Uncategorized – and so she thinks

Writing for Wellbeing – the Leeds visit!

admin — Tue, 31 May 2016 11:04:26 +0000

The City Sound Project – Canterbury's music festival

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 20:12:41 +0000

All too often the south east gets subsumed into London, with the assumption being that just because London is well catered for in terms of live music, everyone in Kent is as well. Sadly, it’s not the case, but every now and then the creative and artistic potential in these parts gets some buzz – and the Canterbury City Sound Project 2016 is one brilliant example of that.
Taking place over the bank holiday weekend of Saturday 30th April and Sunday 1st May – in glorious sunshine, the organisers claim – this festival is brings together music of all genres, DJs, bands, poetry, art and more to the beautiful Unesco town of Canterbury, also home to a thriving student population. Gigs will be taking place in the traditional pubs and clubs, as well as open air space, the medieval Westgate Towers and the 18th Century Greyfriars Chapel.
Previous headliners have included globally renowned Bastille, George Ezra, MNEK, Disciples, Duke Dumont, Slaves, Gorgon City and Hannah Wants, so expectations and standards are high. Keen to give back to the local community, there will also be free to enter areas for the public to enjoy and more family friendly events such as art, poetry and secret sets from some of the festival’s biggest acts.
Tickets are available here.

Cross Record – Wabi Sabi

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 12:06:53 +0000

Husband wife combos can sometimes be a bit clichéd schmaltz, all winsome sing song and cooing back and forth. Cross Record are rather different. In 2013 Emily Cross decamped from Chicago to the remote, idyllic town of Dripping Springs, Texas with her husband, Dan Duszynski. Living on Moon Phase ranch with bird sanctuary in tow was something of a rather different experience to city life (the scorpions on the cover are a snap Cross took of the creatures in her bath), and over two years Cross has produced a potent, atmospheric and bewitching record which perfectly captures the firey dawns and smoky evenings of their new abode.
Wabi-Sabi is vast and intimate, and in this feels simultaneously unsettling but strangely comforting. Just nine tracks long, it is intense and passionate, disparate elements in the individual tracks making up for a lack of quantity elsewhere.
Lead single Steady Waves builds from acoustic flickers to a forboding howl of a climax, powerful and gripping in its cinematic sweeps, whereas Basket swims in an eerie smoulder. The video to High Rise is as disconcerting as its sonics, minimalist electro shifting into thick guitar, and moments of hopelessness shuddering into violent explosions. On The Depths muffled whispers merge into thunderous potency in a reflection of the instability of human experience and its messy dissonance, all in a measured fashion whilst Something Unseen Touches A Flower To My Forehead is the sweetest track on record.
There’s birds cawing in the distance, marimba and kalimba flickering, and a ladies choir offering vocals, adding to the feeling of being absorbed in the expansive vista. Destabilised static and soft pulsations blur with the sound of nature and those dusty warm spaces.
The recording process was slow but meticulous and Cross working sixty hour weeks in restaurants, cleaning and other roles which allowed her the head space to compose in her head. Through collaboration with a variety of other artists, the record been carefully sculpted, samples and recordings being produced, ripped apart, and changed again. What this means is that is that Wabi Sabi is exploratory and intoxicating in its slow perusal of deep emotions, stirring and resonant in its weirdness – and completely beguiling.
Out on Ba Da Bing Records on January 29th.
Originally published on Drunken Werewolf.

Drones Club – Soul of a Spaceman

admin — Sun, 31 Jan 2016 11:05:59 +0000

Soul of a Spaceman is the first tune from the Rise EP, the debut from London’s Drones Club. It’s a nostalgic and trippy piece of electronic driven wistfulness, seeming to mingle together video game special effects with classic chord progressions to dazzling effect. They are, in their own words, ‘a pan- social solution to the 21st century problem’ and demand ‘reconnection to the physical universe’. Whilst such ambitions are lofty, and their London Fashion Week stunts err on precocious, but this tune with its throbbing pop builds and dreamy interwoven art flickers certainly marks Drones Club out as a band to keep a watch out for.

The Big Moon – Sucker

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 16:35:36 +0000

This London four piece are on so many ones to watch lists, and rightly so. Back in May 2015 The Big Moon they released Sucker, a song about tenacity and loyalty even in the face of a floundering relationship and brutal love, filled with undulating moody guitar work and a chiming playground melody and whoops of delight belie the slightly sad tone to the story.

Writing Raw – Dead Cold

admin — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:30:00 +0000

‘Mate, will you just settle on a station.’ Said Rob in frustration, as Mark pressed the tune button again.

