Champion Sound

Now I am more than aware that Crystal Fighters are not new to the scene, and that I'm horribly late to the party but I've recently just gotten into them.  I'm not entirely sure what folktronica is, but apparently I like it.

The best way to describe them is that they are bright and brash, their eclectic unfocused sound reminds me a little of a Gracelands-era Paul Simon tribute act.

                                                          LA Calling - Crystal Fighters  
     

                                                          Everywhere - Crystal Fighters

I find their lyrics lacking, but the lack of lyrical integrity actually has no effect on their records. Honestly, they're one of those bands that I don't really want to sit around and dissect the music because it's rife with poor quality and such, but you just can't help be caught up in their delirious state of happiness.

In a Crystal Fighters world the MDMA is far from wearing off and it's perpetually sunny.

Love Always,
Nicole

p.s) I cannot explain the accents in some of their songs, but I'll allow it because, DANCING.

One For The Road

At the moment, Arctic Monkeys' newest album has become one of my all time favourites and I've wanted to write about it for ages but I haven't been able to put the way I feel about it into words, let alone write an entire blog post about it.

BUT

Arctic Monkeys have to be the most consistent band when it comes to B-sides, their B-sides are better than most bands' A-sides. With AM alone producing 2013, Stop the World I Wanna Get Off With You and somehow they have managed to out do themselves with their latest, You're So Dark

There's mention of Dracula capes, H.P. Lovecraft and a Prius. It's all so fitting for Turner's '50s hair coif. Basslines and crooning that will quickly make this song one of my favourites.

You're So Dark is the B-side for their newest single One For The Road. Sultry and complex, and a clear display that Turner has become the master of his voice.

As for AM, I suggest you give the gleefully dark album a listen.

Love Always,
Nicole

Unhappy

Unhappy. adj. Not satisfied: displeased or discontented.

I've been struggling a bit lately and I think that's why I haven't written in awhile. Here's some music that's been getting me by.

Years and Years - I Wish I Knew

Crystal Fighters - Love Natural

Sleeping with Sirens - Roger Rabbit 

Grouplove - Ways to Go

I'll be back soon.

Love always, 

Nicole 

Why I write

When I started this, all I could muster was a grocery style list of reasons of why I write, which made me realise that; a) I may actually not be a very good writer at all and b) I may be studying the entirely wrong thing. This was less than encouraging. Actually that is a bit of an understatement, it was soul destroying. I was struggling with writing this to the point where I expressed my doubts with a friend and he said "use your magic." He was right, I do use magic, everyday. Words are magical. Why should it matter if it doesn't make sense or if it's just line after line of sentences that have nothing to do with each other because each word in itself has the ability to create something through magic; light, darkness, pain, sorrow, love, happiness, laughter and tears. So here's my grocery style list of magic, that I hope evokes something, because that's why I write, to evoke the beautiful things in life.


I write for my dad because I'm not sure how but I know wherever he is, he can read it and he's proud.


I write for my mom because I hope to show her that I appreciate everything she does for me.


I write for my friends because I'm often unable to express how much they mean to me aloud.


I write because I'm anxious.


I write because I'm nostalgic.


I write because I'm insecure.


I write because I'm hopeful.


I write because I'm indecisive.


I write because I'm timid.


I write so that the pressure that is perpetually building up in my brain can be released.


I write because I'm happy and I don't want to forget the feeling or the person that made me feel that way.


I write because sometimes I feel inadequate but I manage to persuade myself otherwise with my writing.


I write because sometimes words are the only things worth believing in.


I write because I'm a doomed dreamer that wants to save everybody and show the world she was given, that they're wrong.


I write because the people in my head need a voice to.


I write because I can't sleep.


I write because it's like opening my window shade and I am letting some light in.


I write because it makes things seem conquerable.


I write because how else do you keep going when something horrible happens


I write because I'm scared to get close.


I write because I hate being alone.


I write because I long for the feeling to not feel at all.


I write because I'm living the dream , one mistake at a time.


I write because a page is the only place that I can be myself.


I write because every word is a tidbit of my soul splashed onto a page.


Some days are magic and I can do anything and that's why I write. The other days I just have to wait, and hope it comes back.

I'm scared.

