MUSIC SWEET MUSIC // TWIN ATLANTIC // SAINT RAYMOND // AVICII // THE KLAXONS

Hey peeps! Hope you didn't get April Fooled today like me.

I haven't written for a while but because me love music far too much for my own good,

I thought I'd start with a post featuring some of my favourite songs out there right now,

because it seems that all of a sudden there's been a wave of ruddy awesome music

and I genuinely feel spoilt for choice. 

So my lovelies, feast your eyes on these bangers...

1) HEART AND SOUL // TWIN ATLANTIC

2) KATHLEEN // CATFISH AND THE BOTTLEMEN

3) ADDICTED TO YOU // AVICII 

4) THERE IS NO OTHER TIME // THE KLAXONS

5) NOBODY TO LOVE // SIGMA

6) LAST NIGHT // THE VAMPS

7) SOLO DANCING // INDIANA

8) SELFIE // THE CHAINSMOKERS

9) DOWN // THE KOOKS

10) WHERE DID THE LOVE GO // BIPOLAR SUNSHINE

11) FALL AT YOUR FEET // SAINT RAYMOND

DOC MARTENS SANDALS + JAKE BUGG

   

When you've had a bit of a crap week, and you're feeling a bit stressed out,

there is always one solution that does the trick every time: retail therapy.

You know it's true. And my obsession this week is Doc Martens (typical),

in particular their amazingly gorgeous sandals that I can only dream

of owning for summer.

I'm also listening to Jake Bugg's insanely good 'Shangri La' album that
I probably should've listened to sooner.... either way, it's epic and I've included

some of my favourite tracks at the end of this post!

 

-ME AND YOU-

    

-SIMPLE PLEASURES-

-MESSED UP KICKS-

 

-SLUMVILLE SUNRISE-

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE // FAKE YOUR DEATH // GREATEST HITS

On Monday My Chemical Romance's final song

'Fake Your Death' off of their 'May Death Never Stop You' 

greatest hits album was released here in the UK.

I have to say I found it strange to hear MCR back

on the radio, because after their shock split last 

year I've gotten used to the fact that I won't be 

hearing anything new from Gerard and co. 

But it was a really lovely surprise to hear them

back one last time, and with such a beautiful song

as well. I know the title of the song may suggest

otherwise but I urge you to listen to it.

It's perfect.

And for me personally hearing MCR on the radio 

again is kind of bitter sweet because of course I love

them but their music still reminds me of a time in

my life when things were kind of difficult and dark.

I used to listen to their music all the time because

it was the only thing that ever really helped,

the only thing I could rely on and the one thing that

literally helped me to 'carry on'.

For me, hearing MCR now is like hearing from an old friend

who you don't really see anymore but whose friendship you'll

always hold in the highest esteem and for who you'll always,

always care for. I still feel this loyalty, this pride, 

this eternal gratitude for what they did for me.

Most people I know have no idea that I love

this band, and people who knew me at school or see me around

at college would probably have no idea that I even liked

their music, because social preconceptions dictate that

to like MCR you need to be a 'goth' or a 'greb' or an 'emo'.

And I wasn't, and people therefore assumed that I was

unable to feel sad or depressed or lost or worthless.

I always hated that.

People always thought they were this gothic, depressed

group of guys glorifying death, when in reality what

they were doing was showing that you really need not

fear death or the unknown, that there is no shame in

admitting that you're struggling to carry on or that you

need help, and most importantly, they were and still are

 saving lives.

I understand why people may not have liked them,

they weren't everyone's cup of tea, but to me they were

amazing and still are amazing, and I don't know how I

could be the person I am today without them.

I'm gutted that I will never see them live, but 

their music will always be there, no matter what, and

to me, I think that's pretty wonderful.

"We'll carry on"

DAMN RIGHT WE WILL! 

FAKE YOUR DEATH

GIRL CRUSH: NINA NESBITT

It's Girl Crush time, and today's

nominee is the gorgeous Scottish/ Swedish

beauty that is, Nina Nesbitt.

Nina can sing, she writes her own beautiful songs,

she has the cutest name, the most insanely amazing hair, 

perfect fashion sense, great bone structure... 

AND, she's super nice.

She literally has it all, and it's just not fair.

Her debut album Peroxide is out tomorrow and you should

defo defo defo buy it, because this lady is literally

the female Ed Sheeran. 

