Mellifluous Music

Here is my current favourite new old music! I actually compiled this list of songs about two weeks ago, but only now have I had the time to edit it all into a post, so that's why they aren't really very new. Oh well.

Anyhoo, back to the music, today's selection is not that eclectic nor revolutionary, but just some good songs. I haven't really been listening to too much music lately, but this is what I have been enjoying.

N.B. When listening to these songs, put the quality on 480p+ as it makes a world of difference.

Florence + The Machine: Breath of Life, Josh Osho: Redemption Days

Florence + The Machine: Breath of Life

I first heard this song over a month ago now on Spotify and I was immediately really addicted to it. I was honestly slightly disappointed with her second album "Ceremonials" as I personally prefer the more ethereal sound of "Lungs" compared to "Ceremonials" which is rightly described by BBC Music as it "offers the pomp, but somehow not quite the power" - I almost find "Ceremonials" to be quite repetitive. However, I think this single combines the best aspects of both albums as it does include the massive choral sounds of "Ceremonials", but with the power of "Lungs". I love the orchestral accompaniment with the big tribal drum sounds, especially when it builds up in the major section with the string accompaniment. However, once that build up has finished, I think the song just goes downhill from there on. If they just got rid of the entire second section of song, it would be perfect!

 A quick side note here, this single is for the movie: Snow White and the Huntsman. I was actually quite excited for this movie as it has Chris Hemsworth and the clips shown in the music video actually look really good. But then I realise Kristen Stewart had the lead in it and since I think that she's a terrible actress, it put me off seeing the movie entirely. 

Josh Osho: Redemption Days

I first heard this song from his performance of it on Later Live with Jools Holland and I immediately wanted to search it up, not because I thought his performance was great (he seemed quite nervous, but I did enjoy the disc scratches, no one ever uses them anymore!), but because it is such a feel good song. It's definitely one of those songs that make you happy when you listen to it since it is so summery and has a great message to it. I can imagine this being really good for something like house music! I just wish they didn't stick the rap in the middle of it.

Maximo Park: Hips and Lips, Deliah: RIP by Rita Ora 

Maximo Park: Hips and Lips

First and foremost can I just say that the video for this song is bloody hilarious. Anyway, I'm relatively new to Maximo Park but this single is a cracker and I've had it stuck in my head all week.

Delilah: RIP by Rita Ora:

Okay, I try not to repeat songs I've already mentioned on this song, as I have already posted about Delilah and RIP on this blog before, but this cover is just so much better than the original. I love the almost reggae feel to the groove at the end of the song as it reminds of the background music to the pizza place in Club Penguin (wow did I really just say that?). I just wish she would finish off more of notes properly and hold them on a bit longer.

Aiden Grimshaw: Is this love?, Randy Newman: Short People

Aiden Grimshaw: Is This Love? 

I was not expecting this from Aiden Grimshaw, but it has been a very pleasant surprise. I'm so glad that Simco hasn't messed up his career like most ex-X Factor contestants. He's almost gone down a Alex Clare route with the huge drum track accompaniment, but I reckon this is better than Alex Clare. Something I have noticed is that the music video is almost visually identical to Delilah's Breathe music video, except with a male lead. (click here for my music post about that song)

Randy Newman: Short People

This is not a new song, but I really felt like including it. I sung this in choir one time and it was epic. Good ol' Randy.

AlunaGeorge: You Know You Like It, Bobby Womack: Dayglo Reflection (ft. Lana Del Rey)

AlunaGeorge: You Know You Like It,
Okay, I've literally sat here for about 5 minutes trying to think of how to describe this song, but I have come up with no words. Instead, imagine you put the musical stylings of Jamie Woon, James Blake and Grimes into magical blender, you would have delicious smoothie that would sound like AlunaGeorge, a duo from good old St Albans. Yippee.

Bobby Womack: Dayglo Reflection (ft. Lana Del Rey)
This song is smoother than a baby's behind and  Lana Del Rey's sultry vocals definitely suit it very well.

That's all for today - but I might finish over another post tonight if I'm in the mood...

PEACE!


Rebecca x

P.S. Do any HTML/CSS whizzes know how to get rid of the gap above my header?
P.P.S Sorry if I have made any blindingly obvious grammatical errors, or missed out words as usual, I have not written a post in so long, I'm a bit out of the loop
P.P.P.S. I would like to quickly apologise to everyone who follows my blog for not posting over one week! I think that is probably the longest I've gone this year without posting and I'm sorry! All my time and effort has been sucked into the 9 exams that I have had in the last 3 is weeks. Luckily it's almost half term, so hopefully I will be able to post more frequently. Unfortunately, I won't be able to post everyday during it, but I am planning on some sort of "blog every day of the summer holidays" type shindig as I am really missing just doing writing posts as well as outfits.
P.P.P.P.S In case any of you guys were wondering about the title of this post "Mellifluous" means smooth and sweet sounding.

