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.

D is for DONE (nearly)

Typed it, printed it, bound it. The dissertation is DONE and will be handed in as soon as Bank Holiday rolls away with these disgustingly dark rainclouds. Let's take a minute to celebrate.



10,000 words on the interiors and material culture of eighteenth century country house leads inevitably to this song. I genuinely think that I may be one of a few who could talk with (no) authority and (little) confidence on fashionable furnishings and where to put your servants in your luxury country pile. Can't help but think my interest might have waned a bit later had Damian Hirst been involved and I'd had Alex James to look at. That's actually a bit of a lie: from trawling through musty, dust covered papers untouched for hundreds of years, to spending hours transcribing ant-sized letters accompanied by bowls of tea and bags of e numbers, to finally locking myself in a darkened room and bashing away at a keyboard for weeks on end, there has been a seam of enjoyment somewhere amongst the chaos.

Emerging out of the other end somewhat heavier and of a duller, pasty complexion, I've even discovered a new must-read. No word of a lie, ex Country Life architectural editor Jeremy Musson has penned a fantastic history of servants in the country house, nattily titled Up and Downstairs: The History of the Country House Servant."



There's definetly a film or two to be made out of some of the scandalous snippets included in here, the raunch factor of which rivals Jilly Cooper on a bonkbuster marathon. One that springs to mind was the valet who had "intimate relations" with not only his lady and her young daughter but the lord as well.
Gosford Park's got nothing on this.

Spending long days tapping away on the computer means that my mind has wondered to other places rather than dusty damask coverings, and the discovery of the Pretty Much Amazing music blog is getting very close to knocking old favourite Jeffmix from pride of place as my most cherished music go-to. I check up on PMA on a daily basis and store up the deliciousness of Jeff every month for his dose of genius music selection: got to say that PMA has been boshing out treat upon aural treats recently which showered like snowdrops upon the dank February of academic life. Treats like this bad boy; Kele offof Bloc Party's solo effort.



It's a complete departure from Bloc Party of yore: screaming club night, banging out electo fabulousness and definetly not meant for standing emotionally in a dark corner. Can't wait to see what the rest of the forthcoming LP "The Boxer" has in store.

About a month ago PMA linked to Delorean, a Spanish (Basque) alt. band and their chooon Stay Close from new album Subiza. Althoug I liked this song on first listen for all its jazzy mixing of synths and plaintive vocals, it's grown and grown on me like creeping ivy.



I included this song on my April playlist and (cue casual linkage)have popped it on again on my brand spanking new May spotfy list, avaliable as always from the link on the right of the blog. It's a new month which means a whole new playlist: at this very moment in time just four songs have made it on, including the new Jason Derulo whose lyrics make me think even more happily of life without the diss.

'm feeling like a star, you can't stop my shine,
I'm loving cloud nine, my head's in the sky,
I'm solo, I'm riding solo,
I'm riding solo, I'm ridin solo, sooloooo.
Yeah, I'm feeling good tonight, finally doing me and it feels so right, oh,
Time to do the things I like,

Ahem.

I can also promise you loads of 90s anthems to get loaded up on there: currently listening to 90's Floorfiller Classics which I've been sent to review and joyously rediscovering all kinds of greats. Bobby Brown is a god. For another post, another time, perhaps...

Also sorted out my comments boxes so if you want to leave your thoughts on my posts you no longer have to belong to the google network to do so. hollllaa.

© 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.

Feeling Frisky?

It sounds like Pass Out's slightly glam, sassy little sister, complete with mad-fer-it drum and bass breaking it down in the final seconds. It's just a bit amazing. God of Grime Tinie Tempah comes up trumps again with Frisky on another collaboration with Labrinth after their Stylo efforts. I see this not only dominating dancefloors nation wide but probably definetly popping up on some solid remixes: will keep you posted.



Lyric du jour is surely the oh so British prioritising with "Would you risk it for a chocolate biscuit?".


© Miranda Thompson 2010
Comments much appreciated!
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

Hungry Like a Wolf

...for good music.
Meant to blog this yonks and yonks ago (aka the last seven days) but with the Big D dominating most trains of thought excepting eating (I swear I go to sleep counting inventories not sheep), though of course, I didn't.

New Mystery Jets. It's truly really very good: following along the lines of their stonking second album Twenty One "Flash a Hungry Smile" jangles along on a summer's breeze, all backing wooos and boshing drums. Cheekily cute lyrics abound:Have you heard the birds and bees/have all caught STD's?

New album's called Serotonin and judging by the sound of Hungry Smile, levels should be shooting through the roof upon listening to this. And that sentence is probably definetly what the Mystery Jets want all muso-journos to be saying. Oh well, 'tis true.



