New Years Music

So Christmas is over and even now I have a shit load of chocolate and sugary treats to eat. I wanted to show my appreciation to my friends and family for all the amazing gifts and stuff I've received seeing as I'm writing this post off of my new kindle :) I also got a fair amount of money to buy some new CD's, the majority of which are pictured above and I'm just waiting for the last one or two to arrive but I've got more than enough to last me. Good times!!!!

Since I have had some time off uni I have been trying to sort out my room into more of a presentable state. My girlfriend (with the same idea) was sorting out one of her living room cupboards and found a box of old CD's that I gave to her to store before I moved house. Listening to them again has brand back a lot of good memories from when I was first getting into music. Its really nice to look back to good music just before the new years. Let's hope this 2013 will bring even more brilliant music.

Have a good NYE!!

Esquire

As the title suggests, yesterday I finished reading the latest esquire. The only reason I bothered to pick up such a magazine was the large photo of Jack White on the cover and it claimed to be the music issue.
Inside, the interview they had was pretty interesting, talking about his life growing up and his relationship with Meg and the several different bands he has been a part of. After reading it I'm thinking about picking up the book The White Stripes - Sweethearts of the Blues to find out more.
They also had a segment about The Rolling Stones which can never be a bad thing :)

On top of this I have got a ticket to see Fidlar in the new year! Lets hope it's a good gig.

Merry Christmas!!

New Albums

Only 3 days till Christmas 2012 and this morning I've been into town and picked up two albums. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake and Crosby, Stills & Nash - Greatest Hits.

I know I'm like more than a year behind getting L.E.S. seeing as it was the top of lots of different Albums of the Year 2011 charts but I am not the best for getting up to date albums :) And I wanted to start a bit of a collection for C.S.N seeing as I had none to begin with and what better place to start than a greatest hits album. Even more stuff to listen to in these 3 weeks off.

I also wanted to include a photo of a cardboard model I have made whilst at my 1st term in university. Not in the shot is a full drum kit and electric guitar which the team made.

Christmas Holidays

Over the past couple of months I have been extremely busy at university. But now its the christmas holidays and I have enough time to update my news/goings on. I am really lucky to have received tickets to see Bruce Springsteen in June at the Ricoh Arena. I'm really looking forward to it!! Also in the past couple of weeks I have seen Mumford & Sons and Florence & the Machine. Both of which were really good but very different. I probably would say I preferred Mumford just because the whole crowd were more up for it. They both put on a great show.

Since starting uni, I have found out about a lot of new music, new genres and a load of artists. I'm getting into my great guitarists. Like right now I'm listening to a Susan Tedeschi greatest hits album and she is brilliant. But yea I have lots of new music to be getting through during the holidays. :)


Merry Christmas!

Howler

In just under a week I'm going to see Howler and The Cast of Cheers at the HMV institute in Birmingham. I have been listening to the Howler album a lot recently and am really enjoying it. Along with NME promoting them majorly, I think they are going to be a really good live act but we will see.

I have also been really busy at uni, below is one of my best drawings I have done so far.

More and more live shows

I'm really looking forward to getting my university timetable partly to see what dates I'm free to go to concerts. Up until early December there are lots of gigs that I want to go see. I found out about them thanks to SongKick, one of my favourite apps. Gigs that I want to see in date order are: The Enemy, The Gaslight Anthem, Ahab, Jack White, Jake Bugg, Bellowhead, Sonic Boom Six, The Vaccines, The View, Florence and The Machine and The Black Keys. Lets hope I can go to as many as possible, they should be really good.

I'm glad Impractical Jokers is back on tv. I have just watched the first episode of the second season and it is so so funny. I love it!

The Cribs

Exciting news, I am going to see The Cribs play at The Assembly in mid November I think it is. The same week as The Civil Wars. Also just today I bought three albums that I have wanted for my collection more than anything. Foo Fighters - In Your Honour, Green Days - Nimrod and Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly - The Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager. All on a three for ten pounds thank you Head.

I'm also starting uni in just over two weeks and can not wait. It's going to be so fun. :)

The Civil Wars

I recently got my next gig ticket through the door. I'm going to see The Civil Wars and The Lumineers at the Warwick Arts Center in a few months. I mainly got the ticket just to see The Lumineers but seeing as they are the support act I may as well stay and see if The Civil Wars are any good. I bought the debut Lumineers album after seeing them on the american Billboard charts and i really liked it. I definitely think their kind of folksy/rock music would be great to see live and if The Civil Wars are anything as good as them it should be a awesome night. I found out about this gig through the SongKick app and it is a great and very convenient way to find out about gigs in your local area.