Minimalism

Last week I took this outfit post inside as it was raining really heavily as usual. I stupidly started taking these images at 8 o'clock at night, so by the time I had finished, like sun had pretty much set, thus the lighting is completely messed up all these images. However, I went with my usual motto of waste not, want not, and thus tried to make something out of it by editing the pictures as I liked the colour palette of the shoddy images.

Last night, as my GCSE music exam is only 2 days away (eeek!), I was revising minimalism in music and it inspired me to apply some of the characteristics of minimalistic music to my editing. I found it really interesting how you can just slightly alter a simple idea with a systematic, mathematical process to create something new with an almost hypnotic and entrancing feel to it, as it is with minimalistic music. Also, made me kid myself that I was actually doing revision when I was wasting time on this blog.

• Repeating ostinati/cell
• I have expressed this by using the same photograph over and over again.
• Layered textures
• I put layers of the same image on top of each other to create a new texture.
• Metric displacement 
• This is basically you start the same idea, but slightly after the first occurrence, so you achieve a canon effect.
• Static harmony
• Since I have used the same colour palette in all my piece, so the harmonic feel of the images are all constant.
• Retrograde
• Okay, this isn't a feature of minimalism, but I have inverted the images by turning them upside down to form mirror images.

Top - Primark, fishy looking leggings - Primark, boots- Doc Martens

I edited these images in probably with the dumbest method there is. The first image was easy enough - I simply pasted the picture into Microsoft PowerPoint, duplicated then flipped the images. However, the ones that are layered were done using a very idiotic method. When you click and drag an image, a preview of what the image is going to look like appears, but it is translucent. Thus, what I would do is click and drag the image on top of itself, and then press print screen to capture what it looked like. I think this is hinting to me that I should really download some actual photo editing software and learn how to use it. Anyone have any suggestions?

Some other minimalistic methods I would really like to try out if I actually learnt how to edit properly:

• Phase shifting
• This is basically when something starts together, but becomes increasingly out of sync, before going back into sync again. To work out when something will synchronise you use lowest common multiple - I find it quite interesting applying mathematics to physical situations.
• Metamorphosis
• This is when something gradually changes into something else, one step at a time. 
• Note addition/subtraction
•  Adding or taking away one note at a time so a melodic part fades in/out.
• Note augmentation/diminution
• Slowly getting longer/shorter in note value.

My smiley face necklace is actually a trolley token.

My violin music teacher was telling me about how I should think about what colours I am trying to produce with my violin in the pieces that I play, and I think I finally understand what she means. It's really quite interesting how different mediums of art are all pretty much linked and can be intertwined.

Wow, this has been quite an abstract post, but oh well. I hope you guys understand my logic behind what I'm saying. If you don't I hope you enjoy the images.

Rebecca x

P.S. Thank you to the lovely Maria for putting my blog on this UK blogger map, which I think is a great idea.
P.P.S. Argh, study leave has started but it means endless exams are looming - PANIC.
P.P.P.S If I had to chose a song that reflected on the overal aura I'm trying to convey with these images, I would chose Oblivion by Grimes.

April round-up, the future of this blog and Grimes

*Feel free to skip to the end if you aren't bothered about me rambling on*

A little long side note to start...I have been writing on this blog for 4 months now (a third of a year, gasp!) and I feel like now is a turning point in my blogging life. From the outset, I did have in mind of making it slightly more fashion based, but it had been something that I logistically couldn't do, but now I can. I love doing the fashion posts, but I feel like that outfit posts don't really reflect the person behind the lens. You don't get to know their personality, what tickles their fancy or what floats their boat - in my case it is cheesy idioms - hence why I am doing these types of posts too.

I know I have a lot of new followers to my blog, so I am a bit apprehensive if I should publicise my personal life to stranger, simply because I doubt many people who don't know me personally would be interested in my measly life. The last thing I wish to do is to discourage people from following my blog! However, this blog is for own personal space where I can write whatever I want, and I am going to write whatever I want, regardless of what the expectations are for a "fashion" based blog. In the end, I am blogging for my personal enjoyment, rather than to see if I can get the most views/followers (even though of course that is fantastic too). This blog is going to be for my satisfaction rather than to please others - yes, I am selfish.

Cut things short as I have been rambling for sometime and I bet I'm boring you to death, I was going to start another blog solely for fashion related posts, but then I realised that I have barely anytime to tenderly care for one blog, let alone two. Therefore, I'm going to keep all my posts on this blog. If you are only here for outfits, you can press the little x in the corner, read no further and I am truly sorry for wasting space on your dashboard. But if you want to carry on reading, please do so!

Anyway, back to the actual post...
I'm sorry guys! I am a total of 4 days late for my monthly summary, simply because I have been so busy with work towards/revision for my GCSEs. Better late than never eh?
Click here for my March round-up.

In April I have:

• Had an awesome trip to Paris with my parents. Click here for my Parisian daily diary. Oh how I wish was I was still chilling in the streets of Paris, rather than drowning under the vast amount of revision I need to do.
• Went to London for MK's birthday for ice skating and a Vietnamese dinner :).
• Started fashion blogging and have finally got more followers than my age! Yipee.
• Finished my resistant materials GCSE. Yipee. 

