Sunday 7 December 2008

Other stuff

I didn't want to put it the other blog and make it even longer!! haha so, other gigs I've been to apart from Flambo=

Underground Heroes- Suprisingly good, they sound so average on their recordings put they're really good live!

Pete and the Pirates- Put on a good show, just a shame that there wasn't much of a crowd, Exlovers and Paper Heroes were the support acts, they were really, good, especially Exlovers!


White Lies- Always put on a good show, this time was no exception, I had a nice little dance :)


What I'm listening to a lot at the moment: Flamboyant Bella obv's, Florence and the Machine (buy dog days are over now on itunes!!), Animal Kingdom myspace them :) ), Pulp, The Cure, Ladyhawke, Santogold, Emmy the Great, Big and Rich (I love the song 'Rollin' featuring Cowboy Troy lol), Regina Spektor


Have a lovely week! I'll try and write sooner next time!

Katie
xxxxx

I had to do a review for my performing arts c/wk

so I thought I'd share it with you :)

Be the reviewer coursework- Flamboyant Bella 5/12/08


Before Friday night, I hadn’t been to a Flamboyant Bella gig since 14th February because I was in Africa last time they played Stoke, therefore this gig was greatly anticipated, I bought my ticket way back in September! Last time was amazing and Flamboyant Bella are and probably always will be my favourite band of all time, yet, they are still unsigned, it’s crazy! They’ve self re-leased 2 EP’s and a single, I own all of these. There was a fairly big crowd, even as early as 7.30pm when we walked in, as the support band’s had managed to gather a lot of support, I’d have said that the gig would have been quite close to being a sell out. The support bands preformed well and got everyone in exactly the right frame of mind for the headliners, this was something which the Sugarmill made a mistake on last time we saw Flamboyant Bella as the support bands were shockingly awful, I can remember even sitting on the stage with my back to them and not even caring that it was a rude thing to do, I cared more about my aching feet! It was great because a lot of the crowd (including me) knew the second support band so there was a very friendly and supportive atmosphere and people started to mosh and dance.

The stage isn’t set out particularly special because Flamboyant Bella are not the kind of band that would feel they need to make the stage look different or to use a load of smoke machines or lighting effects and put up flashy banners, alls there is that give away a clue as to who the headline band are is Doreen (the drummer, no-one knows his real name)’s drum kit that have the letters ‘FB’ taped onto them and last time we saw them thy had a few balloons with the bands name on them and the lyric ‘giving you full satisfaction.’ The band walk on not long after the support bands finished (they don’t like to keep their fans waiting) to huge screams from fans, of which they have many, most of them between the ages of 14 and 21 because that’s their targeted audience. They kick things off with lots and lots of snyth and then burst into their first single, Touch (which was released on the 4th August this year). The crowd sing and dance along as they all know the song because it’s up on their myspace profile. This song has a lovely bright keyboard riff, an electro- poppy drum beat and a distinctive bass line. It’s a fierce song of teenage lust which nobody couldn’t resist dancing to. Throughout the set they do a few new songs that nobody at all is familiar with but people still move to them simply because Flamboyant Bella, with help of the support bands have created an hyperactive atmosphere that people just completely lose themselves and their inhibitions in. They manage to do this even with hangovers from the night before, Flo (the singer and guitarist) explains and they just seem to completely forget that they have hangover, Flamboyant Bella are just so in love with their fans, something which I do think is a very important quality to have as band as I’ve seem some good bands before but when I’ve met them, they’ve been miserable and it just really puts you off them, to maintain the love you have to be good to your fans and treat them well. Flamboyant Bella classics are sandwiched in between their new material and the crowd go insane, from the down beat and beautiful song, ‘Love has got me Stoned’ (which James told me he wrote when he was about 12 or 13!) to the snythy riffs of ‘Absolutely Wankered’ and ‘Crazy Cool’. The crowd are surfing, dancing, moshing and glow-sticks a-go-go, Flamboyant Bella are very, very successful in creating mass hysteria, which in my opinion is what makes a good performance. Flo’s beautiful high-pitched voiced harmonises well with James’s, the guitar riffs featured in the more guitar-based songs like ‘Sexy Beast’ and ‘My Skies’ are kept simple but effective and most of their songs are in major keys which are good in keeping the fans on a high, apart from ‘Love has Got me Stoned’ when Flo always explains to the fans before hands in her Hitchin accent that they’re “gonna take it down a notch now.”

