Seahaven // live

If it’s not for the forced friendship of the guy rubbing his sweaty bollocks over your back, then the intimate bond you gain with the artist may just make you feel the love for a small venue. The moments when there is no separation between crowd and stage.

Roxx is a swarm of beanies as Seahaven strolls on stage. Silently captivating the audience, Kyle Soto takes to the mic caressing it strangely, sensually. Soto candidly starts to get lost in the music relaying a life story in front of our eyes: ‘It’s Over’. 

They formed in 2009 after discovering a shared love for post-punk. Developing a sound that uplifts the average punk fanatic with its soulful undertones they play each song from the album ‘Winter Forever’ with ache and desire. Next is ‘Black and white’, Craver, DeBartolo and Phillips, join in with the crowds energy rocking out on stage.

The floor starts to thump from the heavy-footed hipsters dribbling as they scream along like the song brings them close to orgasm “But you seem to have forgotten, the promises you promised, where you do not forget about me."

The fast transition from one song to the next keeps the pace of the set high, which is talent considering they haven’t introduced one song.

With passion for soul in each song, Mr. Soto instantly turns on his enticing eyes, staring deeply at each bystander. With knee bends that make him thrust upon the phallic object he holds in his hands, the stand is his pole and we are his screaming worshippers.

“Thank you for being so beautiful” he mumbles, softly. What a weird ending to a wonderful evening.

Sky Ferreira // My night my time // Album Review

If you want to feel like Alice falling down the rabbit hole of auditory hallucination, listen to Sky Ferreira resonate in a bubble of confused emotions. It’s hard to gather exactly what her reputation is at the beginning of the album, or whom it is she blames. At only 21 years old it is clear in her debut album “My Night, My Time” she is still trying to find her feet as a young woman, virtuously screaming out for attention in each and every song as it progresses to portray the pity she feels going through varies of emotions asking us do you know what it feels like.

There is visible incarnation from her label to make Ferreira a bit of everything. The instrumentation is significantly heavier than her vocals, this rebellion allows her to be a tad more vulnerable, in essence letting Sky ‘do her’. This carefully constructed image is how she wants to be seen; she can do pretty and pop so here “My night my time” is Ferreira stripped to the bone with her crack whore chic.

 Making the machine work for her a little too much, with deep fat frying of the lyrics we’ve all heard before: “There's no tomorrow without you…” “I wish this could last forever.” Yet Ferreira does it with a dominating crack of the whip.

Gospel trained, maybe just not in soul: into boys, sex and ostensibly crack and bondage, but fuck it who cares if she is godly in nature. This works for her much like following in the footsteps of original church choir singer Katy Perry, just with more explicit vulgarity.

We don’t need any more pop princesses, Ferreira is essentially grunge for Barbie dolls and there’s no problem with that.

Musical year // Rock and Roll on 2014

Who said rock and roll was intimidating? There has been a role reversal in the year 2013, where pop has become scarier than rock. Yes I said it pop haunts my soul and rock revives it.

This is the year of the rebirth of the rock and roll, indie, alternative and pop-punk movement, maybe due to the shift of the morals behind pop music.

The 90s, a year many of the late teens today remember very well. You recall the girl bands and pop stars singing about love, hate, appreciation and change? Well this continued on into the noughties - many of you however I’m sure were finding your emo style. That was only because you were sooooo emotionally unstable and turned to noisy music to let out your frustration.

Today, the image of alternative music has changed and the anti-establishment genre has become extremely mainstream. GOOD, I FOR ONE AM GLAD. Rock is now about being yourself.

Pop was the happy go lucky, bouncy bouncy gay best friend that has resorted to crack and sex just to get a bit of extra cash. What is wrong with you pop? You’re supposed to be uplifting and extremely cliché. You deserve a slap in the face with a dictionary first and maybe the bible after – and I’m not even religious. Stars such as Miley Cyrus who to be fair looks, acts and sings like a giraffe on LSD, need to review what their music is saying to the listeners.