Okay, it seems like I haven't much this month, but I spent half of it in France and half of it working my behind off.

Goals for May:

• Get some darn good GCSEs. Okay, now that we are pretty much on the home stretch, the last push will really make the difference between As and A*s so it's time to knuckle down and stop writing pointless blogposts like this and start to do some intense revision. 
• Revise
• Revise some more
• Revise even more
• Succeed in my exams - I have a total of 14 of them. 
• Get some decent quality outfit posts up. 

Carrying on from my last goal, I have finally sorted out my camera issues. My genius father made this really, really long extension chord with some wire, attached a switch and thus made  a remote for his Nikon camera, so I can actually be in focus in my images!  I have also digged out a tripod, so fingers crossed, the quality of my blog posts will improve drastically. Exams also mean study leave, which means that I will not be going into school everyday, which means, I will not have to wear uniform everyday, which means MORE OUTFIT POSTS OF BETTER QUALITY.

Current obsession: Grimes
Okay, I realise this doesn't quite fit in with this post, but since it is pretty much all higglety pigglety already, I thought I may as well add in someone that I have really been getting into after an spellbinding performance on Later.. Live with Jools Holland, one of my favourite television shows. She's called Grimes and I saw her mentioned in the ASOS magazine being described as "two-parts forest pixie, one-part Lykke Li". If you didn't know, I absolutely love Lykke Li, so I was keen to search her up. The fact that she had green hair with a totoro on her shoulder also drew me in to find out more about her.

It turns out Grimes is nothing like Lykke Li - the only similarity I can find is the fact that they both have high pitched voices and are really hot. The closest comparison I can make is to Blood Orange, but less R&B influenced and almost Oriental sounding with her use of the pentatonic scale on the synths, and obviously with a girl on the vocals. She creates a electro, atmospheric, entrancing sound that is topped off with her baby-sounding vocals. I'm not sure why, but I reckon a really low female voice would also go well juxtaposed with her synth-ey sound, but her high pitched wails do the trick. Her image is just weird enough to be alternative and edgy without being weird freaky - I love it.

 If you have made it through this marathon of a post, I congratulate you.

Rebecca x


P.S. I decided to change up the tabs under my header and also added a "FAQ" and "About" page. The fact there is one pixel between the header and tabs randomly is really pissing me off! Any wizzes at HTML know how to get rid of it?
P.P.S Outfit post tomorrow!

Hoochie mamas, show your nanas!

Today I have a music post for your guys today, since the weather has been beyond rubbish with continuous showers so I have not been able to take any outfit photographs, which is rather annoying. It's only a short one, but hey, it's quality over quantity and I think today's included some awesome tunes.

Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans ft. Azealia Banks (Smims&Belle Extended Remix)

Okay, I know I should stop mentioning Lana Del Rey, but this remix of "Blue Jeans" featuring Azealia Banks is so slick and makes me want to rave.

Just generally King Charles
I'm literally so so happy to have found King Charles - every single song I have heard from him I loved. His music is so sincere, quirky and likable. If you like bands such as Vampire Weekend or The Maccabees, then you'll like him. Plus I am also a huge fan of his flamboyant look with his dreads and moustache. He slightly reminds me Darwin Deez, but he's portraying more a 80s dork look, when King Charles is definitely more 17th Century English-esque.

These two guys epitomise cool.

I love his music so much, its hard to recommend just a few songs as in one interview, he said that he liked to include lots of elements from various musical genres, thus all his songs are often quite different

I love how light-hearted "Bam Bam" is. It's just a cool song that makes me happy and is all-encompassing of his awesomeness. And oh my, that hip thrusting...

This is the first song I heard from him on the radio and it is awesome. I love the steel drums as it slightly reminds me of The Lion King, but slightly cooler, if that is possible!

I also recommend "O'England" for something a bit more folky and acoustic but nonetheless very beautiful. If something electropop-ey, then "Julia Nostalgia" is for you, but unfortunately neither of these songs have been put on Youtube which makes me very sad. If you like something more indie and definitely very Vampire Weekend influenced, check out "Love Blood". If you can't tell, I've been really getting into King Charles recently!

Blood Orange - Champayne Coast
I found this dude from Florence and the Machine's Facebook feed since he will be supporting her on her US tour and I trust that lady's judgement 100%, and I am so happy I did. This guy combines R&B grooves with atmospheric keyboards, creating something really chill and awesome. If I had to compare him to something similar, the closest I can think of is Jamie Woon (who I LOVE), but less vocal lead and more emphasis on the beats. It's just a really cool and effortless sound: check it out!

Jack White's entire album - Blunderbuss
Okay, I promise I will stop mentioning Jack White soon, but I have finally been able to listen to his album in the entirety and it is ridonculously good. I'm not going to link a song as they are all epic so just go listen to the album already!

