Rapid Review.. SO MANY REVIEWS!

I exist, say whut?

Just a brief one to end my absentee ways and - more specifically - to keep a record of some of the reviews I have written for other sites. I'm gonna link to some of the better ones I feel I have written on this particular blog post - please go have a read if you're so inclined!

Aside from that, I currently appear to have mislaid my blogging mojo. I'm afraid I'm still looking for it. Creative block sucks.
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1. AlunaGeorge - Body Music

This was a really good pop album - surprisingly so - and it was pretty amazing live and tipsy when I was at Reading. (READ HERE)

1. Swim Deep - Where The Heaven Are We

Because - let's face it - that other album cover was just far too cringey! Bit disappointed by this album in all honesty; the singles were very promising but I can't help but feel the band failed to back it up. (READ HERE)

3. The Civil Wars - The Civil Wars

This album was seriously beautiful, and the voices of Joy Williams and John Paul White are exquisite! (READ HERE)

4. Fenech-Soler - Rituals

Fenech-Soler's second album changed tack a little; it was far more pop than their previous (which was also very good!), so it's really up to preference. (READ HERE)

5. Arctic Monkeys - AM

Easily one of the most hyped and anticipated albums of the past year, ever since 'R U Mine' blew everything out of the water! Being almost 2 weeks since I first got my PR through Renowned For Sound, I'm still of two minds about it. I do like the album, it has some very good songs, and even the ones that I don't run to, when they crop up on my playlist, I still like them. On the other hand, 'R U Mine' almost set the bar too high in my opinion, and it almost feels like a separate entity in comparison to the rest of the album. I tried to articulate my feels better in the actual review, however I still feel that I'm not quite managing to hit the nail on the head with my p.o.v.  (READ HERE)

6. MGMT - MGMT

I didn't particularly enjoy this album so to speak; it is very dense and experimental, though I could still recognise that it was artfully done, if slightly self-indulgent. However, I feel I concluded very succinctly in this review, so here we are. (READ HERE)

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There were a lot of other reviews I've done of the past month or two that don't really fit the nature of this blog, so I've skimmed over those, but if you are so inclined, feel free to read my entire Renowned For Sound works here :)

Nothing better than a good idea!

So, in the midst of Britain's yearly heatwave, I spent the day indoors flitting about and sorting my student finance application (finally finished!) and printed some tab to learn on bass, 'R U Mine' by Arctic Monkeys next for me, I think. Also trying to teach myself guitar on my old acoustic that I first bought in age 11, saved all my pocket money for that! I quickly remembered what it was about attempting to teach myself that made me give up last time - struggling to hold down the chords. For someone with long, bendy fingers, you'd think that I'd have a much easier time achieving this than I actually am! However, I have a better concept of how to play the instrument this time around, after teaching myself bass; when I tried about 8 years ago, my brain genuinely couldn't comprehend strumming and timing!

Anyway, whilst filling in my student finance I was quickly reminded that I could really do with finding a job. Even if I only earned enough to have a bit of spending money as well as give my folks some board, it would be better than getting in more debt. Money left untouched is money that can be repaid quicker, after all. It was whilst browsing through some of my favourite blogs that I was struck by an idea. I was on LLYMLRS BigCartel, JWLRY, when I realised that she was, essentially, purchasing, bundling and re-selling rings in order to make a profit. After seeing all of the reconstructed and customised clothes at vintage store, COW in Birmingham last week, I realised that this was something that I and two of my friends whom take an interest in fashion could easily do ourselves, buying cheaply from places such as eBay and in sales and even raiding our own wardrobes for unwanted clothes which we could bleach, shred, stud and patch in order to make something one-off and unique. 'Vintage' has been really embraced in the past few years, especially so within the youth market who have a lot of disposable income, so this is something we could really capitalise on! Customising to order is another idea that I also had, for example taking a denim item and buying patches specifically and halving price costs between us and the seller. Retailing the actual denim higher than what we paid for it could still result in profit, as would purchasing the customising materials such as studs and the like in bulk. 

The three of us have pretty different styles of dress - I prefer dark colours, plaid and tartan, prints and loose fitting tops, whilst my (girl) best friend is far more feminine and prefers dresses, skirts and bright colours, whilst my (male) best friend prefers retro shirts, painfully skinny jeans and gaudy prints. Between the three of us, I really think we could come up with something that could appeal to a lot of people! Hopefully, the financial and business side of this can work out as efficiently as what I think the creative aspect will :)

In other news, the Japanese Voyeurs B-Side and Rarities CD that I ordered last week arrived today. It's a limited edition of 250 (mine was numbered 231) and I knew it was something that I had to own, as they were set to be my new favourite band (after the demise of Alexisonfire D':) before they too, decided to split a few months ago. The disc has some really good songs on it and was a snatch at £7 including postage, and I'll probably do a review on it in the next few days!

If you've never heard of Japanese Voyeurs, I'll leave you with a taster below, enjoy :)