And seeing as it was my birthday fairly recently I got a couple of HMV gift cards and so far i have got Oasis - Definitely Maybe, which I have been needing to get and Bellowhead - Hedonism and from having a good time seeing them live I hope the album equals their quality.

Lou Reed

Last night I went to see Lou Reed at The Assembly in Leamington. I didn't really know what to expect from him, what his voice would be like, who he would have on stage with him and what instruments he would play. It turned out to be a really good gig. His voice in my opinion has definitely not got worse with age and still sounds really good. Listening to both the songs I knew and didn't know I enjoyed both and his flair and style with playing them. Both him and the rest of the band played their instruments really well and sometimes in ways I haven't heard of before. You could tell he was a musician who knows his stuff. I would for sure see him again. After it ended I bought his latest record Lulu that he made with Metallica. I have heard a few mixed reviews but I'll see what it's like for myself.

I'm also currently watching season 5 of Breaking Bad and its still as good as ever and the drama is building and building. Brilliant show!

Art Of Rap

Last Saturday I was looking through a free magazine that came with the Guardian and I saw an advert for The Art Of Rap, it's a movie starring Ice T where he talks to all the big hip-hop legends in America. The advert was promoting the movie and afterwards a live streaming of a gig and Q&A. So when I get to the cinema to watch the movie there is only like seven people there so it was pretty nice to have a whole row to myself. After watching the movie I was expecting the live stream to come on screen or at least some cinema assistant to come in and announce something but after watching all the credits, the main lights coming on and the screen turning off I came to the conclusion there would be no more. I decided to walk out after about 10 mins leaving a couple of people there who obviously wanted to stick it out. It was really disappointing not to see the live gig featuring Ice T, Chuck D, Melle Mel and Raekwon. But I was really happy to pay seven pounds to watch a one night only screening of the movie. I'll definitely buy it when it comes to DVD.

Amy Winehouse

I have finished the book about Amy Winehouse. I seriously couldn't put it down since I got it on Friday and finished it on Monday. The whole book is written from the view point of Amys father Mitch. The book was revealing in terms of Amys addiction to drugs and alcohol and how the press and media played it to the public. It was also interesting finding more out about her relationship with Blake and how that affected her mainly for the worse. I have definitely gained a lot of knowledge about addiction and how it affects everybody around. It is a very sad book about a life that ended way too early. I would definitely recommend reading it.

And I received a early birthday present. A ticket for Lou Reed at the Assembly, yea.

The Stones

When I was down in cornwall I brought a book to read during the rainy days. It is called The Stones and its a biography of the Rolling Stones as a band. I just finished reading it and started a new book yesterday. I found it really interesting finding out about life inside the band, about Brian Joneses and his death, about the changing guitarists and the drug usages & busts. I really wanted to find out more about the band because I knew about them being like one of the worlds biggest rock bands but to be honest I didn't really know the ins and outs of the group or much about them at all. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes a truly interesting read.

As for the book I'm reading now is Amy written by her father Mitch Winehouse. I'm only a few chapters in to it but so far so good.

Chris Moyles

So yesterday I heard the news that Chris Moyles will be leaving the Radio 1 breakfast show. And pretty much everywhere I looked (with a few exceptions) everybody was happy and slating him in dislike. I would just like to say I think he is a really funny person and love listening to his show. Yea maybe he is rude occasionally but he is just a loveable guy, it makes it all right with me. I definitely will prefer him doing the show over the newly appointed Nick Grimshaw who I think is wholly less interesting, funny and not someone I particularly care for.

In other Radio 1ness, I am a fan of the review show on Tuesdays, and in the recent past I had a little break from it and in my return I found Edith had taken over from Nihal. Another change I'm not a fan of. I do like Edith but from what I have heard of the show with her presenting it seems to be missing a certain banteringness that was in the show with Nihal. I also much preferred the layout of the show like more guests and the scoring system etc.

Jimmy Fallon - Blow Your Pants Off

So as soon as I had a chance I put my new Jimmy Fallon album on. I was dying to listen to it after hearing the Bruce Springsteen and "Neil Young" cover Whip My Hair which was so funny and actually a really nice cover.
I also heard Walk Of Shame with Dave Matthews when it was performed live on his show and I loved it.