S Club 7 - S Club Party
Okay, I've had some peer pressure from some of my friends to include some S Club 7 in this music post, so here it is "S Club Party". I really do miss music like this, so recently we have been rolling into school with these tunes being banged out from the car stereo. "Ghetto boys, make some noise! Hoochie mamas, show your nanas!"- such words of wisdom.

See you tomorrow with hopefully an outfit post, if it stops rainings - it's ironic since we are apparently experiencing "drought" conditions.


Rebecca x

P.S. Hello new followers, you are rad.
P.P.S. I think I'm going to make rad my new word as I'm pretty sure it's just about to make a comeback.

Choooons

I think it's time for another one of those music posts. Here is my selection of "new" music. I try to make each list varied in music genres, but it is very much a list of guitar bands and dance-y electronic music this time simply because it has been what I have been enjoying recently.
Bands:
Twin Atlantic - Make a Beast of Myself
Where have these guys been all my life? This is a solid rock song; one of those you end up singing all day. I love how they utilise breaks in their songs, it's so good! Twin Atlantic are definitely up there along with Biffy Clyro and Paolo Nutini with my favourite Scottish musicians.

The Crib - Come On, Be a No-One
This is one of those songs that get implanted into my brain due to it being played constantly on XFM, but I've been enjoying listening to it loud. It's a short, simple song, with a catchy chorus complemented by some distorted guitars. 

Dry the River - New Ceremony
Dry the River are on the BBC Sound of 2012 list along with other amazing people like Lianne La Havas Azealia Banks, and Skrillex. There are so many good folk rock bands in the UK at the moment, and these people definitely are one of them. This song, "New Ceremony" is really powerful and my kind of music. I also enjoyed the video - it's brilliantly shot and visually fantastic. 

Neon Trees - Everybody Talks
Neon Trees is definitely a band that makes me happy when listening to their music. 

Jack White - Missing Pieces 

I know this is another song by Jack White, but every song I hear from the album could be a single in their own rights as they are all so good. I reckon Jack White's debut solo album "Blunderbuss" is shaping up to be the album of the year.

Electronic Music:
Delilah - Breathe
This song is just sublime - it's so atmospherical and entrancing. The video is also really powerful and realistic. The blonde girl in the video is really pretty and I also like Delilah's outfit in the video: studded denim jacket, sheer white blouse with gold jewellery. There is also a Sub Zero remix and version featuring Liam Bailey, but personally I think the original version is so simple and effective. 

Rudimental ft John Newman - Feel the Love
 Such a tune, plus this music video is beyond awesome with this dude's gravity defying moves. Definitely worth a watch/listen. 

Hot Chip - Night and Day
I love Hot Chip and their 80s geek chic, retro synthesised sound. So happy for their return!

Rita Ora - RIP
Okay, Rita Ora is so hot and written by Drake and produced by Chase & Status, this song was bound to be huge. 

Tally-ho,

Rebecca x
P.S. So proud that I actually started some revision today. Woop.
P.S.S. Just a heads up for my blog followers, I am most probably going to post on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays now that I am back at school.

New acoustic/folky/indie live music

I have recently just been getting way more into my music, since I have just started using Spotify again. Despite being thoroughly annoyed about the fact that they have put a 5 times play limit on every song, I have been exploring some new artists.

I usually listen to the radio most often, but currently I am really liking Youtube channels that do sessions with artists. Two that I have been thoroughly enjoying are the Mahogany Sessions and the Black Cab Sessions. There is something about these sessions that are so raw, intimate and awesome, as the artists are pretty much stripped back to just voice and an accompanying instrument. They are also mostly folky/indie bands/artists. I still do like a good electro/house/drum and bass track, but as of lately, I have been on a folk kick. This is not all the folky artists that I like by any means, but here are just some I have discovered/rediscovered over the last week and some live songs that they have performed.

New artists I have discovered within the last week
These are some artists that are new on the scene, or just new to me.

• I have been slightly obsessing over Johnny Flynn over the last week. Favourites so far include Barnacled Worship and Tickle Me Pink. He is probably the most stereotypically English boy you could ever come across. Below is a really old video of him playing "Wayne Rooney" to two very lucky girls in a Black Cab Session. 

•  I heard of Oh Land a few weeks ago from the same person who introduced me to Johnny Flynn and I am so glad I have come across her in my life. This Danish girl's music reminds me of twinkling lights and so charming.

• Lianna La Havas was shortlisted in the BBC Sound of 2012 list and I think she is delightful. I love her fashion sense and her performance on Later Live by Jools Holland was honestly stellar. 

 

•  I discovered Marques Toliver from simply clicking on a random Mahogany session video. He has so much soul in his voice and he is also an awesome violinist, with that as his sole accompanying instrument.

• I must admit I only just discovered Kyla la Grange earlier today, but I think she is really beautiful and local - sort of! She's from Watford that is quite exciting. I need to listen to some more of her music.

Old favourites

• I think you guys probably all know I am pretty much in love Lykke Li since she is one of my favourite artists ever. Here is her in a cab singing I'm Good, "I'm Gone", with her backing accordian player and sleigh bells. 

