Taylor Swift ft. The Civil Wars - Safe and Sound

This won't be to everyone's tastes, but this track blows me away. I love its complete simplicity, letting Taylor's vocals shine through beautifully, perfectly accompanied by The Civil Wars. I've only recently got into both Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars, and I can safely say I couldn't think of a better match. They don't need anything fancy, just their vocals and a smooth and effortless melody alone make this track so wonderful, to put it bluntly. It's on repeat for me as my revision and essay-writing soundtrack, since it's so peaceful, calming and downright relaxing.

Enough of my rambling about how much I adore this. I hope you do too.



(P.S. If you've seen The Hunger Games (I have not), apparently this is the song is in the ending credits)

These are some songs

Haven't posted in a while, so just posting some songs I've been listening to a lot recently, as well as Lana Del Rey's new video for 'Blue Jeans,' and Katy Perry's video for 'Part of Me.' Eat/listen your heart out, and apologies for a bit of a boring/long post, but I thought it would be better to have them all in one post, rather than all other the place. Logical?







I feel obliged to include some guilty pleasures here as well. I don't even know if these songs are good or not anymore, but they're stuck in my head ALL THE TIME. So I'm passing them onto you. Don't blame me if you end up singing them 24/7 from now on.



 

S Club 7 Reunion

According to Digital Spy, (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a372267/s-club-7-reuniting-in-summer-for-tour-two-albums.html) a S Club 7 reunion is on the cards for this year, which I'm not gonna lie, has pretty much made my day and more. S Club 7 were my childhood, my first ever concert, my first band t-shirt (which I can still fit into, not that I've tried or anything...) and probably the first band I fell in love with (not in a creepy or relationship-y way, I was only about 8 years old). As my parents and neighbours can testify, I knew every word to every song, and every dance move. Yeah, I know, I was the definition of cool. Anyway, I for one am willing this not to be just another rumour, because I would pay good money to relive my childhood and see them one last time.

And yes, Rachel was my favourite because she has the same name as me. Oh yeah.

Gonna be honest, it took me a while to decide which song to put on here. Decided this one might be best, but they're all good.... my 90s kid is definitely out to play today.

(500) Days of Summer Soundtrack

This soundtrack, although I know it's 3 years old now, has completely taken over my listening over the past few days, thanks to randomly finding in on Spotify during hours of essay writing in the library (finally, something I can actually thank the library for. Rare). The film itself is one of my favourite films, and the soundtrack is amazing. In case you wanna know the tracklisting -  http://www.amazon.co.uk/500-Days-Summer-Various-Artists/dp/B002BAODSC/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1331853956&sr=1-1

There are some crackers on there from The Smiths, Black Lips, Doves, Regina Spektor, Simon & Garfunkel... I could go on but I'd end up listing the whole whole.

Anyway. just thought I'd share probably my favourite song off the album. It's Regina Spektor - Hero (there's no proper video I'm afraid). Her vocals are beautiful and powerful, and there's a real message behind the lyrics (sounds so corny and whatever, but just listen. No-one's got it all, and even heroes need saving sometimes...). I don't even know if they're the right words to describe it, so just listen to it. Oh, and if you haven't actually seen the film, DO IT.

Any other recommended soundtracks? 

Reading Festival 2012

Bit late posting this but here is the line-up for Reading 2012 (and Leeds). Bit skeptical at first as the last of years have had some shoddy lineups, but this actually looks pretty good!

(Thanks http://www.thrashhits.com/2012/03/reading-leeds-festival-confirms-foo-fighters-paramore-bullet-for-my-valentine-among-first-41-acts-announced-for-2012/ for the photo)

Alex Day - Lady Godiva

Is this a badly rated review?! Proof I can actually do them. I don't hate Alex Day, and I didn't completely hate the song, I just didn't like it that much. Last review for now...

With an almost 500,000 subscriber-strong channel, musician and famous YouTube Alex Day has already demonstrated the modern day power of the internet, gaining a number 4 Christmas hit last year with single Forever Yours, a hugely respectful achievement for a young guy that was then barely known away from YouTube.

Unsurprisingly based around on the historically famous woman herself, second single Lady Godiva is Alex’s own version of the classic by Peter and Gordon.  Although holding a fun and upbeat melody, yet it’s one that sounds more at home in a musical theatre setting.  Although this gives it something of a charm, mixed with average-at-times vocals, the track sounds somewhat amateur – not that we were expecting a hugely over-produced track from an independent artist-, perhaps something that would relate best with his adoring YouTube fans.

All credit to Alex Day, for someone who’s background is the internet, his achievements are second-to-known.  There’s no doubting his tracks will progress and get continuously better as time goes on.  Lady Godiva is sadly not there just yet.

2/5

Bombay Bicycle Club - How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep

Short intro: I picked up 3 CDs to review this week so here's the second one. It's Bombay Bicycle Club's next single, and I bloody love it.

Already on their third album, Bombay Bicycle Club have long reigned as one of the most-loved ‘indie-folk’ bands in today’s music scene.  With their simplistic but powerful melodies combined with lead singer Jack Steadman’s vocals, they’ve found a recipe for successful, and an army of bloody good songs.

