Well, didn't this past month just fly by? I seriously don't know where it's gone! Some things have changed for me since we had the first edition of the monthly BUZZ; I can report that I've got a job and that I am now also writing reviews for RenownedForSound.com! Good times! Next week I go on (a UK) holiday, so hopefully summer is here to stay for a while instead of this unpredictable weather we're having.
Anyway, less dillydallying!
Marina And The Diamonds & Charli XCX - 'Just Desserts' Yes guys, THIS happened. Two of my current favourite female singers joined to collaborate on a Marina penned track; it was heaven. I could barely believe my eyes when this appeared on my Twitter feed (courtesy of Diamandis), and best of all? FREE DOWNLOAD! Wins all round! (Read my full post here) Superfood - 'TV' (Demo) Birmingham band Superfood dropped a new demo, therefore there is a grand total of two songs available online for your listening pleasure. This band are certainly growing on me, with their '90's influence and catchy lyrics. Similarly to the song 'Superfood', 'TV' is definitely a grower, and I'm looking forward to hearing a higher quality version and hopefully more demos in the near future.
Bjork - 'Army Of Me'
As I said on the post relating to this article, I find Bjork fascinating. She is truly one of the few individuals whose artistic vision is largely untampered by the barrage of the internet and a world that grows ever smaller, yet she somehow remains innovative (she created the first app album, yes - app!). 'Army Of Me' is easily my favourite Bjork song, the aggressive industrial stomp and her haunting voice are mesmirising. Laura Marling - 'Once I Was An Eagle'
The standout album for this month has to be Laura Marling's fourth effort, Once I Was An Eagle. If you've not listened to it yet, I can't recommend you do enough; it was stellar, and unexpectedly so on my part. Whilst I was aware of Marling and her brand of folk, I had never seeked out her music however, after reviewing it for RenownedForSound (please read it here) I was blown away by her effort. The video above is from her session on Jools Holland, and is identical to the recorded track. Savages - 'City's Full'
I recently gained possession of Savages album, Silence Yourself. I fully intended to write a review of it, however I just haven't had the opportunity to give it enough dedicated time and effort to articulate such; I hadn't even managed to listen to it until Wednesday! Savages, however, are a really good band, and definitely one I would love to catch live in the near future. Here's one of my fave's, 'City's Full'. God Damn - 'God Damn'
I've been listening to a lot of Black Country band God Damn recently. And I mean a. lot. At the moment they encapsulate everything I'm looking for in music: heavy, catchy, interesting, fun! God Damn have it in spades. Above is the song which encapsulates what the band are about, however you should also check out the epic video for their newest release, 'Heavy Money'. My boyfriend also did a review of the Heavy Money EP, which is currently streaming in full on God Damn's Soundcloud. ................................................................................................................................................. And that's it for May BUZZ! I'm really enjoying writing these posts, short, snappy and packed full of good stuff! I'm considering making a monthly playlist to accompany these posts. So, tell me, what have you been loving this May?
Is it that time of week again already? It feels like barely five minutes since I did this post last week. Anyways, here we are and if you're British you'll know that our promising looking summer has dissipated into perpetual GLOOM. Perhaps I cursed us all by posting that summer playlist a tad too early.
This week, I've been listening to a lot of Marina because - let's face it - when is there ever a wrong time to listen to Marina? Those unacquainted with her pre-Electra Heart efforts will find themselves met with a less mainstream sound which, whilst still electronic, is far more piano based, as seen in songs such as 'Obsessions', 'Hermit The Frog', 'Numb' and 'Guilty'. 'Mowgli's Road' - the first single taken from Marina's 2009 debut, The Family Jewels - is easily one of the singer's most bizarre, seeing her cuckoo (literally) her way through three minutes of cartoonish shtick that is reminiscent of a Noughties Kate Bush. As always, Marina's voice is her best asset which - though no doubt irritating for some - is capable of many feats, her whooping vibrato channeling many a character as she embodies her role as a lost Mowgli, stumbling along the path of life unsure of their aim, with the lyrics 'There's a fork in the road/ I'll do as I'm told/ Well I don't know (don't know, don't know, don't know)/ Who I wanna be' reinforcing this dilemma of being controlled - most likely by her label - in her quest for recognition.
Marina is currently touring the US in support of her second album Electra Heart (which is out now), along with support from Charli XCX.
Do you like Marina? Which do you prefer - her first album or Electra Heart? What is your favourite Marina song?
I must say that seeing this on my Twitter feed today was rather unexpected, but after I saw Marina (of Diamond ilk) post about getting ready to drop a track that she recorded with Charli XCX, I got more than a tad excited; two of may favourite pop artists collaborating!? What on Earth could be better?