• I know I shouldn't really mention Jamie N Commons and "The Preacher" again, as I've already mentioned this song in a post before, but this live Mahogany Session version of it is mental. He has a beast of a voice.

• Coco Sumner is my girl crush. I really hope I Blame Coco come back sometime soon, and make some more awesome tunes like "Self Machine" 

Talk to you later,


Rebecca x

P.S. I know that very few people are interested in my music related posts, but I find them really enjoyable to compile, and it's something I am really passionate about.
P.P.S. I mention this in every post, but I'm sorry for slacking on the posts. I've been terrible, but it's soon Easter meaning more time to write.

The BRIT Awards 2012

Here is my running commentary from yesterday's BRIT awards, as it happened. These are all my initial thoughts of the show, with no later editing or tampering. I haven't written anything for the first 10 minutes of the show, since I missed it.

20:10 I love Florence so much. She’s performing one of my favourite songs from her album “No lights” and I really like how they’ve used lighting for effect - such a feast for the eyes with all the dancers galloping around the stage. She looked absolutely amazing, with her flowing, glittering dress. My only complaint is why was her performance so short?!

20.13 Olympic coke advertisement – yay, a Katy B song, not too sure whether I actually liked the advert, but I liked her singing the famous jingle.

20.15 Oh cringe, James Corden making flirtatious jokes about Kyle Minogue

20.17 British solo act goes to Adele – pretty much a given with her massive year. Her accent is absolutely hilarious. I reckon she’s going to win all the other awards that she nominated for.

20.18 Bruno Mars and Jessie J look so hot! I’m loving Jessie J’s poodle hair, and Bruno’s 50’s quiff. He won international male solo act, which was also pretty predictable, considering the people invited to perform, usually win something anyway.

 

 20.24 Rizzle Kicks are awesome; why is Olly Murs so rubbish?

20.24 Eurgh even more annoying people performing. Ed Sheeran’s “Lego House” is just so ridiculously overplayed. I wonder if he would still be famous, if he wasn’t ginger.

20.31 Is every single advert going to be exactly the same? A short coke ad, followed by the album from the artist that has just performed being advertised?

20.37 One Direction are going to get the Best British Single award. Yup, they have, obviously since they have a MAD fan girl following, so I’m so not surprised. Is it bad that I find that “What makes you Beautiful” is actually really catchy? They all look like little Ken dolls with their matching outfits and perfectly groomed hairstyles.

20.40 Yummy Jenson Button! And I love Rihanna’s Barbados accent.

20.54 I want Pro Green to win Best British Male; unfortunately, it was the ginger again…

20.59 Does anyone actually know the name of any of the other bearded men in Coldplay, apart from Chris Martin?

21.02 More Adele, without a doubt going to go down a treat in the arena. However this year, she’s got a band with her and obviously, it was a good performance, but nowhere are amazing as last year’s.

21.05 Since when did Jay Z/ Kanye was a group act? But so pleased that Foo Fighters won Best International Band – all the other nominees were rubbish!

21.16 Oh go away Ed Sheeran, not you again. He has just won his second award of the night with Best British Breakthrough Act.

21.17 Bruno Mars is so smooth. Swoon. Fantastic smooth jazz version of “Just the way you are” – vocals was lush, plus what’s better than a funky bass line. Definitely the best performance so far, if not the night! Standing ovation!

21.29 First Cesc Fabregas and Nicole Scherzinger, then Will.I.Am and Rob Bryden, can these pairings get any odder? 

21.30 Lana Del Ray looking absolutely classic and stunning. Her face does look it’s made of rubber, but she does seem like a sincere, genuine artist. I am loving her makeup, effortless hair and slinky red dress. 

 

21.32 Next is Rihanna performing, probably the complete opposite of Lana Del Ray, performing the most boring number one single of the year –“We Found Love” Her outfit is also quite mismatched, with her Timberland boots, ripped jumper, fish nets and knickers. There is also a questionable amount of singing too, considering the only words in the song is “we found love in a hopeless place” and the rest of the song is a monotonous synth-y riff, complemented with probably the slowest and worst drop in dance music history. The entire performance was slightly disappointing and lack lustre, with her half- hearted dance routine and seemingly disappearing half way through the performance. A big thumbs down from me.

21.41 Oh, just shut up talking dude from Blur… The awkward moment when you can hear that one person woop-ing over-enthusiastically.

21.51 Crazy statistic – One Adele “21” album is sold every 6 second last year. No wonder she won the Mastercard British Album of the Year. And, uhoh, quickly flashed a middle finger as James cut her off, for Blur to close the show, just as Adele is getting emotional and patriotic. Silly ITV. That’s not going to go down well for the broadcasters, but is going to be gold for the tabloids! Not a good way to end the show as the audience boos.

21.53 I think that Britpop bands like Blur need to realise that they’ve gone past their hay-day and stop playing songs that they would sing a few decades ago. I feel bad for their children; imagine having your dad prancing around on national television, trying to relive the old days. Time to put away the Doc Martens and move on! I can’t deny that I am enjoying “Parklife” though.