He’d been in work thirty seven minutes. It should have been fifty four, but alarm clocks and such binary measures of life had become insignificant since Anna left. He’d spent the whole time trying to find a song that didn’t remind him of her. He had had high hopes for the music, wishing each pulse would jolt away the pain, but it was just making him feel worse.

That was the trouble with a life lived alongside someone else. Every significant moment, and thus the soundtrack to them all, was bound up with them. The song that was playing when they met, the song they used to sing around the house, that tune they heard every bloody night in Spain. She was the only person who also knew all the words to Spandau’s Ballet’s Gold, and he loved the way she used to come in from a sweaty gig and switch the radio to Classic FM to fall asleep to. Now he might never be able to listen to music again.

Read the rest at Writing Raw.

Save Blue & Green Tomorrow!

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 10:37:34 +0000

Blue & Green needs your help

This crowdfunder will determine if Blue & Green Tomorrow will continue and thrive… or fade to black. We only have a short window in which to save the magazine. We want to remain as a thorn in the side of the reckless and unsustainable, while also being a raucous voice for the responsible and sustainable. But we desperately need your help to do that.

What is Blue and Green Tomorrow?

The online publication Blue and Green Tomorrow is the UK’s most widely-read and fastest-growing sustainability magazine for investors and consumers. Since 2013, our growth has been rapid and we now need crowdfunding to survive the next four months while our underlying business model starts to pay off.

Our aim is to encourage our readers to buy from and invest in sustainable companies – those that balance the needs of people, planet and profit. We simplify sustainability, both the individuals and organisations working in it, and amplify their work to the largest number of possible investors and consumers.

Every day we write 18-25 articles on how to invest sustainably, travel responsibly, shop ethically and use cleaner sources of energy. Our most popular articles explain climate change, simplify investment and profile individuals and organisations that are leaders in sustainability. Articles that explore the rapid decline in bees, polar ice and forest cover are perennial favourites.

We also produce 12-14 in-depth guides each year on all aspects of sustainability.

Founded in 2010 our readership has quadrupled in the last 12 months, with 76,283 unique readers per month in June 2014, up 43% on the previous month. We are growing fast, and want to continue this growth long into the future.

We need our friends and readers’ help to survive the next few months

Four years since we first stepped onto the foothills of sustainability, Blue & Green Tomorrow is at dire risk of falling silent.

Running a free magazine for the last four years has taken its toll on the founders’ finances – we have literally put everything into making Blue & Green Tomorrow as big and noisy as it is. The truth is, we’ve finally run out of money to create the impartial content we provide free of charge and will have to stop this month.

We’re four months away from being financially self sufficient, with some incredible deals in place which will finally make us viable over the next 12 months, but we’re not nearly close enough to continue without our readers’ financial help in the short term.

We really want Blue & Green Tomorrow to be an impartial and raucous voice for all aspects of sustainability. We still have ambitious plans to be the loudest voice for sustainability – but can only do so with your help.

Every day we promote individuals and organisations doing good and helping make a more sustainable planet. They will lose a loud voice without our coverage.

How this funding will make a difference

We have big and ambitious plans for the money you pledge. We want to reach 250,000 readers in the UK and 250,000 readers overseas to spread the message of sustainable investing and living.

It is in investment we can make a real difference. For every dollar of GDP, $26 dollars is traded financially (data and image courtesy of De Spiegel).

Unsustainable, unethical and irresponsible investment and financial trade has shaped the world we live in today and today is shaping the world our children and grandchildren will live in tomorrow.

We want our readers to take seven sustainable steps in 2015 creating 3.5 million actions, from moving their money to more responsible banks, investing more sustainably, switching to renewable energy at home and at work, buying more fair trade, travelling responsibly, voting for a party with sustainably policies and backing a sustainable venture on crowdfunder.co.uk.

We need to rebuild Blue & Green Tomorrow as a scalable, fit-for-purpose website. We need it to be optimised for tablets and smartphones, with apps available on all mobile operating systems. We want to offer Blue & Green Tomorrow anywhere, anytime, on any device.

Time really is running out for our blue and green marble of a planet and we need to reach more readers quickly. That means promoting our website and e-newsletter to even more investors and consumers, encouraging more people to invest and spend sustainably.

We want to continue paying our graduate journalists a living wage, to give the young people most affected by our current unsustainable economic activity not only a start in their career but also an opportunity to frame the debate with their own future interests at heart.

That’s what we’d do with the money you pledge.

Please help us today, or Blue & Green will fade to black in September 2014.

