Bon Iver - Towers

The official music video for 'Towers' from Bon Iver's stunning self-titled album has been released. Gonna assume this will be the next single, so I'll try and get a review up in the next few days, Uni-work allowing. 

Sax.co.uk

Just doing a bit of plugging on my sister's behalf. She went to college to learn how to be a woodwind instrument repairer and designer, and now works at Sax.co.uk in Crowborough, East Sussex (and London once a week) as a saxophone repairer. She absolutely loves it, and the Crowborough shop was actually on South East Today recently thanks to Yolanda Brown. Anyway, I'm basically here to plug both shops. The Crowborough branch is HUGE, and is located on Brooklands Park, Farningham Road. The London branch is located on the famous Denmark Street, and has seen many famous faces in there (many of which I'm pretty jealous of)!

They've got a YouTube channel too, where they showcase saxophones (and their saxophone skills). Here's a taster: 



So if you're ever in need of saxophone repairs, or fancy buying yourself a saxophone (I hope you're rich), pop in to sax.co.uk!

(www.sax.co.uk is their website if you're interested).

Walk Off The Earth

Been meaning to bang on about this for a while, so I'm finally sharing the video. I know it's already doing the rounds on the internet and has been for a while, but if you haven't been lucky enough to see it, here it is. The brilliant 'Walk Off The Earth' covering Gotye. 4 guys 1 girl 1 guitar. Exceedingly good. No other explanation needed.
(P.s not only should you look at their other videos, you should also check out 'Sarah Blackwood.' She is very very good)

Brits 2012 Review

Guess who's procrastinating again...

I'll write this now while it's fairly fresh in my mind. A quick (since it's boring to go through every category and say "Yes they deserved it" or "No, they did not) review of the Brits last night. 

In general, the first hour (at least) felt REALLY slow, and it felt like the organisers were trying to get all the performances out the way. Not many awards seem to be being given out. But some of the performances were really special. Coldplay opened the show in completely the right way. Another knockout performance from them, and it's made me SO excited to see them in June. Adele needed no special effects to go with her stunning vocals, and she definitely knocked everyone else right out of the water. I also really enjoyed Bruno Mars' performance, and I think he proved he can definitely sing live. Rihanna also put on a great show, although me and my Dad did spend a lot of time discussing how much mess they'll now have to clean up. Sad I know.

In terms of not-so-great performances, I felt Florence & The Machine was weak. I don't know why, I just found it a bit dull. I was also expecting to be completely blown away by Blur, but for me, they were underrated. I still absolutely love Blur, and I heard their performances on ITV2 were brilliant, but I was disappointed with the songs I saw/heard.

Which brings me onto probably the most talked about moment of the Brits, disappointingly. Unless you've been hiding throughout today, you should know that Adele's Album of The Year speech was cut off because ITV were running over. I don't blame James Corden or Blur for this, I blame the organisers. Firstly, if they're going to cut people's speeches off, do it fairly. Blur's speech, although I'm not saying they didn't need their time, was probably way too long, and could've easily been cut off. Secondly, if they knew they were going to run over, they shouldn't have made such an effort to build up to the biggest award of the night, and then not let whoever won speak. I think ITV are big enough to run over by 1 minute to just let Adele say all she needed to say. I found the whole thing hugely unfair, and I think most other viewers did too.

Enough of a badly written rant, onto the awards. I was going to refer back to my original post, but I think it'll turn out way too long winded. Adele deservingly won two awards- British Female and British Album. As great as Laura Marling is, and as amazing as Coldplay's album is, I was more than happy that she won these two. She's had a HUGELY (which still feels like an understatement) successful year and she's worked so hard, so it's great to see that pay off. Ed Sheeran also won two- British Male and Breakthrough. I was expecting Breakthrough to go to Jessie J, so that was a bit of a shock, but a great result none the less. He proved his worth in his simplistic but beautiful performance on the night too.