So that’s about it - all in all, a satisfactory show. It definitely started off well, but quickly went downhill from there on. I’m disappointed that they didn’t have any duets, since last year’s “You got the dirtee love” with Florence and Dizzee Rascal was such a success. The performances – minus Bruno Mars and Florence – were all below par from last year. I am happy for Adele, but apart from her, nothing that prominent happened in the British music scene last year, which was reflected in the show.

Ciao for now




Rebecca x

P.S. I am missing having the time to post every day... :(

More Newfangled Music

I have kind of been sticking to my New Year's resolution of listening to more music, so here I am again with a list that I have compiled of new songs that I have been enjoying these few weeks.

I've been loving...

Jack White – Love interruption

Jack White is back with a solo album after The White Stripes announced their split. I am very excited to hear the rest of his album! I find the picture really funny too in the background of the video, reminds be of Edward Scissorhands, but in a good way. 

Band of skulls – Sweet sour

I mentioned Band of Skulls on my blog post yesterday and since then, I've discovered this song and it's awesome. I can image it being epic if it was background music for an advert for Toxic Waste sweets. 

Beyonce – Love on top

No one can deny that Beyonce is such a power-house. When I first heard this song, I couldn't take it seriously, due to borderline ridiculous, sheer amount of cheesy semi-tone key changes. Just when you think the song is going to end, it just keeps on going higher and higher. I can imagine this song being played on an infinite loop forever for torturing prisoners, until it reaches dog pitch. On a serious note, it is really good song; I am liking the retro/Jackson 5 vibe to it. 

Madeon - Icarus

The French definitely produce the best electronic music producers (such as Daft Punk). It's crazy to think that the guy who produced this track is only 2 years older than me, and in pictures he looks like he's younger! This record reminds me flying through space, rainbows and shininess. His song "Pop Culture" is also very good, as he mixes in samples from a variety of popular records. Definitely one to look out for in the future. 

Young Guns - Bones

I must say, I'm quite uneducated when it comes to Young Guns - I haven't heard many of their songs, but this has been playing alot of Radio 1 recently, and I'm liking it. Good, solid rock song.

I have been hating...

Cover Drive - Twilight

No need to elaborate. It's s**t. I'm not even going to post a link to it, as it's that bad. And to think this was the UK best selling single last week. There is no hope!

Ed Sheeran - Drunk

...

Madonna featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A - Give me all your lurvin'

Madonna is back with this terrible, terrible song. "Every record sounds the same", yes they certainly do Madge. This song bares huge resemblance to Nicole Roberts' "Dance to the Beat of my Drum", possibly the worse song produced in this century so far (yes, even worse than Rebecca Black's "Friday"). Oh please, Madonna, can you stop singing songs intended for girls half your age? And please explain what on earth is happening at 1.46, are you attempting to breast-feed a doll or something?!?! That is something that could mentally scar young children - it has already scarred me! 

On the flip side, I actually (surprisingly) thought that Nicki Minaj's rap was really quite good, and M.I.A was a nice bonus, even though they should've featured far more heavily. Has anyone heard M.I.A's new song, "Bad Girl", can't decide whether I love or hate it! The video is quite bad-ass though.

Speaking of this song, did anyone see their half-time performance of this during the Super Bowl last night?

Even though she is in her 50s, wow she can still put on a good show! I hope that when I am that age, I can still do handstands, flips and ride LMFAO's shoulders... Shame that it was all lip synced, but I'm sure it would've been impossible to have done such an energetic routine and sound that great as well. "Like a Prayer" was by far my favourite song that she performed; Cee lo Green is so awesome! There has been some controversy around this performance though, since apparently M.I.A put her middle finger up at the screen, even though didn't see it when watching it back. I think this is absolutely ridiculous, surely seeing a 50 year old dancing "sexily" is far more damaging to the general public than a middle finger! Ah, why can't major British sporting fixtures have such "exciting" entertainment during the breaks - you would never see Justin Timberlake ripping Janet Jackson's dress to expose a naked boob during the FA cup final, would you?

What I'm looking forward too...

In 30 minutes, Lostprophets are going to announce and debut their first single from their up and coming album - "Weapons" on Zane Lowe's radio show. I am so excited, even though their last album from two years ago was quite underwhelming.

Just finished listening to it and eeek it's so good! The song is called "Bring 'Em Down", but it should be renamed "How to Count to Ten". I must say, the chorus is very powerful, with lots of harmonies and texture. There is also the inclusion of some synths, which I am not too sure whether I am liking or not at the moment, but I think that it is a good choice for them to start experimenting with more types of sounds. Listen to it from Zane Lowe's blog for free for a week.

Random gem from the past...

System of a down - Chop Suey!

Need I say more?

PEACE!

I'm out.

Rebecca x

Uke News, Attractive Men and Year 7s

Hello there. Similarly to Tuesday’s post, I’m going to show you some other really awesome things I have liked in the last few days.

