Now Playing: The Horrors - Luminous

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I never thought I would ever write such a thing but The Horrors have recorded a pop album. Luminous is just that - a sparking luminescent pop gem. When I listen to this album, I hear The Stones Roses. Incase you were wondering, that's a good thing.

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I eagerly await each Horrors release for the mere fact that they are a band who truly understand what it is to evolve. Remember Sheena is a Parasite? Remember when they had stage names like Faris Rotter and Spider Webb? I lie to think I wasn't the only one who found much of their debut nigh on unlistenable but it's so easy to forgive when each subsequent album has been  like golden light pressed into a compact disc. Chasing Shadows is the song you play on repeat when you're alone, it's grey and you're missing the one you love; and I physically cannot stop listening to Jealous Sun. It's a condition.

Sit in the sun, close your eyes and listen to this record.

Style Muses #2: Jehnny Beth (Savages)

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Jehnny Beth is a goddess. I know this because the first time I saw them play live at this year's Laneway Festival, grown men shouted this from the audience and they were right, she was a goddess standing centre stage, bathed in light with a compelling intensity filling her dark eyes. 

Savages is a post punk band from the UK creating music that is both sexy and menacing. There is something unsettling lurking amongst the beats, something that is visceral and raw yet also sophisticated.

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There is an empowered femininity in Beth's androgynous style. Her cropped hair and sharp tailoring are understated and chic - she exudes a coolness that appears to stem from an indifference towards the world at large. She looks like she would take you home, teach you everything there is to know about love and throw you out in the morning.

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Her style is so simple and yet she makes it her own. The masculinity of her tailored clothing is juxtaposed against feminine heels and jewellery, and while this may equate to "appropriate work attire" on other women, she somehow makes it edgy.
 

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When Savages perform, Beth's delivery and sharp, deliberate movements are reminiscent of a female Ian Curtis. She is so utterly watchable, mesmeric even.

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I feel as though there is so much I could say about Jehnny Beth that can only be expressed in the most primitive terms - she is the person you want to be; so cool without knowing, without trying, without even wanting to be cool. Ugh, I just want to be her, ok?

Now Playing: Wild Beats - Present Tense

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When Wild Beasts play they conjure up a vision of a bawdy Midsummer Night’s Dream. Their music sounds like a prayer to Dionysus; a frenzied Pagan ritual. Their lyrics evoke humanity’s basest emotions – fear, desire, and lust. A sense of “otherness,” entirely dissimilar to anything you may hear elsewhere, pervades much of their music.

There is a primitive hunger in songs like Wanderlust, the lead single from their latest album Present Tense: “Now that you belong to me/ I’ll tell you how I want to feel…” The percussion is both propulsive and jarring, driving the song yet also providing a slight discordant unease, imbuing it with a slightly unsettling air.

Vocal harmonising, although still present, has given way to more synth arrangements. However, the songs are no less intricate than their previous albums and standouts such as Mecca, Pregnant Pause and Daughters are each underscored by a murky bass, shrouding harmonies in earthy, atmospheric tones.

In short: this is very good.

The Muses #1: Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)

As a young and impressionable teenager with a penchant for post-punk, 80s new wave and indie, I always felt as though I could never find a suitably awe-inspiring female role model. There was Siouxsie, of course (mmm... gurl, dem brows) but any small amount of goth in me belonged solely to Robert Smith and besides, her makeup was not the sort of look one could sport on a Saturday night at the local haunts. Brody Dalle was the favoured riot grrrl but again, her look was but one facial scab away from Faces of Meth - so what was a girl to do? Who was I to take my alternative style cues from? For a time I struggled to create my own style by adapting more feminine looks from the likes of The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand, but that could only present itself with limited success.

And then it happened...

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One Christmas I unwrapped a copy of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs first album proper, Fever to Tell. I had never heard of them but I distinctly recall staring at the brightly patterned album artwork and the dark blunt bob so many would copy. The images were exciting. I had asked my brother for Hot Hot Heat's Make Up the Breakdown, but instead without knowing it, he had given me what I really needed - my first girl crush.

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The hair, the makeup, the ripped layered stockings and flaming red lips were all manna from heaven to me. I spent more than a good deal of my time as a 15 year old altering my clothes and carefully ripping colourful fishnet stockings. My makeup skills were still relatively underdeveloped (some may argue they still are) but I could manage a red lip and a smear of black kohl around the eyes.

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Unfortunately, my looks could never match the scale of Karen O's stage looks because sadly I lacked my own costume designer. Christian Joy has created all of Karen O's stage costumes since the inception of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in New York in early 2000. Now, I'm not one to call items of clothing "pieces" no matter how exquisitely divine, but together, Christian Joy and Karen O have created sartorial revelations - jewels in cloth form.

