#UnpopularOpinion -Brit Awards

Now i don't want to be one of those annoying people who always whine "I loved that band before you" but... I loved that band before you.
If you're one of those fans who, at the mention of Coldplay, your pupils dilate and palms become sweaty as your pores ooze a mixture of perspiration and adoration- leave now, because I will shortly be ripping to pieces the hype that Coldplay has whipped up to justify winning "Best British Group" over FAR more deserving bands, and i wouldn't want you to have a mental breakdown or anything.

The Brit awards brought to my attention that one could quite easily predict who would win what award, regardless of whether you think they were deserving of it, based on the hype that surrounded them. Seems a bit of a sham really doesn't it? Example; Best Breakthrough- won by Ed Sheeran. Now, i think Ed is great, but he's not exactly a new-comer is he. The Vaccines should have won that by a mile; they've come out of nowhere, won over our hearts, and went straight on tour with Arctic Monkeys. But Ed has this cult of personality surrounding him, with his floppy red hair and soppy lyrics... And so i sat with my sister, accurately guessing that Adele would win Best Female over Florence (Despite the fact Adele hadn't sung for the best part of last year due to a throat injury) and that, instead of Noel Gallagher, giving unto us Oasis for 21 years, Blur would win outstanding contribution, despite not releasing anything good since the 90's (as evident by the fact their entire setlist at The Brits consisted of songs from over a decade ago.)
Therefore i wasn't much surprised that Coldplay would win Best British Group


Let's see who they were up against: Arctic Monkeys. Kasabian. WHY didn't these guys get a look in?
"But Paradise, and Mylo Xyloto" -To hell with those albums.
 Parachutes and X&Y are two of the most legendary and influential albums, containing records such as "Scientist" "Fix you" "yellow" ect. You know, songs that spoke to you.
I can only say that their PR has earned his fat paycheck, because the word on everyone's lips is 'Coldplay';One can pinpoint the moment that the hype started to spread, personally i track it down to Viva La Vida.
Similar to how the undercut and buttoned-up collars are now essentials, no-one on trend would be without their Coldplay tracks on their iPod. I can only compare it to how some people fan-girl over The Strokes(♥), but have only ever heard 'Is This It?" I'm not trying to be a snob here, but hype makes up 80% of a musician's success now a days, as proven by the Brit Awards. Personally, I think it's wrong; a favourite band shouldn't be a fashion accessory, and the industry shouldn't be exploiting this to make money. But hey, it's called an 'industry' for a reason.
So no, i do not "love'' Coldplay: I recognise the quality of their older albums, and yes I probably did like them a long time before most people, but I'm struggling to come to terms with the fact that they won a Brit award over Arctic Monkeys or Kasabian. How ironic now that the man to produce Coldplay's video for Paradise is 'Hype' Williams. Perhaps we should strap a few laser beams to Alex Turner or splash a bit of neon paint on Tom Meighan. Oh right no, that's because they make proper music and don't rely on the visual to make up for recycled audio.

Peace out.

Cover of the week.

When a band does a cover of a well known song, they have a lot to live up to. It's risky to cover great songs, because bands rarely get to the writhing guts of the track. -WALK OFF THE EARTH have broken this trend into small, sharp fragments.

The song that has lodged itself into my brain this week has been GOTYE- Somebody that i used to know. 

Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful it makes me ache. 

Therefore, i approached a cover of my favourite song with some hostility. However it was un called-for. I MIGHT go as far to say that this may even rival the original.

I love the artistic visual stimuli to the cover video. It's a hands-on intimate feel, as though the band are connected by one common cause- the guitar. It's hard to believe such a range of sounds come out of one instrument, but they merge and make love perfectly. 

But is it better that Gotye's?

I like WOTF version, as i feel that it has quite an earthy feel, and the female vocals that harmonise towards the end add a certain softness that emphasises the female character in the song. But then Gotye's voice is certainly the superior; reaching the high notes of the chorus with ease and soul.

Like i said, this song makes me hurt because it is so good. I'm in quite a melancholy mood now so i'll leave you with this beautiful cover to decide which you prefer;

Life in a day

Okay so this isn't a music post, but i quite enjoyed doing my film review (Submarine, sound track by Alex Turner) and this was a movie i can't pass up sharing you guys.

                                                            Life In A Day.

