PUSSY WAGON.. and if your son doesn't, I bet your daughter knows

On a side note, I've got a Reading Festival ticket for sale: would anyone like a Sunday ticket to Reading 2010? Acts playing include the mighty Blink-182, Paramore, Klaxons, The Drums who have been hotly tipped (listen to 'Best Friend'), You Me At Six, Weezer, All Time Low, FOALS, We Are Scientists, Cypress Hill, Band of Horses, Kele.. leave me a comment or formspring.me. Thanks :)

Anyway.

Ciggies on my glasses.. Passive smoking much?


Motherfucker, I'm trying to shoot a video STOP CALLING.

After weeks of waiting, and quite a few postponements, the 'Telephone' video was leaked on 11 March. The following morning at school, I managed to track down a non-YouTube version of it. MAN it was difficult to watch it in my school library, because all them raunchy bits meant that I had to minimise the browser quite a few times for fear of being accused of watching PORNtings on a school computer. Cause that's what the video's like - TOO MUCH NAKED GAGA.

Obvs, the video is not only naked GaGa (btw, her body is undeniably AMAZING in that video). The storyline is somewhat intriguing to follow, the outfits, a visual feast, the two divas' acting skillz (or, in Beyonce's case, god-awful lack of acting skills), hilarious. The video was different to what I'd been expecting, but it matched the standard that had been hinted at by everyone.

What I didn't like were the blatant and therefore very tacky plugs (of Virgin Media, a phone company, and an online dating site). That and the fact that it actually is a bit too long. I had thought that 10 minutes would be delightful to watch. However, though this is a great video for my favourite song from 'The Fame Monster', that excessive length and slightly convoluted feel does let it down a bit in my opinion.

Oh and there were some bits which just made downright L O L. Like the bit where Beyonce is in the bedroom and then she just starts bouncing!? I mean, what?! And the part at the end when they're dressed in long drapey.. things (the term escapes me), and they just look like witches and wave their arms in the camera's face. Whatever, I'm not complaining, it made me laugh... as Lady Gaga always does.

The PUSSY WAGON! (I.e. their ride, if you're thinking "WTF is she pussy-wagon-ing on about")

*******************************************************************

In other musical news – a midweek chart update has been launched on BBC Radio 1. Every Wednesday, Greg James will be looking at the charts as of that day. Exciting? Well it might shed light on the way people buy music – i.e. do people buy records just before Sunday to help them get to number 1? Do new albums/singles released on Mondays chart high early on in the week? ... I'm just being a geek now aren't I.

Speaking of charts, if you follow me on Twitter, you'll know that I rooted for Tinie Tempah to get to number 1 on 7 March. (FYI on the last night of the February halfterm, while everybody was going mad with last-minute-homework-rush, I was seeing him live at Shepherd's Bush cause I am just that hardcore.)

Anyway, get to number 1 he bloody did (and on his first week of charting, might I add). WELL DONE TINIE (cause obviously he can hear me..)! You see? Underground artists can do it too! (...Oh my lord that was the most cringe thing that's left my mouth.)

Aite, they're not letting me embed it, so click here to watch the video - you're gonna have to get used to seeing his bootiful face in front of you in the coming year!

xxxx

i'm the fury in your head, i'm the fury in your bed, i'm the ghost in the back of your head

I iz back. 4 lyk, 2 secs.

Aite, all chav tings aside, I have come on only to have a scream about the fact that the one and only, hugely talented Foals have returned. (Please don't get it wrong and call them THE Foals, I will burst your eardrums if you do).

I was listening to the new single on Radio 1 last night...but I didn't even realise I was listening to it. A bit before 8pm, I turned on the radio, and they were talking about the Foals record and I thought OH SHIT I forgot to tune in earlier. Then Zane Lowe said some stuff and I did not understand a word he said but thought I heard him saying that he was gonna play it again so I rushed to my hi-fi and pressed the Record button... when some song vaguely sounding like Foals came on. FYI it was the song blasting out of the player below, but I half-thought it wasn't by Foals. Goes to show how much they've changed.

Then again, it could just be this song. 'Spanish Sahara' is, apparently, not 100% representative of the rest of the album. But if the rest of the album is as phenomenal as this song then I think Foals fans are in for a treat. It's so good that Zane Lowe played it twice. You never play the same song twice on one radio show.

