You gots Musik

So I have not done a post about music in absolutely ages but I have come across some music that I think is definitely worth writing about. Just listen to it.

Cognac and Kinda Slow Aaron Lipsett and Fion

These two videos below are by Aaron Lipsett, the second being a collaboration with Fion.

Now I will admit I do not have any particularly outstanding knowledge or opinion of music but I know what I like and I know what I don't like, and this most definitely falls into the former category.

Cognac is the kind of song that is as smooth as its namesake and packs an equal punch. It knows what it's going to say and it says it. There is no muddling, no pretensions and no gimmicks. 

Kinda Slow on the other hand is a different kind of cool altogether. In fact I don't think I could do it justice. READ HERE instead as it definitely gives a better summation of it than my feeble knowledge of music ever could. I do however challenge you to find anything like it, anything that attempts to pull off what it attempts - and succeeds in so elegantly - in terms of sound and theme. 

On top of all of this I am seriously proud to say that I know these guys. Well I haven't seen them in ages but hey if they get famous I can be like oh ya those guys used to come to parties in my house. Future claim to fame. 

God, I'm a loser. 

212 Azealia Banks

Now for more music. I am not quite sure what I make of this song. I features the C word a lot (hey I'm actually a seventy year old woman) but there is so much more to it than that. Y'know some songs make you tap your feet or bob your head, well this one makes my shoulders and neck do weird things. Seriously it's really strange. I haven't been out in ages but I know that the next time I'm out in a nightclub or something and this comes on, everyone will probably think I am having some kind of weird repetitive stroke.

A lot of people I hear are likening her to Nicki Minja of whom I am not a fan - I think death would be the only possible way to be more indifferent to her - but to be honest I'm not really into comparing people who I don't even really think sound very similar but just like to curse and stuff in their music. What I will say though is that this song - I haven't actually listened to any others song by Azealia Banks - gets into your head and you probably won't even be able to think of the whole tune later so you'll just have to listen to it again. I don't really know what the message here is but it sure as hell make me do funny things with my shoulders.

White Nights Oh Land

Next up is something a little more girly girly and pretty pretty and generally a whole lot sweeter.

HBO's Girls lead me to this (that is a comment that you will definitely see on Youtube - not written by me but it seems like it led a lot of people there). There is something kind of Florence Welch-y about the video and almost (but not quite because FW is a lyrical genius) about the lyrics too. Also yer wan is a ringer for January Jones (oh yes this is me judging musicans on their vocal talents not looks). It is a sweet song and there is a Lykke Li quality to the rest of her music but with a bit of glitter and sparkle to them too. She is nice for sunny days. Well worth a listen.

Weekend Class Actress

Now for something altogether more 80s.

Now I cannot remember where I first heard Weekend by Class Actress - which is a great name I think - but I know it was definitely recently as I haven't even downloaded it yet. I still have it on my little Song List in Notes on my phone. For the record, it's not actually from the 1980s but last year. It does however sound very eighties-ish which I do like. A lot.

Guantanamera Joan Baez

Next is a female that might make a few brows furrow in confusion but Joan Baez and I are having a bit of a love-in at the moment since my dad pulled this song up on Youtube a few months ago. 

This song make me wish that four years of studying Spanish had actually made me good at it. Cue an overwhelming need to mumble along words in pseudo-Spanish just like I do with singing in most foreign languages! Her cover of No Woman No Cry is also strangely enchanting. 

Look Sébastien Tellier

Now for the pièce de résistance...

This is currently my favourite walking-down-the-street song (yeah 'cause I'm cool like that) and this video (which I was going to post but didn't because it is strangle hypnotic) is kind of the reason behind that. 

Now Sébastien Tellier has been on the scene for over ten years and the first time I heard him was back in 2009 on Ugly Betty and I downloaded some of his stuff (the fact that I had it labelled Ugly Betty Soundtrack and the Date Added thing on iTunes helped jog my memory) but I guess I must have forgotten about it because when Look shuffled it's way onto my iTunes the other day I could have sworn I'd never heard anything so entrancing. Look is definitely my favourite song out of all of his stuff (thanks to Grooveshark I had a good listen to a lot of it) as it reminds me a little of Kavinsky's Nightcall which is one of my top five absolute favourite songs (okay so I only heard it a year ago but it takes a very special song to get into my top five). When you listen to the two of them, you won't be like wow that's the same song or anything like that but you might get where I'm coming from.  