It's going to stretch me as a writer as well, as it's going to be really difficult to describe this film:
There's no allegory or representative theme to pick apart. No main character with whom you have the entire hour and a half to bond with, relate to, or connect personally. There's just one song that plays throughout, (albeit in various forms). There's no narrative to guide or encourage the viewer, nor is there actually a set plot.
See what i mean about it being difficult to explain exactly what this is film is about, let alone write a criticism of it?! I suppose i can't even say it's a spoiler, as there's not even any cliffhangers or links... Argh!

Okay, I'll take a deep breath and have a go.

Luckily it does have some kind of structure; it's at least chronological. It's a lovely concept; a film consisting of thousands of small home-made videos culminating to make a feature-length movie about one day; 24th June 2010. Countless people from the far reaches of the globe share a ten-second glimpse into their lives.
It's full of contrast, from sobering humility, humbling poverty, to dizzying success stories. Yet it took me on a 90 minute journey to figure out what exactly i was analysing...
I say there's no theme, but there are lots of little morals that are unearthed when you realise the methodical order in which the tapes have been placed...
The film begins at 6am. In China a small boy is lighting incense to remember his dead mother. In the next second, a woman is having a talk with her son about the possibility of her dying from Cancer. Then it flicks to a teenage boy who moodily shuns his mother's cheerful joking. What do we learn? Don't take your mother for granted? Just as i think I'm starting to get the film "Oh it's a series of life lessons" - it confuses me again.

Far away from civilisation, there's a squalid village, and with sun-seared skin and frow-burrowed faced men are herding cows. "If there's one thing in life i have learned" grumbles the tired elderly figure "It's that all women are trouble"
Ha! It seems some things are universal. This injection of humour took me by surprise, and it made it all the funnier to imagine words come from such a man.
Babies took their first breath and fluttered open their translucently-thin blueish pink eyelids for the very first time.
Okay, so perhaps it's a buoyant and jolly reminder that we're all the same humans inside.
Yet again, i was proven wrong. We are none of us the same.

A cardboard sign flashes on the screen "What is in your pocket?" ...
"The keys to my car"
"I have twenty dollars"
"I have my phone"
Mainly run of the mill, light hearted answers, perhaps things which you yourself have right at this second.
"I have a gun"
"I have a syringe"
Wait a second...
"I have nothing."
"Nothing"
"Nothing. But i am happy"
The face who uttered this last phrase smiles out from the screen. It is a black face, a beautiful woman holding her child. What a world away from the first answer. The word 'Awe-inspiring' comes to mind. As if to emphasise this juxtaposition, the screen flicks from a conveyor belt of miscellaneous food products, to three malnourished women, naked and farming grain. It was a sobering sight, it upset me. I felt as though i was ungrateful and unworthy to be full and content and lying in bed watching a film whilst there are people out there in this situation.
I'm naturally quite a jumpy person, not exactly nervous, but easily frightened. This was the point at which the film took advantage of people like me, as it really started to deepen the claws it already had puncturing my conscience.
"What do you fear?"
The clips got shorter and flashier, whizzing from helpless blindfolded men getting punched in the spine to monkeys in masks who, upon first glance, seem like strange phantasmal children in doll dresses. There were scenes from "Love parade" in which- ironically- people died from being trampled, referring again back to the contrast that plagues the film. I was on edge for the best part of twenty minutes, not wanting to watch, nor having the will to look away. Cows had their throats cut, towns were exploded. All of the uplifting joy of children's smiles of yore were forgotten, it was almost as though the film was replicating the dizzying and disorienting sensation of being drunk or high. My head was literally spinning and i was reluctant to move my arm from it's position above my head, despite the pins and needles i got from blood restriction; no explanation why, i was just frightened to move.

I mentioned the soundtrack, i think it's important to include this -not just because this is normally a music blog- but because it so exquisitley exemplifies the contrast that i was talking about. The same song is sang at intervals during the movie. At the start of the film, the song is sung by Ellie Goulding. It's like they type-casted the singer; she's cute bubbly and pretty, as is the song. But it's the song's dark twin that I'm interested in... Despite it's identical lyrics, the music has a haunting and almost unbearable climax.
This is the soundtrack to the apocalypse;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGBLq0Boe7E

"Clouds really should be white at least."

All theories about what i should be understanding with this film accompany the credits as they roll off the screen. The film is over and I literally don't understand.
I love it. 
It's life, you'll never get it,
and if you spend your time worrying about trying to understand how, then it will be over before you know it.