Now lets just make ourselves cry at how amazing she is.

APPLE TREE

BOY

STAY OUT

BABYLON

SELFIES

NOSERINGS AND SHOESTRINGS

WEBSITE: http://www.ninanesbittmusic.com/

SAM SMITH: BRIT CHOICE AWARDS WINNER 2014

Two words, two syllables:

SAM SMITH

Who is this guy, I hear you ask, well 21 year old Sam

just happens to be the winner of the BRIT Critics Choice Award

2014, succeeding Tom Odell and following in the

footsteps of Ellie Goulding, Emeli Sande, Adele, Jessie J and

Florence and the Machine to name but a few.

So judging by the impressive names etched on to this

prestigious list, it seems that Sam's in good stead with a strong

chance of emulating the success of his fellow winners,

and I don't see why he shouldn't with a voice like that.

If you don't know what I'm talking about,

think along the lines of John Newman ie. a whole lot of soul

combined with clean cut, distinctive, powerhouse vocals and that's Sam for you.

You can hear his gorgeous tones in a series

of songs on which he has featured, such as Disclosure's 'Latch'

and Naughty Boy's summer smash 'La-la-la', each of which

those powerhouse vocals I spoke about steal the show

every. single. time.

And with the announcement of his success in wining the

Critics Choice Award comes the imminent release of Sam's début single

'Money on My Mind' which I absolutely adore.

It's got a catchy little hook line in the chorus,

it's slick and smooth with echoes of house, soul, pop and R&B

all intertwined to form a truly gorgeous and stunning

début that reinforces Sam's passion for music

and leaves the listener happily convinced that Sam is in the

industry purely for the love of music.

If you find yourself intrigued by this star in the making,

check out 'Money on My Mind' right here:

Single release: 16th February on Capitol Records

Debut album: 'In The Lonely Hour' set for release

on the 26th May.

Website: samsmithworld.com

GUEST VOCALS:

LATCH

LA LA LA

JOHN NEWMAN LOSING SLEEP

As you may or may not know,

John Newman is a pretty talented guy when it comes

to music and singing and songwriting.

You would've first heard him on the incredible

dance anthem 'Feel The Love' by those groovy guys at Rudimental,

as well as on their follow up single

'Not Giving In'.

His powerful, soulful, rich, gravelly voice

is one to be reckoned with, and Newman has been hailed

as the purveyor of a certain brand of music

named good old NORTHERN SOUL.

Newman was born and bred in a little town called

Settle in North Yorkshire,

where some of my family happen to reside, so

I feel a bit like I have this super deep connection

with John y'know, because I actually know where he be coming from, yah?

(I'm kidding about the connection thing btw.)

But yes, back to the music,

now this genre is relatively new, and it's all to do

with the wonderful tea loving folk up north embracing the

fantastic genre of soul (with a touch of
Motown) and giving it a new lease of life with a little

Northern twist on the end,

just to spice and shake things up.

And as you may also know,

Newman does Northern soul so very well.

So well in fact, that his debut album 'Tribute'

slid in to the album charts at the sacred numero uno spot,

whilst debut single 'Love Me Again'

also fought off stiff competition to plonk itself

on top of the singles chart as well.

DOUBLE WHAMMY EH EH.

And not an easy feat to manage if you're new onto the music scene.

Newman's newest release is the utterly gorgeous 

'Losing Sleep', which isn't as fast paced as his

previous two singles, but I can assure you it's just as

electric and oozes sweet, rich soul 

that will hit you in just the right spot.

So with that being said, 

metaphorically run like the wind and go check it out!

And whilst you're at it whack

'Tribute' on your Chrimbo list and hopefully

good ol' St Nick might get into the spirit

of Chrimbo and get you a copy,

(that's if he able to resist parting with it).

LOSING SLEEP

LOVE ME AGAIN

CHEATING

BUY

TRIBUTE

HERE

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tribute-John-Newman/dp/B00DM2Q9E4

LOVE AFFAIR WITH FLEETWOOD MAC

So yesterday I watched

a documentary about Fleetwood Mac with my daddio,

and don't get me wrong - I already liked Fleetwood Mac before I

watched it- but for some reason, 

that documentary made me really really like Fleetwood Mac.

And as of today, Wednesday 13th December,

I am engaged in a love affair with Fleetwood Mac.

And I just thought you all should know.

