Weekenders

Tenuous linkage between weekend (read.mid-week) mini break in Holland and Vampire Weekend's addition to forthcoming R-Patz/Smacked-face-Stewart's latest efforts in Eclipse.

We finished exams. We went to the Netherlands. We had a TOP time.





So much enjoyment of bridges and lamposts in Amsterdam.





















Living the dream with an actual windmill.

Having a rave in our fluorescent fleamarket finds whilst attempting to demonstrate dubstept to the Dutch.

Cheese-tastic at the squeaky clean supermarket. Gouda times.

To top it off, the soundtrack for Eclipse has been officially named and it's a veritable treasure chest of the great and the good: Muse, Florence and the Machine, Metric, The Dead Weather....and The Bravery. Even though I'm definitely not anywhere near a Twi-Hard (I feel the Twilight saga lacks the positivity and optimism enshrined in the High School Musical series), I very much appreciate the immenseness of the music which has been released in accordance with the film.

One track in particular stood out for me and it's not just because of the hilarity contained in the mere fact that a band called Vampire Weeekend has written a song for a film about blood-suckers. "Jonathan Low" is instantly recognisable as a Vampire Weekend number, resplendent with rhythmic drums and anguished vocals, but to my mind there seems to be a greater sense of melancholia dancing in amongst the chirpiness. What do you reckon? At any rate, it's about as delicious as Bella's blood (massive cringeing as I wrote that).





© Miranda Thompson 2010 (all photos my own).

DISCLAIMER: The video links hosted on my blog are not being presented as my own. If you believe that the copyright in your work has been violated through this post, please contact me through the blog

Witness the Fitness

One of the most beautiful collaborations I've caught in a while. Perennial favourite Ellie Goulding snuggles up with new kid on the block Lissie, described by the Guardian as a "guitar toting Americana lovechild who belongs in the 1970s" to duet on Lissie's achy-breaky ballad Everywhere I Go in a mash of soaring vocals and tumbling vanilla locks.




I suppose that one of the reasons for posting this is also to celebrate the fact that FINALLY I'm going to see Ellie in Briz this weekend as a part of the immense Dot to Dot festival, (held also in Notthingham and Manchester over the Bank Holiday) a city-centre music festival where you trek between each of the city's varying venues. I went back in 2008 ith the main intent of tracking down French-synt-anglo-wannabes The Teenagers (mission accomplished after hot pursuit of the bassist resulted in a signed French grammar book) and had a banger of a day which was rounded off by the ever fabuolous Mystery Jets, who are also down to finish the live music section, before legends like Jakwob and Doorly take to the decks. Cannot. Actually. Wait.

© Miranda Thompson 2010

DISCLAIMER: The video links hosted on my blog are not being presented as my own. If you believe that the copyright in your work has been violated through this post, please contact me through the blog

Jeals

Let me set the scene: half empty students' union, barely sticky dance-floor, several litres of Pimms sloshing throught the veins and this banger of a tune comes on. (It's only one of my favourite labels, Cash Money, with their Cash Money "Heroes" blasting some solidly immense r'n'b with Lil' Wayne, Jay Sean, Birdman and an extremly a musty-looking Kevin Rudolf. ) Point being, it's another vaguely shit hip-hop-pop collaboration which inspires me to bring out my best pop-and-lock. Holllla.

Despite hailing from rural Lancashire, I've always been a fan of street dance and hip hop, from shunning Step Up 2 on the internet to view it on the big screen in an empty cinema, to awkwardly shuffling about to Justin Timberlake et al in university classes, to ultimately embarking on a hip hop course in Grenoble where I learnt the basics of breakdancing and have been playing on it as my party trick ever since.

I'd like to pay tribute to some of the most amazing dance routines I've been lucky enough to set eyes on and have inspired me to attempt more moves than drawing a Christmas tree or buttering bread. Nothing too ground breaking, but all immense.

The finale from Step Up 2 (The Streets) Soggy yet spine-tingling - Timberland's Bounce provides the perfect showcase for splashy, showy moves and cardiac arrest move is one i'm still endeavouring to emulate.



Picked this one up off Facebook - deliciously slick with a sick soundtrack.



The most hilarious under-5 I think I've ever seen. I want to track this little guy down and have a dance-off even though instinct is screaming that he'd completely do me in...



© Miranda Thompson 2010

DISCLAIMER: The video links hosted on my blog are not being presented as my own. If you believe that the copyright in your work has been violated through this post, please contact me through the blog

International Jukebox

I’ve been a bit lazy this week with exams and all that (on the blog front anyhoo – in library time it’s been a solid 8am-6pm for the last week or so). And whilst my mental muscles ache I thought it would be time to hand the reins over to some people who I would trust with collating my music collection. A little twist: they’re all from different countries.