Here are the chords to the ‘My skies’ introduction:

D add9 , A sus4 x4

The guitarist, just changes between this chords using a simple but catchy strumming pattern.

I don’t quite know where Flamboyant Bella musically get their inspiration from as they’re like nothing you’ve ever heard before, but I think their lyrics are in some ways possibly influenced by punk rock as they’re very rebellious and seem to be deliberately rebellious as if they set out to offend older people like teachers and parents. Their lyrics portray typical rebellious teenage acts such as mass alcohol consumption, sex, smoking and herbal high’s. From the lyrics we just get the impression that Flamboyant Bella are just out to enjoy themselves and that’s all that matters to them really, we see this in their song ‘Second, minute, hour’:

“Fags, beer and herbal high’s, just an aid to enjoy my life, gonna live now before I die, cos we’re a long time, dead.”

This song always goes down a storm and has become a ‘Flamboyant Bella anthem,’ the crowd yell back the lyrics at them, and to me, it’s a song which I find is so honest and makes a lot of sense, although I’m sure an uptight person would probably disagree.

‘Absolutely Wankered’ is a very, snythy, upbeat song about getting really drunk (the clue’s in the title), a song which I think that most teenagers can really relate to because they’ve been in similar situations themselves. It’s the final song which the band play and they chose it wisely as it’s the song which everyone just loses their minds to and it’s a clear favourite, although it isn’t mine, it’s ‘Get a reaction’ but unfortunately they couldn’t play it at the gig because it’s hard song to sing because it’s so quick but powerful also and Flo was only just recovering from a chest infection. The song ends in an array of screams and shouts for more and the band come out to meet their many fans almost straight after coming off stage, their fans just love them really for their kindness, hyper activeness (they dance around a bit on stage), honesty and rebellious appeal. They certainly attract their target audience. At the ages of 18, apart from Mitch, who’s 16, they seem to be living the life that any teenager would be jealous of and it won’t be long now before all of the teenagers in Britain are fans.



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I'm seeing the kooks, mystery jets and kid harpoon tonight woop! :D I'll review probs when i get round to it:)

Katie
x

Monday 10 November 2008

Dog Days

It's the new Florence and the Machine single and it's wicked! Here's th video, it's out on the 1st December!

Saturday 8 November 2008

Sorry it's been a while (ish)

So, I've been a pretty busy bee with all of my various jobs, college work and going to gigs and party etc.

So, I think the last gig which I went to was The King Blues + The Skints because I did merchandise for the King Blues. First of all I feel I should mention how bloody good The Skints were! They took you into a strange reggae/ska zone which is difficult to get out of (if you ever wanted to, I know I loved being in their little world), they were quite mesmerising all of them seemed to be charasmatic beings. There was a bizaare mix of people at the gig from older people, to skaters, to scensters, to indie kids but everyone seemed to really enjoy The Skints and admire their work. Despite the King Blues appearing to be a little miserable (apart from a couple of them) all night once they were on stage they let out a suprising amount of energy and put on a great show! I'd never been to a Ska gig before and was a little confused as to what to do with myself really but this was a nice experience for my first ska gig! www.myspace.com/theskints wwww.myspace.com/thekingblues

What I'm Listening to at the moment

A girl called Bella Spinks, I'm listening to her myspace player right now actually! She's a very talented young lady from Brighton, it's very heart-felt music which warms your own heart when you need it to be warmed up most in these cold, depressing months. This girls definatley worth a listen if you're a fan of: Emmy the Great, Regina Spektor, Guillemots jack Penate or Kate Nash, or even if you aren't a fan of these, still listen you maybe suprised!
www.myspace.com/bellamayspinks