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Karen O was Gaga before Lady Gaga - and without the pretension of pop masquerading as "performance art." One of my favourite looks was from the Heads Will Roll film clip (see below). Granted, not one for everyday, but just look at it...

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Over time, Karen O look has naturally refined - a subtle transition from coarsely ripped clothing and studding to thoughtfully layered textures and embroidery. However, although celebrity has allowed for a bigger budget and a sleeker aesthetic, the spirit of her style has not changed - there is still an irreverence that informs her look.

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Her recent Oscars performance introduced her style (and talent) to a wider audience and showed us a hitherto unseen glamour. Her dress - designed, as always, by Christian Joy - landed her on many a best dressed list with more than a few fashion junkie wondering "Karen who?"

This is only one of the many reasons I will always aspire to the effortless cool Karen O exudes - she doesn't care about the front rows or the fashion critics - her style is her own.

Oh, Karen, I love you...

ASHA.

A Rough Guide: Rough Trade by Rob Young

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Where would music be without Rough Trade Records? Well, for a start there would be no Smiths, no Fall, no Libertines , no Cabaret Voltaire, Scritti Politi, British Sea Power or Belle and Sebastian. Not to mention any UK releases for The Go-Betweens, early Arcade Fire or The Strokes. In fact without Rough Trade Records or Geoff Travis, I fear we would all be forced to listen to every  Red Hot Chilli Peppers recording ever released – surely a fate worse than death. There is a reason thousands of music fans make the pilgrimage to the original Rough Trade shop in London every year.

The second offering the Labels Unlimited series, Rough Trade provides an illustrated and comprehensive history England’s most notable independent record label. The label began its life as a small record shop in Notting Hill in 1976. Founder, Geoff Travis opened the shop in an attempt to off load part of the vast record collection he had built up while travelling through America. The Rough Trade Shop – which still stands today and is a pilgrimage for all true indie connoisseurs – soon became the haunt for London’s thriving underground music community.

Unsatisfied with merely providing an outlet for small and unsigned bands to sell their wares, Travis expanded into recording and producing records for new up and coming musicians. The venture was never meant to be a business one – Rough Trade was designed specifically to develop bands, giving them an opportunity to record while they waited for offers from larger commercial record companies. After years of struggle, it suddenly occurred to Travis that it would be more beneficial for the company and the bands to stick together: Rough Trade would generate a better profit while the bands could sign to an Independent label and retain free reign over their music. Influential post-punk and experimental acts such as Cabaret Voltaire and Stiff Little Fingers signed to the label in quick succession, and the Rough Trade legacy was born.

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 A regular contributor to The Wire, Rob Young presents a well-informed narration of the Record label’s past. From its zenith during the mid eighties, through the company’s disastrous collapse on the cusp of 1990, to the slow rebuilding that has returned Rough Trade Records to its former glory, Young spares no detail. The book is divided into time periods, with each chapter named after a song by a band signed to Rough Trade. The chapters contain an exhaustive guide to the bands signed to the label during the particular period – tours, fights, and, of course, albums. It is to Young’s credit that he did not succumb to the temptation of focusing only on Rough Trade’s biggest bands; rather, he discusses dozens of interestingly off-kilter acts that were on the label, and it is often these bands that afford the most amusing anecdotes. However, having said this, the inclusion of every single band or musician ever signed to Rough Trade at some point in the label’s history means that all but the most serious of Rough Trade fans will be left flipping through the book, looking for the three bands they know. And how often do you actually find someone who is a fan of a record company? 

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Most interesting, and undoubtedly the first part of the book most readers will flip to is the chapter detailing Rough Trade’s tumultuous relationship with The Smiths. Appropriately, but perhaps slightly bitterly titled ‘1983-1986: Money Changes Everything,’ it relates the early amicable days of the band’s time with the label and the gradual degeneration of their association which led to The Smiths leaving Rough Trade. One particular quote from Morrissey encapsulates the story perfectly: “I tremble at the power we have, that’s how I feel about The Smiths. It’s there and it’s going to happen... What we want to achieve CAN be achieved on Rough Trade. Obviously we wouldn’t say no to Warners, but Rough Trade can do it too.” Reading this, one is left thinking that surely Travis should have seen what lay ahead, after all, Rough Trade’s DIY ethic always meant that they were limited in what they could offer financially, and the lure of money should never be underestimated. Morrissey claimed they would not say no to Warners and clearly, they didn’t.

Rough Trade is certainly an attractive book to look at. The cover art gives a brief but bright pictorial history of the record label. The pages are colour coordinated – white pages contain the chapters; pastel yellow marks out written and illustrative band retrospectives and interviews with everyone from musicians to an in depth interview Travis himself; and a complete Rough Trade discography is printed on bright yellow paper at the back of the book. The text is tempered with hundreds of photos, and while there are plenty of shots of the bands, it is pleasing to see that Young has not limited himself to the obligatory candid pictures of musicians smoking or drinking. Album covers, promotional posters, cartoons, even hand written directions to the shop scribbled on a Rough Trade Distribution catalogue.  Everything has been included here, so much so that the book’s size excludes it from the practicality of being able to read it anywhere but home – it is simply too big to carry around.