The only thing that has pissed me off since then was the fact that they're playing a London date smack bang in the middle of my exams. As are Lostprophs and Kids in Glass Houses. Oh and the fact that my English oral didn't go amazingly, but I've gotten over that. Almost. So that is all. Make sure your speakers are on full volume and enjoy your 6 minutes of musical genius and heaven!

I only put the BBC player on here at first but then came across the video so I've given you that as well. But listen to the BBC player anyway to hear Yannis' interview. It's about 7 minutes in. (..Love him!)

On a side note, I've got a Reading Festival ticket for sale: would anyone like a Sunday ticket to Reading 2010? Acts playing include the mighty Blink-182, Paramore, Klaxons, The Drums who have been hotly tipped (listen to 'Best Friend'), You Me At Six, Weezer, All Time Low, FOALS, We Are Scientists, Cypress Hill, Band of Horses, Kele.. leave me a comment or formspring.me. Thanks :)

xxxx

sing us a song, and we'll sing it back to you

So, this has been a long time coming – my review of the Paramore (w/ You Me At Six) gig at Wembley. This was a gig that I had been looking forward to for so long, and there is a sense of not fully realising what it is that I have been lucky enough to experience, of not knowing that that experience is now gone.

Now, now every children was the only other support band (apart from YMAS) worth my early arrival. Paper Route were...simply shit. Well, they had some good sounds, but it was so incredibly boring that after a while I literally wanted to go out for a break. But, I didn't.

You Me At Six came on stage and gave a set which, I have to say, was much too short! It just went, like that; I clearly did not enjoy it enough while it lasted. They played more new songs than old: Kiss and Tell, The Consequence, If I Were In Your Shoes, Save It For the Bedroom, Jealous Minds Think Alike, Finders Keepers. Did they play Underdog? Can't remember. Oh, and Always Attract, with a special guest appearance from Elissa Franceschi (it's actually not that special – I'm pretty sure she appeared at Reading too...). Anyway, it was great, but not that great, I think. In my diary, I wrote 'they were as good as they can get', i.e. not amazing. You Me At Six have seriously dropped in my esteem, probably since they got big. Mainly because their sound has majorly mainstreamised (phwoar, I invent words by the day) for the worse. I won't go on about how I prefer 'raw' sound again. Haha, I'm about to undermine and contradict all that I've said so far, but whatever, I loved them during that set, and still love them as I now listen to 'Underdog'.

'Underdog' - You Me At Six [first play on BBC Radio 1]

'Save it For The Bedroom' - YMAS

Paramore came on stage relatively quickly, considering they're the next big thing and I expected them to take at least half an hour. I guess they've really not let fame get to their heads. Josh Farro came on stage, closely followed by Hayley, opening with... I can't quite remember. Anyway I know that Ignorance was next and that's enough. The tracks not from 'brand new eyes' were Pressure, That's What You Get, Crushcrushcrush, I Caught Myself, Misery Business, Decode, My Heart. One track that they didn't play from their album was 'All I wanted', which I was SO upset about. I can't imagine what that would have made me feel, listening and watching them play such an epic song. Sob. I'll put it up here for you to see what it is I missed. Check out 2:30 onwards. Spine-chilling.

'All I Wanted' - Paramore

'Crushcrushcrush' - Paramore

'My Heart (live)' - Paramore
My favourite live track by them

What made me enjoy their set apart from the music has to be Hayley's interaction with the crowd. You guys who weren't there really have no idea what Paramore's idea of crowd interaction is. Get this: Hayley started talking about a letter that Josh Farro (the guitarist, and also her ex (?)) had received, from (username) liam1. They asked 'Is liam1 here?' And some other girl's name which I don't remember. It took a little while for the two to come up on stage, and there was a variety of things which I was expecting, but definitely not what actually happened. Of all the things I was expecting (the two singing a song to Paramore about how awesome they are, or something) I was NOT expecting... a marriage proposal. That's right, liam1 proposed to his girlfriend. I'm so slow, when he went down on one knee it took me at least five seconds to get what he was doing and why the whole room erupted in screaming. But, when I got it, I screamed alright. While the girl hugged and kissed Liam (I assume that's his name), Hayley gently took the microphone from Liam's hand, saying 'I'm guessing that's a 'yes'', and dedicated the next song to them. That's 'The Only Exception', which I've got here for you.