The song - 'Just Desserts' - sounds like a perfect blend of the two singers, combining Marina's dark electronic pop with Charli's quirky delivery. Whilst Marina's voice is unique, Charli's contribution manages to compliment it, whilst many other voices wouldn't have been able to pull it off without it sounding more than a bit awkward; however, that said, at times it get a little difficult to differentiate between the two voices.
As for the song itself, it grows with each listen, however it definitely feels as though it is leaning closer to the Marina side of the fence, and 'Just Desserts' would have been perfectly at home slap bang in the middle of Marina's 2012 concept album, Electra Heart. Lyrically, the content is similar - in this instance, an ode to revenge - with Charli declaring in a sickly sweet manner 'Yeah baby, I know that it hurts when you're about to get your just desserts'. For fans of either or both of the singers, the song is definitely an unexpected treat!
Again, not so rapid! Apologies, apologies! It's my own fault, recently I've just been trying to keep on top of reading and seeing family and friends and the boyf and generally pondering the point of my own existence to really commit to on here, or writing and drawing or anything of purpose in general.
I know, I know, by my own admission, my excuses are getting old, and now I appear to be rambling, but a combination of all of these little things led me to not keeping up to date with music in general, procrastination for the nation!
(Deeeeep breath!) To la review!
Ellie Goulding's woken up!
Her second album, Halcyon, far surpasses both her début and extended editions (Lights and Bright Lights - old old review!) which, similarly to Marina and the Diamonds' The Family Jewels and Electra Heart, slips into an unsatisfying mid-tempo slumber a third in. Halcyon, however, is slathered in synths, and as much as Goulding denies boyfriend, Skrillex's influence on her work, it can't be denied, as this is an oddly workable combination of folk-pop and commercial dubstep.
Luckily, there are many songs superior to the aggravatingly repetitive 'Anything Can Happen', and why she chose that as the lead single, I'll never know. 'Figure 8' for example, is far superior and immediate and would sound huge live. That said, this entire album is far more upbeat and memorable; the gems are surprisingly again hidden on the deluxe release, namely 'Ritual', 'In My City' and 'Without Your Love' all being brilliant additions.
A few collaborations are snuck in here too, the Calvin Harris song 'I Believe Your Love', as well as the teaser track that Goulding released a few months back, 'Hanging On' (feat. Tinie Tempah (review here!), is also on here, as well as an alternate, albeit un-extended version of the track minus his cliché rap efforts.
Forgetting those, it is worth a second to state that Halcyon appears a far more mature and experimental effort than the first; at times it is dark and haunting in sound ('Don't Say A Word'), whilst lyrically it seems less naive, but always always with pop sentiments close at heart. It's say to say that Halcyon was the surprise of my week; a die hard fan of Goulding's first album, I doubted that it's successor would live up to the recent hype surrounding Goulding, but it did, and for that I'm glad!
'How to Be a Heartbreaker' was recently revealed to be the third single taken from Marina and the Diamonds' second album, Electra Heart. Don't worry, if, like myself, you were a tad confused as to this song's whereabouts within the album; the track was apparantly written a week after the UK edition of Electra Heart was finalised and was, therefore, included on the US version of the album.
The song is fresh and catchy, a perfect summer track (unfortunately, the weather doesn't seem to be complying as of late!), and is again keeping in with the Electra Heart theme of the rights and wrongs of love and relationships and female empowerment, and despite the song being very good, the theme feels a little tired.
It is a shame the song didn't exist before the Electra Heart UK was finished, as it would provide a bit more 'oomph' if placed strategically within the album. However, it is a much stronger song than 'Power and Control', which I was surprised to find chosen to be a single.
Marina is still on tour (!) and starts a UK jaunt in October; she's playing my hometown so hopefully I'll be able to cajole someone into joining me!
'How to Be a Heartbreaker' is due for release in September (unfortunately couldn't pin down the date) with a video to follow. Check my review of Electra Heart here :)
Leeds Metropolitan University (September 30) Dundee Fat Sam's (October 2) O2 Academy Liverpool (4) Preston 53 Degrees (5) Manchester Academy (6) O2 Academy Leicester (8) Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall (9) London HMV Forum (11) Lincoln Engine Shed (14) O2 Academy Oxford (15) Dublin Olympia Theatre (17)
OK, OK, definitely a not so 'rapid' review on this one! When the catchy pop of radio friendly 'Radioactive' appeared last year, I got rather excited for the second album from Marina Diamandis' outfit, Marina and the Diamonds. However, after 'Primadonna' was debuted, I became far less enthusiastic; what had happend to the quirky Marina of yesteryear?