Sherlock (parody) | Chris Kendall

Crabstickz is probably one of the funniest Youtuber out there. His impressions and accents are so hilarious, and this video is probably one of his best, simply because it’s about Sherlock.. I was literally laughing out loud for probably a good 10 seconds after finish watching the video, which, for me, is a rarity.

Jamie N Commons - The Preacher Official Video

I found about this dude from the BBC Sound of 2012 list, something which I look forward to each year, since it always has some AMAZING artists on it. I haven’t managed to listen to many of the artists on the list this year though, but I have heard a few songs from this band and I am honestly so excited to hear their album. This is my favourite song so far and www.abeano.com describes it as...

“ A dusty, stomping ballad about religion and death performed with a five piece band, it’s stormy wild west meets Jack White’s Detroit (with nods to Johnny Cash and Nick Cave thrown in for good measure). There’s only really one problem; I’ll need to see a birth certificate to believe that he’s only 22 years old. Jamie sounds like he has been glugging whisky for years.”

All he needs to do is grow a beard and do a duet with Laura Marling (this song is very similar to Devil’s Spoke – one of my favourite songs – since it’s a powerful ballad about such a dark subject matter), then my life will be complete.

Onra ft. Jin - The Learn Chinese Anthem (Mashed up by Mo Ellah)

Onra is a French hip-hip/beat maker/ producer sort of musician. The beats he makes are super cool, and in his album, “Chinoiseries”, where old 60’s Chinese and Vietnamese samples are used- two genre’s which juxtapose surprisingly well. The beat used in this remix –The Anthem – is quite well known as was used in a Coke advert for the 2008 advert. I quite like this mash-up with this random rapper, even though I don’t know he is... Oh well, it has Onra’s beat in it, and I think he’s seriously good looking.

Nice Year 7s
What? That's right, some year 7's these last few days have actually been so nice! In our glee club rehearsal, this one girl printed off some lyrics for me, even though I didn't ask her to. Also, yesterday, I was doing my eyeliner in the loos and this random girl who I've never seen before told me that I was "really pretty"! Awh, perhaps behind the giant rucksacks, they are actually nice people.

Ukuleles
My new ukulele has finally arrived.  I am so happy! It’s a Lanikai LU-11, and I love it.

Aren't they pretty?

Quick Review and Comparision:

Mahalo:

Price: £15

+Comes in rainbow colours

+Plastic coated covering, sound is not as good, but makes the instrument very durable

+Geared tuners are shaped like dolphins

-Sounds like turd as the intonation is quite poor

Lanikai:

Price: £50

+Surprisingly loud and resonant considering the size

+Aquila strings are lush

-Lack of attention to detail: Lanikai logo and rings around sound hole look quite tatty

-Made out of plywood, which is going to chip/flake off

In conclusion, basically, if you want a uke to simply look cool, get the Mahalo. If you want to play music, get the Lanikai!

Buying ukuleles is actually so addictive, I want to expand my collection further!

Awesome.

Ciao for now,

Rebecca x

Cool Findings of the Interwebz

Time to take a break from the hair posts, and present to you some cool things I have encountered on the internet over the past week or so.

Jeff Buckley- Grace (BBC Late Show)

Grace is one of the set works which you have to learn about in the GCSE music course. I do like quite a lot of the pieces, but this is the only one that I would truly listen to for my own choice. I was just searching it up on Youtube for some further listening and found this version of it. His performance is generally so intense and amazing, plus it’s pretty hilarious when he lifts his hands up when his is said to also share his father’s “extraordinary vocal elasticity”, at 00.28. Shame both father and son had such early deaths, we can only imagine what great music they would’ve produced.

Lykke Li & Bon Iver doing 'Dance Dance Dance' in L.A

Lykke Li is one of my favourite female artists, along with Florence & the Machine and Regina Spektor. She with Bon Iver (match made in heaven!) simply jamming and dancing in the street with their sleigh bells, kazoo and accordion is so organic and delightful. I remember seeing this video a few years ago, it’s only recently I just rediscovered it from Jazz’s blog, which may I say is absolutely beautiful – I wish I could produce such amazing illustrations!

The Golden Key –Sea of Shoes

This is a beautiful blog by a beautiful girl, but I especially love this blog post. Her hair is so striking, even Arial from The Little Mermaid would be jealous!

"Copy-cat!"

Go Beyond The Cover: Behind the Scenes

A very simple, yet effective advert, where Zombie Boy (a man covered with head to toe tattoos) has his entire body of tattoos covered with some concealer, inciting ideas about “judging a book by its cover. I find it really interesting, and is it odd I find him kind of attractive?!

I first found this video on OogleMakeup’s blog, probably one of the eloquently written and insightful blogs dedicated to make up and beauty. My favourite posts of her’s are usually about consumerism and the beauty industry as a whole, as they are so often very thought provoking about society’s perception of beauty.

That’s it! I really do hope you look at some of the videos/pictures I have linked, as I find them so interesting!