Bon Iver- I've read that his debut album was written in a shed in a forest, in the middle of no-where where he lived alone,that's enough for me to like him, I respect this as I wouldn't last a day in that situation! His music's lovely and yes, yet again very wintery, I keep listening to beautiful winter music now that it's gone all cold and dark, it relaxes me. It's very raw, acousticy/folkey stuff and it's lovely. 'Skinny Love' is just genius!
www.myspace.com/boniver

Alessi's Ark- She's currently on tour with Peggy Sue again warm folk music, hard to believe it's came from an 18 year-old girl from London, you'd think it had came more from a canadian woman who lives in a remote forest. Alessi's music beckons you into a whole new world and it's wonderful.

www.myspace.com/alessisark

Slow Club- I absolutely love them, their EP is on my Christmas List and I'm looking forward to getting it, I almost decided the other day that I couldn't wait another 8 weeks for it and nearly bought it but managed to stop myself! They're a bit like Tilly and the Wall apart from there are only two of them! They're on moshi moshi also, which let's face it, is there anyone's who's on that label that isn't talented?

www.myspace.com/slowclub

And finally, please download 'Long live the queen' by Frank Turner because:

a) it's a beautiful song
and b) the fund go towards a cancer charity thankyou :)

Here's the video, you get the idea, I hope it doesn't make you cry, it's a sad song:


I'm off to some fireworks toight, waaay! :)

Katie
x

Thursday 23 October 2008

Cheeky Cheeky and the Nosebleeds gig review

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The support were: the fortunas- www.myspace.com/thefortunas and tequila lips: www.myspace.com/tequilalips

both local bands and pretty sound bands with potential, although the singer in tequila lips did not look like he should belong in a band, he was too buff and he's trousers were not very tight basically! He's certainly not how you would imagine him and he was also a it on the cheesy side and I HATE anything that's cheesy, but apart from him they were quite a good band.

Cheeky Cheeky and the Nosebleeds- On stage they look like a bunch of maniacs who've escaped from a mental hospital dancing, singing and playing in a plume of smoke and off stage they seem suprisingly normal guys. For a band who are used to playing to a much larger crowd, they still seemed very glad to be there, I've been to gigs where bands have came expecting a crowd and when they don't get as much of one as they wanted they go all pissy and play a little half heartedly but this band just still didn't let it affect them and played an amazing show! There was never a dull moment and they NEVER lacked energy, The singles-'You let me go' and 'Slow Kids' were most certainly the highlights because people knew the lyrics but every single song was amazing and had the danceability factor which was created by their large variety of influences as it states on their myspace page in the 'influences' section simply 'Pop Music 1955-2008.' This is clearly true, I hear a lot of different genres in their music. These guys clearly love playing shows and touring (they been on tour since 1st October) and they show this throug their performance, they seem like the band that are willing to play to anyone, anywhere. Their energetic performances are a MUST see! You will not be disappointed with them!


Here's a video I got off 'Give me your Hand',sorry about the sound quality, it isn't too good but, it's still worth a watch! please do!




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Thanks for reading :)

Katie
xxxxx

www.myspace.com/kwilkomusic
www.myspace.com/katiewilkinson18

Saturday 18 October 2008

This weeks discoveries

Little commets, a really great indie band from Newcastle: http://www.myspace.com/littlecometsmusic

I'll hopefully be seeing them in a couple of weeks so I'll probs do a review of their set for you :)


I also finally checked out fleet foxes, their music so lovely and mellow

http://www.myspace.com/fleetfoxes


I've also been listening to a lot of Lykke Li this week, good indie pop/electro pop kinda sound she has

http://www.myspace.com/lykkeli

Also an amaazzing girl fronted rock band called Pretty Girls Make Graves:
http://www.myspace.com/prettygirlsmakegraves


I also ended up seeing a band called Bromheads Jacket this week and that was an alright gig, their music's quite simple but good, they also did a lovely doherty cover


http://www.myspace.com/bromheadsjacket

Imperial Leisure are a really good band and are supporting Less than Jake on their forthcoming tour, unfortunately, I'm not a Less than Jake fan or else I might have gone but Imperial Liesure are a wicked band so check them out: http://www.myspace.com/imperialleisure

Kid British's new single 'Elizabeth' is a nice tune, he's a bit like a male version of Remi Nicole check him out:
http://www.myspace.com/kidbritishmusic

Errors are also a band to look out for, they're a synthy electro band, most of their songs don't have vocals but that doesn't even matter, they're just great : http://www.myspace.com/weareerrors

I've had to do some research on punk music for my performing arts coursework over the past couple of weeks so I've been listening to a lot of that stuff, especially suzi and the banshees, I've only really just discovered their greatness!