British Single showed that the result is actually a popularity contest, as One Direction won. Don't get me wrong, I bloody love One Direction, and I got a little bit over-excited when they won. However, I can guarantee that if industry experts had decided the winner, it would've gone to someone like Adele.

Elsewhere, my predictions were pretty spot on I think. Coldplay won British Group (YES!!), Foo Fighters won International Group and Lana Del Rey won International Breakthrough (yay, but also boo for Bon Iver :( ). Overall, I think most of the right people won. I'd love to have seen Bon Iver take International Male, but it was always obvious that wasn't going to happen. I was happy Rihanna got International Female, but I'll always be rooting for Beyoncé.

This was supposed to be some sophiscated review of the Brits, but it's turned into more of a ramble about awards and rants about bad organisation... so sorry about that. Forgot to add, James Corden was a brilliant host, and I hope he presents again next year.

Your thoughts on the Brits?

Brit Awards 2012 - Predictions

Ahead of the Brit Awards 2012 tonight, and to procrastinate some more, I thought I'd share my predictions with you, as well as who I would like to win.

British Male Solo Artist
Ed Sheeran
James Blake
James Morrison
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Professor Green

Tough one to judge, but I think it will be between Ed Sheeran and Professor Green. Having said that, Noel Gallagher has really impressed with his solo work, so he's got a big chance of walking away with the title. I'd personally like James Blake or Ed Sheeran to get it. 

British Female Solo Artist
Adele
Florence & The Machine
Jessie J
Kate Bush
Laura Marling

Although Jessie J and Florence have had great years, I'm 99% certain Adele is going to win this one, and she absolutely deserves it. I'd love Laura Marling to win for a second year, because her third album is a beaut, but I'd definitely put my money on a well-deserved win for Adele.

British Breakthrough Act
Anna Calvi
Ed Sheeran
Emeli Sandé
Jessie J
The Vaccines

This is another tough one. Anni Calvi was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, but I think this is going to be between Ed Sheeran and Jessie J. The Vaccines have also had great success this year, and I'd love a win for them. But I'm rooting for Ed Sheeran, and I think he may well get it.

British Group
Arctic Monkeys
Chase & Status
Coldplay
Elbow
Kasabian

I'd like Kasabian to win, but I'm rooting for Coldplay. And I think they have a huge chance of winning this category. To be honest, I'll be happy with any, as long as it's not Arctic Monkeys...

British Single
Adele - Someone Like You
Ed Sheeran - The A Team
Example - Changed the Way you Kissed Me
Jessie J ft BOB - Price Tag
JLS ft Dev - She Makes Me Wanna
Military Wives/Gareth Malone - Wherever You Are
Olly Murs ft Rizzle Kicks - Heart Skips a Beat
One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful
Pixie Lott - All About Tonight
The Wanted - Glad You Came

There's too many to go through them all, but there's some really good ones in the list. I think Adele may well get this one as well, considering how long Someone Like You held on at the top of the charts. I'd love One Direction or The Wanted to win too, since I'm still addicted to both those songs (bringing out the 14 year-old in me yet again...). I can't call this one for definite.

MasterCard British Album of the Year
Adele - 21
Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto
Ed Sheeran - +
Florence & The Machine - Ceremonials
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

Another category that's too close to call for me. PJ Harvey won the Mercury Music Prize, but I have a huge feeling that Adele could definitely walk away with this one too. 21 is a stunning album, so I have no issues with that. Coldplay's album is also a standout, and has been on repeat for a while. Ed Sheeran's album is also a winner for me. Too much goodness here!

International Male Solo Artist
Aloe Blacc
Bon Iver
Bruno Mars
David Guetta
Ryan Adams

I'm thinking that Ryan Adams is the Bruce Springsteen in this category this year. I'd LOVE to see a win for Bon Iver, since the album is too good for words, but I think this could go to Bruno Mars or David Guetta. Tough one.

