In other news I got a hair cut, I miss my finge tho, despite how messy and dare i say it 'Emo' it was getting. Heres a little sentimental photo of me and the hair enjoying ourselves...
Anant
Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Kate Nash
I came across this singer-songwriter called Kate Nash the other day and she's already sent my iTunes playcount into double figures. I decided to write a short review for her Double A side single...here it is...
In other news I got a hair cut, I miss my finge tho, despite how messy and dare i say it 'Emo' it was getting. Heres a little sentimental photo of me and the hair enjoying ourselves...
Anant
In other news I got a hair cut, I miss my finge tho, despite how messy and dare i say it 'Emo' it was getting. Heres a little sentimental photo of me and the hair enjoying ourselves...
Anant
Sunday, 11 February 2007
Bloc Party Album Review
I've just uploaded my review of the spanking new Bloc Party record to my flickr page. For those of you who find it hard to read in image form heres the review in text below. I decided not to give this album a rating out of 10 as usual as it doesn't need one and, the album has loads of interesting modern themes pinned to it and I think anyone used to city life can relate to it, anyway I'll cut the jibba jabba - here it is....
BLOC PARTY - A WEEKEND IN THE CITY(Wichita Recordings)
Its one thing when a weekly music magazine hype your debut prior to release and you manage to live up to it and then some, but punters naturally expect the goods the second time round. Regardless of the pressures in hand Bloc Party have gone on to create a bold second effort. Produced at Grouse Lodge Studios (Ireland) with the help of Garrett “Jacknife” Lee, ‘A Weekend In The City’ is more politically charged and lyrically grounded and in their words “challenges Coldplay” over accessibility.
Burnt in and out with voice collages ‘Hunting for Witches’ is, strangely enough, a danceable song about Xenophobia in modern Britain, further downstream “Where Is Home?” also themes itself around hostility and discomfort and angst directed towards second generation citizens with ricocheting guitar flicks for extra lift. The two tracks provide a brilliant critique to a nation falsely recognised as a cosmopolitan one.
Waiting For The 7.18 documents the life of a Londoner ridden with frustration, Monday morning syndrome, nine-to-fives, and daily commutes. It’s a song centring on a character who has nothing to show for his/her life post graduation, reminiscing life experiences and wishing they took more risks and chances during youth. Climaxing with the plea “Lets drive to Brighton on the weekend”.
Continuing with modernists topics ‘Uniform’ critiques youth culture today and in particular the patterns amongst teensters and scenesters hanging out in malls being idle, following popular culture trends, abusing drink, drugs and others “when they have entertainment and things to pass the time".
One feature that made predecessor Silent Alarm such a hit for music fans was love, and Bloc Party haven’t departed from this notion. Tracks like ‘I Still Remember’ and ‘Sunday’ are memoirs of love past and present, which ooze confidence and nostalgia (“Our love could have soured, over playgrounds and rooftops”).
Singles wise, the first half of AWITC packs more punch than the latter which is much more sensitive and if you wanted to be harsh, “weaker” in comparison. The Prayer (the first single, shatters the amps with its drum loops and guitars humming like a beehive. Singer Kele Okereke voices his prayer for fulfilment with the words “tonight make me unstoppable and I will charm, I will slice, I will dazzle them with my wit”. ‘The Prayer’ and ‘On’ are both tracks depicting drug taking (“Hidden away in every old toilet…Rolled up twenties, they disappear”), not necessarily legitimating them but evocatively elaborating on why people choose and more so need to take them. The string arrangements ‘On’ embeds are sure to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand tall. These tracks are the centrepiece of the records fixation with the storytelling of how nowadays people just want to go out and get mashed. What better way for the album to comedown but “SRXT”.A track named after a widely used anti depressant drug. Inspired by his friend’s near suicide Kele pens the words “A battle that lasts a lifetime, a fight that never ends”.
A Weekend In The City is a record scored straight down the middle, coupling love and grit, an album which backdrops the state of a nation. Overflowing with intelligent beats and finely produced rhythm there’s no reason for it to not replica the success of its older brother. There’s no need to speak further, the album is summed up in its first line, ambitiously “trying to be heroic in an age of modernity”.