I was sorely mistaken in thinking that the scariest thing about coming to university, was knowing no one and being thrown into an entirely unknown universe. No one has experienced fear until you’ve stepped foot in the Africa Media Matrix as a third year. You enter a room filled with twenty two other hopefuls. We're all here for the same reason, we all have the same dream - the only problem is: will all of us make it?  It's as if we were newly trained soldiers that have been called to duty, pushed into battle. Led by our general who comes with experience and weapons we haven't even thought of acquiring in our short life. It's overwhelming being on the front line. Will I make it back home with only a few cuts and scrapes or will I just be one of those bodies left on the battlefield - collateral damage? 

Even more overwhelming than being on the front line is the fear that there might not be relevance in what you want to do with your life. We are far removed from the heyday of music journalism. Back when the writers were as big as the rock stars they were writing about.

Is it the difference of times, the advancement of technology or has the culture of music journalism completely changed since the 70s? Sure there are prominent music journalists today like Chuck Klosterman and Andy Greenwald but they don't nearly reach the impacting status of Lester Bangs or Aronowitz (who was the man who introduced The Beatles to Bob Dylan, inspiring the psychedelic era of the Sgt. Pepper variety). 

It's not that the writers aren't as immersed in the music culture as they used to be but rather that the diversification of popular music has shifted the camaraderie that once existed between writers and musicians to more professional and less cordial. Journalists of the traditional kind might be expected to marvel the scenes of some elaborate art show before darting off to discuss why we should be preserving badger habitats with some elderly wild life fellow. The music journalist keeps strictly to their niche: the musician and their wild (or not so wild) endeavours. It has become a breeding ground for elitism. 

Music journalists are notoriously candid about the inanity of our chosen career path, after all the field seems to aggrandise troubling personal characteristics such as bullish solipsism, inflated, bratty taste and unhealthy clinging to the youthful behaviours of all night shows, binge drinking and following around rock stars like hounds. Now, instead of being a part of the party, the music writer is just an observer. This isn't a science and it could be argued the opposite, maybe the writers of the 60s and the 70s were exceptions to the norm but that's what made rock journalism so unique. As music culture diversifies, music analysis diversifies. This isn't to say that one era is better than the other but instead simply that the realm of music journalism is constantly changing.

With this being said, the greatest challenge that faces music journalism yet is the internet and blogging. Music blogs are said to be ruining music journalism because music blogs serve as a content delivery system devoid of valuations and more concerned with posting information first instead of engaging it on any sort of critical level. This is a problem because it doesn't necessarily promote what's good but rather what is already popular, which is the opposite of what rock journalism is supposed to do. Which is true, blogs for the most part are echo chambers. They don't tell you anything, they just present you with videos of a band’s late night talk show appearance and hope that you'll click their link and get them some ad money. Why put in the effort to describe the sounds and essence of music when you can just toss in a hyperlink? - Of which I am guilty in my own writing. 

One of the most important elements of music journalism is the journalist as critic and taste maker.  If they say its good you buy it, if they slate the living hell out of it you stay well away. According to Johann Hari, a critic’s most basic task is to offer consumer advice. "There are more films, books, albums, and plays out this week than you can experience in a life time" Anyone with an internet connection has access to a menu of infinite cultural experiences. You need intelligent people to work through them and recommend the most interesting. In recent years an argument has appeared about the role of the critic, is it becoming redundant? And if so does that also mean the death of the music journalist?

According to Barney Hoskyns (The Sound and the Fury) "The sad truth is that rock journalism has become little more than a service industry, with scant autonomy and even less responsibilities to its readers" I agree with Hoskyns’ point as the media machine nowadays is controlling everything. PR's control what you write to make it favourable towards their artists. CEO'S at magazines control what content you write about to pull in advertising and make themselves look good. I sit here and wonder where the freedom of opinion has gone? This freedom of opinion is what made up a music critic. Drowned in Sound sum up the decline in dominance of the critic perfectly posing the question can being a critic ever be as important as it once was. whether Bangs, Cameron Crowe, Julie Burchill, Tony Parsons, Danny Kelly or Paul Morley to name but a few give ample evidence of the cultural impact of the music critic in past decades. It is sad to say that you would struggle to identify any current critics that are likely to reach such heights in coming years. 