International Female Solo Artist
Beyoncé
Bjork
Feist
Lady Gaga
Rihanna

All these categories are too tough this year. This could easily be a win for Beyoncé, Gaga or Rihanna, no questions. I'm rooting for Beyoncé.

International Group
Fleet Foxes
Foo Fighters
Jay Z/Kanye West
Lady Antebellum
Maroon 5

Jay Z/Kanye West's album got amazing reviews, so they definitely have a shot here, as do Maroon 5 after THAT track that got stuck in all our heads. However, I think this one could well go to Foo Fighters. No qualms.

International Breakthrough Act
Aloe Blacc
Bon Iver
Foster The People
Lana Del Rey
Nicki Minaj

I think Lana Del Rey could well grasp this one. She's had all the hype and has been all people have been talking about recently so it wouldn't surprise me. Foster The People and Nicki Minaj could also be front runners.

(Outstanding Contribution to Music and Critics Choice have already been decided so no need to cast judgement there).

British Producer
Paul Epworth
Flood
Ethan Jones

Think this could be a well deserved win for Paul Epworth, especially after the amazing success of '21' in particular.

Sorry if some of this is pretty vague, but some of the categories are too hard to call. I would sit and add who I think was forgotten about in these lists, but this post is too long enough already and you're probably all bored of reading it. I'll blog asap after the Brits to cast judgement on whether the right people won (in my opinion).

The Brits are on at 8pm tonight, ITV1 (or 7pm ITV2 if, like me, you want to watch all the Red Carpet stuff).

Changing Musical Tastes

Just like to point out that I'm finding it hard to concentrate on writing this blog because I can't stop watching and 'aww'-ing at this:



This is actually kinda appropriate for this post though.

Since I started University last September, my music taste seems to have changed quite dramatically. Before Uni, I was probably the definition of a 'NME Kid,' never really listening to anything past indie etc. I hated most chart-y music (note: most, I had my guilty pleasures), and most my money went on concerts, CDs, band t-shirts etc. I also had that nu-rave phase... yes, I did wear some stunning neon trousers and cover myself in glowsticks for concerts. Don't judge. I still do spend the majority of my money on CDs, and went I can spare some money, concerts, but I have branched out my music tastes.

Nowadays, if it's in the charts, I know the words to it and it's played in a club on a regularly basis, the chances are I will love it (with exceptions. I do still have some musical taste). For example, I would probably have hated  any boyband before University, but now, I'm pretty obsessed with One Direction and The Wanted, and I love JLS. If What Makes You Beautiful comes on in a club, I will sing my heart out, no questions asked. I can pretty much guarantee that everyone else will also be singing every single word. Why? I don't know.

I'm not sure if it's a sign of our generation, of general university life, or of the influence of friends. I do still love my less-chart-y stuff (I'm in love with Lana Del Rey (I know she's pretty bleedin' radio friendly at the moment), Bon Iver and Ben Howard at the moment), but I've become more open to the pop music that has taken over the chart at the moment. I used to call it a guilty pleasure, but if it's really good pop, then I'm not ashamed to like it. I'm actually glad I've opened my mind to other music, because I think I was stuck in a bit of a rut.

So, does a change in environments, such as going to university, change our musical tastes? Is it a conscious decision? I'm not sure. But I'm going to blame university, and clubs... our union in particularly. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and unashamedly listen to One Direction's album. 

Grammys 2012

I will update this properly later, but I'm far too distracted by Laura Marling this morning. Been watching these videos for hours:



ANYWAY. GRAMMYs. In short, Adele expectedly and extremely deservedly won 6 awards, giving a very emotional speech in thanks (youtube it). Bon Iver also did well, picking up a couple of awards. Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse also won an award, with her parents gratefully picking up the award on her behalf. To add controversy to proceedings, Chris Brown performed at the awards and picked up Best R&B Album, causing quite an uproar following his conviction of abuse (involving Rihanna. If you don't know what I'm on about, where have you been?!). Rihanna and Coldplay's performance was a highlight for me, but Adele's performance of Rolling in the Deep really blew everyone out of the water.

