RHCP. I thank you.

In my short lifetime I have been lucky enough to see a number of international bands. 

Korn, Fall Out Boy, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Kings of Leon, Good Charlotte, Kaizer Chiefs, Avril Lavigne, Haste the Day, Billy Talent, Muse, Chris Cornell, Johnny Foreigner, Seven Year Kismet. 

Recently I was lucky enough to add one more to that list. Red Hot Chili Peppers. 

To be honest, I was slightly over eager for this one, and this was evident in me arriving about 6 hours early, but I was not alone. Braving the world of rock n roll with me were my two best friends and possibly a large amount of alcohol in my bag. 

To be honest the opening act ,The Muffinz were horrendous which should not be a surprise as they used a 'z' instead of an 's' in their name.  Die Antwoord, whom I don't entirely hate, really fucked shit up, for a lack of a better phrase. Sorry. They were surprisingly incredible, and when they brought out Money Mark (who is from the Beastie Boys, in case you didn't know), shit got real. 

There was a stage when the stadium just went pitch black. It was time. The Red Hot Chili Peppers blew me and the other 64 999 people in the stadium that night away. There may or may not have been tears.

A few issues I did have though, drink lines, the giant ditch into which I fell and they didn't play Scar Tissue. Other than that, it was possibly the greatest night of my existence so far. I am possibly living in a RHCP aftermath depression because nothing is as cool anymore. 

Love Always,

Nicole. 

I'm a Desmond and the Tutus Kid

There is a reason I am not mentioning Desmond and the Tutus in my "Ode to South African Music" blog posts, this reason is in fact that they are too godddamn awesome to not have their own post.

That's just me, staring into Shane's eyes lovingly. Ain't no thing. 

 

Desmond classifies themselves as "kwela-rave, rock-'n-roll-disco-punk."  but to sum Desmond and the Tutus up, in their own words on imagining one of their shows: "It might be easier to imagine Johnny Clegg and Blondie in matching Lycra outfits doing a duet of AC/DC's  "You Shook Me All Night Long" while a troupe of traditional Zulu dancers in DEVO hats do the robot in the background."

My love affair with Desmond and the Tutus commenced when I was just 16, and I've been fangirling ever since. You dance your face off from start to finish. They're so good that I have in fact sustained many-a-injury during their shows and have not even noticed the blood caked on myself until the next day when their magic finally wears off.

Don't believe me? I give you; twitter evidence.

All I'm really trying to say is that this is just a bunch of guys that make amazing music and have even more amazing live shows and they deserve your love.

I leave you with this;

Love Always,
Nicole

An Ode to South African Music

Something that I hear quite often is how shit the South African music scene is and that's fine. but you my friends are wrong and probably smell weird. As an avid attender of gigs and general South African music lover, I am here to prove you wrong, so here we go; 

If you like your music beautiful and with a healthy dose of innovation then look no further than Dear Reader, for you will find this and a bit more.

Dear Reader's song Great White Bear, everything from the acoustic intro to the strangely mesmerising lyrics about a boy hiding in the stomach of a bear is near enough flawless. So oddly brilliant.

Haezer is on top of his game with his electronic-beat-freak melodies, and I'm not sure if it's really his music or his ability to hype up a crowd that gets me going, but I've never attended a Haezer gig that I didn't love.

Gangs of Ballet is a band that seems to receive a lot of harsh criticism and I'm not all too sure why. In my personal opinion, they're electric, epic and of an international standard. Disagree? No one cares.

This will be a reoccurring segment up on this here blog, so keep an eye out or don't, whatever, your loss.

You're welcome.
Love Always,
Nicole.

My Disconnected Reality

This is something I wrote quite a while ago and I just thought it was really fitting for how I've been feeling as of late, so I hope you like it. 

I find the only way to survive is to picture myself in an entirely disconnected reality. Walking across campus, tuned out of reality and plugged into my iPod.

It transports you, it does't matter what's wrong or right with the world because in those few minutes nothing else matters, it all just melts away. Your fears, your hopes, your dreams, float away.

Close your eyes.

Your slightest doubt or deepest regret, fall away.

When I get overwhelmed with anxiety, and panic settles in my heart and mind, it's the music that pulls (sometimes drags) me from the edge and instead of falling into the darkness, you glide right over it.

I just need to carry on gliding.

Love Always,

Nicole

Mahogany Sessions

The Mahogany Sessions complete with incredibly thoughtful production, intimate presentation, delicious artists and the happiest of moments make this possibly the best place on the internet. 

Beautifully depicted acoustic musical performances that share a tidbit of each artists soul.

Here are a few of my favorites;


                                                                Bastille - Pompeii

Leo Stannard - Please don't

The Staves - Mexico

Please feel free to find me on campus and thank me, I accept chocolate and wine.

Love Always,
Nicole 

Anti-Vist

So lately I've been in a bit of a mood and as a result, posts have been scarce but I decided to embrace this and write about some jaw-dropping-wall-to-wall-hits-to-shout-your-bleeding-heart-to. 

So one of my old favourite bands just released a fourth album called Sempiternal ( No idea what this means? Neither did I - Eternal and unchanging; everlasting - Thanks Yahoo, just kidding, we all know I used Google.) 

The album was leaked two months early and one thing more sexy than a man that makes good music, is one that is okay with leaks. 

One of my favourite things about this album was the release of possibly my favourite song on the album, Anti- Vist, where fans had to tweet and tweet and continue to tweet until a quota was reached and when it reached the mark this spiteful anthem of pure hatred was unleashed and stole my heart. 

The general mood on Sempiternal is a melancholic combination of regret and cautious hope, and blending this with ruthless riffs and widescreen drama makes the feeling behind this all the more potent.

Middle fingers up, if you don't give a fuck.

Love Always, 
Nicole 

Holy Fire

For those of you that don't know, and for this you should be ashamed of yourselves, Foal's released a new album this year and all I can say is; pretty much amazing. It was really hard for me to censor that sentence for words unfit for virgin ears.

Holy Fire is out-selling both the soundtrack for Les Miserables and Fleetwood Mac's re-issue of Rumours.


They also entered the British charts #1, so a virtual high five goes out to the Brits for their impeccable taste in music (also, thank you for The Arctic Monkeys).


I'm not going to review the entire album, because ain't nobody got time for that (folks, there's your internet reference for the day) but in a nutshell though, Holy Fire is a record that bursts out of your speakers and demands your love.


'Providence' is a track that will lodge itself in your Most Played playlist on your iTunes almost instantly and will most likely stay there for the rest of eternity I'm afraid.


'Inhaler' is a slow build but with a Yannis falsetto which suddenly explodes Holy Fire into the stratosphere.

I actually hadn't heard 'Moon' until today, when a friend recommended it, but it is like an excursion into twinkling, nighttime ambiance so fragile you hardly take a breath for the whole five minutes.

So there's what you needed to know about music you should be listening to.


Love Always,

Nicole

Clean Slate

I've decided to start this year with a clean slate.

New year, new blog.

If you read my previous blog, you'd know that it was inspired by The Perks of Being a Wallflower and was a lot more personal than this blog will be. Instead of talking about myself, I'll be talking about the things I like, don't like and things you probably don't give a shit about.

So get excited.

Love Always (Yes, I'm keeping this part, get over it),
Nicole