As if I was not terrified enough, I came across a quote that did not make me feel any better at all. “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture” – at first blush, the claim is a smugly dismissive one. Verbal descriptions are doomed to be pointless, perhaps even ridiculously, inferior to actual music. As a writer this assertion paralysed me. I didn't want to waste three or four years trying to produce something that could not be produced. I tried to put aside the line's foundational snobbery (my music is too ineffable for your inky art) and then reassuringly, it seemed like nothing more than truism: words are words and music is music and perfume is perfume; paintings are paintings, facial features are facial features. Yet writers are never counseled against attempting to evoke paintings, smells or faces, or feelings or buildings or the non-melodic sounds of jackhammers, thunder or snoring. What was so elusive about music that it couldn't be captured by words? Then I thought to myself, "but dancing is very much about architecture", it's all about movement, lines and flow, thankfully I was able to brush this one off - will I be as lucky next time I am discouraged? 

I'm overwhelmed. I breathe music, I throw myself into it and everything associated with it, just to be told by my head that I am wasting my life on music that I don't even create. The industry is dying and I'm scared that I might need a backup plan for everything I am. I am perpetually frozen by the fear of inadequacy, maybe I am not good enough for this dog eat dog world where someone will chew my writing up and spit it out but somehow I manage to persuade myself otherwise with my writing and it doesn't really matter if the industry is dying because it only takes a spark to ignite a fire. I have no doubt that I have the ability to be that spark. So I will stand on the front line and fight this war, with my fellow soldiers and the leadership of our general. I salute you.

Smile

I'm currently overwhelmed with work and for that reason, blog posts have been scarce. That's my bad.

Exams are shitty but that's no reason for you to be a shitty person.

 Smile!

Love Always,
Nicole

Inked

To me, tattoos are a beautiful piece of art that can tell my story. It's a permanent display of yourself.

So I figure, why not display mine?

Age 18 and as an angsty teenager would, I went and got a bit of a spontaneous tattoo of a peace sign on my foot. As you can imagine, my mother wasn't too impressed when I got home with this. Basically it was just the idea that I wanted to walk with the intent of bringing peace and being free. No regrets, I still love this tattoo.

Also, feet are ugly and I wanted to make mine a little prettier.

On the beach - how fitting.

Age 20, a little bit older but not much wiser - I did however put a little more thought into this one.

The script reads: "The ones we love never truly leave us" which is actually a take on a quote from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. (Harry Potter for life)

Basically it's a silhouette of a little girl holding onto birds as if they were balloons. There are five birds attached to string, and each bird represents an important person in my life that I have lost;
My dad
My grandfather
My two best childhood friends
My childhood dog

I just wanted a reminder that they will never truly leave me and that they will always be there lifting me up. 

Sorry I'm half naked - it's in a bit of an awkward spot for photos.

I have plans for a couple more that hopefully I'll get done some time soon. Just don't tell my mom. 

This was a little different, but hopefully the good type of different.

Love Always,
Nicole

Motivation

Motivation; The psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior.

I know it's tough, just know someone believes that you can do it - now convince yourself you can. 

The xx - Intro

 

Lemaitre - Cut to Black 

Ben Howard - Keep your head up

 

Woodkid - Conquest of Spaces

Atlas Hands - Benjamin Francis Leftwich

Good luck. 

Love Always, 

Nicole

An Ode to South African Music (Part Two)

It has been awhile since my first "An Ode to South African Music" post and I'm just going to assume that you all have been waiting in anticipation for the next one. If you weren't, just leave me ignorant and blissful.

Luckily for all of you, I was inspired, P.H.Fat is coming to town! - which is what I was planning to say when I was going to finish this post before Saturday night but alas here I am on Monday evening.

So I went to P.H.Fat and it was amazing. With all of the fighting it took for me to get to the front and all the sweat, I must have lost about two kilos. To sum my evening up; What's your favourite ice cream? Mother fucking lightning!

They're great, see for yourself.

 

P.H.Fat - Jump 

Das Kapital is a young musical force to be reckoned with that refuses to be tied down by any one genre. He seeks to take people on an introspective journey through intricate percussion, brooding melodies and dark bass. 

