Blogosphere: Week 6

This week I have been mainly hiding my face. A funny suncream reaction on hols has caused a plethora of angry spots to set up shop on my face. I have a new found sympathy for the acne prone, it's horrible.

Luckily Grey's Anatomy season 7 has been keeping me entertained; I've just finished it. I think it's one of my favourite seasons, I love how the characters (especially Bailey and Sloane) have developed and there are just enough gripping moments to keep you locked to the screen.

The Grey's Anatomy motto in our house is 'Just one more episode!'

What music have I been enjoying this week? Perhaps unexpectedly, I'm a fan of post-hardcore and am enjoying 'Raised by Wolves' by Falling in Reverse and 'Hey Baby, Here's That Song You Wanted' by Blessthefall. If My Chemical Romance and Bullet For My Valentine had a baby, it would be called Falling in Reverse. I've hit the nail on the head with that comparison!

I also adore 'Sixteen Saltines' by Jack White and am also enjoying 'Black Heart' by Stooshe - very sultry and soulful and they have great voices.

I wasn't sure if this was a piss-take, but it's not. Yuck yuck yuck, Kate Nash, what is this?? *Ears bleed*

Blogosphere - Week 4

The Jubilee Weekend has turned me Royalist - Lizzie's beaming face on the front page of the papers melts my ice cold heart a little.

On Saturday the estate where we live had a fair - it was lovely. On registration we were handed food and drinks vouchers with a huge selection of food to choose from; ranging from Latin American epanemas to Caribbean goat curry to fish, rice and peas. Yum! We watched the swing band, ate candy floss, got thrown off the rodeo and jiggled along with a zumba class. Check us out in our t-shirts!

Top Ten Songs Ever (aged 14)

1.  Crossroads - Bone Thugs n Harmony
2.  Time of me Life - Dirty Dancing
3.  Unchained Melody What becomes of the Broken Hearted – Robson & Jerome
4.  I Need You Tonight – Nick Carter
5.  Eternal Flame – Bangles
6.  I Want You Back – Jackson 5
7.  Edge of Heaven – Wham
8.  Summertime – Another Level Don’t Walk Away – The Moffats
9.  Friends Forever – Thunderbugs
10. Love Fool - Cardigans

 

1995...and now

Sit patiently at your enormous computer, trying to
connect to the internet via dial-up, listening to
that inane squealing noise.

High-speed internet, any time, on the move!

Listen attentively to the Top 40 on a Sunday
evening, recording favourite songs and desperately
trying to hit Stop before the DJ started talking!

Any song, available beginning to end on Spotify, on the move!

Pull up the aerial on mum’s heavy mobile

phone, on the One2One network to send a text to a

friend (1/3...2/3...3/3)

Touch-screen mobiles with the capability of a computer, on the move!

Carefully turn the knob on the radio one iota
to eliminate the ‘crackling’ on your favourite station.

Digital radio with zero interference on the move!

Agonise over setting the timer on the video
recorder to tape Buffy/Top of the Pops/

Sweet Valley High.

Programme the Sky+ recorder from your mobile app……

on the move!

Frisky & Mannish

Last night I felt something. I felt sad that I’d lived for twenty seven years of my live and never before experienced the intense rush of joy that comes from seeing a Frisky and Mannish show. Well now I have!

I have always been a big fan of pop music; I used to have Smash Hits delivered to my house every Saturday morning when I was younger (and cried once when it didn’t arrive, but let’s move on) and could regurgitate all kinds of ridiculous facts about the latest new group, to the chagrin of my friends. I’d say my musical tastes have broadened somewhat since then, although still mostly contained in the Top 40, but pop music has a special place in my heart.

Only too aware of this, my housemate (and good friend) bought us tickets to see Frisky and Mannish at the E4 Udderbelly on London’s south bank last night. This act is hard to describe, but I’ll attempt - a seamless mélange of cabaret and live music under a big canopy of PARODY. There.

Mystery Jets gig!

Last night I went to see Mystery Jets at O2 Academy Brixton with Lisa and two friends. It was the fourth time I've seen them live - the first time they were supporting the Kooks at Brixton (wearing unforgettable sequinned jackets), the second at the iTunes festival and thirdly at the Hippodrome in Kingston which was a brilliantly small and energetic gig. Every show of theirs feels like a big party. They're not too active on stage, but I think the crowd they attract know and love their hits (Two Doors Down, Half in Love with Elizabeth, Flakes, Seratonin) and just want to have a dance and sing along!

Music I'm loving at the moment

Alabama Shakes. Their (debut?) album, Boys and Girls is at the top of my playlist at the moment. It's really rare to find an album where I don't have to skip over the 'blah' tracks - every song is great.

I'd been hearing the band's name on the grapevine, so when their album appeared on Spotify I was intruiged. I've been describing their style to my friends as a slowed-down Kings of Leon but I actually think they cover far more genres than KoL - soul, grass-roots old American country, rock and even some funk! 

In addition, I have three songs on my 'May' playlist at the moment:
Untitled No. 3 by Ali Harter
Can't Say No by Conor Maynard
First of My Kind by Miles Kane

The first song I heard on an episode of Grey's Anatomy and Shazam'd. It's lovely. The second is by a new chap, 'the UK Bieber', apparently. I like the grimy baseline (ooh, get me!). The third I heard on the radio and Shazam'd - I like Miles Kane's stuff solo stuff so far, so I was pleased to see it was him.

And hooray for Shazam! I can't count the number of times I've been on a night out/shopping/watching telly and thought 'Ooh, I like the sound of that!'. Out comes Shazam!

(Aside: I have the Spotify app on my iPhone, which means you can pretty much search for, and listen to, any music that you fancy. It's amazing for discovering new music - the only downside being that the playlists you create are at the mercy of Spotify i.e. nothing's downloaded or in hard copy for you to keep).