Laura Marling @ The Royal Albert Hall

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Right now I have a beautiful email sitting in my inbox about a temporary job that would give me amazing experience and invaluable training but I have noooo way to get to and from this place if I did indeed get it. It's pretty much out of the way of public transport and I'm pretty much car-less. If I could only find £2000 somewhere so that I could sort that out, including insurance, tax and you know...petrol. 


Anyway, I'm ignoring the email for now. Procrastinating by making mix CD's. Do people still make mix CD's?!


But I digress, this is a blog about music....

Lets go through some Laura Marling. 
The concert was balls-to-the-walls fantastic. I'm pretty sure everyone in that room that night could feel how significant and important it was, for Laura especially. This was Miss Marling's first night at the Royal Albert Hall and it was spectacular. She made mention of the fact that her parents were in the audience and that was the signifier for me for how much this night meant. It was also her last concert for a while, I know she's doing Latitude this weekend (I'm not sure if maybe she's doing any other festivals) but I think this was her last official concert until the new album... Which I feel is very much under way and most likely already written. 


One of the new songs she played I absolutely loved... I thought for sure it was a cover, it was like I'd heard it before, but no, it was just so beautiful, so I found a video of her performing it. Enjoy. 
Laura Marling - Once

(EDIT: The live video disappeared so I've replaced it with this one.)
This was the best video I could find. She performed for the BBC at the Southbank Centre but I think this is a better performance. But seriously, no Youtube video will do this song justice. It was so beautiful live, in that massive building, it brought tears to my eyes.

It's clear she probably has written all of the songs for her next album because they're all over Youtube from her live performances this past year or so. I can't wait. 


Next up is one of my all time favourite songs. Blackberry Stone. I managed to find a video from the night at the Royal Albert Hall that some lovely person kindly uploaded for us all to enjoy. 


Too beautiful... You absolutely, truly appreciate her music so much more in that massive hall. Several thousand people completely stunned into silence. 


One more from the Royal Albert Hall. Enjoy. 
Laura Marling - What He Wrote

So I'm now just going to share another couple of my favourites, ones that I couldn't find from the night so these are just the recordings. So good. 


This one I did actually record myself on the night, but I was in the nose bleed seats or cheap seats,if you will, front row though so I had a nice, none obscured view but with my dodgy camera that takes pathetic pictures and video... well it's just not good enough to show. Seriously, my phone took better pictures -_- 
Laura Marling - Night After Night

I have a feeling not that many people like this next song. It's just a hunch because I couldn't find many video's on Youtube... weird, because I do really love this song. 
Laura Marling - Alpha Shallows


Now this next one is my ALL time favourite of hers, I think... (so far, anyway.) 
Laura Marling - Hope In The Air
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"Pick up your rope, Lord. Sling it to me, if we are to battle I must not be weak!"
Too good. 


Anyway, that's me done I think on the LM front. This weekend I will introduce you to Daytrotters!! Have a good week. I feel better now after listening to these, I was definitely on a downer.
Right, I'm off to go listen to some more Marling and as I parting gift, this is the other new song she performed at RAH. I'm unsure of the name but sounds goooood. Enjoy. 



~HL


PS. Sorry about you having to go listen to some of the songs on Youtube. These record labels and their laws, eh?!

Kingdom Come

Tweet I'm gonna blog the crap out of the Laura Marling gig at the Royal Albert freaking Hall tomorrow.

But right now, after having just watched a really shoddy version of The Hunger Games (because I felt like it) I have to blog a couple of songs from the soundtrack that I've been obsessed with over the last couple of days. They're not even in the actual movie but I realised about a week ago that I'd never actually sat and listened to the whole album. So I did. 'Tis pretty good.


BUT before we get into it... I have to apologise, I've tried to find youtube video's that can be embedded and allow playback from other sites but... Alas, you will find that some record labels will not allow it. So when the song doesn't play, just click the 'Watch on Youtube' link and it'll bring it up for you in another window.


Back at the ranch...


So I think I've shared a song of theirs before, but I am currently obsessed with The Civil Wars. They are soooooo good. Their harmonies are amazing and so beautiful. So up first is their track from The Hunger Games OST called Kingdom Come. 

Good right? :D Ugh. That line "Fly high across the sky from here to Kingdom Come, fall back down to where you're from..." Gets me every time. Right in the feelings. 