Das Kapital broke into the "mainstream" consciousness with this personal favourite of mine; 

 

Bon Iver - Skinny Love (Das Kapital Rerub)

The Stella's are a band that I came across by chance, when myself and a friend pretended to be people on the guest list to get into their E.P launch - mostly for shits and giggles (also free beer played a part). It seemed rude to not give them a listen after sneaking into their event and they happened to blow me away to the point where I actually bought their E.P Cut Throat.  

Dirty, four chord, rock 'n' roll reminiscent of the proto-punk days of The Stooges and MC5. 

It wouldn't let me put the video on here so I had to make this stupid link

The Stella's - Taking Chances

Part three will be posted at some point in the future (attempted to make this as vague as possible).

Love Always, 

Nicole

Romance Rant

Why is it that I can sit in the Journ department for hours on end with a brain full of lollipops, rainbows and cheese but as soon as I get home and get into the shower  at 2 a.m, all of a sudden ideas and inspiration just magically appear. So as I rinsed the conditioner from my hair, reliving conversations from earlier in the night, where my friend described her love life as being as dry as the Kalahari Desert (or something like that) and as I do (sometimes), I got to thinking and;

It kind of bugs me that the epitome of romance in this town is hooking up against a wall in a dingy dark club or double booking your meal in the dining hall. Personally, I can't think of anything less romantic than staring lovingly into each others eyes over some "Hong Kong Chicken" and you know why I've put that in quotation marks, I question that what they give us actually is chicken.

What happened to going for coffee or God forbid, lunch at a restaurant?

Now don't get me wrong, romance in this town is not extinct (I'm talking about the couples that have romantic picnics in bot gardens and all that sickeningly adorable stuff) but it is an endangered species. I also don't think that this lack of romance is specifically just in Grahamstown, romance seems to be dying no matter what the zip code.

I also think that technology has made things more complicated then they have to be. Twitter and Facebook - I'm looking at you. "Oh is that tweet about me? I bet it is. He totally likes me" It's just a tweet, calm the fuck down and don't read so much into things. How about we all just grow some balls (or lady balls) and say something to the person we want? - No, why would we do that, that's far too uncomplicated.

Thinking about my workload I doubt I would even have time for romance so I have no idea why I'm ranting about it, (but like I said 2 a.m) , as I am in a long term relationship with Journ 3 but at least I get fucked on a regular basis (by Journ, just incase you didn't get that joke and are now thinking that I am a trollop, not that I'm insinuating that if you have sex on a regular basis that you're a trollop, fuck it, you know what I'm trying to say).

As a self proclaimed realist, life isn't a movie and nobody is really expecting that Notebook kind of love, well at least I'm not, but it's not too much to ask for something real? Is it?

Love Always,
Nicole

P.S, It just wouldn't be right without some music, so here's one of my obsessions at the moment.

San Cisco - Awkward 

Infatuated

Infatuation; the state of being carried away by unreasoned passion or love: expresses the headlong libidinal attraction' of addictive love.

We've all been there. I'm here to give it a soundtrack.

 

The Kooks  - Sway 

 

Death Cab for Cutie - I will follow you into the dark

The Smiths - There is a light that never goes out

Woodkid - I love you 

Lewis Watson - Into the wild

San Cisco - Reckless 

Love Always, 

Nicole

Tyler creates

Odd Future have a reputation for being amoral rap hellions turning the worlds youth onto rape and devil worship (I'm not even kidding), the music of Wolf Gang's de facto leader frequently stews on things internal: the contents of his fucked-up head and heart. 

With Wolf, Tyler, the Creator displays a radical growth as a composer, producer and arranger. Wolf contains some of the best songs he's ever written. '48" is a surprise,"Lone" and "Answer" explore some deeply personal shit with poise, and "Rusty" is one of the most striking lyrical performances on the entire album if you can look past the self-serving chest-beating.

Answer

Awkward, which is one of my favourite songs on the album, finds a chopped and screwed Tyler ruminating about his first love, the girl he just couldn't hang on to, his heartbreak compounded by a sweet Frank Ocean finish.

Awkward

Wolf is the sound of a creative mind coming into possession of the proper means to carry out it's ideas. When the album isn't busy telling us that we should like it more, it's delivering reasons why we actually should.

Love Always,
Nicole 

Freaks and Geeks

The more things change in the music world, the more Childish Gambino's commitments to Asian women and pop-culture references stay the same. The style wrapped around those Childish Gambino mainstays is evolving for the better, though.

