Holy Dirty Paws

Tweet So...That was a long hiatus. Long time, no see and all that jazz.

Straight back to it. I've been desperate to be inspired by music lately because I gotta be honest, I feel a little let down by the amount of stuff that hits the charts these days, not that I regularly listen to that stuff but I've been at a loss to find some good stuff elsewhere.

Like I've said in previous posts, the majority of my favourite songs and rare finds come from TV shows and movies. All my TV shows start back up again in September. Boo. Insert sad face. So beside movies, which have been lacking in truly brilliant under-the-radar tunes from underground, unknown artists, I've been stuck with whatever I can get my ears on.

I'm actually on a classical hit recently. So I'll give you some tunes, including one of my favourite classical songs. Enjoy. 

I really liked this track from Of Monsters and Men but it was just bought to my attention again in the trailer for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, starring Ben Stiller and Kristen Wiig and some other cool people. Looks like an interesting movie but I just really love the song choice, it fits the trailer perfectly. (If I could post the trailer I would but it's pretty much blocked everywhere at the moment but you can try here) 
Of Monsters and Men - Dirty Paws 


After just listening to this, it's been driving me mad that it completely reminds me of another track, after searching my brain for a few minutes I remembered a certain car advert that's been played on TV very recently. So below I have 'Home' by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Heroes.

Although pretty catchy, I don't think I could listen to this track over and over again. I basically wanted to post it so you could see the similarities in the two tracks. Also, it's a far longer track than it needs to be. Needs to be said. 

This next track I heard from the movie The Disappearance of Alice Creed, not a film I would normally take time out to watch but it was on TV so I decided to give it a shot. I actually thought it was pretty good and this song ends the film on a pretty awesome note. Such a chill, eerie track. Her voice reminds me of someone else but I'll have to get back to you on that one.
Cathy Davey - Holy Moly


Now this one I heard during an interview I think, looking at the comments on youtube it's obviously been featured on ASOS so I probably heard it there most likely. Hell if I remember, plus Shazam has lost all my hits :( Had to reset my phone, you'd think that Shazam would keep the tracks that you've searched out!
Anyway, haven't heard of this chick before but I love her voice and the songs got a good summer beat to it.
YADi - The Blow


I was going to end this post here with my classical piece but then youtube auto-play started this other track which I LOVE LOVE LOVE. It's so brilliant. I heard this on the last season of the Vampire Diaries (it's also played in the new Romeo & Juliet trailer). I thought it played during a particularly heartbreaking moment in the series but I don't think it was, at least not compared to the other truly heartbreaking moments from that series. Damn that show and my tears!! Anyway, I listened to some of her other stuff but it's not as great as this one, but you should definitely give her album Conatus a listen.
Zola Jesus - Skin


And finally, a bit of classical culture shock to the system before I drop off to sleep.
This has to be my favourite classical piece ever, I think. Love it.
Camille Saint-saëns - Danse Macabre 


That should keep you occupied while I take another 3 month hiatus... I swear it won't be so long next time. 
Enjoy. 

~HL
P.S. Feel free to give me some music suggestions cause I haven't got many at the moment. The good news is, only 5 days until The Civil Wars new album is released. YAY!

P.P.S. You should all watch Pacific Rim and witness the fineness that is Charlie Hunnam. YUM. 

Gabrielle Aplin @ HMV Institute

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I went to see Gabrielle Aplin on Thursday night and although they're (VERY) currently in the process of removing the HMV part from their name, The HMV Institute in Birmingham was actually quite refreshing for a change. (NB. I just took a look at this site, which was yesterday The HMV Institute but as of today has become The Institute. Bravo with the quick work!) There are very few venues in the heart of Birmingham that fit the purposes of artists like Gabrielle to be honest. We used to have the Carling Academy, which then became The O2 Academy but I'm pretttttttyyyy sure that's gone now, so this place made a nice change. It even has a coat check?! :O 

So anyway, besides the fact that I was actually quite ill (still am, hence the blog post at 3am; I cannot breathe) and also that I had to give up my prime spot in the centre of the room so that I could dash to the ladies in the far corner (I thought I was gonna blow chunks) and then stay in that corner, 1) just in case but 2) because that's where the air con was, BUT besides all that it was actually quite a great night! 

Gabrielle Aplin has a fantastic voice, both live and in recordings but live... Her voice live is superior to her recordings (I think that's actually quite rare these days). She was super sweet, and appropriately nervous at the beginning but then seemed super chilled with the audience, cracking jokes with the rowdy, hench, 40-year-old male hecklers by the end (yeah, I don't know what they were doing there either). 

She sang songs from her future release debut album English Rain (13th May), opening with Panic Cord, her next single from the album that has also been previously released on one of the two EPs that have seen the light of day on iTunes. 

My favourite songs from the night were obviously the ones that I knew, including her cover of The Power Of Love, Keep Pushing Me and her current single Please Don't Say You Love Me. The track of night, I think everyone agreed, which was also the closer, was Home. 


There was a brilliant moment when she was singing Home where, after realising that most of us knew it, she asked the audience to sing, stepping away from the mic, the band very quietly playing as everyone (mostly the females) in the audience sang the lyrics perfectly. It was the most harmonised sing along I've ever heard at a concert, I was quite blown away. 

You can preview all of her songs off her album here. The ones I'm really looking forward to are Keep On Walking, a song that Gabrielle announced was "about some dick" to a round of laughter. This was another sing-along-song on the night where even the rowdy old men joined in quite joyously. Also looking forward to Salvation and the rest of the album, basically.
Here's her cover of The Power Of Love, in case you were in doubt about whether to listen to her or not...


Anyway, it's been a while, I basically missed out the whole of February, but who likes that month anyway?! I'm hoping to blog about Paramore soon this weekend. I've been wanting to since the video for Now came out, but here we are with another single (Still Into You) preparing us for the album orgasm we're going to experience when the album comes out on 8th april (it best be on my door step since I've pre-ordered it!) 

I've also got some new tunes to blog about so I'll get on it!!! 

~HL