms a bit dodgey at the beginning sorry :S )
Canopies and Grapes (I apologise for my terrible background singing, I'd just drunk a can of beer and ate a bag of haribo horror mix which were actually months old, they were really hard :S not that that matters )
bisous,
Katie
xxxxx
Friday, 20 February 2009
The New Flamboyant Bella Single
is amazzzzzinnnnnnnnnnnng! It's called Abbi, listen to it here: http://www.flamboyantbella.com/
over and out,
Katie
x
over and out,
Katie
x
Thursday, 5 February 2009
Heya, sorry I haven't wrote a while here's a long one to make up for it:
Gig review- Shockwaves NME Tour b'ham
Current mood: lazy
Category: Music
I went to Birmingham last night for the NME Tour, something which I'd been looking forward to for a long time, I booked it ages ago, as soon as I saw the amazing line-up I ran into the living room to mum like -"Mum, I have to go to Birmingham on the 4th Febuary!"
First all can I say, the Birmingham Academy or the O2 academy or whatever it is called now a days is awesome, I love the oldness of it! The local venue in stoke is all metal and looks like a strip club and doesn't really have a proper bar, it's rubbish really but it's what I'm used to so I was pleasantly suprised by the authenticness of the venue, although the toilets were a bit crap cus they had no toilet roll
Anyway, firstly- Florence and the Machine!
I can't believe that she was on first really cus she's the best, words cannot describe how incredible she is. The set was exactly how I imagined it, although in a dream I had the other night there were real life trees surrounding her and expressive dancers, oh and my english teacher was there, pretty bizaare dream to be honest. There were loads of cheers when she came on with her lovely band, which I was pretty glad about, she came on wearing a absolutely gorgeous long black dress, I'd love to know where she found it, it was amazing! Her set was outstanding, the howling/wearwolfy song being a highlight (I'll find out the real name soon) her new sounds are sounding awesome, I'm uber excited for the album!! And of course the singles were wicked, as well as My Boy builds coffins and Birdsong :D In Kiss with a Fist she crowd surfed into the audience haha, I knew she'd do something crazy by the end of the set! They were all so energetic it was just insane, especially the keyboarding girl with the pretty flower in her hair. I loved every minute of it, it felt like another one of my wierd dreams. Although the wierd, dancing groping man behind me and Beth was a bit annoying!
White Lies- These were even better than I thought they were going to be, despite having seen them twice before hand, I think it was because pretty much all of the crowd knew who they were and had listened to the album (which is good by the way) so sang along and danced a lot, moshed, crowd surfed etc.
I think that apart from Unfinished buisness (ft. florence) and Death that Farewell to the Fairground was my favourite from their set simply because it's an amazing song which you can throw a fair few shapes to!
After their set we got invited for a drink by a 60 year old man (this proves just how nieve we are) and went being (almost) 17 year olds that are skint and underage. Turns out that John wasn't to bad, it was well funny, he introduced us to his friends, who were basically the the older members of the crowd all bunched together.
Friendly Fires came on just as we began drinking our pints and were busted a few moves to 'Lovesick' whilst still at the bar, the surrounding Brummys being suprisingly unjudgmental, if we'd have done the same thing in Stoke, or even worse Wolverhampton (I've been to a few gigs at the civic centre) we'd have been given evil stares, God, I love Brummys, they're so friendly and poilte! After lovesick we said goodbye to John and snaked our way through the crowd and into where everyone was dancing the most and by the time Glasvegas came on we were at the front! Friendly Fires were as good as they always are (I've seen them also twice before hand) with Ed throwing a few eccentric moves and the really good lighting, it was awesome!
After a long wait which included a girl next to us fainting and me speaking a strange language that was a mix between french and spanish (spancais?) Glasvegas finally took to the stage! They suprised me loads too cos last time I saw them I didn't think that they were amazing, but maybe that was a lack of atmostphere. So yes, they were pretty amazing and everyone sung and danced along, apart from 'the ice cream van' which I just really don't get, it's their only boring song which is slow and goes on forever! When they went off stage, instead f chanting 'we want more' the crowd started chanting to the lyrics to 'Go square go' (one of their best songs in the set), so Glasvegas came back onstage to "here we, here we, here we fucking go" There was a lovely solo moment by James and then they finished up with "Daddy's Gone" which always goes down a storm as their last song! The audience seemed to go away in very high spirits agan chanting the lyrics to 'Go Square Go.' I bought a Florence T shirt for £15, (I tried to barter with him, but he was having none of it, so I had to borrow money off Beth) it was the last black one. And they I went home because we had to shoot straight off because of the hour car journey, I was gutted I didn't get to meet Florence of Ed :( I think it was still by far the best gig that I've ever been to! It most certainly had the best line-up that I've ever seen!
Videos which I took-
Florence and the Machine- My boy builds coffins, I'm sorry that it not very zoomed in on this one it was the first time that I wanted to use the zoom button on my new phone, so I was a tad confused! But the others are better!