So that's all for today folks.

Cheers for reading,

Jane

All videos via YouTube.com (click for Playlist)

Ten Things That Are So Hot Right Now

1. Wordfeud

It's official. I am addicted. My parents play scrabble a lot but I never play with them because I always end up putting words like "dog" or "cat" down after they've put down words like "magnanimous" or "idiosyncrasy". With the Wordfued iPhone app though, I actually have a chance of winning. Particularly because I am only playing against my best friend and her boyfriend so victories come on a semi-regular basis. And the best part? It's free! Which, if you're anything like me, is the dealbreaker when it comes to the purchase of apps.

2. Innocent Orange Juice

Taken with instagram

I hate pulp or bits in any kind of drink. Absolutely hate it. I do however love a good glass of orange juice, as long as it is pulp-free. My particular favourite at the moment is Innocent smooth orange juice. It comes it a great handbag friendly bottle and it has become quite the faithful study buddy too.

3. Body Shop Honey Bronze Gel

I posted about this stuff before HERE shortly after I first bought it, and it is proving to be a great addition to my makeup bag.

4. Ryan Gosling
It is getting ridiculous at this stage and frankly I think it has just gone too far. Ryan Gosling, you are simply too fantastic and it is unfair that you should just be allowed to parade your fantastic self about with no regard for the feelings of us poor girls around the world. It's even too much for Bradley Cooper to bear!! So stop being so goddamn sexy already. Either that, or come to Galway.

image via google.images.com

5.  Emoji for iPhone
If you like using smilies, then you will love Emoji. Every emotion emojized!

6. NUIG Memes FB page
If you are not familiar with memes, then you should not be here, you should be on 9gag. Go have a browse and then come back here.

So now that you're familiar with the memes and all that, go have a look at the NUI Galway Meme page. If you go to NUIG then you will undoubtedly recognize, and have a chuckle at, some of the fantastic wee jokes they have going on.

image via fb.me/NUIGMemesbyConorStitt

7. Original Source Vanilla milk and Raspberry shower cream
As I mentioned before in a Studenty.me article that you can read HERE, this stuff smells like you're showering under a rainbow with a unicorn made of marshmallows.

8. Studded slippers
I have been madly in love with studded slippers since first seeing Christian Louboutin's pair (check out these ones too. And yes I'm aware that they are for men). Now Topshop are offering some looovely studded slippers too. Asos also have some studded loafers and slippers. Click HERE for a somewhat cheaper version of the Louboutins link above.

image via tumblr.com

9. Lindsay Lohan on SNL
Now I am a massive fan of Saturday Night Live and I was intrigued to see how Lindsay Lohan would fare on last night's episode. This was Lohan's fourth time on SNL and so at this stage, she is well versed in the ways of the show: if you have something you're ashamed off, they will make fun of it. And for Lindsay, it was a night of jail related gags and delinquent girl gangs. Even her opening monologue wasn't free from Kirsten Wiig and Kenan Thompson patting her down and examining her pupils. For the skits however, her lines were few and far between and when she was speaking, it was more like reading because she was very clearly reading from a teleprompter or cue cards. She wasn't so much hosting but more like a guest star or something just there for a sketch or two. Jon Hamm, who was jokingly introduced as the back-up host in case something went wrong, was on screen almost as much as her (okay that may be a slight exaggeration but only slight). To be honest it wasn't really that good an episode of SNL and it was kind of disappointing. Then again though she was following Maya Rudolph and Sleigh Bells which was probably my favourite episode ever!

10. Shazam
As I began this post with an iPhone App, I figured I might as well close it with one too. Shazam is simply fantastic. Hear a song playing in a shop, a bar or pretty much anywhere at all? Desperately want to know what it is? Shazam it! (This app is also free. Whippee for cheapos like me!)

