This Man:

Is dating This Woman:

I think it’s LOVELY.

Given that I was obsessed with Mason Vs Princess Superstar track, I was very excited when I heard she had a new jam out. [I can say words like 'jam' now, because I saw 'Step Up 2 The Streets' the other day, and it convinced me that if the lead actress who is the whitest person in the world, can say 'jam', then I can too].

The new track is excellent, and in the grand tradition of Princess Superstar tracks, not only has uber-seedy lyrics, it also has an, em, inventive video.

There’re some good remixes already out there- not least the Hervé one.

Very very quickly, because I still have 2,000 more words of mediocre French to write by tomorrow morn….

Compare the first twenty seconds of this:

With the first twenty seconds of this:

___________ is the sincerest form of flattery. Fill the blank.

Young Galaxy only work as a couple. Made up of partners Stephen Ramsay and Catherine McCandless (along with 4 other members), the band’s main energy- and content- emerges from Ramsay and McCandless’s relationship. Ramsay is excitable and unguarded, while McCandless is wary and reserved. Many times during the interview, she motions to Ramsay that, perhaps, he should think before he speaks. A touring member of Stars, Ramsay ‘walked into a scenario in Stars where two of the members were breaking up and one of them was getting together with another member.’ McCandless quickly interjects with-‘Is that out right now in the press? I don’t know!’- and Ramsay apologetically draws back, saying ‘Oh fuck yeah, only certain people know.’

The interplay between their two personalities becomes even more apparent when Ramsay muses that ‘I think we’ve staked our, well, everything, in a way, on our relationship, and that’s the sort of approach we took with this project. I think everything, at the heart of it, comes from that place. If in a year from now we find ourselves broken up, I don’t think the band will continue. We’ve staked our relationship on the band.’ McCandless assures that ‘we won’t break up though. We won’t.’ This affirmation spurs Ramsay on further, and bringing the WAV recorder closer, he enthusiastically adds ‘We know that. You wanna know why we know? I’ll tell you why we know, here’s an exclusive. Katherine was married to, essentially, our best friend. I was the best friend of her and her husband. We had an affair. At the same time as this, Katherine was diagnosed with M.S. We were in our twenties, and we were living like rock stars already, we weren’t in a band or anything. We had the world at our feet, we felt like everything was possible. We had this really idealistic way of looking at the world and it felt like all our best efforts were being challenged by the universe essentially. Our lives were fucked.’ At this point, McCandless flashes her eyes towards Ramsay, looking worried, saying -‘My look is that you’re going to tell the whole story.’ Ramsay promises that he won’t, McCandless looks unconvinced and attempts to logically sum up Ramsay’s point- ‘We were so destroyed by the devastating after-effects of what we’d done, and yet, so in love that we feel we’ve built something that’s super-strong. As strong as our destruction was.’

Though the circumstances for Young Galaxy’s conception were unfavourable, they have been fortunate in coming from a large musical community (members of Stars and the Besnard Lakes played on their debut record) and in being signed to Arts and Crafts. McCandless agrees that ‘absolutely it’s helpful to be part of a scene I think, you see other example of people leading the life that you want to lead. It’s not a simple thing to just drop your day job and decide to make music, at a huge personal cost. It feels like a risk. When you have other people in your community doing the same thing, and going to each other’s shows, and playing on each other’s albums, there’s so much support and it makes it that much easier. I don’t think it limits us in any way; it doesn’t make us feel like we can’t do our own thing.’ Ramsay concurs that ‘the only thing we may feel pressure to do is to define ourselves on where we sit on our own label, because the label has a tendency to be viewed, um, that every band on Arts and Crafts is part of a collective. We have had, by and large, very little input from bands on Arts and Crafts. But then you know, I played in Stars, and we’re on Arts and Crafts, and we’re called Young Galaxy and people like to mash all the associations together and make a nice tidy package and that’s fine. We feel like we’re working in a very liberated scene, if you want to use that word’. They cite the Arcade Fire as an inspiration, though for differing reasons. Ramsay admires them because ‘they’ve decided, very pointedly, to not play the game of playing into their fame or any of that, for anything other than the best reasons. That sets a really nice tone, because everyone admires their fame and aspires to that. But beyond that, they also have a very reputable approach. It has integrity, and that’s hard to do when you’re that huge.’ McCandless however, applauds their business savvy -‘it’s not the size, it’s the way they’ve built a business. It’s sustainable. They can do what they do forever now.’

