There’s something so brilliant about Active Child– his music catches you from the beginning and draws you through a weird and wonderful world of complex beats and choir sounds. And the harp he carried around with him is simply cool. Active Child was playing with a couple of other bands tonight (Phantogram and MOPP) although I chose to only see him perform.
I think, like a lot of people, I went a bit crazy with this year’s iTunes Festival and applied to win tickets for all the gigs. Of all those gigs, this was probably the one that I was least interested it- so karma worked it’s way to make sure this was the only one I won this year! These two power rock bands (both huge in the 80’s) haven’t lost their rock- I actually really enjoyed it. Go see Europe on their tour next year in the UK: start growing your hair long and ripping your black t-shirts in the mean time.
“I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.”
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring”
“Its better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what your not”
“When it comes down to it, I let them think what they want. If they care enough to bother with what I do, then I’m already better than them.”
“I’ve never fooled anyone. I’ve let people fool themselves. They didn’t bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn’t argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn’t.”
“If I’d observed all the rules I’d never have got anywhere.”
“It’s all make believe, isn’t it?”
“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”
So a couple of weeks ago I mentioned Monarchy on my blog… I had a clip from one of their gigs on my Youtube and they sent the website one of those legal notices threatening me and taking it off. It even mentioned who was behind it- the guy with the curly pubey hair.
I wasn’t making any money off those videos, only to share with the world their music but whatever. First they cancel their own gig without refunds, and now this. I now look forward to receiving an email from WordPress telling me off for posting their picture on this post no doubt. So thanks Monarchy for making a fan feel like a criminal. Maybe sell some records before you get all high up on your internet threats yea?
Rai Knight are getting a lot of buzz right now thanks to their single, ‘New New’. I love it. If you want to shake your bum around and smile like you’ve just been poked by a rainbow then check out here.
I stumbled across Clare Maguire’s Myspace sometime early last year, long before I had this blog. She had just one song up, called ‘Strangest Thing’, and it blew my mind away. It seems like she’s been signed up since then, as a new version of the same track is now online and her Myspace looks amazing. Check out here.
OK, so Mike Posner might not be new news to some people, but I’ve realised that I really like him and I haven’t featured him on this blog so I guess now is better than never… He mixes synthpop with hip hop and rnb, which might not be something new but he does it pretty well. Check out here.
This is so cool it makes my head hurt.
All these rumours about the Beach Boys reuniting are getting my hopes up and squashing them right back down again. It’s like being in a bad relationship. This is one band with some seriously f***ed up history- but there’s no denying that their music is amazing and timeless and great. I think we all need to send them some good vibrations (gettit?). That might make them get back together for sure.
If you’ve listened to Robyn’s Body Talk Pt1 then you would have heard a ballad version of Hang With Me. This new remix acts as her next single, out in September, and will also be available in the next album (Body Talk Pt2). I like it. Dancey.
Body Talk Pt 2 Tracklist
01. In My Eyes
02. Iinclude Me Out
03. Hang with Me
04. Love Kills
05. We Dance to the Beat
06. Criminal Intent
07. U Should Know Better feat. Snoop Dogg
08. Indestructible (acoustic version)
I’ve always been fascinated by infographics, and I’ve really been into research that tries to calculate people’s emotions. This infograph is pretty amazing. It’s taken all the twitters coming out from the US (around 300 million of them), and calculated emotional words people used in their updates to build a map of emotion. Looks like California is the happiest place in the country- but come working hours no one’s happy :-( There’s also video of the map here.
If you’ve stumbled across this blog looking for actual sleeping bags- sorry. I refer to a new band that make a really good sound. Check out here.
Carrying along in the same vein as Ellie Goulding, Rosanna (signed up by the web’s greatest blog PopJustice’ new label, HiFi), has that trademark Swedish sombre vibe mixed with an amazingly uplifting kind of beat. Check out here.
This is really sad but if you like, you can vote for my entry in the Norway Your Way competition- basically people upload stuff that is inspired by Norway. I love the place, and if I win then I get to go there on a funky ass holiday. Not sure if my entry (above) is up to scratch, but I can dream! Click here to vote! Thanks!
Is anyone going to Lovebox today in Victoria Park (London)? Grace Jones, Hot Chip, Peaches, Hurts, and Hercules & The Love Affair will be playing. I wasn’t going but I ended up getting a ticket anyway. Every outdoor festival I’ve been to in my life has ended with some kind of hot mess (the last one I went to gave me a week’s worth of sun stroke agony). Here goes!
Update: LoveBox is amazing.
Two future pop superstars-in-the-making played the tiny Dingwalls last night. This is the same venue where I saw Mika and Robyn just before they both went on to take over the world, so maybe it has something in the air for these aspiring singers. Eliza Doolittle was really good, and her harmless tracks were pretty fun to listen to. She also did a cover of a Justin Bieber track which I enjoyed far more than I should have…
Alex Gardner, who headlined the night, was also pretty amazing. This kid is only a teenager, and I mentioned him on here months ago. His sound is pretty unique, and you forget sometimes just how young he is from the way he performs.
Yea, I think he’s lost his marbles. If you like Wiley, then click here to download all 100 songs that he’s decided to give away for free- I’m not sure I can deal with all that much Wiley! For those of you outside of the UK, Wiley is one of the masters of Grime music: you either love it or you hate it. Zip file 3 has a new song featuring The Streets called ‘Don’t Hide Away’ which I kinda like.
If you are clued up on your new music, you’ll know that Monarchy have caused havoc on the blogs for months now- but seeing as this blog is still a little baby, I forget to mention some bands from the past who will no doubt be big in the future.
Monarchy launched their sound with a mysterious image around them- no one knew who they were or what they were doing. Their songs were out of this world, and eventually, they were revealed to be a repackaged version of Milke. They cancelled their first proper gig ages ago and since then I’ve been a bit frowny with Monarchy, just because I got so excited when I found out about them and it seemed like they were just… being a bit strange.
But I’m over it now, and I’m totally loving their debut video (which is actually an old Milke track). I always felt that Milke never had the break they deserved, and rebranding as Monarchy seems to have done the trick, with them now getting a big record deal. Check out here.
In the UK, Kylie’s new album Aphrodite is number 1 this week. Woo! It’s a really, really good album folks- get to your record store and buy it!
I’ve been asked to feature this band by a reader in Turkey… Portecho are sort of mellow, and their stuff is pretty easy to listen to. It’s kind of electro but rocky as well, I don’t really know how to describe it. Check out here.