After listening to it I really like Balls In Your Mouth (which I'm currently learning/messing around on guitar), Scrambled Eggs which is done to the tune of Yesterday by The Beatles and features Paul McCartney.
I also think You Spit When You Talk is a great comedy song, lots of funny lyrics partly written by Fallon and brilliantly performed. The tracks I were less keen on were The Doors Sing "Reading Rainbow" basically because I didn't have a clue what Reading Rainbow was to begin with and I just didn't really like the sound of it and My Upstairs Neighbors Are Having Sec (And Listening To The Black Eyed Peas). I know he was being Ramonesy but I didn't really think the lyrics worked that well and I'm not such a big fan of BEP. On the whole it's a great album for what it is (a comedy album) and Jimmy Fallon is great at impersonating Neil Young & Bob Dylan and hopefully he continues to do so for a while. I'll definitely be listening to this for a long time and will be really interested in what he does in the future.

Local Gigs

Seeing as I don't have any gigs planned for the future due to low funds and not hearing of much happening, I figured I would browse to see if anyone decent was playing at the local Leamington Assembly. The three that interested me were Lou Reed, The Enemy and Bellowhead. The last two I have seen live before but were so good I would happily see them again and Lou Reed because it's Lou Reed basically, however he is a bit more expensive than the other two so I'll see how the money goes, my birthday is coming up so hopefully I will get some monies and that will decide it for me.

MoshCam

Basically I was messing around on my phone today checking out apps and Genius recommended MoshCam because of my other music related apps so I thought I would try it out. I have to say its really fun to use and it's good to see the amount of bands you can see performing live straight from your phone like your there in the room. So far I have watched half of The Vaccines set and interviews with the latter and Does It Offend You Yeah?, Ani DiFranco and The Get Up Kids all talking about their gigging experiences and venues etc, all really interesting stuff and I'll definitely check it out some more.

www.moshcam.com

Cornwall

Last Saturday my girlfriend and I came back from holiday in Cornwall. It was definitely nice to get away and relax. I also managed to get a good haul of music and music related products from various shops. A lot of classic albums that I really should have bought by now and some classic artists books. I'm looking forward to go back down later on in the year to visit Newquay etc. fun fun fun. It was also good to see a bunch of new CDs that I ordered had arrived along with the latest edition of Q.

Crackley Wood

Today I went on a walk around Crackley Wood which is just outside Kenilworth. Seeing as its such a gorgeous day, why not. I went with my girlfriend and a couple of her relatives and we saw the horses and looked at the colourful wild flowers. I haven't been to the woods in a long time. I remember going there as a kid with my brother and my dad for walks which is a nice memory.

I also got Johnny Ramones autobiography Commando in the post recently. I'm only a small part of the way through it and it's a really interesting read learning about the early life of Johnny (including his baseball interest and his young military life) and about how the Ramones started out. Hopefully the book stays this good.

Also Known As

I was browsing Kerrang magazine one day a couple of weeks ago as you do, and I happened to see that General Fiasco are on tour doing dates around England and Scotland. The show they are doing closest to me is in a venue called Also Known As in Banbury which is on the 1st of June. The gig is actually free which I'm glad to hear about because I am pretty low on funds at the moment.
I first heard General Fiasco when they were supporting One Night Only. I really liked them from that point and I downloaded their album. Its such a good cd. Its the kind of rock music that gives you energy and gets you pumped up. My favourite tracks are Ever So Shy, Rebel Get By and Sinking Ships but they are all great songs and I can't wait to hear them live.

Mick Jagger

I have recently watched the last episode of the season of Saturday Night Live. As a host for me Mick Jagger was surprisingly good. At first I wasn't sure if he was just hired as a big name for the finale episode and be bad/awkward in the sketches but he was actually really funny and good mimicking the accents he did. I also thought his medley with the Foo Fighters was great. The song he did with Arcade Fire I thought was a bit meh but I'm not a big fan of Arcade Fire, the stuff I have heard at least. I was also sad to see Kristen Wiig leave the show along with Jason and Andy. She was one of my favourite cast members. And I really loved the digital shorts which i have enjoyed since really early on.

British Design

On the same day that I went to the The Enemy gig I also went down to London with my girlfriend and mate to a British Design exhibition at the V&A. Arriving there I may have made a slight miss calculation with the directions and came out at the wrong station but at least we had a nice walk through Hyde Park. But anyways there was some really cool stuff in the show (some pictured below) and hopefully it may inspire me to design things in the future. They had the actual Bowie outfit on a manakin, alongside a couple of outfits from singers I hadn't heard of. They also had some Beatles vinyl on the wall that was designed by The Beatles, Peter Blake, Jann Haworth and Richard Hamilton. In the gift shop I found a cool Sex Pistols bag which will definitely stand out in a crowd.