The forthcoming self-title album is standard Arts and Crafts fare, and while Young Galaxy shrink from comparisons with Stars, the similarities are self-evident: Boy/Girl vocals, keyboards, melancholic lyrics and soaring melodies abound. Though the record was recorded as, essentially, a duo, when it came to performing it live difficulties presented themselves. Ramsay and McCandless added in four other members, and Ramsay, tired of having to play someone else’s music whilst touring with Stars, was adamant that the new members would be allowed creative input also: ‘My experience is- having been a touring member of Stars- it’s hard to be told to play parts and not just make it your own. To faithfully play someone else’s idea, it’s hard to do. I sort of figured we had to give some leeway to people, and sure enough, that meant that our set-up would change. There’s so many layers on the record that we could never pull off live. We had to strip it back, deconstruct it and put it back together and equally share it with the six people involved.’ While this egalitarian attitude is admirable, it in turn factored in more problems. McCandless adjoins- ‘that kind of screwed us for a while, for me. That was the first thing we realised, we had to learn to sing loudly. I was so used to trying to sing under my breath so that people wouldn’t hear me. Suddenly I have to sing over two guitars, bass, keyboards and drums.’ The incline of their learning curve is not to be underestimated. Previous to making the record, Young Galaxy had no record deal and had played no live shows- ‘We had no live experience; we’d never been in a band. I’d been in Stars, but only as a touring member. We’d sung this record in a studio but had no experience playing these songs live. Despite the fact that it worked in the studio, you can’t, for instance have this big racket going on and be whispering your vocals the whole time. It sounds brutal; it sounds like ducks being strangled.’

On the album’s opening and stand-out track- what Ramsay later calls ‘our creed’- ‘Swing Your Heartache’, the lyrics are achingly bare. They don’t speak in terms of Stars’s ‘Endless Beauty’ but of more grown-up concepts- ‘It’s time for you and I to face the signs/ and realize that living’s a battle’. Ramsay’s world-weary vocals combine with McCandless’s searing harmonies to create a battle cry for the bruised, the underdog and the dreamers- ‘For all the times we cried/ absorbed the lies/ and realized/ life’s not a rehearsal’. The gung-ho attitude of the lyrics is re-enforced by the personal investment that Young Galaxy have made in the band. Ramsay and McCandless are unflinchingly honest about the financial risk involved with the project – ‘We could make about 50,000 dollars if we sold our music to an ad right now, and we are probably equally as much in debt, in terms of getting the band launched.’ McCandless’s practical side manifests itself once more when she ads bluntly that ‘we’re by nature selling ourselves, cause we’re performers, that’s what we do.’ However, with a sidelong glance and a sigh towards Ramsay she inserts an ellipses and continues, ‘but we’re willing to have long-term sustainability be the goal, instead of short-term, so we can make choices that feel like they have integrity to us.’

Unsure as to what the Office Policy is, as regards mp3 hosting, I will, instead, link to my other blog . On it, at the behest of millions (I lie, 3 people, maximum) I’ve made a ramshackle mp3 mixtape. If it was an animal, it’d be one of those sad, malnourished, abused donkeys you see in ads for animal-based charities. It plays very nicely though, once you get through all the internet sticky-tape and superglue that I used to put it together.

At present I’m alternating between being grumpy, writing essays, and grumpily writing essays. So, I merely reccommend that you go here and listen to The Twelves remix of ‘I’m not going to teach your boyfriend how to dance with you’. And, in fact, all the other tracks there.

Also, here’s some Swedish tweecore. In Swedish. The translated title is ‘Nobody Cares Where You Bought Your Sweater’. I think I will try and use it in conversation with a Swede in the coming future. Though I’m sure my pronunciation will leave much to be desired.

Bluebirds are so natural is my new blog. It’s full of moderately attractive people wearing very good clothes. or, at least, it will be soon. Until then, you’ll have to make do with the above picture wot I gained by Googling ‘moderately attractive people’. And also the below obligatory youtube clip of pretty people. They’re not actually pretty, just excessively thin.