For a successful comic who's decided to fight for rap legitimacy, Gambino's determined to talk about his roots despite his present success and to employ a style that some find incompatible with his hipster TV writer persona. If you think he's being tongue in cheek when he injects "street swagger" (can't believe I'm allowing these words on my blog, just this once, I promise) into his lyrics and delivery, these songs won't change your mind outright but you might take a second look.

Freaks and Geeks

Firefly

Heartbeat

These Girls

 (Personal favourite, it's good I swear)

P.S, his real name is Donald Glover (no relation to me, unfortunately) and you can watch him on Community, 'cause that show is fucking awesome. 

Love Always, 

Nicole 

It's a trap

My posts generally consist of the same genre and style of music and this week I'm here to prove that I'm not a one trick pony. So the next few posts will be exploring some different (but in a good way) shit.

A genre that is mutating as quickly as it is gaining exposure through the ever expanding world of hybrid dance genres - Trap.

I'm no expert so I'm not going to say anything because I'll probably just sound like a dick. So just listen; it's good. 

 

Yellow Claw - Kaolo 

Major Lazer - Original Don (Flosstradamus Remix)

Just Blaze and Baauer - Higher

Love Always, 

Nicole

This is my life

I spend my life looking for new music and I'm okay with that.

It just seems fair to share what I find. 

 

  

The Middle East - Blood

 

Passenger - Let Her Go

Daft Punk - Get Lucky

Daughter - Human

We Are Scientists - Spoken For 

Atlas Genius - Trojans

Love Always, 

Nicole

Consider Rock and Roll Saved

Rock and roll used to be about greatness, about escape and heroes. Once, you could get lost in an album, entangled in it's world. It's been a long time since this has been the case. Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys has changed that. It's a fast-paced, catchy pop anthem, with punk undertones. It seems like My Chemical Romance are done with hiding alter-egos and made a back-to-basics rock album.

It give us all the things that punk has never been able to provide: romance, sex, the adventure of the open road and sheer nihilism-banishing energy. It channels the band's genius taste for the absurd and the outlandish into a record inn gleeful love with macho pleasures of old school rock and roll. The jazz hands aren't visible to the naked eye, but they are there in spirit.

It is clear that the band have not let go of their conceptual theatrics as the record is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland of pop culture, with the band playing a bunch of outlaws known as The Killjoys. The Killjoys are battling the Draculoids and Better Living Industries, and this galactic themed conflict unfolds by way of anthemic, call-to-arms rock ("Na Na Na"), angular textures ("Party Poison"), dance-tinged ("Planetary GO!") pieces that all build up to the stadium-sized side of the rock palette. There's a snarl and a wink to the whole album, even though it swings wildly from power-pop jams like "Bulletproof Heart" to ballads like "SING" and dance-infused tracks like "Planetary (Go!)." "The Only Hope For Me is You" stands as the lone weak track on the record. It's pretty standard broken heart fare, and uninteresting as a result.

Bottom line, though, this album is a lot of fun. It rips by at an intense pace and re-establishes My Chemical Romance as the kings of evolution. There are a ton of possible singles on this release, but more importantly, there are a lot of songs you will want to listen to at high volume in your car. Beyond that, it's an album that begs to be played live.

   

Love Always, 

Nicole

Imitation is the highest form of flattery

Now, I'm not a huge fan of covers,because, far too often, amazing songs get butchered to death repeatedly by an axe.

 BUT

These people got it so, so right.

Gabrielle Aplin and Bastille - Dreams (Fleetwood Mac Cover)

Uhm, fuck yes.

Sleeping With Sirens - Iris (Goo Goo Dolls Cover)

That voice. God. 

Leo Stannard - Sweet Nothing (Florence Welch and Calvin Harris Cover)

Bastille feat. Ella - No Angels (TLC vs. The xx)

No words necessary.

Love Always, 

Nicole

Feeling Shit?

Me too.

So here are some of my feel good songs.
Listen, love and don't let the blues get to you too.

   BOY - Little Numbers

 Fall Out Boy - Where Did The Party Go?

The Wombats - Let's Dance to Joy Division

                                                 

   Silly Boy - The Blue Van

 Alt-J - Fitzpleasure

Love Always,

Nicole