Toodle pip,

Rebecca x

Tag! You're it!

Here is this yet another pointless post, me answering some random questions and answers about me… fun times.

Nicknames?

Roboco, Rebok, Wangsypoo, Wango, Mango, Banana, Becca, Becky, Bex etc.

But I always just stick with Rebecca. 

Self Portrait

Favourite subject?

Resistant materials. If you don’t know what that is, it is not just drilling/sawing/ planning/ sanding wood. It’s more than that… it’s a way of life. Nah, being serious, most design and technologies actually involve very little practical. We seem to spend most of our time drawing designs and learning theory, which I really enjoy. A close second would be chemistry and in third place would be another science or maths.

Albert Feleinstein returns with a chemistry joke! 

Wow, I'm such a nerd.

For more witty and banterous science jokes, I Can Haz Cheezburger has a extensive selection. 

Favourite drink?

I used to love drinking fruit juice - especially orange juice - but drinking so much from a young age has had a detrimental effect on my teeth (acidity). I do like some plain H2O most of the time (Wow, I’m literally so lame.) I am slowly warming up to (English) tea; I was never really a heavy tea drinker. Would soup count as a favourite drink? If so, I would say that potato and leek, or a warm rustic pumpkin soup etc. Mhmm…

Favourite band/artist?

I can vividly remember someone asking me this exact question when I was roughly 7 years old. I replied “Green Day”, even though I don’t think I had listened too much of their music. It may just have been because Green was my favourite colour at the time, and I thought that if I said a rock band, they would think I was cool. But throughout years after that occasion, I grew to love them, and they DID become my favourite band. I don’t really listen to them much more – they haven’t made a new album in sometime. 21^st Century Breakdown was slightly disappointing compared to American Idiot, but they do have a Broadway musical which sounds awesome. As for now, I like too many bands and artists to just have one favourite. Go on my Facebook profile if you want to see a more extensive list of people I like.

What would you name your kids?

Hmm, good question. I have always liked names which are unusual/uncommon, but are known as being names. Being called Rebecca, I have always been in a class where there have been multiple people of the same name. I like names that are original, but aren’t so unique that no one can pronounce it. I like Evelyn for girls, Felix and Harrison for boys.

Any pets?

Well, we keep fish, but they are very, very, very old and most of the time, they are belly up… Fish suck, once they die, I don’t think we should look after them anymore. It must be quite monotonous swimming around a tank in circles whilst being blinded by a blasting light from above.

Favourite colour?

My favourite colour has changed several times in my lifetime so far. The first colour in my living memory that I can remember liking was blue, then turquoise, orange, purple, green and now I suppose my favourite colour is red maybe? Everything that I seem to currently to be buying/dying is red: school bag, ukulele, hair. However, my favourite group of colours would include burgundy, wine, navy, silver, black (even though not technically a colour).

This nebula pretty much sums up all my favourite colours. Pretty.

Favourite movie?

I like Moulin Rouge and Mulan / Aladdin or some other random Disney movies (they are my childhood!). It’s not my favourite movie, but I watched Ip Man the other day and it is a very good. I’m not really that knowledgeable when it comes to movie though, I don’t watch that many compared to most people!

Favourite year of life?

I have terrible memory, thus can’t really remember my younger years more that vividly, but that suggests to me that they mustn’t have been that interesting. My favourite year, by far, would’ve been year 9: 2010. It was a good year at school: good stable group of friends and it’s a bit of a pointless year as there are no major exams and most people doss around in lessons anyway since they aren’t going to pursue it to GCSE. The holidays were what made it though. In January, I went to Finland to visit my uncle and also go skiing which is always lovely, and then in Easter and summer, I met some of the best people I have ever known at camp, and made some truly awesome friends.

Favourite quote?

Live to eat, not eat to live. (I’m a fatty at heart)

Life goes on.

What type of phone do you have?

At this current moment none, since I have managed to lose my indestructible and terrible Nokia (argh!). I hope that my dad will now buy me a new phone. ;)

How tall are you?

Short. 

"You're so short, you smell of feet!" I hear you cry.

I personally feel like all I seem to do on this blog is talk about me. I acknowledge that it is suppose to be my own personal creative space, but I feel like I end up always talking about my life, which really isn’t the interesting. However, I do like the concept of a “tag” game online, where basically you answer some questions, and then tag someone else to also respond to the questions. I would love to get to know all of you guys better too, so, I TAG:

• Wendy
• Stripeytofu
• David

And anyone else who wants to answer these questions in the comments!

Here are the questions complied together:

1.       Nicknames?

2.       Favourite subject?

3.       Favourite drink?

4.       Favourite band/artist?

5.       What would you name your kids?

6.       Any pets?

7.       Favourite colour?

8.       Favourite movie?

9.       Favourite year of life?

10.   Favourite quote?

11.   What type of phone do you have?

12.   How tall are you?

See you later, alligator,

Rebecca x

P.S. I hate writing these types of posts, as my life is boring, but I have serious writer's block!