Is it blindingly obvious that this post is nothing but an exercise executed by Gareth to, finally, teach my how to use the blog? Yes.

It sounds like a pitch for a show on children’s television- ‘Imagine 3 sisters. And they’re in a band. A rap band. A pop-rap band. And they’re from London. And they manage themselves. And they’re into fashion. I’m thinking funky clothes- like P.V.C pink thigh-high boots.’ While one is unsure as to how the executives at Nickelodeon would favour P.V.C. fetish footwear, it is a certainty that the Real Heat were made for the entertainment industry. The Real Heat’s origins are as organic as it gets. Sisters Shaki, Zaza and Suki make dirty, sexy witty electro-pop-rap records. They write the music themselves. They write the lyrics themselves. Yet, they’re still not quite sure how they became a band- ‘we all got our studio equipment, and then we all started writing together and then after that we were like ‘oh, we’re a band now!’ We have music wars still, like blasting out different types of music around the house, and my mum gets all like “argh!”‘ When lyrics are written, it’s a collaborative effort, though sometimes unknowingly. In a scenario that could be take straight from a Nickelodeon show; they relate how most of their song lyrics come about. Zaza begins- ‘We all have our own notebooks or something.’ Shaki interjects- ‘One of us might write something’. Zaza cuts in ‘-and leave it on a bit of paper-’. Suki laughs, saying ‘- and the other will find it, and be like, this is good!’ Zaza, now also laughing, continues ‘and someone will be like that’s personal! They’re my personal words! Why are you singing them? And they’ll be all ‘ah shut up, this is good!’ Shaki, finishes the imagined conversation, giggling –‘and they’re like “but I didn’t mean that when I was writing it!’’

It’s difficult to separate the Real Heat’s physical presence from their music. Resplendent in chains, leather, fishnets and pink lip gloss, the trio are a walking photo-shoot. When asked if they feel that they could perform while wearing tracksuit bottoms, their answer is surprising- Zaza has previously appeared on stage in leisure-wear. Although, ‘these are ¾ length silver tracksuit bottoms, with silver stripes and studs on them. Excuse me, they’re not velour.’ Shaki explains further, ‘We’ve always enjoyed clothes and dressing up and stuff. Tracksuit bottoms are for when you’re going to the gym, and when you want to get out quickly. They’re not for the stage. I don’t think image is anything to do with it though. Before we did music, we always dressed up, so I think that when it comes to having a stage show, and performance, it’s nice to be able to put on a show. Like, when you go out raving with your friends you make a bit of an effort, you know? Just to feel nice, it’s fun, you know? It’s cool that people associate that with us, and notice that we make an effort and that.’

Though they’re often pitched as the anti-Sugababes, the Real Heat are comfortable being filed under pop music. Their early live repertoire included some brave pop cover versions- ‘One of the first things we did with Richard (X), we did a cover of ‘Criticize’. That was quite funny. We did Bohemian Rhapsody for our live sets before, but we’ve stopped doing it now. We had a band, and re-jigged the music a bit, and sang it in a more soulful’. Richard X has produced some tracks on their album, and the girls are willing to work with anyone that they find interesting, apart from Mark Ronson- ‘He’d be all like “I’m Phil Spektor. I’m gonna put some, like, bells on your track.” I do like his stuff though.’ However, they’re adamant that they’re not going to change their sound drastically for the sake of a successful record- like Estelle did on her Kanye West track. Suki notes that Estelle ‘does sound a little Lily Allen-ish.’, while Shaki adds that ‘it’s a little dumbed-down, cause she’s got a really nice voice. I guess you’ve got to sing accordingly to the track, but I don’t think we’d go for a whole change.’ Zaza, who is in the middle age-wise, and the diplomat of the three, concludes that ‘our personalities are all quite strong, so it’s not going to be that easy for us to turn into something completely different.’

