If you read my last post, you’ll probably know that I’ve finally got somewhat into Doctor Who. It was a case of “Hmm, what shall I watch next? Oh, I know, I haven’t ever really given Doctor Who a chance. Well, why not….”
So, as a result, I’m making some lists. Lists of films & TV series I need to watch (properly), bands & artists I need to see live and books I need to read in 2013.
Please do comment with your recommendations. I’d love to have as much of a variety as possible!
December 27, 2012 Teacups & Trivialities2 Comments
Been a bit quiet of late- but excitingly, I’m now doing a bit of writing for Thank Folk For That (my first review is of Maia’s “Pepper Stars” –>here!<– and hopefully my review of The Robbie Boyd Band’s EP launch will be up soon too. I’ll post details of that when it’s up, but for now, a new music discovery!
Mike Dignam supported The Robbie Boyd Band the other day & has some great songs that get stuck in your head. He’s on tour now – dates here & his EP is out on iTunes and Spotify. Well worth a listen!
It’s been an odd couple of weeks. I’ve sadly parted ways with my band (boooo), got my Masters results (yaaay!) and re-started rehearsals with The Stamp Collective (yaaaay!). And I’ve even managed to go to 3 gigs (very different) in between – hence the whole 3-sided-coin analogy in the title…I’ve just completely forgotten to blog. Silly Lizzi, a slap on the wrist will be duly given to myself for that!
So: the past week has seen me totter off to Camden twice – the first time to see the fabulous Lady Maisery on Monday 1st October for gig #4(eek, I really am behind…) who enchanted the audience with their singing and diddling (click through to a wiki link if you don’t know what diddling is!). Hannah, Hazel and Rowan’s voices blend beautifully – seeming to become one single voice when they sing in unison. A flawless gig, featuring a bansitar (“half a banjo, half a sitar and a bit o’vase), gorgeous harmonies and a serious lack of farmers ( although there were apparently a couple in Islington …)
Gig #5 was the reason for my second trip to Camden of the week – this time to jump back across the other side of the spectrum to see Man Like Me (supported by The Other Tribe, who were my main reason for going along.) In all honesty – there’s very little I can add to my previous post about The Other Tribe – they’re still fantastic, they can still get a crowd going…it was just a shame that their set wasn’t later in the evening so they could have had the bigger crowd. But y’know what? Just go and see them live. They’ve just announced their own headline tour – no excuses, now. And as for Man Like Me – well, I went to the gig having only heard a few of their songs on YouTube…and left humming a couple of them. It seems I struck gold too – this was apparently their only gig with the full band line up.
And finally, gig #4 – last night I saw the Treacherous Orchestra at Cargo, Shoreditch. I first saw them at Sidmouth Folkweek over the summer and have been hoping to catch them again ever since. The energy these guys have is just incredible – 15 minute long tune sets and around an hour and a half of playing without a break? Myself and my friend were exhausted watching them. The venue should have been packed to capacity – but hopefully there’ll be another London gig sooner rather than later…
Right. I’m off to another gig now. No rest for the wicked, eh!
Well, I’m finally getting round to my Mercury Music album nomination reviews…better late than never eh! To keep things fair and unbiased, I’ve enlisted the help of Hetty the desk hoover as (I’m far too cool for my own good….) and am picking out the nominees at random.
Names out of a Hetty, if you will…
So – first up: Jessie Ware’s “Devotion”. There’s a slight 80s/90s tinge to her music – I’d even dare to say there are hints of Toni Braxton and maybe even Whitney hidden in there. However, the influences (of which it sounds like there are many) don’t change the fact that Jessie has very much coined her own sound and style, leaving her influences as no more than inspiration.
I’ll admit that on the first listen I didn’t quite ‘get’ the opening track – without wanting to sound completely ridiculous, you do need to (quite literally) get into the groove. The first half of the album occasionally left my finger hovering over the ‘skip’ button (especially on “No To Love” – sorry!) but there’s something almost hypnotic about the combination of the production and her vocals that made me carry on. “Night Light” comes at just the right moment in the album, moving it on with a welcome change of pace, propelling the album in a gradual acceleration towards the end.
