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

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

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

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 Rumble Strips

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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!

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!