On a different note we ate lunch at a lovely little Chinese place, I had a box of rice and a mix of spicy and caramel chicken which I have never tried before. It was really good!

Guitar

Over the next few days I'm going to be really busy working on my portfolio for my university interview so I won't be posting as much as usual. I will be back soon though. Part of my portfolio is a guitar I have designed (below) I have taken the measurements from my Fender acoustic as a starting point and added small things in my own style. So let's hope it all turns out good.

The Enemy Sold Out Gig

So yesterday i went to the The Enemy gig. It ended up being in The Coventry Kasbah instead of the planned Coventry Cathedral due to stuff about noise restrictions and health and safety stuff. It was a bit of a let down but as soon as they started playing their first song (Gimme The Sign) I knew it would be a brilliant gig. The place was packed to the roof and the energy was huge. I also really liked their support act whose name I couldn't hear but they did a cover of All Together Now which got all the crowd singing along. But yea I had a great time listening to The Enemy and I would totally see them again especially if they play Coventry again.

I have also just picked up their new album because they weren't selling it at the gig and I recognise some of the songs from last night, tis good.

Blunderbuss

Just recently I bought a couple of new albums: Jack Whites Blunderbuss and Jason Mrazs Love is a Four Letter word. If Sixteen Saltines is anything to go by I'm really looking forward to giving Blunderbuss a good listen. Speaking of Sixteen Saltines, I have watched the new video for it and there is some pretty messed up/ trippy stuff. Jack being kidnapped and set ablaze by a blue Mowgli being one of the saner parts :)

I have loved Jacks work ever since Elephant when he was in The White Stripes. Which was one of the first albums I bought.

Love is a Four Letter word I bought half on a recommendation and half because I wanted to see what other songs Jason Mraz has. From his third album the only song I really heard was I'm Yours which I really liked but I didn't buy that album. And from this album I Won't Give Up is the only track I've listened to and so far so good hopefully for the rest of the album.

Private Viewing

The thursday just gone I went to Banbury to see a private viewing art show that included work from my girlfriend. The photo below is one of the pieces she made, one of my favourites for looks and overall practicality :) She also designed and handmade a range of cinderella dresses and some beautiful prints of a fairy tale tree, bird and gravestone.

I am also glad to hear The Warped Tour is coming to the UK for the first time this year since 1998. It has always sounded like something I would really want to go to whenever I have heard about the festival in America. As far as I know it's on on a Saturday in early November and hopefully if it is popular it will grow bigger, better and become an annual think in Britian. Let's hope I can make it there.

Radiohead Fan

Well ever since my first listen to the Radiohead album Ok Computer I haven't been able to put it down. I love the album and listen to it whenever a get a chance. Brilliant. Yesterday I was reading Rolling Stone issue 1155 with Radiohead on the front cover. I read the article on Radiohead obviously and it was really interesting to find out about the band because I knew nothing of them before and honestly prior to listening to the album I would have probably skipped the article or at best skimmed over it but I read it and I'm glad I did. They are a very interesting band that have produced a lot of work. So now I'm thinking about the next album from them that I should buy, maybe In Rainbows but I dunno. I'll have to look into it a bit more.

Fun.

Well I guess everyone in the world has now heard the Fun song We Are Young or so it seemed from all the fans on the Internet. And yes I really love this song too. Anyway I browsing around YouTube and apart from the acoustic videos Fun did themselves for the song which there are a few, I really like the cover by a couple called Liamandlmii (actual YouTube name) a guy on guitar and a girl singing and for what I know about music they sound damn good. I really love the girls voice and how it's different from the guys voice in Fun. And the guitarist is a lot more skilled than the other guitarists I've seen covering the song. Enough talk, check out the video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ote11KTmVpQ

I also am glad to hear Jimmy Fallon is going to release an album of his songs on June the 12th. The album is called Blow Off Your Pants and so far I think you can only get it in the UK through import which will cost a little more but well worth it. Let's just hope it has the Bruce Springsteen/ Neil Young cover Sexy and I Know It :)

Wrecking Ball

So I'm writing this post mainly because of the lovely sunny weather right now, (in the midlands at least) which has put me in a good mood along with when I was doing some errands around listening to the Bruce Springsteen album wrecking ball which is majorly uplifting and definitely gave me some much needed energy. And as I was driving home I put on the song Wrecking Ball from the album, rolled the windows down and turned the volume up! Yea it's a great song to drive along to in what I hope is the start of the summer.