I'm dying to buy James Yuille's debut album too but I need to find some money first because I keep spending it really quickly! It's out on Moshi Moshi records, buy it here: http://www.recordstore.co.uk/home.jsp?wherefrom=productdetail.jsp?productPK=unittest-QudR9BRkNZCCDYlTpN3IEb-1

It'll be well worth it!

http://www.myspace.com/jamesyuill

I think that's all for now, sorry it's not a very exciting blog this week, but I have some college stuff to get on with :( Please check out all of the artists and bands I've mentioned!

Katie
xxxx

Sunday 5 October 2008

New discoveries and stuff :)

So this week I discovered a band called Swound when I heard their new single played on the radio this week. Their a bit like a mixture between The Kabeedies and Cheeky Cheeky and the Nosebleeds but the guitar riffs are much heavier, they're well good check em out :)

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=17092552

Swound

I've also still been listening to the new Kings of Leon album A LOT I'm absolutley addicted to i, I've even got dad into it! And also & the Boom by Iglu & Hartly

I've discovered an old 80's band called the cars, whom White Lies are heavily influenced by

I've been listening to a band clled 'Those Dancing Days' a fair bit today who are a swedish girl rock band, they're pretty good and have also discovered a very good band form San Diego called 'Grand Ole Party' a girl fronted rock band, quite indie but at the same time a very musical and kinda melodic, very clever stuff really :)
Check them out, it's a MUST: www.myspace.com/grandoleparty

Grand ole party

The new Kabeeddies single is fair good too check that one out on their myspace: www.myspace.com/thekabeedies

Also Soulwax have done an excelent remix of 'kids' by MGMT, have a listen to that too (and download it off itunes of course), it's wicked! I'm not sure where you can listen to it on the internet but I'm sure there's somewhere you can hear it! + it's on the radio all the time at night so if you listen to radio1 at night, I'm sure you'll hear it sometime!

And finally, I'm loving the new Tom Williams and the Boat single 'Got Fuel' it's lovely, buy the ep at http://www.wireboatrecordings.co.uk/

www.myspace.com/WilliamsTommusic

And I think that's it folks, I'll keep you posted on anything else new, I better get back to my Othello essay now :(
Have a great week,

Katie
xxx

Monday 29 September 2008

Iglu & Hartly gig + album reviews

I arrive at the venue on my own as none of my mates could make the gig (but luckily some of my new friends from college turned up later), I'm greeted by Nick, Iglu and Hartly's promotions mager (i think that was his role anyway!) A tad nervous as it's the first time I've ever done merch and I'm on my own with an American man I've never met before. He takes me to the rooftop bar -yes, Stoke's cool, well actually the sugarmill is the only cool place in stoke! Louis, Jarvis and the tour manager are sitting there with their feet up with a table of beers in front of them. I shake all of their hands and accept the bottle of beer that Jarvis kindly offers me :)
We get talking about music, college, Nick Grimshaw's mum and life in general and how amaazing it is. Throughout Nick Harrison's sound check (the support act, more about him later) Jarvis freestyles to the music randomly, and encourages me to join him but alas, I am too shy. He then demonstrates his new song to me which I can tell will be fantastic once put to music. I have another beer and talk to the tour manger whilst the guys go back to the hotel for half an hour, we talk about my linguistic skills, travelling and how he recommends me go to live in Argentina for a while, I say I shall try my best because it sounds lush.
I then went downstairs to set up the stall when Nick Harrison walks past me and says hi politley and my, my is he a fine guy ;)
Iglu and Hartly then walk back through the doors, all of them this time, they ask me if I'm ok and I say yes.
Once the doors have opened the show kicks off with the support band who were called 'Two Door Cinema Club.' They're an Irish indie band and they pretty God Damn good! Check them out: www.myspace.com/twodoorcinemaclub
They're a wicked live act and really get the crowd going and into the mood for the gig, as if the free merch wasn't enough (the reason I & H give away free merch is to put the kids in a good mood)
Second on is Nick Harrison, an attractive young songwriter from london who is not just lyrically talented but musically as well as his arrangements are pretty tight. His style varies quite a lot but the man vibes are ska, indie and pop. It's impossible not to dance to his upbeat soul brightening music. Another fantastic live act. His new single 'Oi Rude Boy' is out now and t's worth buying, so please do!!!
www.myspace.com/nickharrison