__________________________________
BLOC PARTY - A WEEKEND IN THE CITY(Wichita Recordings)
Its one thing when a weekly music magazine hype your debut prior to release and you manage to live up to it and then some, but punters naturally expect the goods the second time round. Regardless of the pressures in hand Bloc Party have gone on to create a bold second effort. Produced at Grouse Lodge Studios (Ireland) with the help of Garrett “Jacknife” Lee, ‘A Weekend In The City’ is more politically charged and lyrically grounded and in their words “challenges Coldplay” over accessibility.
Burnt in and out with voice collages ‘Hunting for Witches’ is, strangely enough, a danceable song about Xenophobia in modern Britain, further downstream “Where Is Home?” also themes itself around hostility and discomfort and angst directed towards second generation citizens with ricocheting guitar flicks for extra lift. The two tracks provide a brilliant critique to a nation falsely recognised as a cosmopolitan one.
Waiting For The 7.18 documents the life of a Londoner ridden with frustration, Monday morning syndrome, nine-to-fives, and daily commutes. It’s a song centring on a character who has nothing to show for his/her life post graduation, reminiscing life experiences and wishing they took more risks and chances during youth. Climaxing with the plea “Lets drive to Brighton on the weekend”.
Continuing with modernists topics ‘Uniform’ critiques youth culture today and in particular the patterns amongst teensters and scenesters hanging out in malls being idle, following popular culture trends, abusing drink, drugs and others “when they have entertainment and things to pass the time".
One feature that made predecessor Silent Alarm such a hit for music fans was love, and Bloc Party haven’t departed from this notion. Tracks like ‘I Still Remember’ and ‘Sunday’ are memoirs of love past and present, which ooze confidence and nostalgia (“Our love could have soured, over playgrounds and rooftops”).
Singles wise, the first half of AWITC packs more punch than the latter which is much more sensitive and if you wanted to be harsh, “weaker” in comparison. The Prayer (the first single, shatters the amps with its drum loops and guitars humming like a beehive. Singer Kele Okereke voices his prayer for fulfilment with the words “tonight make me unstoppable and I will charm, I will slice, I will dazzle them with my wit”. ‘The Prayer’ and ‘On’ are both tracks depicting drug taking (“Hidden away in every old toilet…Rolled up twenties, they disappear”), not necessarily legitimating them but evocatively elaborating on why people choose and more so need to take them. The string arrangements ‘On’ embeds are sure to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand tall. These tracks are the centrepiece of the records fixation with the storytelling of how nowadays people just want to go out and get mashed. What better way for the album to comedown but “SRXT”.A track named after a widely used anti depressant drug. Inspired by his friend’s near suicide Kele pens the words “A battle that lasts a lifetime, a fight that never ends”.
A Weekend In The City is a record scored straight down the middle, coupling love and grit, an album which backdrops the state of a nation. Overflowing with intelligent beats and finely produced rhythm there’s no reason for it to not replica the success of its older brother. There’s no need to speak further, the album is summed up in its first line, ambitiously “trying to be heroic in an age of modernity”.
__________________________________
Anant
Saturday, 3 February 2007
It's Been A While...
Indeed it has been sometime since this
blog’s seen some action, unlike myself, I'm in the middle of a crammed week. I’ve considered that some people have the attention spans of the goldfish sort so I’ll do a short round up and try not to tangent off into a novel.
On Saturday and Sunday I was busy helping my cousin exhibit his chocolate fondue company at the Asiana Bridal Exhibition at the Riverbank Plaza Hotel on the South Bank. I spent the following day finishing up a photo shoot for another of my cousins’ business, this time a beauty salon.
Tuesday began at approximately 7:45am. Myself and Ammy went down to a swanky little bar in London to watch “The Culture Show” being filmed by the BBC in front of a tiny audience, the show, hosted by Lauren Laverne also featured flavour of the month Mika and the living ledge tha
t is Patrick Stewart! We also met some awesome blokes from up north who kept us in hysterics all day. The show is being broadcast on BBC2 Tonight(3rd) at 7.30pm. I must add that I fell asleep on the tube back home for the first time ever in my life!
