Hospice

This is one of the best records of the year. Beautiful. I think I die every time Sharon starts singing at the end of Thirteen. Love this.

Scary Mansion- On My Mind

Scary Mansion- On My Mind

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Oh. My. This Scary Mansion record is going to be my favourite record of the year isn’t it? I know it’s going to be so killer. I think every song will kill me. This song kills me. The piano. It’s killing me. Leah’s voice. Killing me! Oh. So good. Leah Hayes has one of my favourite voices ever, I adore it. So beautiful. This song is beautiful. I think it is perhaps better that Leah filters the songs out one by one because if I were to listen to the album in one go I think I might die. So good. How can one person harness such creative brilliance? Amazing. Leah Hayes. One of the greatest people making music around these days. Wow.

Ah!

Marissa Nadler- Rosary

I am still drawing comics and listening to amazing music, but I have to stop to appreciate this beautiful song:

I love this. So, so, so beautiful. Such a beautiful voice. This is one of those songs that makes your heart feel all funny with how much you love it. If I wasn’t so content and happy sitting here drawing comics I could almost cry. So beautiful. The way her voices rises when she sings the word heart. The whole thought I’d sing at the boats/trouble away/but they swam back to me today/my troubles are never gonna leave me alone absolutely kills me. Marissa Nadler, wow. Listen to her.

Comics Comics Comics

Oh my! I’ve been so busy lately. I had Thursday night in but I can’t remember if I achieved anything. Friday I caught Cymbals Eats Guitars and had a free whole chicken at Nandos (!!!). I shared it though, and it was still too much food. I have such an epic back catalogue of comics to fill in, it will literally take hours. But, after just completing a comic I am pretty excited, it’s really lovely to just sit and draw. I’ve been so busy doing other things, I knew I missed it but I didn’t realise how much until just now when I finished this comic:

Rich Gets A Salt Beef Bagel and Alessi and I Get A Free WHOLE CHICKEN

SEE

A comic about last Friday, in which I go to work, eat stuff, Rich eats stuff, we see Cymbals Eat Guitars, I meet up with Alessi, we eat stuff, walk for a bit, then eat more stuff.

Lucky to have so many great people and things in my life. I’d like to spend the day drawing comics and listening to amazing music. How lovely.

Cymbals Eat Guitars at Pure Groove tomorrow

Come check out Staten Island’s Cymbals Eat Guitars at Pure Groove tomorrow, 1.15. Free as usual. The band are poppy but really rockin’, have some sweet guitars (and cymbals, nom) and I suspect they will be amazing live. You can hear songs on their Lastfm, I particularly recommend Wind Phoenix.

Jenny Lewis- Fernando!

So, tonight is my first evening in since last Friday. I finally had time to check out this sweet video for See Fernando:

I like it alot. In less cool Jenny-centric news, they have cancelled their Shepherd’s Bush Empire show along with the rest of their European shows. Cryptic ‘unforeseen circumstances’ are at the bottom of this. Never mind, I suppose.

Review: St. Vincent at the ICA

Before the show I was super, super excited. After seeing Annie and band play on Sunday I knew that we would be in for a real treat at the ICA. I was not wrong!

But first, Blue Roses. The fourth time I have seen them this year. Laura Groves and her two band mates were cheerful and charming, I have alot of love for the beautiful I Am Leaving. They were wonderful and well received by the audience. But for me, all I wanted was for St. Vincent to start. 

Eventually the time came. I was squeeing with excitement, and the band were met with a huge round of applause and cheer from the audience when they took the stage, opening with the title track from St. Vincent’s debut album, Marry Me, before tearing into the brilliant Strangers from the masterpiece that is Actor. It was a thrilling set from start to finish. For Now Now they had the second mics rigged up with a delightful voice effect that made Annie and band sound chipmunk-esque for the you don’t mean that, say you’re sorry parts. It was a treat to hear Paris Is Burning after they missed it out on Sunday. Annie played it solo, and preluded it with a very long winded, humorous story that culminated in shaking David Byrne’s hand by a highway. Marrow was a set highlight, with the whole band rocking out plus the epic lights and smole, is was a visually exciting song as well as an absolute joy to hear.

The band left the stage after Just The Same But Brand New and returned for The Party and a fantastic performance of Your Lips Are Red. Seriously, go see St. Vincent live. You won’t regret it. Absolutely amazing, in the top 5 live acts of the year for me. Go see them!

Yay, Britain!: The Leisure Society

Wowee. I just saw this video and it is lovely. Great quality. The band are performing Love’s Enormous Wings in Spain.

I have alot of love for this band, and this is one of my favourite songs of the year. It’s beautifully arranged and the sentiment is so sweet. The band’s album The Sleeper is wonderful and worth checking out, here is their Myspace.

Review: Alessi’s Ark at the Lexington

Mooooooooooore Alessi’s Ark. Yay. I’ve listened to her album so many times and I’ve seen her play so many times and it feels like I have blogged about her so many times. But! Why? Why do I keep going back? Because she is amazing! I’m so glad she lives in London.

It’s like having a bakery right by your house that makes the best bread ever, and you could go to a different bakery, but you know your favourite bakery is going to be consistently awesome and you’ve been there so many times all the staff know you and they know your order off by heart. Obviously, it’s good to eat other foods besides bread, so there’s a greengrocers nearby and then a shop that has various edible items. Then there are awesome imports that come from Sweden and Brooklyn, and when the supply for those items is high you snatch them up, but they always end up going away. The bakery stays put though. I love the bakery. One reason, amongst many, why the bakery is so brilliant is that every loaf of bread is a bit different. Sometimes you get it cut thick, sometimes thin. Sometimes you opt out of bread and go for a croissant. Sometimes the bakery offers rare items that they only bake every now and again. And that, my friends, is why the bakery is awesome.

I think I should review every band as if they are an item of food. Come see Alessi’s Ark next week. Listen to the songs. Find a sweet bakery. Ending this (incredibly long, silly) analogy, I actually do live above a bakery. It’s a Greggs. Yay.

Review: Slow Club at Pure Groove

Before we headed to Pure Groove my friend Robin and I stopped by the park on West Smithfield where there was one of the street pianos. Despite neither of us having great piano skillz, it was alot of fun. I would definately recommend seeking one out if you’ve got some time to kill.

So! Onward to Pure Groove, where Slow Club were set up to play. They had a dodgy lead and opened with a lovely acoustic rendition of Wild Blue Milk. I really love seeing Slow Club play live, they always put so much gusto into their performance, and their songs are so poppy and fun.

Rebecca’s thumping drums and the dual vocals (I love the screamy parts!) are a joy to behold. They have some hot whistling skills too. They played songs from their latest record Yeah, So? including the lovely When I Go, Trophy Room and current single It Doesn’t Always Have To Be Beautiful. They finished playing and the crowd relentlessly cheered for an encore, so the duo decamped from the stage and did a lovely rendition of Christmas TV in the centre of the shop. Charming as ever, Charles and Rebecca put on another brilliant performance. The pair always seem to be in good spirits. Charles’ lead was acting up so instead of getting in a huff he played around pressing his thumb onto the metal and making some hip beats to dance to. I really enjoy Slow Club and I would recommend checking out their record and going to see them live, their Myspace is here. Go go go!