I go and find some people that I actually know and watch the headliners, and what a show it was! EVERYONE was dancing, there was not a soul to be seen that was jumping up and down. Absolutley fantastic show with lots of crowd surfing and a huge stage invasion at the end. If you get the opportunity to see Iglu and Hartly then go! You'd miss out majorly if you didn't! The band are not just about the new single 'in this city', they have many hits up their often none existent sleeves (as they normally often for the topless option) I can assure you! I bought the new album '& Then Boom today (it's relase date :)) and it's sick, go buy it!

I also bought the new kings of leon album wile I was there and that it also pretty amaaaazig! Their Soulful rock just kind of melts me and has me in stupor. Yes- the power of music is actually THAT STRONG for me! It can often ave me doing all kinds of things.

Cheers for reading folks, sorry for it being a long'un, I'll make it shorter next time, I promise!
Have a lovely week,
XKatieX

Saturday 20 September 2008

Hello! Welcome :)

So I'll start my first one simply and give you a little list of the bands that I've been listening to a lot this week, please give them your time to listen to them, they'll be worth it!

Tilly and the Wall- both of their albums: Bottom of Barrels + Wild Like children
The new single 'Beat Control' is out now, download it (legally obvs.) the drums are controlled by a girl tap dancing
www.myspace.com/tillyandthewall

Iglu & Hartly- because I'm seeing them next week and I'm getting all excited! I'm write a review for you
www.myspace.com/igluandhartly

The Morning Orchetstra- an indie/folk from Brighton, they're just fenominal and all of their songs on their myspace are free download! 'Dancing with the devil' and 'Helter Skelter' are their stand out tracks i think, but they're all brilliant!

www.myspace.com/themorningorchestra

The Four Zoas- a very familiar sounding band, they'de be perfect for mobile phone adverts or something! 'Her every day' is really cute!

www.myspace.com/thefourzoas


Kid Harpoon- 57
I downloaded one of his ep's entitled the 'first ep' this week finally, as I've been into him for ages but never bought his cds, 57 and the milkmaid are insane! The others are fantastic too

www.myspace.com/kidharpoon

The View- 5 Rebeccas
I'm soo glad they're back! I loved them! They're definatley back with a vengence, they're a greay band. I'm going to try and make their Stoke date on their tour providing I can afford, I'll write you a review if I go :)

MGMT- I STILL can't keep playing the album 'Oracle Spektacular' , it's simply addictive and fantastic, go buy it, it's a must!

White Lies- 'Death' I'm still listening to this song every day! It's stunning, just stunning! They're wicked live too, I saw them on the NME tour this summer

www.myspace.com/whitelies

Friendly Fires- The new album's fantastic! I've loved them for a long time now and have seen them twice both being some of the best nights of my life! haha, I think I may just be Ed Macfarlane's biggest fan, I've even created a facebook fan group for him, I'm that much of a loser fan :/

www.myspace.com/friendlyfires


Hmm, I'll leave it there for now, this list could go on for hours!
I'm playing a charity jazz concert tonight for a hospital in B'ham and am quite excited, wish me luck :)

Lot's of love,

Katie
xxxxx

www.myspace.com/kwilkomusic
www.myspace.com/katiewilkinson92
(add, me on either, I'll reply to both)