I guess stealing the odd ten minutes of Zzzz’s wasn’t such a bad idea really, I went to see Bloc party play a three night residency at the (newly saved, I think) Astoria from Wednesday to Friday which was quite exhausting. Exhausting however not regretful, each night had a different feel to it, a different supporting cast(Fields, Metric and Absentee) each day being the obvious reason. I went to all three nights with Katherine, we tried to mix it up a bit each night and enjoy the gigs from different views, first night from the
heart of the crowd, the second on the balcony upstairs (which was an amazing view) all before enjoying the finale in the front row in front of Mr.Russell Lissack. Bloc Party themselves also tried to mix up their set and used the gigs to give fans a spin of their new record ‘A Weekend In The City’ (Out 5th Feb). My favourite night would have to be a tie between the latter two, with all the poster smuggling and chocolate bar antics(to cut a long story short Matt ate my dairy milk I threw onstage during ‘Helicopter’). I got a new compact camera today, which isn’t too compact but I don’t love it any less, with 7x zoom its quite handy for gigging. I took a few quality photos tonight, which – with a few tweaks on iPhoto are looking dapper.
So Now its somewhere between Friday night and Saturday dusk and I’m waiting for details of Diana’s birthday party to be texted back to me. Maybe its not wise to blog right now, two parties this weekent and refreshers week next week ontop of exhaustion don’t brew up a great academic Spring term. Oh Well, Cheerio!
Anant
blog’s seen some action, unlike myself, I'm in the middle of a crammed week. I’ve considered that some people have the attention spans of the goldfish sort so I’ll do a short round up and try not to tangent off into a novel.On Saturday and Sunday I was busy helping my cousin exhibit his chocolate fondue company at the Asiana Bridal Exhibition at the Riverbank Plaza Hotel on the South Bank. I spent the following day finishing up a photo shoot for another of my cousins’ business, this time a beauty salon.
Tuesday began at approximately 7:45am. Myself and Ammy went down to a swanky little bar in London to watch “The Culture Show” being filmed by the BBC in front of a tiny audience, the show, hosted by Lauren Laverne also featured flavour of the month Mika and the living ledge tha
t is Patrick Stewart! We also met some awesome blokes from up north who kept us in hysterics all day. The show is being broadcast on BBC2 Tonight(3rd) at 7.30pm. I must add that I fell asleep on the tube back home for the first time ever in my life!I guess stealing the odd ten minutes of Zzzz’s wasn’t such a bad idea really, I went to see Bloc party play a three night residency at the (newly saved, I think) Astoria from Wednesday to Friday which was quite exhausting. Exhausting however not regretful, each night had a different feel to it, a different supporting cast(Fields, Metric and Absentee) each day being the obvious reason. I went to all three nights with Katherine, we tried to mix it up a bit each night and enjoy the gigs from different views, first night from the
heart of the crowd, the second on the balcony upstairs (which was an amazing view) all before enjoying the finale in the front row in front of Mr.Russell Lissack. Bloc Party themselves also tried to mix up their set and used the gigs to give fans a spin of their new record ‘A Weekend In The City’ (Out 5th Feb). My favourite night would have to be a tie between the latter two, with all the poster smuggling and chocolate bar antics(to cut a long story short Matt ate my dairy milk I threw onstage during ‘Helicopter’). I got a new compact camera today, which isn’t too compact but I don’t love it any less, with 7x zoom its quite handy for gigging. I took a few quality photos tonight, which – with a few tweaks on iPhoto are looking dapper.
So Now its somewhere between Friday night and Saturday dusk and I’m waiting for details of Diana’s birthday party to be texted back to me. Maybe its not wise to blog right now, two parties this weekent and refreshers week next week ontop of exhaustion don’t brew up a great academic Spring term. Oh Well, Cheerio!Anant
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