Where’s all the subliminal messages gone? Find it in the indie music of 2013. Bastille found their feet this year with album Bad Blood where they sing of mythical stories that all have morals to their narratives. Including the classic Icarus who flew too close to the sun and we all know how that ended.

Pop-punk band, The Story So Far may shout their lyrics, oh but they need to be heard. Speaking to the teens of today having little self respect and regard for education. “And to think that you're somebody's daughter away at college not getting smarter. Everything changes when all the lights in the room are as low as you, but don't trip you'll sober up soon. Regain an honest perspective”

The way these bands may portray themselves or relay their vocals could be deemed a little harsh but its not as horrifying as the way pop artists of 2013 display themselves and their so called swag.

Ask yourselves “Why don't you speak it out loud, instead of living in your head?” questioned by the 1975. After all music is there to help us say, do and feel that emotion we didn’t know was there. Pop can’t really help with that when you’re “Shaking it like [you’re] at a strip club.”

the year of the sassy slut // 2013 in music

It certainly is hard out here for a bitch, Lily Allen I applaud you for erecting that middle finger of yours towards the representation of women featured in music videos of 2013.

We as a society have come a long way in the ideals of equality for sexes, but that’s hard to see in the world of music; women are still treated as objects of sex. When you mindlessly oogle at a music video think, are you watching a creative portrayal and storyline to match each lyric or is it simply soft porn?

2013 is the year that female artists embracing their sexuality have gone a tad too far. Stars such as Miley Cyrus and Rhianna who are not afraid to take their music videos to the next level with nudity and voyeuristic features, aren’t really being the perfect role models for the next generation of teenage girls. Their music videos depict them shaking their arses in front of the camera and acting like objects of sex.

If Miley wasn’t enough of a dickhead already she definitely would be after her actions in the wrecking ball video - you are what you eat and clearly you’ve been licking too many lollipops, crazed crack whore Cyrus. Miley stop addressing everyone as your homegirls and young innocent girls of today please don’t be shaking it like [you’re] at a strip club.

Rhianna’s new video as well for Pour it up is bloody provocative, with RiRi at one point being sprawled all over a chair legs flailing in the air. If I had to sit there and watch it with parents I would cringe like there’s no tomorrow, and feel obliged to apologise for the train-wreck of innuendo displayed before them.

Teenagers are impressionable and these images feed them the story that they are enslaved by sex. Lily Allen sets them all straight in her new song Hard out here, released in mid November this year. It no-doubtedly sums up the year 2013 for the music industry.

I completely support Allen in what she is trying to stand up for and others –mainly women- should agree. Women are fed an image of perfection by the media everyday. Girls are criticized for almost anything they do. If you’re not like the celebrities in the videos then you’re not perfect are you? Shame. You're not a size six, and you're not good looking, you should probably lose some weight 'cause we can't see your bones, you should probably fix your face or you'll end up on your own.

I hope to god you can all see the hint of sarcasm there from Allen. Decadence seems to be the overarching theme of music in 2013 lets hope it changes in the months to come so that pop stars can act like lady’s in the public eye instead of bitches.

Bye // most appropriate word ever invented

Bye, the last word that was said. Why it is the most useful word ever invented. Say you want to have a little catch up phone call with your friends (because its been a while the last time you spoke, almost a whole DAY) do not, and I mean unless you cant avoid it, use your mobile.

Bye was the best choice of words out of the whole dictionary, apart from so long or adios or au revoir, well you get the point. It was the best-chosen word because I, along with the whole of the female population, have just spent 30 minutes of my day, 30 minutes of my year, 30 minutes of my life, speaking about absolute rubbish, things irrelevant to anyone else, beyond imagination, a conversation utterly pointless even the females of the 21st century do not even remember what half their conversation was.

In our day and age, its 10p per minute you spend chattering away down the trap that is a mobile phone, so we spent a good £3. Charging a typical gossip fanatic female £1095 a year to talk about nails, shoes, and boys. 