It would be easy to gloss over the business savvy that the trio display. They sacked their manager after 6 weeks, because they had ‘different goals’. When I ask whether they could see themselves existing as a band in another decade, Shaki rejects the 60’s as being ‘too oppressive. Not that many female producers and stuff. Definitely different challenges for female artists at that time.’ Suki is incredibly goal-orientated- a trait not common in her fellow members of the NME’s ‘Cool List’ of 2007- and admits that ‘it does make things easier having a good manager, because you can just concentrate on doing you music, and you don’t have to do a lot of stuff. We want to be successful, obviously, and sell shit-loads of records, and tour the world and stuff like that. Those are, like natural progressions.’ The Real Heat’s manifesto is as fun on the outside, and driven on the inside as the sisters themselves: Suki shouts ‘Lick me out!’, then Zaza intervenes, saying, ‘the serious one is-’, leaving Shaki to finish with ‘stand for something or fall for anything’, before Suki cuts back in with a final ‘lick me out!’, ensuring that the interview concludes with a tri-fold giggling fit.

Thanks to Allison Paisley for the photos.

Conversations between temps are akin to those that one conducts while waiting for the doctor. With boundless hours of waiting to fill, the participants chat about the one thing that they have in common- in the doctor’s surgery, illness, in temp-land, temping. In the same way that while one’s own illness is fascinating while another’s is heart-breakingly dull, tales of employers past take on a Salty Dog twang- ‘Oh yeah? Well, when I was working for X, I had to wear high heels EVERY DAY.’ ‘Sure, that’s nothing, I had to wear high heels, and a spandex bodysuit. AND they didn’t pay me for my lunch-break’.

This is going somewhere, I promise. Every so often I work as a receptionist. I make a spectacularly mediocre receptionist, (albeit a very well-dressed one, but that’s beside the point.) My fellow-receptionist today was, for my sins, also a temp. After the above-mentioned obligiatory ‘Oh, where have you worked before’ conversation, I turned away and pretended to read my book. I’m not very good at prolonged friendly chatting.

Reading my book was a silly idea. Other Temp likes books too. Fantasy Fiction especially. I like Owen Pallett’s Final Fantasy. She likes Warcraft. It was like a human version of when Google goes ‘Were you looking for…?’ after one has accidentally mistyped something. Conversation was resurrected, and resumed at a tortuous pace all through the day. Seriously, Fantasy Fiction- Not That Interesting.

All I really wanted to do was to listen to this She and Him track over and over again. She and Him is a project between Zooey Deschanel and M Ward. Like a less croaky, less coarse Moldy Peaches, or a if Belle and Sebastian went lo-fi and less twee. The track’s crying out to be stolen by Apple or some dreadful pro-biotic yoghurt for an ad. Or as the background to some ghastly romantic comedy directed by Nora Efron. Alas.

Like the word ‘epitome’*, ‘Rock Lobster’ by the B-52s had, for the longest time, a curious double life inside my brain. I knew that there was a band called the B-52S, and that they sung a song called ‘Rock Lobster’. I also knew that I liked this song, though I didn’t know what it was called. Eventually, I put two and two together, and made a tentative decision, that, perhaps, four was a possible correct answer.

Anyways and all, the B-52s’s’s’s’s’s’s first album in 16 years in being released in the coming weeks. Entitled ‘Funplex’, it bears a lead single of the same name. Let’s have a look at it, shall we?

Here are the good things about it:

1. The intro has some muttering and some guitars. I am fond of both muttering and guitars.

2. The chorus is seven assorted types of excellent.

3. At about 2.06, the negative points that I’m about to make doesn’t matter, because the record just WORKS, if only for about 10 seconds.

Here are the not good things about it:

1. Schneider’s voice grates. Immensely. I know sprechgesang’s his schtick, but he’s been doing the same thing in the same way for nigh on 30 years. Maybe he could vary intonation? Dynamics?

2. I am disappointed at the lack of a video for the song. Hopefully this will be remedied. Or, some clever Youtube person will super-impose the song over this track

Homework for this week: Outkast’s ‘Hey Ya’- the ‘Love Shack’ of our generation? Discuss, using secondary references.

*Epitome- I used to think that there was the word ‘e-pit-oh-me’ and the word ‘epi-tohm’, in the same way that I thought of both ‘Rock Lobster’ and the song that turned out to be ‘Rock Lobster’.