Summer vibez

At last! The summer holidays are here. The time when once again I can stay up until 6AM watching The X-Files and listening to dreamy music (and not doing the summer work I've been given). However, as I am at last nearing the grand old age of 18 this is to be my last summer holiday that actually involves school, for next year I shall be heading off to university or quitting education altogether and becoming a penniless artist on the streets of some European city (I haven't quite decided which yet). Last Friday I visited the Universität der Künste in Berlin and it's safe to say I've fallen in love with it. It was their annual 'Rundgang', a three day event where you can wander around the university and look at the student's art, see the studios, and get information on applying. As time restraints meant we could only go to the main building in Charlottenburg, I didn't get to visit the Visual Communications faculty and only ended up seeing the Fine Art faculty. I'm incredibly glad though - all the art was amazing and 100% the stuff I'd like to end up making in the future. As I sat in the courtyard drinking a very refreshing bottle of lemonade and trying to translate the information sheets I'd been given, I suddenly realised that I don't really want to do fiddly complicated things with computers, I want to paint and be expressive and do drawings and sculptures! Thus, I shall be applying to study Fine Art instead of Visual Communication. (The language requirements are also a lot lower.....which is a relief.....). Sadly I was only in Berlin for two days, and didn't really have time to wander around leisurely and explore, and when you're there with people that have never been before all they really want to do is go to the iconic (and very busy and touristy) sights such as the Brandenburg Gate and the East Side Gallery. Nonetheless, I did enjoy going back to these and seeing them in nice sunny weather rather than the -14 degrees C temperatures of the last time I visited. It also made me realise that I need to brush up on my cycling if I'm going to live in a city where at least 80% of the population cycle, and that I'll probably need to cycle everywhere to burn off all the delicious (and very cheap) food from Back-Factory.

I don't really have anything else planned for the summer, apart from a few exhibitions, lots of TV-watching and once again trying and failing to learn the guitar. Speaking of musicy things, I've noticed over the past few years that my taste changes according to the seasons. (I've tried to write my reasoning for this about 20 times and I can't put it into words it just doesn't work.) In the summer I tend to like things such as:

• 60s bands such as The Mamas & The Papas 
• Dreamy shoegazey things
• 1990s American alt-rock indie stuff with guitars
• Surf rock

I think that's sort of made it a bit clearer....maybe....it's still only a very, very brief list. I think it should be noted that my favourite band at the moment is Pavement. For the past two years or so I've listened to them (fyi: only during the summer) but it's only really been their singles and most popular songs. There's some bands that for me never really 'click' until a certain time. It happened with Pink Floyd, then Manic Street Preachers, and now this. (Maybe my brain gradually becomes more receptive to things over time and it needs little bits here and there to really like something. I don't know.) The other week I decided to look past the singles and venture down into the world of album tracks, and boy, am I glad I did. It's dangerous for me to write about things that I'm really really into; I'm so blinded by love that I can't seem to write anything coherently that isn't extraordinarily biased, so I'm going to stop here and say that my current fave album of theirs is Terror Twilight and it's pretty much all I've listened to for two weeks and that you should definitely check it out. I might chuck a few songs in at the end of this post, just like I used to do back in the old days......

In other news, Treefight For Sunlight's second album 'Pizza' is finally being released in the UK! If anyone's been here long enough to remember when their first album came out, you'll know how excited I am for this. However, if it's anything like last time we'll get given a different album name and artwork.....(still not bitter about that). They're another band I like to listen to at this time of year. If 'Come Closer' isn't on all your summer playlists you're seriously missing out. I'll hopefully have a review type thing up next week. I'm trying to get back into those..... Speaking of which, I'm toying between changing up this blog and starting a fresh with a new one. A more grown up one. After all, this has been going since 2009, and although the style and quality of posts has changed (for better or for worse, you decide) and is slightly more professional, I'd still like to start over again and have something that I wouldn't mind showing off and not living in fear that someone will find my old posts from back in the day. I could always delete them though......but can I bring myself to do that? 

I'm rambling again, aren't I. 

 

Harkive 2014 etc

Jeez, has it been a year already? It seems like only yesterday I was compiling the list of albums I was listening to as we once again celebrate Harkive - a day in which people document all the funky tunes (or otherwise) that they're listening to. Unfortunately due to being out all day I haven't been able to immerse myself in said tunes like I did last year, so here is a brief list of things I have listened to today:

1. Pixies // Doolittle 
2. The Cure // Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
3. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks // Wig Out at Jagbags
4. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks // Mirror Traffic
5. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks // Real Emotional Trash
6. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks // Dark Wave
7. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks // Pig Lib

Now I know what you're thinking and yes I did just come home and stick SM & The Jicks on and leave it at that (they're so good though can you blame me?).To be honest, I haven't really had much diversity in the music I've been listening to recently - I've been on my "summer playlist" which is probably about 99% Pavement. I've also really been into German and French artists such as Nena, Indochine, Nina Hagen, and Housse de Racket, among other things. I recently discovered an album of "Ostrock" on Spotify and it's been on non-stop ever since. I've been playing Grace Jones and The Mamas & the Papas quite a lot too, and in terms of new music I've really been digging Arcade Fire and Teleman. Once again, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks' new-ish album Wig Out at Jagbags is also really ace too, and although it came out in January this is the first time I've listened to it (I highly recommend you do the same - if you haven't already) They're playing a few UK dates this summer, and I'm hoping to catch them in Brighton in August. 

In terms of non-music things, I spent a week in Japan back in April and should have a post up about that shortly (if I remember). In the meantime, I've stuck a load of pictures up on my flickr if you're interested. I'm also considering making some changes to this blog. I hopefully should be moving to Berlin next year to pursue my art school dreams and maybe I'll try to integrate some of that stuff onto here. I might try to document my "journey" to moving abroad and start to do some exhibition reviews and perhaps showcasing some of my own art on here. I currently have an art tumblr, but I feel on here I could perhaps write a bit more and write about the artists that interest me. I don't know. It's just a thought. I do want to start writing properly again though, and when you study two foreign languages you can almost forget how to write in English....

Maybe I could write things in French or German, but I doubt anyone'd be interested in that.