RadioHead

Now, i've been promised by NME a "New" Radiohead song, and i couldn't help but feel a little short-changed upon hearing it's merely a remix. Oh but what a remix, it's certainly whetted my intrigue and i'm afraid to say opened a can of worms...

Now, I'm going to refresh your mind as to what the original Bloom sounds like (before the bells and tassles got sown onto it.)

Filled with delicious harmonies, textual melodies and some new-fangled, enigmatic lyricism, "Bloom" seemed to have somewhat reinvented the wheel, finding adjectives such as "artistic" and "deep" thrown at it. This in itself could be a topic. Initially a tad disorientating, this track grew on me, building on the foundations the band had already laid. By not being bound to a specific sound and style, the song shines on its own terms; It sounds free from self imposed constraints or orthodoxy in any form.
     Okay, so it doesn't reach the dizzying heights such their earlier anthoms did -what with "Bloom" being more of an instrumental than a conventional drum/guitar/vocal track- few records do. However, beneath the stuttering, jittering beats and electronic trickery, lurk some classic Radiohead-esque in that they constantly reinvent the face of their music. I think it's slightly exaggerated to say that it's a Brilliant record, but it's certainly interesting. It's one of those tunes you listen to when you're tired or contemplative, as it just kind of zones in and out and ends without you noticing, almost as though it had always been playing...then never had been... Trippy.

                                                                                *

THEN they give it to someone called JAMIExx... If the somewhat psychedelic format of Bloom is hard to swallow, then this will stick in your windpipe.
You can listen to it here:

http://hypetrak.com/2012/01/radiohead-bloom-jamie-xx-remix-3/

This where i become slightly unstuck. I don't really do dance remixes. 'm listening to this and yeah, it retaines it's chilled out stoner vibe, but there is an aftertaste of rhythm and an edgy beat mixed in with it... It's not the kind of thing i'd imagine myself to dance along to, and -despite the fact i've listened to it a hundred times(as you do when writing a blog)-my mind seems to erase itself of the track's melody when it ends, like a ghost just walking out of a room. Nevertheless, it's different, and i like anything that breaks rules, which this track does in abundance- no real lyrics, no memorable melody, no driving force of DnB, and yet Jamie and Radiohead have managed to blur the lines between Band and Synth machine to create this weird techo/rock love child.
But is it right to pervert genres in this way? I suppose, regardless as to whether Radiohead are typically a rock band or not, "Bloom" was an artistic experimentation, a new box of paint if you will, so by warping the borders between rock, techno and dance, the spirit of maverick investigation is kept alive.
    It depends what you want to get from your music, i doubt my words will influence you much: if you're into the heart-thumping dubstep (which i happen to adore lately) or catchy anthems offered by punk/pop, then you're probably not going to have much of an epiphany, but if you ache for something a little out of the ordinary, then both the origional and the remix offer welcome zest to an increasingly boring musical environment.

Midnight Mixtape

I've just got in, I've only had a little to drink and i'm currently eating strawberries. WHAT better time known to man than to compile a mixtape of songs i've been attached to for the past couple of weeks for you my lovely followers?  Just for fun :) 

Vampire Weekend

"Punk"

Whatever, it's old, but that riff earned it the honor of being my ringtone. Therefore it's first in my list.

The Rapture

"Echo"

Yes, sorry, I'm one of those people that got this off Misfits, but it takes nothing away from the fact that it's a tune.

Cansei De Ser Sexy

"Art Bitch"

Obscene lyrics that border insanity, but this song swaggers with narcissism and sarcasm. "I sell my paintings to the men i eat" Sexyyy

The Horrors. 

"You think I'm lonely"

This is odd but brilliant. I think his voice sounds like the Julian from The Strokes, but after he's had a line. 

Dresden Dolls

"Girl Anachronism"

Sticking to theme of crazy songs that shouldn't work but just do. "I might join this century but only on a rare occasion" This is one of my most favourite bands/songs/lyrics/everything/ever.

.

The Vaccines

"Norgaard"

 We all love a bit of indie pop Damn it! Catchier than the flu. I literally refused to play this song whilst compiling this mixtape because i didn't want an ear worm whilst trying to sift through my ipod aha

The Black Keys

"I got a love that keeps me waiting."

I always have this song on repeat when i'm driving back from work, it's sing-along friendly and harks back to a bit of traditional rock.