How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep fails to slip from their line of success, starting with soft, harmonious vocals, building piece-by-piece, instrument-by-instrument, into the mix we’ve come to know and love.  The track continues to build as it continues, turning the seemingly steady and simplistic melodies into a more complicated but intriguing sound that can’t help but draw you in.  Add repetitive- in all the right ways- vocals, and the track becomes a tranquil but exciting piece that makes you stop and listen, right from the opening seconds until a simple and charming end. 

The perfect track to calm you when you’re stressed, and a perfect track to bring in the summer months.  Bombay Bicycle Club maintain their reign at the top.

4/5

Stooshe - Love Me

Feel like I haven't done a review in ages, probably because I couldn't make it to the last newspaper meeting and blah blah. Anyway, here's a (rather badly written because after a day in the uni library, I'm falling asleep) review of Stooshe - Love Me.

Since the surge of girl-bands in the late 90s/early 00s- I’m thinking Spice Girls, Destiny’s Child, even Atomic Kitten- great girl-bands have been few and far between. With a pop resurgence seemingly taking place, there’s surely no better time for a new girl-band to step out.

Say hello to pop/R & B/hip-hop trio Stooshe. Hailing from London, they’re not just your average girl-band- think an up-to-date Destiny’s Child with amplified attitude and the songs to match. Latest single “Love Me” may take a few listens to get used to, but it lies just on the right side of radio appropriacy (providing you don’t venture into the explicit version). Whether you know the words or not, I guarantee you’ll want to get up, dance and attempt to sing along. With added vocals with renowned rapper Travie McCoy, there’s really nothing about this to dislike.

Unashamedly upbeat, fun, and full of three girls’ attitudes (in the right way), Love Me has set Stooshe up for a huge hit. Watch out, girl-bands are back with a vengeance.

4/5

Labrinth - Last Time

Back to less serious business, here is a song I'm slowly becoming obsessed with. He's going from strength to strength, and I personally can't wait to his album. That's all I've gotta say.

Kony 2012

(I'm hoping this works. University computers only have internet explorer and this blog seems to be struggling. We'll see).

[EDIT]: There's been some controversy about this campaign today (http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/), some of which I agree with, some I don't. The most important thing at the moment is raising AWARENESS, so even if you just spread the video, you're helping. I'm not claiming to be an expert on the situation, I'm just going on what I know so don't blame me...

This is not another music review, song of the day, or anything like that. This post is more important than anything, and if you don't read anything else on my blog, PLEASE read this.

Hopefully you've heard by now about the vile Joseph Kony and what he does, and has been doing for 20 years. If not, I need to inform you, which is why I'm writing this now. For 20 years, Kony has been abducting children in Uganda, and turning them into sex slaves and child soliders, and making them kill their own parents. It's not just a few children. As the video I'm going to attach will tell you, those who knew never knew how to stop him. There was an attempt, but Kony discovered what they were doing and changed his tactics. I'll be honest, I never knew about any of this until yesterday, but it completely shocked me, and now I believe everyone HAS to know about this, and help stop it. Every child has the right to a childhood like the one I'm sure the majority of you all experience. If you're reading this and you have kids, how would you feel if your child was abducted and forced to partake in these horrific activities?

I'm not going to write much more, because quite frankly the video does a much better job than I could ever do. It is an amazing video, and I URGE you to watch it. If you've got twitter, tweet out #stopkony #KONY2012, whatever you have to tweet to get attention to this extraordinary campaign (Invisible Children). 

This link should work to pledge etc.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/kony2012/kony-4.html

And I'm putting the video here (you can watch it on Vimeo, and if it works, the link above to):



Thank you.
KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

The Cribs - Come On, Be a No-One

The Cribs are BACK with a vengeance, with stonking new track "Come On, Be a No One," taken from new album In The Belly of the Brazen Bull, due to be released 7/5/2012. They never fail to disappoint, and I am now even more excited to hear their new efforts. You can hear the track here:



(thanks to Stereogum for the link. http://stereogum.com/969202/the-cribs-come-on-be-a-no-one-stereogum-premiere/mp3s/)

Lissie - Go Your Own Way (cover)

Thanks to Edith Bowman for bringing this to my attention on Twitter. Bit skeptical about listening to it at first, as the Fleetwood Mac original is a classic, and no-one can really beat it. However, Lissie does a brilliant job, and brings her own charm to the song. Her vocals are charming and the whole arrangement was fantastic. No-one can replace the original, but this is one of the best covers I've heard.

Song of the Day...ish.

Just a quick post, because I haven't posted in a while. My friend's tweets about this song reminded me how feelgood it is, and just how addicted I've been to it lately, so I decided to choose it as my 'Song of the Day'...although I'm sure something by The Cure would've been more appropriate since I've listened to them A LOT this evening. Maybe tomorrow... I'm also going to post Stooshe soon, because their track has completely grown on me.

Anyway, here's Nicki Minaj - Starships (there's no official music video yet).