CSS @ Heaven, London

December 7th, 2012

Every week this one promoter company in London gives away gig tickets on their Facebook page. This time there was a chance to go see Brazilian band CSS, of which I've never heard about. Though when listening to their hit Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above, I thought "COOL!". I wanted to be truly honest in my answer, so I wrote I'd take my friend Linda with me, because her music taste needed (needs) improvement. And honesty paid off.

As we arrived to the venue Heaven, we decided to take our places from the balcony, and let others have more space closer to the stage. During the gig, regret was pretty much what we felt. Even Linda, who doesn't like to be in front. That's how wild good it was.

CSS gave a crazy all around performance with some crowd surfing, limbo and jokes, which cracked everyone up.

How many beers can you drink, before your breathe starts to stink?
We have Ginger Spice on the drums. (Their drummer having a Union Jack shirt on).

At the end of the show, when everyone was cheering and applauding, I remembered the band tweeting something about longboarding, so I told Linda to raise her board up. Then apparently singer Lovefoxxx went "Uuh a longboard!".

After the gig we definitely wanted to see if there were any band members around, so we could thank them for the awesome time. Little did we know that "thank you" would turn out to be beers at the backstage.

It was quite interesting to hear stories from their tour manager, who was into skating too. We also had no idea that their bass player is Swedish! Non-blonde hair can really confuse people. All of the band members were extremely kind and had a good sense of humor. Also, instead of us taking photos of them, well it just went the opposite. Guitarist Luiza took photos of us with her old-fashioned camera (btw we're still waiting for the photos ;)) and was wondering how old we were.

I guess wearing backpacks, helmets and ripped Union Jack banderas made us look younger. Click here to see.

In summary, on Heaven's stage EMA smashed a guitar, CSS did the limbo and lastly, I posed with a longboard. Entertaining moments.

Zola Jesus + EMA @ Heaven, London

November 23rd, 2011

Last autumn my musical crush was Zola Jesus. After the Nevermind exhibition, I went inside a record store, and they had her new album playing. That's when it really hit me. I guess it was because of the good speakers, which were able to showcase the bass, which I think is important for her songs. There wasn't any other choice, but to get myself a ticket for her London gig, which was set two months after. Super stoked I was.

Just some hours before the gig, I checked who was the support. It was some teenager from Austria, then the excitement was gone. Apparently, EMA is quite a popular artist name, so the support act was actually a bit older and American.

In fact she was this extremely tall indie amazon princess- liked rocker, who could have starred in Xena. She had this captivating stage presence with music, which made you really concentrate on and a few dedicated fans, who seemed to drive the front audience mad.

Then something happened that I had never believed an indie act would do. Let along an indie support act.

I remember hoping that the guitar pieces she threw into the crowd wouldn't hit the camera. I managed to talk about it with her after the gig, and apparently it was her first time to wreck a guitar, which was a cheap one. She felt ashamed about it, as she realized how dangerous it was. I'm pretty sure though that people were rather excited of heavy pieces flying above their heads.

What could I say now about Zola Jesus' performance, except for that I didn't want it to stop? Well, she was tiny, and whenever she jumped into the crowd, it was hard to see where she was. Maybe now and then you could have spotted a glimpse of her hair.

It was cool to watch how concentrated she was in singing, and then all of the sudden she could turn into this Tazmanian devil with her crazy moves.




It was a great evening of music, but what made it perfect was to literally look back and see a familiar face; there was this guy standing behind me, who during Austra's gig was in front of me. That was the moment, when London became small. Me and my friend got to know him and his sister, who both of them moved from South Africa to London to work. They taught us this little trick what to do during gigs; when everyone else is standing, go down and it will feel like you've dived into another world. X

Top 11 Devil's Rejects of 2011

After listing my top songs and videos of last year, it's time for the final list. And yes I know it's a really bad name, but I couldn't come up with anything better. But basically the Devil's Rejects list is going to consist of tracks, which just in just didn't make it into the main lists, are something that others have shared with me, something that people don't believe I like, extremely catchy or just plain random.

Here they are:

11. iremembertapes. - Gossip
When I started my internship, the first task was to listen to this song. Me and my collegue were doomed for a whole month to instinctly have this on repeat and sing along.



10. EMA - Milkman
The first time I heard her music was when she was supporting Zola Jesus. One of the best support acts I've seen. Milkman is such an energetic rocking song with a cool video. You have to love her awkward dance moves.



9. Lana del Rey - Blue Jeans
First time hearing it, I disliked it. Now 'You fit me better, than my favorite sweater' line is something I find to be genius.



8. Isaac Parker - All I Know (Isaac Parker Remix)
I'm not a huge fan of remixes, but this is bad ass. And apparently it was his first ever remix, should we believe that?



7. Los Campesinos! - By Your Hand
This is one of those songs that have a chorus, which you can imagine everyone singing all together in some rock bar. Sad lyrics, but a fun night out.



6. Red n Pink - Badman
You either love it or hate it. And I looove it. This is one of the few up and coming bands, who actually have their image all figured out. Thumbs up to that, and to the dude in 2:21.



5. Hurts - Sunday
I'm not a fan of the band, but I'm a huge fan of the song. The lyrics and melody are amazing.



4. Emmy The Great & Tim Wheeler - Home For The Holidays
Of course there has to be a Christmas song included in this list! The video is extremely cheesy, but Emma-Lee's awkward clapping in the beginning is ace.



3. Vektroid - Wild Wave
Three words for you: Summer. Skate. Tune.




2. Jimmy Wong - Ching Chong! Asians in the Library Song
Last spring a UCLA student posted a racist video on YouTube, which resulted in her receiving many death threats. And this;



And ladies and gentlemen after many great songs and videos it's time for the number one Devil's Reject of 2011. Some of you will hate me for this and some of you will think that using the devil's reject is in this case 100% compatible.

But there must be something done right, if this song pops into your mind every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Fun, fun, fun, fun.



What were your Devil's Rejects of 2011?