I'll try and write something a bit better later, when I've stopped being distracted by YouTube.

Full List of Winners:

http://www.grammy.com/nominees

News Associates' Journalism Workshop

Also thought I'd blog about something completely un-music related. Last week, two employees from News Associates came to my university to run a workshop on how to report breaking news. They got us to do an exercise that they normally give students on their NCTJ course after a couple of weeks. We were put in a pretend situation, where we had the task of writing the front page story for the Birmingham Mail. 'Luckily' for us, breaking news occurred just as we were about to start writing, so we were immediately thrown in the deep end. It was tricky to start with, as you only receive minor details of the incident at first, but you have to keep writing so that you don't run out of time and have no article for the front page. Our word limit was 500, although this was upped near the end of the task. We also got a chance to speak to the policeman involved in the incident (obviously not a real one, since this was a fake event) which was great experience for when we'd have to interview people in situation like this.

It was definitely harder than I expected, as there's such tight deadlines and you're constantly getting new updates on the situation, and with an unbreakable word count, it can be tough to decide what needs to go in the article. There's also the issue when you put in some news/assumptions, in ours this was that a bus of schoolchildren were still missing, which is then proved wrong or solved half an hour later, causing the whole article to potentially change. We were given the opportunity to email our articles to the people running the course, and I'm currently awaiting feedback. It was a great experience, and I gained some brilliant tips from it.

Anyway, thought I'd include my efforts on this blog. If anyone's got any comments, they'll be greatly received!

If anyone's interested in the NCTJ course at News Associates, the link to their website is below. They run courses in Wimbledon, London and Manchester.
http://newsassociates.co.uk/ 

A huge gas explosion has occurred at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Solihull, Birmingham at around 2.04pm this afternoon.

The explosion was heard as far as Lozells and Perry Bar, around seven miles from the NEC.

Emergency services arrived on the scene within five minutes. Deputy Chief Constable Andrew Satterthwaite, responsible for operations at the scene, has reported around 60 casualties, with no fatalities. Ten people are said to be in a critical condition.

Heartlands, Moseley Hall and Sandwell and West Birmingham hospitals have all activated serious emergency plans. Alan Richards, present at Heartlands Hospital, has said “it’s like they are arriving from a war zone.”

NEC eyewitness Simon Chiles has described the event as “chaos and pandemonium.” Mr Chiles reported hearing “three or four loud bangs,” presumed to be due to the size of the explosion.

Bus driver John Hodgson described the explosion as “the loudest thing I’ve ever heard.”

The M42 is currently closed between junction 4a and 7 in both directions to facilitate emergency services. The M6, A45 and roads around Birmingham International Airport are reporting severe traffic delays and some closures. Police are advising to not travel unless absolutely necessary.

Future events at the NEC are on hold. Details on rescheduling are available on the NEC website.

Deputy Chief Constable Andrew Satterthwaite has stated that the second incident on the M6 is not connected to the explosion. Possible links to terrorism have been dismissed.

The emergency contact number for those concerned about relatives or friends is 0800 81 2583. Information can also be found at www.west-midlands.police.uk.

Laura Marling- All My Rage

Just seen (thanks to Twitter, as per) that the video for Laura Marling's All My Rage has been released. I never have anything bad to say about her. I'll let the music do the talking.

(Sidenote: I will do a post about the Grammys asap, I just haven't had a chance yet).

Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston sadly passed away at 23.43pm (GMT, 15.33 local time) yesterday evening. I'm not gonna write a post about how "she was my life" or "my hero" or whatever people generically come out with when such a legend passes away. Obvious for a HUGE majority of people this is true, but for some, it's just a way of pretending. Before this starts to sound like I don't care or something, I'll get back to the point of this. I'm not gonna lie and say I was Whitney Houston's biggest fan, but when I was watching 4Music's tribute show this morning, it hit me just how much of her music I loved without even realising. From 'The Greatest Love of All,' to 'Saving All My Love for You,' and 'It's Not Right, But it's OK' to the recent 'Million Dollar Bill,' I can guarantee that you will be able to sing along to the vast majority of her back catalogue without even realising. I sure did. This is not forgetting tracks like 'I Will Always Love You' and 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody,' that everyone on the human planet knows and loves. Her voice was absolutely incredible, and let's be honest, there's no-one else on the same level really. We've sadly lost another legend (possibly down to drug abuse, again, but I'm not here to comment on that), and she, and her voice, will be sadly missed.

I'm posting 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody' because it sounds like a girls' night out to me. I think it's one of the best, and most fun, tracks to remember her by. RIP Whitney Houston.

 

The Kabeedies

I seem to pick up too much music I really really like. I feel like I need to pick up an awful album/track and write an awful review of it. Does this make me a bad person? I don't know. Anyway, The Kabeedies' second album is really good. I recommend it. This is my review for Spark*.

Since releasing debut single Lovers Ought To in 2008, The Kabeedies have continuously grown, from having Come On picked for the Xbox Kinect advert, to inciting near riots during their shows at Latitude and Hamburg’s Dockville Festivals.  Not bad for an up-and-coming band. Second album Soap fails to disappoint, breaking the mould of ‘that difficult second album.’

Right from the start, their influences shine through their music, with hints of Blondie and the folk elements of Bombay Bicycle Club, particularly in The Boy with the Bad Mouth standing out.  There’s arguably essences of The Drums hidden in album opener Hang-Ups of the West, with guitars echoing the sense of a summer in California.  This isn’t to say The Kabeedies are in any way a copy of these bands.  Not afraid to experiment with sound, from the brass present on Santiago bringing a carnival feel, to what appears to be an accordion on The Boy with the Bad Mouth, the band needn’t be afraid of being branded unoriginal.  Added to that, it’s been a while since a great new band came on the scene with a female vocalist, but Katie Allard completely changes this, bringing with her stunning vocals that fit like a puzzle to every element of the band.

The Kabeedies are not just a band on one note though.  Drowning Doll is filled to the brim with energy and fast-paced guitars, mixing vocals from Katie along with Rory (bass) and Evan (guitar) to bring another dynamic to the album.  Another turn is then taken for album closer LT, bringing a calm, sophisticated and somewhat reflective to what is seemingly the end.  Listen long enough though, and you’ll get a surprise in the form of a proper goodbye mini-song, somply formed of harmonies, claps and drums.

In the freezing temperatures of February, this album will keep you warm, bringing the summer into your bedroom.

4/5

The Overtones- Say What I Feel

I have become utterly obsessed with this group. Cannot stop listening to them and I don't know why. Anyway, here's my review of 'Say What I Feel.' I love it. 

Today’s charts are seemingly dominated by run of the mill pop, be it manufactured by X Factor (and the like) or not.  I’m not complaining- One Direction’s What Makes You Beautiful is a guilty pleasure of mine.  Even so, it’s a refreshing change to welcome a group that effortlessly combine elements of modern pop with the harmonies of classic vocal groups.  Having already achieved a number four hit UK album with debut Good Ol’ Fashioned Love, latest single Say What I Feel cements their position as one of the best groups around.

Mixing lyrics of your traditional love song with smooth harmonies and an upbeat melody, not forgetting a small key change, Say What I Feel is an undoubted pop nugget.  Staying firmly on the right side of High School Musical-territory, the track is strangely but wonderfully addictive (warning: it will probably be in your head for weeks).

Move over One Direction, The Overtones are set to steal the hearts of girls everywhere.

4/5

Ben Howard covering Lana Del Rey

I should be working, but instead, I'm watching countless videos on YouTube and endlessly refreshing Twitter. Something good has come out of this, as I found this beautiful cover via Twitter. Perfection.