How the money breaks down

The rewards

Are for both individuals (blue rewards) and organisations (green rewards), you can secure a heartfett thank you printed in every guide for as little as £12, an invitation to our “We made it party!” as a supporter or articles and promotion in Blue & Green Tomorrow. Here’s a small selection of the rewards:

What the industry says about us

“By launching Blue & Green Tomorrow, Simon Leadbetter has done more than anyone else in the British media to promote a proper understanding of sustainable investment.” Clare Brook of WHEB Group

“You are an original, fresh and high quality voice for Sustainable Investing at a time when we had all but disappeared from the financial media.” Peter Michaelis of Alliance Trust

“Blue & Green – a new and credible force in the sustainability space.” Claudia Quiroz of Quilter Cheviot

Cassandra Jenkins – Rabbit

admin — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 18:30:18 +0000

It starts with a crashing cymbal and ends with moonlight twinkle. In between, on Rabbit, we find a gentle halcyonic rolling wash of guitar and precise yet eerie keys, perfectly placed percussion dissipating into Cassandra Jenkins‘ bittersweet tones that tell tales of a queen and a king that seem somewhat disillusioned but tinted with hopefulness. There’s a languor to proceedings, at least to start with, before a teasing frivolity and back and forth gasping vocal scales. Rabbit has just the right amount of production at the touch of co-writer Sam Griffin Owens – not so much lo-fi but genuine.

The song is dedicated to Jenkins’ goddaughter in memory of her parents’ now deceased pet rabbit and comes with the following note: ‘After Rabbit passed away in 2004, her body was sent to North Carolina to the teenage taxidermist, Amy Ritchie. She returned to New York beautifully preserved with one peculiar detail. On one side of her face she bears a neutral expression, and on the other a beguiling smile.’

A band to watch – Dignan Porch

admin — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 13:53:24 +0000

Dignan Porch are a five piece from London, DIY in ethos and distorted in delivery. Theirs is the sound of rainy late summer, all dense and enigmatic but also full of forceful riffage. Tousled languid serenades, the vocals are direct but deluded (sleeve notes for highlight Like It Was tells that I’m going to call her up and make it like it was. And when she answers her voice will be curious. All our conversations will be spontaneous. It’s fortunate that we have woken up and remembered to love each other. And when I think of her I won’t be jealous, I’ll make everything just like it was’) There are always going to be books that we dislike, but there is so much to celebrate about a company that publishes almost exclusively for women readers.. Dreamy and deap, songs such as Nothing Bad Will Ever Happen have the aura of an icy chill underlying the setting sun. The Game We Made is a song of lo-fi musings given amped up attitude, and Darkness is a sharp searing judgement via shimmering synths and murky depths.

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

admin — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 08:44:46 +0000

Pleasant is a word that is generally a good thing. A pleasant country walk. A pleasant dinner. A pleasant night’s sleep. Bands however rarely want to be pleasant. Gritty, abrasive, heavy and heady. Not pleasant. But this is exactly what new album Fly By Wire from the Missouri band Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin is. It’s nice, and an enjoyable listen, but doesn’t grab you by the balls, hold you by the throat and force you to listen.
Out now on Polyvinyl records, and full of easy breeziy, intricate energy, for the most part the album meanders smoothly along. Harrison Ford isn’t the most immediate entry to an album, gentle shimmers building up, but Young Presidents and its lyrical and literal stop/go formula will be a sunny staple (would the sun ever come over come out).
Ms. Dot is one of the more powerful slow tunes on the album, layers of detailed vocals building to a gentle crescendo over ticking drums. Loretta is a retro looping tune that reminds of The Boy Least Like Likely To. They have enough vintage influences and actualities to be genuine, as well as appealing to the current fashion for chilled sixties vibes, although the fact that they have been kicking around since 1999 (when Will Knauer and Philip Dickey met at a party, before being joined by John Robert Cardwell in 2002 at college) abates any concerns that their style is a fleeting fancy. Unearth sees the introduction of more electro bass grooves that elevate it from a saccharine sweet tune to a jangly pop song of the best kind.
Full of cultural references (‘discussions with the Russians,’ ‘we could play Cinnamon Girl’) and overused tropes (the sun streams through your hair) it is lyrically accessible rather than ever causing a furrowed brow. If they weren’t Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin but a new band bubbling up this would be more of a problem than it is in this case.
What is lacking on Fly By Wire is that knockout punch, as other than Nightwater Girlfriend there is no tune to make you scream, or at the very least not describe it as pleasant, but powerful. Somewhere in the world there is a need for summer spangly tunes, but at the moment they aren’t doing it here. Shame, because it sounds so niiice.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnYDnhmIQh0&w=420&h=315]