Technology was supposed to create a world of virtual advantage; phones especially created to roam anywhere, anytime, instead they drain us of money. Not only this but you know that thing we used to do? what was it? oh socialise. Socialising has completely been forgotten in today's society all due to the rise in technology, how can sights such as Facebook and Twitter have the audacity to call it a 'social' networking sight? I never knew that having the basic skills to click a few button and type a few words meant that you was an amazing people person. Similar to mobile phones, although i use them myself, why did we have to ring those that we miss, why not pop-in to say hi; instead we constantly chatter away forever forgetting that sacred word of, Bye.

Wasting time and money, all because the phone was there. Bye, the last word that was said. 

Lyrical Genius // Daniel and the Scandals

A five man group from the UK, Daniel and the Scandals, are not afraid to speak their mind and more respectfully their emotions in a typically lighthearted 'indie' song. One that is upbeat, bright and foregrounds exactly what they are about; teenage love.
 

 

They are in-fact what I would like to call, lyrical genius's. Their newest and first single 'I Love You (there you go I said it)' sums up the whole narrative of the song in one sentence the subheading explains exactly what goes through the mind of a love struck teenager, boy or girl. The relief, and weight lifted off the shoulders once you express what is really on your mind: "you have been running round my brain, over and over and over again." every lyric is candid.

Not only does this upbeat song relate to any teenager it makes anyone and everyone want to get up and moving. The mixture of acoustic and bass along with electric guitar all thrown together with a consistent drum beat reminds me of established artists such as Two Door Cinema Club. A qwerky style that will definitely thrive in the 21st century, especially as live music is becoming much more appreciated. As well as sounding similar to Two Door, their look is also comparable. Primary colours have been taken over by the both of them and exploded their wardrobe and music video set.

These are an inspiration to the growing independent music scene, don't be afraid to express your emotions in a non-moany-drony presence. Be bright and loud!! Its a gift to these guys and they will one day be in the lime light.  

Can we take parody artists seriously // The Midnight Beast

One of my all time favourite artists are The Midnight Beast, a 'boyband' with the intention to mock the boyband image - we all know the one; pretty boys, usually extremely camp, dressed in the same clothes, in sync oh and the main trait, auto-tuned songs!

Well the Midnight Beast, highlight this in their sons by wrecking the image of artists today. All of their songs have a comical slant. This is ironic as they show how the music industry has become too emotionally in-tune with the artists personal life and feelings. They formed in 2009, living in London shortly after Dru Wakely and Stefan Adbingdon left Perfect People, their former band. These internet sensations, known for their parody of Ke$ha's "Tik Tok", have a youthful view on life today, but in their fist songs they rip apart the auto-tuned songs of the 21st century. In each song Dru mentions his dad as "it when downhill when I was 3, when my dad neglected me" however the sngs always move swiftly away from the emotion and Stefan clearly gets back to their ethos to sell themselves: "Dru, we're The Midnight Beast".

This comedy continues as they mock the attention all the boybands get from the sexual predatorial teens of today. One of their most iconic songs "Lez be friends" basically slags off ll the stuck up, untalented bands and their massive ego. The chorus bluntly highlights that "if a girl wont come round he must be a lesbian" HA! The reason we wish not to spend our lives focusing on the boybands is because we have sense, morals, eyes and ears. The idealistic boybands from 2000 to now have no style class or voice. The Midnight Beast want the world to be viewed through their truthful eyes. Come on, I have my own life to live I don't really care whats happening in yours, One Direction; whether I know I'm beautiful or not, you won a popularity competition. Parody acts have more talent than those in the charts as they have a creative mind stream, write their own songs and are able to dress themselves in the morning, they face life as an everyday teen to emphasise the crap that happens in the day to day situations are comical and no-one cares.

The Midnight Beast are new, fun, young and individual the show this through their music. I leave you with this. Yes parody artists can be taken seriously; they are taking over the internet and music scene whether you like it or not. Point blank.