Cheers for reading,

Jane

iTuning

So having just opened iTunes, I meant to click the Date Added top bar but instead clicked Plays, and this led me to discover something quite interesting about my music-listening habits.

The top ten songs in my iTunes with the highest number of plays are:

(I'm even including the YouTube links so ya'll can listen to them. I am just too good to ye!)

10. Toop Toop - Cassius

9. Hounds of Love - Kate Bush

8. Just One of Those Things - Brazilian Girls featuring Dearie Blossom

7. Ambling Amp - Yeasayer

6. Panic - The Smiths

5. Billie Holiday - Warpaint

4. Love Cats - The Cure

3. Not In Love - Crystal Castles featuring Robert Smith

2. The Whole of the Moon - The Waterboys

and finally with a play count that I am too embarrassed to reveal...

1. Neil Young's Heart of Gold

And what, you may very well ask, did I discover from this exercise?

I have simply fantastic taste in music.

Well according to me and my iTunes anyway...

Cheers for reading,

Jane

The Del Rey

It's not every day that when a girl says "my handbag", it does quite literally mean her handbag. Lana Del Rey has now entered that elite club of which the likes of Grace Kelly, Jane Birkin, Jessica Stam and Alexa Chung are already members. It was only three years ago that Mulberry announced that the would make their first bag dedication - following in the footsteps of Hermès and Marc Jacobs - and Alexa Chung was the object of their affection.
After seeing the video of Del Rey's first major hit Video Games, Mulberry's Creative Director Emma Hill apparently proclaimed that she had to meet the girl behind the music. Lana obviously made a good impression.
The bag comes in a range of colours and will be available from May. The lucky Miss Lana is however the only one who will get her paws on the white ostrich skin edition (pictured bottom left) as it was made especially - and exclusively - for her.
Lana was photographed (about five million times I'd say) yesterday sitting front row at Mulberry's A/W 2012 show in London with the bag tucked neatly onto her lap and even at one stage being shown off in all its glory on the floor by her feet. There is absolutely no doubt about the fact that this bag is a reference to the bygone Hollywood glamour that influences Lana's style. It is definitely something that you could imagine Nancy Sinatra carrying in the crook of her elbow: gangster or not.

all images via google.images.com

So what do you think? Yay or Nay?

Cheers for reading,

Jane

Because the music that they constantly play, It says nothing to me about my life

So this is just a little post about four albums that have recently found their way into my iTunes.

First up and as I recently posted about HERE Coeur de pirate has absolutely stolen my heart. Even though I have not got the faintest idea what she is saying in her sweet little French accent I must say that I think that that adds to the charm. The video for the tune Adieu could be watched again and again because of its beautiful retro-styling. Ever frame could be a photograph as you can see below.

image via blog.muchmusic.com

image via weheartit.com

image via mdashing.blogspot.com

Another album that recently found its way into my iTunes is Wouter De Backer third studio album Making Mirrors. Gotye - as he is more affectionally known - is on everyone's iPod at the moment in the form of Somebody That I Used To Know featuring the lovely New Zealander Kimbra who has also produced more than a few catchy tunes of her own on her debut album Vows. Somebody That I Used To Know is like the boy version of Someone Like You and it is just divine. Also the video (below) has grown to be quite iconic with all the paint and stuff which is also quite cool. If you do eventually grow tired of listening to Somebody on repeat for hours on end, then waiting in the wings are In Your Life (catchy and feel-good), Bronte (soothing with Gotye's trademark bittersweet vocals and some tribal drums) and Easy Way Out (up-beat and happy).

image via dailybeatz.com

Tracks from Metronomy's third album English Riviera have also been a recent addition to my playlists. My favourites on it are Corinne, Love Underlined and the well-known Everything Goes My Way.

Continuing the trend of third albums, Amy Winehouse's post-humous Lioness: Hidden Treasures is also taking up a lot of my listening time. The Girl from Ipanema and Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow have been added to the majority of my playlists because if you are looking for something to lie back and listen to while drinking a cup of tea after a long day of lectures you don't understand.

Also as the title suggests, I am still in love with The Smiths and I have yet to find something that will earn as much love in my heart as they have. The title lyrics are from my favourite song Panic and I thought that they were quite fitting for the post.