I suppose the general aim of this blog is to demonstrate the wonders of the World Wide Web, that you can have an online conversation about the latest, freshest beats tearing up American clubs, or even the latest “Swedelicious” offerings and instantaneously check them out via Youtube or Spotify. I love that the exchange of music is so quick-fire and rapid, that the democratisation of music availability means that it’s now so easy to fall in love with new sounds from all corners of the globe.

Thanks mainly to my year abroad, Facebook and Skype means ready access to a few legends with better taste in music than SJP has in shoes, and so via a general thread I grilled them on what their current choons on repeat were. Several pages of music-swappage later, I’ve finally got them down to my personal picks of the crop. If you want to see the most comprehensive list of their offerings, click on the spotify link on the right hand panel. Too good, I know.
From urban North America to rural Wales, The Miranda goes on tour....

We’re kicking off this world tour with what’s caliente down in Madrid. ¡VAMOS!

Ines (Madrid/ Geneva)

Ines offered up a delectable pick n’mix of treasures from Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Passion Pit, but after much deliberation I thought this would be a sweet inclusion. Two minutes and eighteen seconds of trickling-acoustic immenseness by The Weepies, with an adorable video to boot. Gracias chica!!





Emma (Monmouthshire, Wales)

Emma was actually at school with Marina (offof the Diamonds) although she hastens to assure me that her choice was not borne of nepotistic favouritism, and can reveal that leg-warmers and dancing were more her scene at school than bawling out melodies. In Emma’s opinion, the ”whole scenario (of her being famous and having a Selfridges store window) is rather laughable and bizarre”.




Made me think of Regina Spektor just a wee bit, though i suppose that’s par for the course when you’re a throaty, STRONG woman.

Falk (Malmo, Sweden)

I think the blogosphere is missing a new star. Falk’s list to me was so comprehensive that it would take a fair few posts to do it justice!

He went for the new Radio Department (which I’m loving as well), Bombay Bicycle Club and The New Pornographers among others but it was his description of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s “Shadow’s Keeper” as one of the songs on their new record “with several distinct sounds brought close to perfection” which caught my eye. Laddish and lairy, it’s pretty bloody good.





Chris (Brooklyn, US)

Zooming across the Atlantic now, it’s on to Chris’s folk-tastic list: crammed with exactly the type of music necessary for summer road trips and lazy-barbecue days. Specifically, he recommended this Brett Dennen tune which I’m in complete agreement with, not least for the cheeky Mandy Moore video cameo and Dennen’s beautiful barnet.




Last, and by no means least...


Pascal (Ottawa, Canada)

Pascal is officially THE go-to for the latest and greatest in club anthems and their remixes, as well as the best moves to serve up to them. A shout out from P-dawg to “all the coloured gays in Canada” for this record: five minutes of frolics and fierceness in outfits I would sell my mother for.




Massive thanks to all for their contributions and don't forget to check out the entire list over on spotify (link in panel!).

© Miranda Thompson 2010

DISCLAIMER: The video links hosted on my blog are not being presented as my own. If you believe that the copyright in your work has been violated through this post, please contact me through the blog

Food for the Brain

My mind has turned to absolute mush; obscure facts about Nazi occurrences in 1941 and the subsequent historical debates drip out of my chaotic grey mass. Never one to miss out on the fun, my eye has also decided to swell up to what I perceive to be elpahantine proportions (slight exaggeration) and I fear my movements around the darkened corners of the library are akin to Quasimodo's lurking in Notre Dame.

A quick post then before I get back to the delights of academia. When it comes to revision, music is absolutely crucial, especially if you need it turned up loud so as to drown out the yibber-yabber of your next door neighbour's raconteuring of last night shennaniganS. Come next Thursday here's hoping I can embrace some of my own raving and misbehaving, especially with the likes of a post-exam trip to Amsterdam which was booked last night....

Currently on repeat in order of chronological Ipod rotation and seriously recommended to help you through twelve hours of revision doom, let's go.

Morning wake-up call:



Sliding into the long day ahead with the ambient mix of enthralling pop and Lil Wayne spluttering.

Mid-morning stretch between bookshelves:



Mumford and Sons help quell my hunger pangs. Fact.

Post lunch slump:



Banging Outkast rampage helps stave off the everincreasing urge to bury my head among the piles of pointless papers and snooze.

Helping me get to the end of the day: generally anything naughty and nineties. Soothing and introspective acoustics do nothing to kill off fatigue.



Bobby Brown = too good.

As always, I have endeavoured to the best of Spotify's ability to pop them on my playlist; hope you enjoy! Recommendations for any of your own revision/study aids would be massively appreciated!

© Miranda Thompson 2010
DISCLAIMER: The video links hosted on my blog are not being presented as my own. If you believe that the copyright in your work has been violated through this post, please contact me through the blog.