Yes – there’s the odd moment that might make you go “eh, what?!” (the synths on “Sweet Talk”…) and yet it’s somehow the odd moments that give the album it’s charm. It’s very cleverly structured – “Talking In Water” leaving you hanging until “Something Inside” wraps up the album with the class and style it has oozed from track 1.
I may not have been sure at the beginning of the album, but by the end…well, I quite liked it. It’s definitely a grower – and I’m sure after I’ve listened to it a couple more times, I’ll be booking my ticket to see her live…
7/10…for now…
Standout tracks: Wildest Moments, Night Light, 110%, Something Inside
I didn’t originally have a gig to go to last week, but a friend of mine asked if I’d go with her to see Fearless Vampire Killers (you can probably guess the genre…) so- once again, I was on the train to Guildford where we significantly raised the average age of the (14-25) venue. Whoops…
FVK are certainly making an impact – they’ve been getting some great reviews in Kerrang magazine and have a pretty impressive following on facebook and twitter (not that facebook and twitter are everything, mind!). Their music is as you would expect from their image and name – rock/emo songs with catchy hooks and heavy guitars. Not my usual cup of tea, but I nonetheless had fairly high hopes for the evening when I set out.
Now, this is tricky. I don’t want to criticise the venue in because they’re doing a fantastic job – in fact I’d say there need to be more Plantation Cafe – type venues around the UK (whole other rant, don’t get me started!). From what I heard of FVK, they’re a great live band and well-deserving of their good reviews – however, considering that the majority of the audience appeared to have gone to the gig to specifically see them, it was a great shame that the three support acts overran to such an extent that FVK were only able to play a total of four songs.
Shame, really. My 15-year-old self would have approved. My parents probably wouldn’t have, but I guess that’s the point…
By the end of the day, there will probably be hundredsa plethora of posts (that’s the collective noun, right?) about this year’s Mercury Music Award nominations. I’ll admit, up until now I’ve been a bit ignorant in my approach to the award, often making snap decisions and forming opinions with little to no grounding.
This year, I’ve given myself a hypothetical slap on the wrist and, since I’ve got this blog up and running, am going to do a little bit of blogging about the albums. Just so I can y’know, make myself actually listen to the damn things this year. Besides, there are some corkers on there. I’ve even set up a separate category for it…(I’ve been doing a bit of housekeeping today and generally tidying up my blog. Should probably do the same with my desk…)
The general consensus on my twitter feed, which seems to have become something of a be-all and end-all of all opinions is a BIG THUMBS UP to Mercury. Of course, there are always a few contentions points when someone’s favourite album isn’t nominated but hell. It seems like a pretty varied list, and if everyone’s favourite album was nominated…well, every album that had been released this year would probably feature on the list. And that just wouldn’t be practical now, would it?
In case you’ve somehow missed the memo, here are the nominations:
Alt-J ‘An Awesome Wave’ Ben Howard ‘Every Kingdom’ Django Django ‘Django Django’ Field Music ‘Plumb’ Jessie Ware ‘Devotion’ Lianne La Havas ‘Is Your Love Big Enough?’ Michael Kiwanuka ‘Home Again’ The Maccabees ‘Given to the Wild’ Plan B ‘Ill Manors’ Richard Hawley ‘Standing at the Sky’s Edge’ Roller Trio ‘Roller Trio’ Sam Lee ‘Ground of its Own’
And, if for any reason you don’t know what on earth it is I’ve been rambling on about for the past 311 words (thank you, wordpress word count…), clicking –> HERE <– will take you to the mercury prize website. Hooray!
It took the combined efforts of two friends (Wild Night In and Swish Themes – check them out, go go go!) to persuade me to start blogging. Well, I say combined effort. To be honest, it was more along the lines of two unconnected friends of mine casually mentioning over dinner, coffee or whatever it was that I should set up a blog. So far, it’s all been very music orientated, but I think it may well be more interesting (for me, if not for anyone reading) if I expand things slightly. So…here goes.