Second up, well, it's Taylor Swift. Now I absolutely HATED this song when I first heard it, this was way before the movie came out but I don't have much patience for the Swift and her voice can be on the verge of irritating sometimes. Too breathy..? I think that may be it. But since listening to it over and over, I've decided I do love it. Not as much as The Civil Wars track but the fact that they feature on this song with Swifty helps a lot. Here's Safe & Sound. 



The last one I'll put from the soundtrack is Come Away To The Water by Maroon 5. This track features Rozzi Crane and I think that helps quite a bit actually, she definitely brings something to it. However, Adam Levine's voice cannot be denied. It is beautiful. 
It's a really great song and suits the movie perfectly without it being towards either one extreme or the other, which I found with a lot of the other songs on the album. Several of them are just so opposite, they kind of contradict themselves rather than compliment each other. 

OK that's it on The Hunger Games front. 


However, I did watch Remember Me today as well. I don't know why I do it to myself, I just ended up in tears. Anyway, it reminded me of the track that they used in the trailer for the movie... well I'm pretty sure it was a trailer for this movie, I don't care either way... it reminded me of this AWESOME song that you should listen to. 


It's Dream On by The Chemical Brothers. I believe this was on their third album, Surrender, and is personally a favourite of mine. Enjoy.


That's all folks. 
I'm going to go..... "Sleep on, Dream on" ;) 


~HL

Underwater...

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Joshua Radin - Underwater 
LOVE this song and I am patiently (not) waiting for his album to come out on the 31st of July.


Right so, quite a few songs I want to let everybody know about because...well, they're awesome. First one is a song I recently heard on a film trailer. This one is called 'Demons' by Imagine Dragons and was featured on The Words trailer. I'm going to put the trailer below because I actually quite want to see this movie.


Bradley Cooper... YUM. Anyhoo... it's the song towards the end and here it is in full for your enjoyment. I immediately downloaded this song after watching this. (I actually spent money buying this track even though I'm flat broke!)
Imagine Dragons - Demons


Another song I found over the past 10 days or so is this gem by ALB called 'Golden Chains'. Now some may recognise this immediately from a funny/weird advert for a car... I forget which. I quite like this song purely cause it's quite joyful and it makes me laugh. Wait for the chorus, that's when it kicks in!
ALB - Golden Chains


OK I'm a huge movie fanatic if it's not already obvious and I love all kinds of movies. Seriously, I'm open to anything. I'm impatiently waiting for The Dark Knight Rises to come out right now and then there are a bunch of films out this year which I'm really looking forward to. 
I'm a HUGE Jennifer Lawrence fan. 1.) Because she is amazing in Winter's Bone - the first movie I saw her in, and I recommend watching it. 2.) She was in The Hunger Games. 'Nuff said. The books are awesome, don't argue with me. 3.) She is perhaps one of the funniest people ever. Seriously just watch/read one or two of her interviews and it's all there. She completely cracks me up!
So the trailer for her next movie just came out (also featuring the b-e-a-utiful Bradley Cooper) called Silver Linings Playbook. I can't wait for this movie. Here. Watch.

Like someone said on twitter, it's a Jennifer Lawrence/Bradley Cooper DANCE MOVIE. Oh my gosh, I'm excited. And...Where the hell on earth has Chris Tucker been!? Seriously?!


Anyway, that's all for now. I'm seeing Laura Marling (again) on Saturday at the ROYAL ALBERT FREAKING HALL. Super excited. So I'm thinking a little Laura Marling spam blog will be up by the end of this week. 

Laters.


~HL

Sigur Rós - Valtari

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Oh. My. Word. So I'd been trying to track down this album (Valtari) and I finally found it on Monday. I love Sigur Rós. Now just forget for a minute the fact that I can barely pronounce their name and their songs aren't even in English... Because their music is just wonderful. Like, serious heaven up in here. It's like sex for your ears... forget I just said that. 

But seriously this album is pure wonder, and heartbreaking, and curious, and slightly experimental. And now I MUST get tickets for Bestival so I can see them live at their only UK show. You need to check this out... 

For those that have never heard of them, it's most likely that you have actually heard their music. A song they did called 'Hoppípolla' is one of their most famous songs and was used on television a great deal, bringing them a lot of attention at the time. Several of their other songs have been used in film trailers and movies (Vanilla Sky) as well... Wikipedia can probably tell you this but I just want people to give them a chance. Everyone should know about Sigur Rós. 