Girl with one eye- I love this video!
Birdsong- sorry zoom on the beggining bit is funny, I was still trying to work it out, I did in the end so it's worth watching
Glasvegas- Daddy's Gone- Amazing Finale
Check out the Photos of Florence and the Machine and Friendly Fires which I took:
Gig review- Shockwaves NME Tour b'ham
Current mood: lazy
Category: Music
I went to Birmingham last night for the NME Tour, something which I'd been looking forward to for a long time, I booked it ages ago, as soon as I saw the amazing line-up I ran into the living room to mum like -"Mum, I have to go to Birmingham on the 4th Febuary!"
First all can I say, the Birmingham Academy or the O2 academy or whatever it is called now a days is awesome, I love the oldness of it! The local venue in stoke is all metal and looks like a strip club and doesn't really have a proper bar, it's rubbish really but it's what I'm used to so I was pleasantly suprised by the authenticness of the venue, although the toilets were a bit crap cus they had no toilet roll
Anyway, firstly- Florence and the Machine!
I can't believe that she was on first really cus she's the best, words cannot describe how incredible she is. The set was exactly how I imagined it, although in a dream I had the other night there were real life trees surrounding her and expressive dancers, oh and my english teacher was there, pretty bizaare dream to be honest. There were loads of cheers when she came on with her lovely band, which I was pretty glad about, she came on wearing a absolutely gorgeous long black dress, I'd love to know where she found it, it was amazing! Her set was outstanding, the howling/wearwolfy song being a highlight (I'll find out the real name soon) her new sounds are sounding awesome, I'm uber excited for the album!! And of course the singles were wicked, as well as My Boy builds coffins and Birdsong :D In Kiss with a Fist she crowd surfed into the audience haha, I knew she'd do something crazy by the end of the set! They were all so energetic it was just insane, especially the keyboarding girl with the pretty flower in her hair. I loved every minute of it, it felt like another one of my wierd dreams. Although the wierd, dancing groping man behind me and Beth was a bit annoying!
White Lies- These were even better than I thought they were going to be, despite having seen them twice before hand, I think it was because pretty much all of the crowd knew who they were and had listened to the album (which is good by the way) so sang along and danced a lot, moshed, crowd surfed etc.
I think that apart from Unfinished buisness (ft. florence) and Death that Farewell to the Fairground was my favourite from their set simply because it's an amazing song which you can throw a fair few shapes to!
After their set we got invited for a drink by a 60 year old man (this proves just how nieve we are) and went being (almost) 17 year olds that are skint and underage. Turns out that John wasn't to bad, it was well funny, he introduced us to his friends, who were basically the the older members of the crowd all bunched together.
Friendly Fires came on just as we began drinking our pints and were busted a few moves to 'Lovesick' whilst still at the bar, the surrounding Brummys being suprisingly unjudgmental, if we'd have done the same thing in Stoke, or even worse Wolverhampton (I've been to a few gigs at the civic centre) we'd have been given evil stares, God, I love Brummys, they're so friendly and poilte! After lovesick we said goodbye to John and snaked our way through the crowd and into where everyone was dancing the most and by the time Glasvegas came on we were at the front! Friendly Fires were as good as they always are (I've seen them also twice before hand) with Ed throwing a few eccentric moves and the really good lighting, it was awesome!
After a long wait which included a girl next to us fainting and me speaking a strange language that was a mix between french and spanish (spancais?) Glasvegas finally took to the stage! They suprised me loads too cos last time I saw them I didn't think that they were amazing, but maybe that was a lack of atmostphere. So yes, they were pretty amazing and everyone sung and danced along, apart from 'the ice cream van' which I just really don't get, it's their only boring song which is slow and goes on forever! When they went off stage, instead f chanting 'we want more' the crowd started chanting to the lyrics to 'Go square go' (one of their best songs in the set), so Glasvegas came back onstage to "here we, here we, here we fucking go" There was a lovely solo moment by James and then they finished up with "Daddy's Gone" which always goes down a storm as their last song! The audience seemed to go away in very high spirits agan chanting the lyrics to 'Go Square Go.' I bought a Florence T shirt for £15, (I tried to barter with him, but he was having none of it, so I had to borrow money off Beth) it was the last black one. And they I went home because we had to shoot straight off because of the hour car journey, I was gutted I didn't get to meet Florence of Ed :( I think it was still by far the best gig that I've ever been to! It most certainly had the best line-up that I've ever seen!
Videos which I took-
Florence and the Machine- My boy builds coffins, I'm sorry that it not very zoomed in on this one it was the first time that I wanted to use the zoom button on my new phone, so I was a tad confused! But the others are better!
Girl with one eye- I love this video!
Birdsong- sorry zoom on the beggining bit is funny, I was still trying to work it out, I did in the end so it's worth watching
Glasvegas- Daddy's Gone- Amazing Finale
Check out the Photos of Florence and the Machine and Friendly Fires which I took:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)