The moment I decided they were kind of alright,

was when the mobile network '3' used 'Everywhere', sung beautifully

by the lovely Christine McVie, on an advert, which featured

 a rather groovy horse that seemed to have been possessed

 by Michael Jackson's spirit.

I just thought the song was so beautiful

and dreamy, and I wanted to hear more. Plus Glee had done

an episode on Fleetwood Mac's 1977 smash hit 'Rumours' at some point,

which also had me nodding my head in approval.

And watching the documentary last night

made me realise I had actually heard a lot of Fleetwood Mac's

songs without realising it was them who'd actually written them and sung them. It was a bit of an eye opener to say the least.

And going back to 'Rumours', I thought it was so interesting

how they made it, as the two couples within

the band -Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham, and John & Christine McVie-

both broke up in the midst of writing the album.

I didn't know this till yesterday, but Stevie wrote 'Dreams' about Lindsey, and Lindsey wrote 'Go Your Own Way' about Stevie in response to 'Dreams'. And then, each of them had to perform them live in front

of each other AND provide backing vocals for each song.

Talk about awkward.

But still I love how each song has such meaning,

and how each is song is a response to another song.

My favourite Fleetwood Mac songs are as follows
(btw. number doesn't dictate order of preference- I love them all!):

1) Dreams

2) Go Your Own Way

3) Everywhere

4) Songbird

5) Don't Stop

Of course they're all the typical Fleetwood Mac songs,

but I don't care -THEY'RE FRIGGIN' AWESOME!-

So now I'm off to pester my dad to dig up his collection

from somewhere in the depths

of our house, or his car, so that I can listen

to some more Mac.

The other night we were driving back from the cinema

from seeing the incredible 'Rush', and Dad put Fleetwood Mac

and we were singing along to all the

hits and it was so so so so amazing, and it made me

love them even more.

So yeah, I'm now in a love affair with this band.

As I go, please enjoy these Mac pics that I have lovingly found for you.

ONE FOR THE ROAD, AKA. TRACTOR PROMO, AKA QUITE POSSIBLY THE BEST THING I'VE EVER WATCHED

You're yet to realise it yet, but my absolute FAVOURITE

BAND EVER TO EXIST EVER EVER EVER

is the Arctic Monkeys.

If you let me, I could literally rabbit on for hours 

and I mean, HOURS, as in, if you got me going now,

I could probably still be quacking on 365 days later,

I just love them that much.

And yes I know they're not everyone's cup of tea,

but I ruddy love them, and yesterday they released the video

for 'One For The Road', their third single of fifth

number 1 album 'AM'.

And you can't say you don't like them after watching it.

This band will forever amuse me because fame to them

is just something that came with success,

and they don't really give a crap about it, not like other

musicians or artists might do.

Just to give you a few examples as to what I mean, this

is the band who turned up to the Brits circa 2007, their first Brit awards may I add, dressed firstly as the Wizard of Oz quartet, and secondly as the members of the infamous YMCA.

This is the band who, for comeback single 'Do I Wanna Know', didn't even feature themselves in the video, 

despite a two year absence from the music scene.

This is the band who sung about pick and mix and gobstoppers and made it cool, the band whose lead singer looks like Elvis

re-incarnated yet still manages to look cooler than the King himself, if that were even possible. 

And in this video, they step things up a notch,

crank it up a tad just to put it one way....

If you've heard the song, or the album itself, you'll notice

a slight 90's R&B influence that's present

on numerous tracks, this being one of them. 

'One For The Road' in particular is probably the track that embodies this, and when you picture a video in your head,

you think instantly of house party, 

late night antics, 

cool cool cool and nothing less.

You don't, think TRACTORS.

So of course that's EXACTLY what the Monkeys have gone and decided to do.

Make a video about TRACTORS.

This would be like Kanye West & Jamie Foxx making the video for 'Gold Digger' and deciding to film it in a 

giant bubble bath floating around on giant yellow ducks.

IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE.

But I was absolutely WETTING MYSELF as I watched it.

You can see that the Monkeys are taking the mick, 

just because they can, but ugghhhhh it just works so well!

How they make tractor riding so cool I do not know...

I'd urge you watch the vid right now,

and in order to understand exactly how amazingly funny this

mad creation is, please please please skip to

0:57 and then come back and

laugh with me, because it's GENIUS.