The good news? You can download this track for the princely sum of 0p just by clicking onto their website, here. What a'99 sized summer treat that is.

© Miranda Thompson 2010
Comments much appreciated!
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

Babas

Warning: complete and utter self indulgence ahead.

Did you like Charlie and his bitten finger? Are you a fan of oh so slightly epic easy listening treasures? Fancy seeing a goat and a small Mongolian tussle in a plastic water bucket? Alright then....



Whilst planning a cinema trip and hence ploughing through hours of trailers to make the selection we stumbled across this documentary. I doubt "Babies" is going to be the next box office sell out but you can't really get much simpler and sweeter than the story of four wee cherubs from different corners of the world taking their first steps and babbling their streams of childish inanities.The inclusion of folk-indie-artiste Sufjan Steven's "The Perpetual Self", found by Fizz after ploughing through the internet, only serves to make me love this even more.

© Miranda Thompson 2010
Comments much appreciated!
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.

500 Days of Summer

Finally, FINALLY managed to watch this in the few hours snatched between hectic Sunday lunch shift and couple-y Sunday night shift. Local Spar doesn't really "do" artsy unrequited love stories (yet manages to fill every other shelf with inane Jim Carrey/Adam Sandler/freaky horror flicks for the apparently massive local fan population of the undead) so obtaining this prized copy probably was a highlight of a Sunday filled with taking food in and out of a kitchen.

Story? Boy meets girl. Boy falls head over heels. Girl...doesn't. Starring the edible Joseph Gordon Levitt, he of bashful 10 Things I Hate About You and 3rd Rock From the Sun fame and Zooey Deschanel, surefire candidate for Katy Perry twinship and all round rosy-cheeked, twinkly eyed cupcake, the script is played out through numbers flicking from 1-500, tracing the days Summer (Deschanel) has been in Tom's (Gordon Levitt) life. Not to mention muted bluesy greens colours dappling the cinematography, seriously covetable clothing and of course, a soundtrack to die for.

It's all about the music: Tom and Summer bond over the Smiths' "There is a Light that never goes out" booming out of his headphones, get drunk and sing raucous karaoke (Tom, a deliciously raw Pixies attempt, Summer, Nancy Sinatra's Sugar Town) and all the while, through the ecstatic highs and deep lows thrown up by their relationship, a haunting soundtrack keeps an emotive pace. As the film is the debut feature effort from music video director Marc Webb, music plays just as important a part as any of the actors.

Even though the Smiths would realistically take home the Oscar for Best Actor for their centrality to the whole shebang, the soundtrack is stuffed with gems. Not content with just bawling to backing tracks in dingy LA bars, Zooey Deschanel is a real life, genuine pop star as part of folky duo She&Him, consisting of she and country artist M.Ward, him. Their USP focuses on jangly, breathy, vintage pop, and their album Volume 1 isn't a million miles away from the Carpenters. They've managed to snag a spot on the soundtrack with an ebbing, plaintive cover of (who else), the Smiths' Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want.



If you fancy something a bit more upbeat, but just as endearing, try recent single In The Sun.



Doesn't she just look a doll in this? No wonder Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard snapped her up. Personally, am inclined to think he may be batting above his average here...

The album plays host to really sneaky songs, of the type that creep up on you and bear you away with their epic-ness. Exhibit#1: Mumm-Ra's She's Got You High



Back in the murky mists of time during my first term at uni, I can vaguely recall bopping about to these lads at the NME tour when it graced the biggest venue uni had to offer. Of course, now I wish my memory was better. Bloody wine.

Exhibit #2 Sarko's laydee friend/wife/hot piece of patisserie. LOOK! Her face MOVES! WOW! Never did I think I would be featuring the Gallic first lady on these virtual pages but she more than deserves buckets of praise for this dreamy piece. Vachement bien.
(is that sarko's love rival at the window?)



Exhibit #3 Temper Trap's Sweet Disposition. I know, I thought it had fallen victim to serious over exposure via radio waves but hearing it juxtaposed to the sweetest loves scenes and joyous pin pricks of Tom and Summer's relationship made me want to put it on constant replay. It's pretty hard to get tired of perfection.



I can't really put the whole album on here but I can tell you to check the rest of it out. We're talking regina spektor, Simon and garfunkel, Fiest and Wolfmother. Spotify it here

For now, I'm going to play you out on what is possibly predictably my all time favourite scene in the film. There's dancing, fountains spurting and tweeting birds alighting on shoulders. Could it get any better? It's only bloody set to You Make My Dreams Come True.




© 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.