'The Only Exception' - Paramore

Which song did I most enjoy? 'Misguided Ghosts', which they performed as part of their encore. Its being acoustic automatically puts it in 'tear-jerker' category, and though my tears were not jerked, I did feel something inside of me stirring and my heart going kaboom-kaboom-kaboom for Paramore. I know, I'm cringey, but I'm just saying, is all. If Paramore can make me say the cringiest of things, doesn't that mean something about their ability to move people to EXPRESS themselves? Hah, what bullshit, I'm just cringey anyway.

'Misguided Ghosts' - Paramore

Hayley was so fit that night, even a straightie like me cannot deny it. They were all on form, which I think is something you can expect from Paramore. You know, not letting fame get to their head, keeping their heads focused on the what they're doing, doing it for the music. They went out on the stage to enjoy themselves, that's undeniable, but also to share the night with a few thousand of their fans. And you can tell, as well, that even though they're guaranteed big bucks (big for a band like them, anyway) they still put their everything into those gigs and don't take them for granted. Concluding note to self and to you readers: Paramore will not disappoint. So I'm defs gonna see them next time they're in town.

And I'm gonna say it. Paramore are my perfect band. Call me emo, call me fangirl, call me teenage... but you're just an old, boring, lifeless soul who listens to... what do you listen to? Ok I was just about to say something but I'll restrain myself, because I totally respect your music. Yeah, totally.

:P love you really.

xxxx

18.12.09

A date I may never forget.

The day I tasted live music at its best.

The day I saw You Me At Six and Paramore.

More to come, soon.

<3

you can't bring us down: we're the best in town

They really are the best in town. Somewhere in Wales. But anyway I have not stopped listening to them since I saw them live at Reading '09. I knew 'Children of the Night' early this year, but seeing them really concretised my appreciation of their music. Their energy. their raw sound, their incredible explosion of emotion - this combination is the kind of thing that makes me want to get into screamo/heavier rock.

So I was randomly looking for an mp3 file to download so that I could put it onto this blog for y'all to listen to. And I ventured onto their myspace and found out about this. Look specifically at Nov 20th. Just, omg. The two Welsh giants (for me) together, on a Friday night. (King Blues are ok, but not the most important here). But erm..£40.00... I know it's for all three bands, but come on...

Then, I found this. Even more ARGH factor for me. But this one's a bit more of a no-go for me cause it's closer to exam time. Oh, and so is Lostprophets' London tour date. BLEURGH

Anyway here's for your auditory enjoyment. The belting out of 'you - can't bring us down: WE'RE THE BEST IN TOWN' is one of my favourite bits to sing in the whole of musical existence.

'STFUppercut' - The Blackout

xxxx

p.s. you know you've got good choons when my toddler sister can sing along, 'we are the children of the night, we are the childreeeen...'

this is tupac robot club rock.

'This is Tupac robot club rock.'



Great beat, great synthetics (ok that is so the wrong word. what's the word for the electronicy sounds on a song?), great choon. Recommended, as always, by the mighty Zane Lowe, probably about a year or more ago. But, reminded by NME TV, I only downloaded it last night. The dancing in the vid is classic. Observe 2:39. I just can't get enough.
Be sure to check that song out.

Anyway, my main point of today's post is.. nah, read on and find out for yourself.

Most of you readers (if we assume that this blog is actually read by strangers) will not know that I am an IB student. OR maybe you have, if you've inferred it from my past 'FML' posts. So, life isn't all peachy at the moment, what with the simultaneous courseworks being piled on to us. However I have never once regretted my decision to take the IB. I mean, just imagine taking A-Levels. Euch (sorry A-Levellers).

I am actually really enjoying one coursework, and that is my Latin Research Dossier. For it, I am investigating same-sex relations in ancient Rome. Muaha. I was originally doing 'music in ancient Rome'. It was dire. I could find hardly ANY information, music in the ancient world seemed like it would sound absolutely terrible, and the whole idea of Latin coursework at the time was enough to put me to sleep. But since I've started this topic, wahey I actually love doing Latin coursework! Haha you probs all think I'm some sex-obsessed maniac (lol, er, no, I'm not, if you really must know). Don't you find it fascinating to find out about civilisation as it was 2 millenia ago AND what the differences reflect on our own society?