 

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Rough Trade presents a thoroughly detailed and engaging chronicle of one of the most important record labels in the history of rock music. It successfully straddles the line between fascinatingly knowledgeable and pretentiously over-informed.

Where would the music industry be without Rough Trade Records, and where would any music fan be without Rough Trade?

Rough Trade available here.

ASHA.

Summer Festival Beauty Essentials

Everyone needs a cause to get behind, and this is the one which caused me to awake from my digital slumber and reneg my abandonment of this blog. You see, friends and I rang in the new year dancing to The Roots at Falls Festival in Byron bay a few weeks ago. The weather was hideous - hot, humid, with only enough wind to cover everything in a fine layer of dust.

Before I left I pondered a great deal about what I should take beauty wise. Apart from the obvious sunscreen, I felt I needed to turn to the thousands of internet beauty pros for some advice. Unfortunately, the only articles I could find on this subject were tutorials involving flower crowns, denim nappy shorts and an inch layer of makeup. Not the most practical look for hungover application in a sweltering tent in the middle of a valley.

So, out of sheer exasperation, I've given myself a little retrospective advice on what to take to a camping festival, and what to leave behind.

L to R: Ole Henriksen Truth to Go Wipes; Urban Decay Naked Basics palette; Maybelline Brow Drama in Dark Brown; Mecca Cosmetica To Save Face matte facial sunscreen; Lancome Hypnose waterproof mascara; Shu Uemura lash curlers; Topshop cream blush in Afternoon Tea; Illamasqua blush in Disobey; Illamasqua cream concealer; Korres Quince lip balm; Bare Minerals Mineral Veil setting powder.

At the time I felt these were the bare essentials but the eyeshadows were quickly cast aside. First and foremost, however, is a good sunscreen. I spent too much of my workdays searching for a facial sunscreen that wouldn't break me out or leave me looking like an oil slick. I considered Clarins and La Roche-Posay but ultimately settled on Mecca Cosmetica's To Save Face. It does exactly what it says on the tube - a matte finish, no oil and fairly good protection. I forewent foundation and just went for a cream concealer and a sweep of setting powder. I am a great fan of Illamasqua, and their cream concealer is no exception, however, I did find it separated a little from the heat, so perhaps a liquid concealer would have been better. At the end of each night I used the Ole Henriksen Truth to Go wipes to remove my makeup. These wipes are a must have when you're travelling and don't have your usual skin products at hand.

I used Illamasqua's blush in Obey to lightly contour and bronze - well, as close to bronzing as I'll ever get, being so morbidly pale. It's so pigmented you only need the lightest of touches. Cream blushers seem last longer on my skin and look more natural and dewy so I opted for Topshop's Afternoon Tea. This was my first experience with both cream blush and Topshop makeup and I was pleasantly surprised. The blush is incredibly bright but blends out well with naught but fingers.

As I mentioned, I did pack my Urban Decay Naked Basics palette for a natural eye but on waking up the first morning in a hot tent, it was too much to attempt anything non-essential for Went straight to eyelash curling and waterproof liner and mascara. I am on a continuous search for the ultimate liquid liner pen - I've tried countless - and Maybelline Masterpiece liner is the only one I've been happy enough with to keep. It's not perfect but it doesn't smudge and it's opaque in one swipe so I can't really complain. You may not need anything for your brows but my unruly caterpillars need something to at least keep them in place everyday and Maybelline's brow drama does the job.
Waterproof mascara is essential for a festival - I've been to good many music festivals all over the world and if it's not sweltering heat or rain ruining your eye makeup, it's the drunk punters flinging beer and water all up in your business. Lancome Hypnose Star waterproof is so long wearing I struggle to remove it.

All I wore on my lips was the Korres lip butter in Quince - very moisturising with a plummy tint (although mine did melt in the heat). I saw quite a few girls walking around in matte red lipsticks (obviously searching out the festival fashion photographers) and while they looked enviable, I couldn't help think why bother? It's far too impractical to have to carefully reapply a heavy drying lipstick all day. But then that's the festival experience so many people these days, isn't it? Walking the fine line between edgy and cool, and too tired and filthy to even pretend you're not trying to be edgy and cool.

So, that's it. If you're interested in seeing a FOTD with these products, or want to see another festival guide (maybe a fashion one which doesn't involve bikini tops worn as clothing), comment below. I'll try to join in on the slightly narcissistic peculiarly millennial phenomenon of regular blogging so please let me know what you'd like to read about.

THANKS!