Cheers for reading,

Jane

Je t’ai aimé et je t’assure que c’est la fin

I loved you and I assure you it's the end


I just downloaded Cœur de pirate's second album Blonde and it is just fantastic. Even though I do no speak a word of French, I cannot resist singing along is a series of bluh blah dahs that sound vaguely like Joey when he attempts to learn the language. 

http://fyeahfriendsgifs.tumblr.com/

I discovered the lovely Béatrice Martin through Tumblr and as soon as I heard her croon those first few notes, I knew I had found something beautiful. Not only does she have a magnificent voice and a way of dragging me into a song - even though I haven't the faintest idea what it is about - but she is also quite a beauty with two sleeves of colourful tattoos and a sixties flick of black eyeliner. It's like The Like, of whom I am also a great fan, but in French.
Below if the video to her song Adieu to which I am listening right now.

Make sure you have a good listen to her. She is quite fantastic!

Cheers for reading,

Now go forth and French it up, dude. 

Jane

"say my name, and every colour illuminates"

This is a bit of an all-in-one music post. Instead of creating two separate posts about Ed Sheeran and my most recently downloaded music, I have decided to just lump them all in together in one.
So back in August my lovely cousin Sara got tickets for Ed Sheeran in th Roisin Dubh. I'm not going to lie, I would not necessarily be a major Ed fan but I was kind of looking forward to going to the Roisin Dubh for a reason that wasn't self-inflicted-torture-through-testing-tolerance-to-open-mic-night- performers. (It's not that I entirely disapprove of the Open Mic Night at the Roisin Dubh. There are some insanely talented people there such as Sharpe in the Lab and Tara Stacey and her amazing ukelele and even the two guys who host it. Having said that though it is, to me anyway, just one more pretentious step up the ladder above from karaoke in Fibber McGee's which is coincidentally also held on a Tuesday night.)
(Then again I may just be jealous because I cannot play an instrument.)

Anywho, so unfortunately I did have a few more tipples than I should have had before attending the gig so I was a little worse for wear even before the supporting acts had finished. From what I can remember though, and from the numerous shaky videos that I took on my phone, Ed Sheeran is a fantastic live act and I would probably go and see him again. His supporting act, a lovely lady, named Kal Lavelle was also very good and she signed a little beer mat for me.

Below I have posted one of the several dodgy videos that I took of the wonderful Ed Sheeran. I know it is shockingly horrific but I am no Spielberg. So enjoy the 25 seconds of Ed and I hope it doesn't put you off him.

And so I'll move on to the important part: Ceremonials.

image via google.images.com

Florence and the Machine's fantabulous new album. To sum it up, Ceremonials makes Lungs look like a vocal warm-up. Florence Welch (above) is probably my ultimate girl-crush despite the fact that my mum asked me on Sunday - while the lovely Florence stooped to conquer the X Factor - if she was a transvestite because of her abnormally wide shoulders aka man shoulders. It's basically a more grown-up Florence sound, making you want to be her friend even more.
Skip to: the beginning and start from there.
Put on repeat: Spectrum - (from where the title of this post comes) extremely catchy and it has a disco kind of thing going on that sticks in your head all day; Only If For a Night - chorus has the same power as Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) that I could just never put my finger on, like it is almost bursting out of the song itself. Also the image of a ghost who "should be so practical" stays with you long after the 4 and 58 seconds. It's a long song but worth every second because there is a sort of La Roux In For The Kill vulnerability to her voice that it may break at any second. So beautiful.

By the way, if anybody is expecting real album reviews here, then they are definitely in the wrong place. I will only download entire albums if I like the entire album otherwise I will just download a couple of songs so I will probably not bother to write about them. Hence if I do bother to download an entire album and then write about it, I will only have nice things to say. Other entire albums that I have recently downloaded include the Antlers' Burst Apart and Edward Shape and the Magnetic Zeros' 2009 offering Up From Above.

P.S click HERE for the lyrics of Spectrum, it pretty much sums up how much Florence has upped her game. No Lady Gaga ambiguity, no sexual innuendos. Just really poetic, perfectly formed lyrics.

Cheers for reading,

Jane