Isle of Wight Festival

Unfortunately this summer I will not be going to any festivals but that doesn't stop me looking at the line ups. The main band at T in the Park that attracted me was The Stone Roses, they are a classic British band with great songs and I'm glad they have reformed for however long it's gonna be. With Reading & Leeds I would have loved to be there when The Cure come on stage and The Foo Fighters would be another one I wouldn't want to miss. I love pretty much all of their songs and they are made for festivals. But the festival that beats all the others by far is the Isle Of Wight festival for headliners alone. On friday night they have Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, saturday is Pearl Jam (which after watching their 20 DVD I have fallen even more in love with) and on Sunday the legend that is Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. Maybe I have slightly old taste but this festival easily out strips all the others. So if you go to a festival make sure it's Isle of Wight!

Electra Heart

Well like I said I would I gave the new Marina and the Diamonds album Electra Heart a listen. Some of the tracks sound a bit Katy Perry and I'm not saying that's a bad thing but I always like bands that you can tell its them in the music. Don't get me wrong Marina does have a good voice and I really like the tracks: Primadonna, Lies, Hypocrates and Teen Idle. I would listen to the album when I was in the mood for some easy-listening music and maybe pop for pops sake music.

Also I know One Direction are big all over the world and all that but that doesn't mean I want to know what Harry had for breakfast yesterday morning thank you.

New Vinyl!!!!

Yesterday in a bid to increase my record collection seeing as I'm pretty new to the game I bought 3 records from a colleague at work. The Best of Rod Stuart Vol 2, Rolling Stones Through The Past, Darkly and Meat Loaf Bat Out Of Hell. All for a fiver, bargain. I got the Rod Stuart one basically because he is a bit of a legend. The Rolling Stones album has got some proper classic tunes and I'm really looking forward to hearing She's A Rainbow on vinyl and Bat Out of Hell, I first listened to this album when I was a kid on cd and I fell In love with it. Basically all the tracks on there I think are great so I can't wait to put it on and listen to some good rock muuusic.

Ok Computer

So I know I'm like 15 years behind everyone else but today I gave Radioheads OK Computer album a listen. I guess through all the hearsay about the band I was never really that interested in them. But a while ago I was reading a Best Albums Of All Time list and Ok Computer was at number one so I figured I should give it a chance. After hearing the album yes I like Paranoid Android, Karma Police and No Surprises but I also really like Electioneering and Lucky. I know people think of Radiohead as depressing sometimes and the album does have some depressing songs but it also has great songs and songs that I would listen to whatever mood I'm in. All together I would go with the chart and say yes it's a great album, maybe not the best ever though :)

A Positive Rage

So today I've been listening to the A Positive Rage album by The Hold Steady. Me getting this album happened a bit randomly because I was in a music store just browsing and as I was leaving, I noticed the album on the sale stand for 2 quid and I noticed it was the hold steady which I knew were a pretty decent band so I picked it up. Anyways yea it's a live album which is a bit unusual but the whole sound you get from it and the audience really add to the quality and in some weird way make it rock more! A couple of the tracks I really like are You Can Make Him Like You and Southtown Girls. Anyways yea good album and definitely worth more than the 2 quid I paid. So if you see it around pick it up.

Also today I picked up the new Marina and The Diamonds album, and yea before you say it, I know it's poppy and all that but I kinda like that stuff too. So I'll give it a listen soon and see if it is any good. So yea.

The Enemy on tour

Well about a week ago my ticket to The Enemy concert arrived. I am very much excited about this gig. Firstly just to see The Enemy live because I like basically all of their songs and haven't seen them live yet. And secondly they are doing two of their concert dates in the Coventry Cathedral for which I'm going to the first one. It will be a really great gig to go to in such a monument in the open air and the first gig I've been to in a really interesting/special place. Most of the others just being in academys and arenas so yea I'm pretty excited :)

Sleep Is For The Week

So I was listening to the Frank Turner debut album on vinyl which is basically the first completely new lp I purchased. This kind of record sounds so brilliant on vinyl. I dont know what it is about it but something works so well. Lets just hope my future purchases record wise will be of the same standard or better :)  We will see.