Sweet Talk

I have been wonderfully appalling at making this a regular feature but I have been non stop for weeks and this is one of the earliest opportunities to write down some thoughts on festivals, music in general and a venture to find the perfect shoe. 

Firstly, I am not going to re-hash my boyfriend's blog account of Parklife Festival which was held on the 11-12th of June just gone, but instead, I am going to post some shameless advertising to Alex's money making dog poo I have only been to Latitude and Wireless Festivals and a fair number of gigs in my life but this festival was , as my boyfriend eloquently states, 'money making dog poo'. All I can say was that it was a massively expensive disappointment. Essentially, I am currently listening to Nero's 'Innocence' on my £30 speakers and it sounds better on these than it did in a tent with man himself playing in front of me. You know it's not been a good festival when you come home and play Chase and Status on your laptop and you have a better time pissing off your neighbours with insane bass than you do singing 'Time' for the artist because the sound from the stage is such poor quality. One of the most entertaining parts of my weekend was the guy completely off his tits behind us singing SWEET sensation over and over again during Chase and Status' entire set. The number of times I just wanted to turn round and go home are uncountable. However, the company was awesome, the artists tried their hardest with what they had (often apologising) and the weather was wonderfully British (hail the size of broken glass, thunder, 18 degree heat and torrential rain all day Sunday) but the organisers were completely piss poor and I was left massively disappointed. I don't particularly feel that I can honestly tell someone that I saw the acts that I did as I couldn't hear them. I was so excited to see Nero and didn't even care that I couldn't breathe but when you can't hear the drop, just leave. I have no idea how many people outside of my group of friends felt the same way and I don't know if many people are complaining but I am going to make the recommendation that you should think twice before going next year. Warehouse Project, along with other organisers such as Festival Republic have ruined the festival atmosphere, sacrificing quality with quantity for increasingly expensive prices. 

But now onto happier subjects starting with the Leeds Summerball. This was a wonderful evening (and unlike Parklife, I could hear the acts) and a fantastic way to end my undergraduate career. The main acts besides the Metropolis/Wax:On tent which was similar to the Parklife line up, were Ellie Goulding, Darwin Deez and Chipmunk. I am unashamedly an Ellie Goulding fan, I think her voice is beautifully haunting and unlike other uni acts that have been experienced at the cringeworthy Fruity evenings, she wasn't trying hard to be cool *cough* Skins cast *cough*. She just got up, sang beautifully and entertained the crowd. I do think she failed to remember that she was playing to a crowd of very drunk students who paid for a whole evening, not just to hear her. This meant that she played a whole album's worth of songs when the crowd only really wanted to hear 'Your Song' and 'Starry Eyed'. I did take a few drunken videos but subsequently deleted them off my camera in an equally drunken moment - here is a YouTube user's video montage though if you're interested:

05.54 onwards for 'Your Song' is my favourite part as everyone really goes for it in their football crowd manner. I think me and my friends left at around 4 and all I had in my head on the coach back was Example's 'Watch the Sun Come Up' and was suddenly convinced that Example had been playing in the Metropolis/Wax:On tent and was devastated that I had missed him. What... I wish you could record your drunken internal monologues for future hilarity. Speaking of this song though, this remix was my summer 2010 tune: 

The video is a special effects dream (and a censor's nightmare). Following on from this, those of you in the UK who enjoy the delights of iTunes' Pandora's Box of music that is Single of the Week, you might have downloaded Austra's 'Lose It'. To me she reminds me of a cross between Clare Maguire, The XX and maybe Lykke Li (which I only recently discovered was pronounced Licky Lee, who knew?). This is, in my opinion, an iTunes win. She has the haunting voice like that of Ellie Goulding and Clare Maguire with the simplistic melodies of the XX and the general style of Lykke Li which combines the two. If you're interested, here it is: 

Which reminds me, I have yet to check out this week's free song... I just downloaded it and I will easily state that it is one of the worst tracks I have heard in 2011. It's called 'Emergency' and is by Wonderland. Avoid unless you are a fan of shit. A track I would recommend on the other hand that has just sprung to mind is called 'You' by Creep ft Nina Sky. It really reminds me of something else that I have heard and obsessed over recently but I can't quite place it. It's chilled out with what could be called a light dubstep effect to it. I think maybe it reminds me a female Jamie Woon? Maybe? 

Last night I received a text from my dad (the man with the world's largest CD collection) with the following: 'So Kruder and Dorfmeister are cool? And if your reply is Who I will explode'. I didn't want my dad to explode so instead I didn't reply. I checked them out this morning and I will give them a 6/10. I think they're a bit boring for me. Wikipedia says that they are drum and bass, lounge and trip hop. They say they are drum and bass, dub and electronica. I will establish that they are lounge jazz dub with a bit of a D'n'B vibe. I'm not massively into ambient. Although I like 'depressing music' according to my boyfriend, I have a very soft spot for the XX, Jamie Woon and the Foals but I fail to really enjoy instrumental. Even if it is clever which this K&D lot are. Perhaps they will grow on me. 

This was the one that I found that I liked the most. A couple of the tents I went to a Parklife sounded a bit like this. I don't find the genre especially exciting though. Boo. So thank you daddy, but no. While I'm on the music side of things, I thought I would bring this very enjoyable BBC Magazine archive to your attention. There are only a few entries as it isn't a regular feature but if you like to know the origins of songs then have a look. This is the latest one looking into Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'  but this page has the archive list on the side for more of them including 'Killing in the Name' and 'Ernie': 

Finally, I just want to share 2 moments of joy. The first is my purchase of a pair of shoes I have been craving for a very long time. I'm not much of a shoe person and the majority of my shoes, including heels are black. Despite being 5'2", I rarely wear heels as I tend to prefer comfort for a night out rather than crippling pain. Not quite a fashionista's attitude, more of an old lady's really. Despite all this however, I have been channelling the 70s vibe recently. Although I am vertically challenged I am currently engaged in a love affair with maxi dresses and skirts at the moment. And to go with said dresses I was desperately seeking a pair of chunky heeled sandals. These did not seem to exist on the high street. The pair I was basing my choice on were these by Jeffrey Campbell [edit, photo has been deleted on the website therefore has gone from here too. Here is a leopard print pair to demonstrate the style...not the print]