Also if you've been about the past couple of days you might have seen the video release for their track 'Fjögur Píanó' which features actor Shia LaBeouf. Actually in the buff. (Had to be done.)

Anyway, I didn't know which song I wanted to share with you... so you're getting two :D Lucky YOU!

This track is what made me want to buy this album. It's different from the previous stuff I've heard from them. In fact the whole album seems that way. It's all very ethereal... The word I used to describe it is possessive. I don't know why, that's just how it is. 

Sigur Rós - Dauðalogn

So yes, this song debuted on the series finale of The Vampire Diaries (seriously, I'm so in love with their soundtrack supervisor.) It was wonderful and such a perfect song that fit so brilliantly to the devastating scene taking place. I don't know how many times I've listened to this song, just over and over again... all 6 minutes and 37 seconds but I swear I tear up, if not cry, every single time. It's just amazing. 

Anyway, enough gushing. On to the next one. 

This is the one song on the album that just drew me in so completely. I tend to ignore critics but they seem to have at least this right. This song is the highlight. 

Sigur Rós - Varúð

This album is by no means going to be everyone's cup of tea. This band is not going to suddenly grow millions and millions of fans from the release of this album. But more people should be listening to them. They are such a unique band and one that hasn't been so publicized in the media and charts etc. It took me a while to find them and enjoy their music but it's definitely happening now and I just wanted to spend this post dedicated to my new favourite album. 

It will be on repeat for at least a couple of weeks. I cannot wait to go for a drive so I can put this CD on so f-in loud. 

~HL

P.S. I have more songs to offer continuing on from the previous post, but I really had to get this one out... so next post, more delicious tunes all picked out and ready to go! 

Shazam that shit.

Tweet I've been wanting to post for the past few days but I haven't gotten around to it... until now. 

This last week I've found so many great new songs that I wasn't even sure which ones I was going to share, so there may be a few here. 

First, I can not begin to explain how much I love Shazam. It's amazing, and since I got my new phone about a month ago I haven't stopped using it. Seriously, any time, anywhere... if there's a great song, I shazam that shit. 

So, the first song I'm recommending is 'Be What You Want' by Robin Loxley and Oliver Jackson. Nope, I'd never heard of them before either but this song was featured on an advert for House and ER on one of the Sky channels. 

I shazam'd that shizzle straight away. It's a seriously great tune in my opinion and clearly from the comments on Youtube it's a song that has been used in several advertisements around the world. 


Next up is 'Demons' by Sleigh Bells. I've not been super into Sleigh Bells, but every now and again I hear a song by them and it makes me want to listen to them more. This track is off their album Reign of Terror which was released this year. I'm pretty sure the first time I heard them was on a trailer for a movie and their song 'Kids' was used in an ad for a phone I think, and other things, so you've probably, definitely heard that one. So they get around a bit in the sync department, and this particular track I heard in an episode of Vampire Diaries but they've since released it as a single.


Enjoy. 


I'll make this next one the last one and save the other tracks I'm obsessed with for the next post.


So this one was a toss up between The Civil Wars and The Fray. They're both just as sad as each other but ultimately I went with The Fray. 


So, when I had a power cut at the house the other day, I made a crack on Twitter that I thought I might end up getting killed, and that I wanted The Fray to be played at my funeral. It was a joke.. sort of, but actually, not really. Seriously, this song needs to be played at my funeral. (any RL friends reading right now - take note.) The Fray - 'Be Still'




Again, it looks like this song has been used on a couple of TV shows. I'm a huge fan of the band and I have their albums but this song in particular I heard, again, on Vampire Diaries. I'm seriously in love with the shows Music Supervisor right now. He has amazing taste and is on twitter here if you like. 


Anyway, that'll do for now because I've been listening to far too many depressing tracks lately and I'm pretty sure if I write any more we'll be diving down into some deep territory that we don't want to go.


Hope everyone's having a great weekend! 


~HL 

Closer (2004)

Tweet Just a quick post because I'm super tired and I totally should have done this earlier when I was thinking about it but, of course, I'm the BEST procrastinator in the world so...