The other day, I was having a drink with my lovely friend Cat – the aforementioned Wild Night In. It’s strange – we’ve known each other for a long time (blimey, almost 15 years now!) but have never really had corresponding likes and interests. Somewhere along the ay, we both seem to have become interested in folk arts, hooping, blogging…just a few things here and there. So, whilst sitting in the pub we decided to write down “to do” list. The deadline? A year from now.
Some (lose a stone, learn to hoop, run 10k,) are health related. Not that there’s any urgency (as far as I know, and touch wood there won’t be) – just a want to be more healthy.
Others involve learning new skills (go on a jewellery making course, learn to play the accordion…and again, learn to hoop!). Then there’s my wish to travel a bit – I’ve set myself the small target of 3 weekend trips abroad – just so I can see a bit more of the world on my own terms. I suppose wanting to broaden my horizons a bit more. It’s funny how a hobby can become a profession, and when you take education out of the picture it becomes apparent that your profession and hobby are all one thing. So – accordion aside – I thought I might find a hobby that’s not music. My jewellery making attempts have been fairly basic so far, but I now have a box full of beads and I’d quite like to do something with them….
And then there’s the ‘professional’ one. I’ll keep that quiet for now – I’m still waiting on my results from my Masters dissertation and don’t want to jinx anything, but I want to build on the research I’ve done for my dissertation and…follow a few things up. More on that another time though.
So there we have it. 7 goals, 1 year. Aside from that I want to discover some new music and really, really get to know some other genres. Again, a professional goal as much as a personal one. So, 8 goals.
And probably still counting…
I realise now there’s been barely any point to this blog. It’s all a bit self-indulgent really, but I suppose putting it all in writing, and then publishing that writing on the internet in a place where some people might read it has the potential to motivate me a little bit more and maybe, hopefully give me the extra incentive to get myself into gear and, step by step achieve my goals.
Now. I’ll stop boring you and – for those of you who’ve made it this far – here’s a video. I had one of those amazing moments when I remember how fantastic a singer Ella Fitzgerald was today. It’d be rude not to share the joy.
September 10, 2012 Teacups & Trivialities1 Comment
Well, that’s not exactly true. I know exactly what happened last night – I got on a train to Guildford, walked to The Boileroom (definitely didn’t get lost along the way…) and prepared myself to see Bristol-based band The Other Tribe. I’ve been meaning to catch them for some time – an old friend plays with the band, I’ve liked what I’d heard so far but hadn’t managed to make it to a gig yet.
I won’t admit to knowing much about dance or electronic music (something which I intend to change – feel free to send me any recommendations!) but these guys are definitely something special. Tribal instrument and beat samples, live percussion, ridiculously catchy hooks make for a sound that’s both instantly recognizable as their own and ridiculously addictive. Quite rightly, they’ve earned themselves a place on Radio 1’s B List – and that’s just the start.
Last night I overheard someone at the bar say “I’m a pop person through and through, but I really like these guys. They’re sort of tribal… melodic… dancey… brilliant”.Couldn’t have put it better myself.
Go, go go. Buy their single (out on the 30th September). Go and see them live. These guys are about to become absolutely massive. I’m definitely a convert…. #jointhetribe.
September 9, 2012 Teacups & Trivialities3 Comments
After a trip to Towersey Village Festival, I’ve been thinking what to do next with this blog. As is glaringly obvious, my updating has been sporadic to say the least and it’s often hard to find the right thing to blog about.
Therefore, to give myself some structure for this blog I will be attempting to attend at least one gig per week – something to talk/blog about. I already have a few gigs in the diary of bands I’ve seen over the festival season I want to keep up with, but hopefully the weeks in between will be new discoveries, recommendations and perhaps people I might not have heard of before.
Let’s see how it goes….
As for Towersey: my personal highlights* were Bellowhead, who included some new songs from their forthcoming album “Broadside” in their set; David Gibb & Elly Lucas, whose song “Old Chairs To Mend” I chose as my song for the week on This Is My Jam and Northern Irish winners of the 2012 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, Ioscaid. I’m still kicking myself for not buying their EP whilst I was there….
*Of course, there were many, many more fantastic acts…these were just the first three that sprung to mind…
December 27, 2012
Teacups & Trivialities
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