Incubus

"Anna Molly"

Again, one that's old. Again, i don't care because it's such a good song. "'I picture your face in the back of my eyes" I also adore clever word-play. Anomoly?

Bombay Bicycle Club.

"Ivy&Gold"

It's the best one on the album, an album which is, in all fairness, good, but a bit same-y. However, i've pissed myself off singing it so many times, so it has to be in my list.

Regina Spektor

"Hotel Song"

Her voice is amazing and this song is just cute (:

(At this point i would like to say that I'm not sure of the appropriate mixtape length before it becomes a drag. So 10's a nice round number, let's stick with that)

2012

Predicted New * of 2012.

Okay, screw everything else, if there is one track you have to listen to TODAY it's this one;

A truly transcendental song is one that is a combination of lyrical wit, emotional connection, and experimental musicality. This track is a concocction of all of the above, and what we have as a result is, in my humble opinion, the definition superb. 

Although actual singing talent isn't always essential (see Conor Oberst) Lana's sultry and seductive voice, sublime lyrics, and not to mention that lipstick, make the vertebrae of the backbone that holds the track together.

However, Lana Del Rey may disappoint, because she does not plumb the depths of real indie pop or jazz, but it's the very fact that you can't pin her down to a genre that makes her intriguing: She doesn't ride on the wave of someone else's success my imitating their style, and this is one of the most unique sounds I've encountered in a while.

Gems such as "Keep making me laugh, let's go get high/ I wanna kiss you hard in the pouring rain/ you like your girls insane" make the entire song glitter whilst it chokes you. Yeah, I know, there is a hell of a lot of that kind of thing about at the moment, but the simple fact is, Lana is just amazing at it. The words haunt you long after you've listened to the song. So it's nearly 5 minutes long. It's not long enough, it's constantly on repeat. Plus the video is nothing short of a dramatic opera, the ending of which is just a little unsettling, but adds to the beautiful artistic flair of it all.

Some say it takes a few listens to "get" -i am usually one of these people who like to mull over what's going into my brain before i fully accept it, but surprisingly, this was not the case this time. I can understand the opinion that it can be a little "flat", but it never falls into the snare of becoming a drone, as it has the powerful orchestraic support and the hook of the chorus.

In short, i adore this track.

It's not out 'till end of Jan, but i heartily suggest you pre-order it from itunes HERE

Long overdue Blog

There's a concept I've wanted to plug since back in September when Jonny Doom reccomended it to me. 

(If you don't know who Jonny Doom is, he's a DJ on Kerrang radio 105.2, so he knows his music.)
For this blog i'm reaching into my inner metal-head. Hey, you gotta embrace all kinds of music right?

KORN- "Get Up"

Doom showed me "Get Up'' after discussing the popular new wave of Dubstep music and how it seems to be infiltrating the rock world. I'm by no means a weathered metal fan, but Korn is a band made notorious for the grimy rock they create.

Crossing Metal with dubstep isn't quite as absurd as you'd first think. It's not like it's the first time this kind of electro vibe has left it's stain on rock- if you stretch the borders a little, then you could refer back to Muse- Hysteria- One of THE beefiest riffs ever.
However I'm not talking about the flimsy softened-down club dubstep, i'm on about the pure electro bass beat that tears it's way out of the speakers with its teeth bared and nose, bloody. A good friend initiated my love for proper Dubstep with Noisia-Maschine gun, (seriously, click that link, it's awesome) as apparently it's big in Bulgaria (shout out to Sofia lol.) When you take it apart, it has got alot in common with a heavy rock track; Dubstep has the same rawness, and the same experimentation with sounds and textures on top of the tidal bass and drum. 

My friend had it down in one; "It makes you want to either kill someone, or f**k them"

It's not exactly the most easy of listening, or the most mature of genres, but it sure gets the adrenaline going; and what is art if not provocative?

NME said Korn's album was "close to a car crash" But then i get the feeling that NME reviewers are somewhat close-minded and "2Kwl4Skwl" I commend Korn for recognising the ways that the two genres parallel, and for extracting its full potential. If anything i think the dubstep influences make the track sound heavier and more exciting.
Yeah, ok, it can grate on you after a while, but then so can anything else if you're not in the mood for it. And would i prescribe you any music that was altogether awful? No.

This song is initially to be taken sparingly, but then liberally and with a lot of volume should the situation arise.