First off, the song that has been plaguing me, or you know, filling my mind with unicorns and rainbows with how awesome it is - On 'n' On by Justice.


Like, SO amazing. I love this song. I remember downloading their album because I really liked Civilization, which everyone knows by now, but it's taken me ages to actually sit and listen to the whole thing. However, I recently had a long train journey to fill with beautiful music so I listened it all. I picked On 'n' On at random, like I usually do, judging a song by its title. It did not disappoint and then it bleeds straight into the next song on the album Brianvision. Also goooood.


I'm pretty sure they've released it as a single now which is unsurprising as it's one of the few songs on the album that actually has lyrics. So hopefully more people will hear it but if not.... Here it is. Use headphones and walk down the street to it, I dare you!



OK. I just watched the video for the first time. Oh my God is it WEIRD...!? Think I'll stick to listening to it instead of watching this. Also, get the album version... there's an extra verse which is awesome...and it's just generally better.


Next order of business. I just re-watched Closer. I LOVE this movie. Insufferable people doing insufferable things to each other. Such is life. Anyway, besides Jude Law irritating me by generally being Jude Law, I really do love this movie, it makes me weep but also because I love Damien Rice who sings the track which runs through the movie, The Blower's Daughter.


It's one of those songs where you hear it and immediately think of the film instead of the artist singing it. Which is what I love about some music.




Listen and weep. Then watch Closer if you haven't...or even if you have, and weep some more.

That is all. 


Enjoy. 


~HL

'Start blogging!' - Yeah I'll get right on that...

Tweet OK here goes...

So it’s 2am and I decided that there’s no better time to start this blog than right now.

This is the first entry and will likely be the most long winded entry, so bare with me.

I completed my university degree 15 days ago, although technically it doesn’t finish until the 10^th June and I won’t be able to collect my results until the 10^th July. I actually didn’t even think it would be that soon but either way I'm not too confident about the results. 
You see, as it turns out, I don’t think university was a great fit for me. I’ve never been much of an academic scholar but I wanted a focus in my life, I needed time to figure out what I wanted to do, but you see, people (family) won’t generally give you the time and space you need to do that without breathing down your neck, begging you to sort your life out. It’s annoying but I can’t say I blame them. I beg myself daily to get it together. So I decided to go to university. The question my parents asked when I told them: “Why on earth would you want to go to university?”

I’m still asking myself.

So 3 years have flown by and although there were some really great times and I met some fantastic people, it turns out that writing 3000 word essay’s about the music industry in China doesn’t quite do it for me. (*Note: I studied Music Management) I'm predicting a 2:2 for my final grade... which isn’t a 2:1, which unfortunately is what you kinda need to get graduate jobs etc. Massive disappointment, I know. (Not sarcasm btw.)

However, I cannot do anything about that now and I have to move on. What I did learn within my 3 years at uni was something that I knew along was I wanted to do. I want to work in sync. For those that don’t know and are interested; sync is when music is combined with a moving visual image. So basically those songs that are played in television adverts, TV programmes, trailers, movies, in games and the like.

The job title that I want: Music Supervisor. This is ‘The Dream Job’. And is also the job I am unlikely to ever have. ‘Cause I’m a pessimist and I don’t believe in luck.

But I’d also really love to work with adverts. So that’s my aim for now. You see though, the only experience I have in the actual music industry is my degree and my absolute passion for music. Not a lot that’s going to set me apart, let’s be frank.

But music has always been there for me. HUGE cliché I know, so call it altruistic or whatever but I want music to be there for other people too. And that is my focus in life.

I've always loved music from such a young age, I always knew the latest releases even when I was 8/9 years old. Listening to Garbage was my turning point, I have to say, and they will be featured on this blog at some point but I truly discovered my love for music when I watched Garden State. The soundtrack is IMMENSE and I love every single second of it and the movie. (Please go watch it, like right now.)

There’s a reason Zach Braff won a Grammy Award for that soundtrack album. Go buy it, YOU FOOLS!

So every entry will feature a different song. A song I want you to listen to and most likely a song that has been loved by me and listened by me so many times I can’t count. A song that has influenced me and a song that I want to influence you.

Today is this gem from the ever loved Garden State OST. Kinda fitting, no?
Frou Frou - "Let Go"


I'm out. Until later...


~HL


P.S. They won't all be this long, I promise. (*Things every single blogger says.)