I was doing some reading for it this morning, and one writer (Veyne) rightly pointed out- if homosexuality in ancient Rome was so widespread, does that mean that homosexuality within us is natural, and that perhaps, in our contemporary society, the significance of it is too easily repressed and too hastily dismissed as immoral? No doubt many of you will be reminded by this topic of Nick Griffin's comment that he finds the image of two guys kissing 'creepy'. Alright, I, being pro-LGBT rights, vehemently disagree with him on this point. But can you really say you don't find it creepy? Can you really say that most of our society does not find it creepy? Even I can't really say that.

I have a lot of LGBT friends, and what hit me really hard was, watching a documentary on BBC Two, realising that homosexuality in Britain is grossly misrepresented, especially by the media. If you said the word 'gay' to a number of Britons today, some of the first things they would think of may be two gay men, a 'tranny', but, in general, something to be humoured and not taken seriously. You have to admit, Britons find homosexuality funny, and this is reflected in the fact that it is so often mocked in comedies. What's more, you can see what a society's attitude towards a concept is, just by looking at their language. And how many times have you heard people use the word 'gay' in place of 'stupid'? Hearing one of my guy friends carelessly throw the comment 'you're so gay' around angered me to the edge. CLEAN YOUR LANGUAGE UP, DAMMIT!

So. The point of today's post.
-Zane Lowe is a legend (again with the Radio 1 plugs, haha)

-I love the IB

-I'm a sex-obsessed nymphomaniac
-I am a neek who loves doing Latin coursework

-You are secretly gay. So get real.

And I shall end with this.

You gotta give it to him: he passes well for a pretty fit woman...

xxxx

PS, yes I wrote this at 7 in the morning, the only reason for that being that I got up early to do...wait for it...LATIN COURSEWORK! Love you all.
PPS. If any of you QYN-ers are reading, don't kill me!

I BOUGHT SOMETHING

[Post from 22/10/09 that I just haven't had the time to put out]

What Paramore fan would resist buying this magazine (well actually I could understand why you wouldn't. Hayley looks a bit up herself and chubbier (!) and the guys are - as always - in the background). But anyway, it's a great article about them. It talks a little bit too much about the fact that they're a non-Christian Christian band, but I can deal with that. And yeah, this was the first time I'd got out and bought something in like a week.

I know this isn't new, but I wanted to rebutt something I heard on BBC Radio1.

Greg James said 'Now, I'm a Killers fan, and this isn't the best cover of the song, but I think it could creep into the top 10. It won't beat Cheryl Cole to number 1, but it'll be up there.' Firstly: how is that not a good cover?! Greg James, can you not feel the artist solidarity in there, can you not feel the sense of getting together to fight for a cause, can you not feel them singing their all into the song?

Secondly, Cheryl Cole = pshhhh. Don't even get me started on her.

Ok, too late, I've started.

I appreciate, she has worked really hard to get to where she is right now. But oh my god I was in Sainsbury's today and saw at least three magazines with her on the front cover. Alright, I'm jealous. But can you honestly tell me she has a good singing voice?

I listened to this song this morning [i.e. the morning of the 22nd] and cried.

As Greg James (again) put it, 'it's beautiful in its own right'. It's chilling. Calming, awe-inspiring, tear-jerking, heart-wrenching.

Ok, that's probably enough emo rant for today.

The only reason I decided to revisit this song is because I saw the following on TV this morning:

Whenever I caught peeks of this video when flicking TV channels, I always thought the guy was Jereminh. And just because of the concept of the Birthday Sex song (I'll rant about this another day), I immediately flicked away. I only just realised today that it's not Jereminh, but Jason Derulo, whose name Nick Grimshaw (on Radio1) slated.

The night I first heard this, i thought WHAT A RIP-OFF of Imogen Heap's 'Hide and Seek'. Then I rushed to my iPod and went on an obsessive repeat play of 'Hide and Seek'. I've kinda laid off this Derulo character since then, but I still think, where would this song be without the enormous sample takenborrowed from IH?

Go watch the real video.
xxxx