'Primadonna'
Recently however, after skimming through some of the songs on Electra Heart on Spotify, I decided to give the album a proper go, and in doing this I realised that Marina was just as smart, opinionated and self critical as she ever was, if not more so, but her wit and intelligence was far more slickly hidden. Take the dance pop of the album's first single, 'Primadonna' for example; many a fleeting ear would dismiss it as a teenager's 'Barbie Girl', and it was largely received so, giving Diamandis her highest charting single to date (Top 10 in UK chart), however lines such as 'living life like I'm in a play', 'I wanna be adored' and 'All I ever wanted was the world/ I can't help that I need it all/ The primadonna life, the rise and fall' hint at darker themes that are displayed more explicitly in other songs, such as 'Lies' and 'Fear and Loathing', with Diamandis bluntly stating in that latter the lyrics of 'I've lived a lot of different lives/ Been different people many times/ I live my life in bitterness/ And fill my heart with emptiness'.
'Fear and Loathing'
Whilst the actual music of the album is dark, sometimes sterile, sometimes emotive pop, it surprisingly works better than you'd think, given the contrast to her previous, more theatrical/ musical direction of her debut album, The Family Jewels.
I'll be honest, Electra Heart surprised me as being a better album than I'd thought it would. But to me, Marina's best quality in her song writing will always be her ability to take somewhat controversial and polarising themes for her songs and mask them within catchy pop songs, and Electra Heart is a far more expansive project than The Family Jewels, spanning media forms (songs, photos, music videos, trailers - it's an entire body of work), as well as Diamandis herself committing herself to the character of Electra Heart within her daily life (the retro outfits, the blonde(?) hair) for the duration of the project and tour. You can't accuse Marina of being anything but thorough!
'Radioactive'
Electra Heart is out now, as is 'Power and Control'.
'How To Be A Heartbreaker' the next single is released in US and UK on 15th October 2012.
A few Sunday's ago, I found myself sinking into a quagmire of sand in a crowd of hysterical teens, graced by the occasional stench of weed and ducking from view from a swinging boon and camera. Yes, that's right people, I somehow found myself on T4 on the Beach.
'How!?' I hear you cry! Well, feeling somewhat obliged to accompany my bessie, I found myself watching The Wanted (alright), Tulisa and Dappy (not), Lawson, Stooshe (both surprisingly good) and Marina and the Diamonds (oh, Marina! <3). Not my typical event I will admit, although I also confess to knowing all the words to 'Too Many Man' by Boy Better Know (guilty pleasure, love it!).
Anyway, for just over a month now, I've been working in a hinge factory where my Mom works, full time, and whilst I'm now bringing in the wonga, I'm pretty knackered from early starts. Ironically, I've seen more of people recently than I did when I was unemployed, going out for meals, cinema, drives, but hey - I can afford it now :) Even though I am pretty tired, it feels nice to be contributing towards my keep and giving my Mom some money back too, and no matter how much I moan that the work is boring (it is), I realise that I'm lucky to have a job at all :)
Also, I apologise for the lack of action on here recently, but I've genuinely felt too tired to think. Shorter posts for the time being perhaps, or at least until I return to uni :)
I'm gonna write this post now as an attempt to organise myself and my weekly features!
Monday or Tuesday, depending on release date, I'll compile a list of weekly releases.
Sometime in the first half of the week, I'll put a few reviews up of my favourite singles of that week.
Album reviews will be uploaded in the second half of the week to allow for digestion time, and both single and album reviews will be listed (separately) on the Rapid Reviewspage.
The New Waveswill be updated whenever I hear/see a band or artist worth posting about.
The Life Logswill probably be the most regular, just if something worthwhile occurs in my existance or if I feel the need to have a whinge ;)
This will be a weekly feature where I choose a woman who inspires me (or has been heavily featured for whatever reason in that week) and discuss them and say what exactly makes them so great!
This was inspired by some other bloggers, whom take post about their daily outfits, fashion and beauty products. As much as I like clothes and things, I don't think I'm enough of an interesting dresser to warrant photos everyday. Same goes for beauty products, I just stick to what I know. However occasionally I may post on this sort of thing, especially if my outfit has been inspired in some way (eg. yesterday I felt like Kathleen Hanna, today more a pre-Electra Heart Marina and the Diamonds) or if it's for some special purpose.
Regarding the DIY aspect, that's self explanitory - tutorials for when I feel the need to share my creativity. This will most likely increase once our little customisation franchise gets up and running.
And I think that's it! Hopefully, this won't get too hectic (although I can see it getting that way)!
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