Valentines Schmalentines

Bonjour! I decided today to compile a list of the Five best songs with the word 'Valentine' in the title. I thought I would find loads, but after racking my brains, and trawling through Spotify, I've discovered there aren't so many after all, and most of them are pretty awful. Anyway, I didn't let that stop me so here are the best ones I could find. Enjoy them alone, with your boyfriend, girlfriend, cat, bottle of wine, or whatever.

1.


Okay, so if you wanna be a smart ass, the word 'Valentine' is in the band name rather than the song title but I had to include My Bloody Valentine. Total legends. I'm sure most of us know someone who's ears have suffered after seeing them live.

2.


Tweeeeee! Here is a band that some of you might not be aware of, but should be. They are called 'The School' and they come from Cardiff. Sooo cute, and singer Liz Hunt used to be in another band called The Loves, who were also ace! The School have released two albums and claim Molly Ringwald is a fan. Check them out on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theschoolband

3.


Richard Hawley is my slightly embarassing older man crush. I met him in person once.

See. What a twat (me, not him).

4.


Not really one of their better tunes in my opinion but some of you might like it.

5.


With lyrics such as
'Some day boy you'll reap what you've sown
You'll catch a cold and you'll be on your own'
this is the perfect track if you are feeling a bit miserable on V-day.

A final mention goes to Hello Saferide - Valentines Day, which wasn't on youtube but you can find it on Spotify and should listen to them because they are lots of fun.

Happy Valentines day everyone xxxxx

2011 Top 20

Here,in no particular order (because that would be impossible for me) are my top 20 singles that were released in 2011. If you didn't hear them then you should've. This was meant to be a top 5 but I got carried away.
1.


Because Vivian Girls just can't do ANYTHING wrong, EVER, and they are one of very few bands who make albums that I can listen to from start to finish.

2.


I love this band so much, I wore a temporary tattoo of a heart with their name inside on new years eve and I wished it was real. Being drunk and calling people 'sausage roll thumb' never gets boring for me, although I think it has for my friends who wonder what the hell I'm talking about.

3.


This was only released in November, I don't know a great deal about Sharon Von Etten but she does have a new album coming in February. This song is just amazing.

4.


This band are so good. When I heard their self-titled album I literally said shit about 10 times in a row and had to lie down.

5.


The Rapture have made a better song than House Of Jealous Lovers!

6.


So moody.

7.


I find this impossible not to dance to. Seriously, If it comes onto my ipod and I'm in Asda, or on the bus or something then I look really stupid in public.

8.


Their album 'Only in Dreams' is so good but all of the songs are so sad!

9.


This is Carrie Brownsteins new band. You should know who she is.

10.


This is my favourite ever band, Los Campesinos. Everything they do is amazing and Gareth is a lyrical genius.

11.


Finally saw Stephen Malkmus in the flesh this year! Yay!


12.


How pop should sound.

13.


Top Of The Morning! I like listening to this whilst I'm walking to work. It makes me smile in the morning :-) and I love the lyrics about 'the house we never owned...' etc.

14.


I love screaming the chorus to this repeatedly when I'm in the shower.

15.


This band are crazy live, totally like no other band I've ever seen.

16.


This song blows me away. It sounds like something from the early nineties.

17.


An old one, Loved this when it came out.

18.


This band are on the BBC tips for 2012 list. It's so catchy!

19.


This has been on repeat at my house for the last month.

20.


Finally this is the best music video of 2011! Cats EVERYWHERE!

Tim Wheeler is warm.

Just got back from an instore performance at Rise Records in Bristol by Tim Wheeler and Emmy the Great, majorly cute couple. They performed tracks from their Christmas album - This Is Christmas. I love Christmas songs, I love Emmy the Great, and I love Ash, so I've been pretty excited about this. I turned up in my Christmas hair bow, earrings, necklace and Christmas tree brooch, so was pretty glad to find my friend Gareth was wearing his felt Santa jacket :-D

I found the whole thing slightly emotional as the last time I saw Ash was on a first date with an ex, he then bought me '1977' on vinyl and 'Shining Light' then became one of our songs (get the violins out). 'Sometimes' is without a doubt one of the most epic breakup tracks of all time and needless to say, it was played a lot this summer. I have to admit I shed a tear when they launched into a cover of Wham - Last Christmas. Anyway, enough.

They also sang Tracers (an Ash song), which was ace. They were signing copies of the album afterwards so I bought it as a little christmas present to myself from myself. I went to get it signed, turned into a complete moron, couldn't think of anything witty to say, went bright red etc. What else did you expect? This guy was on my wall when I was a teenager! On the other hand my friend Steve, who was next in the queue started having some random convo about yule log with them that seemed to go on for ages! All I can say is Tim put his arm around me and he felt warm. Heres my signed album and a photo of me with the cute couple where I look like a complete idiot *sigh*.

I'll leave you with a video of my favourite song from the album. Yeah, go buy it, It's a sweet album. Merry Christmas xxx

I Bought Happiness!

On Wednesday night, I discovered that a band that have been around for a while, but that I'm just getting into, called 'Let's Buy Happiness' were playing The Cooler Bristol, as the support band for 'We Were Promised Jetpacks'. In the past few months, quite a few people have told me that they are 'right up my street' so I braved the cold weather and dragged myself along. So glad that I did, as now a new band crush has been born.

'Let's Buy Happiness are a 5 piece indie band from Newcastle, who have been championed by the likes of Tom Robinson, Lauren Laverne, and Huw Stephens amongst others. They released their debut single; 'Six Wolves' on their own label 'Ghost Arc Records'. Hopefully it won't be too long before they release their debut album as they are a band that are destined for bigger things!



Singer Sarah Hall's flawless, sugary sweet vocals blended beautifully with the bands intricate guitar riffs. Their sound could definitely be compared to The Sugarcubes, and the gig reminded me of an early Joy Formidable gig that I went to a few years back.

Here's me being a fan grrrl with Sarah, although they actually asked me for a photo with me for their own blog before I asked for this one! and also their setlist from the night.

I chatted to them for a while outside afterwards, and planned to write all about it, but the only things I can remember 2 days later are that Guitarist James is scared of the Hyenas from The Lion King, they like Bambi, and that Sarah thinks he looks just like the guy from horror film 'The Loved Ones'. You heard it here first!

Find out more about the band at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Buy-Happiness/128399670820

Grrrl Power

My first proper post was going to be about my favourite tracks of 2011, but I have about 100 and haven't managed to narrow it down yet, I'm working on it. Meanwhile, I got introduced to this band at the weekend:

They are amazing right? They sound like a mash up of Shampoo and Kenickie, which is something I didn't realise I wanted until I heard it.

Anyway, listening to them led to a mad craving to listen to Shampoo.

Shampoo consisted of two friends, Jacqueline "Jacqui" Blake and Carolyn "Carrie" Askew. They were from Plumstead in London and were on the fringes of the "Riot Grrrl" music movement in the UK. They were Manic Street Preachers fans (unexpected), and wrote a fanzine for them called Last Exit and also went on to appear in the video of their song "Little Baby Nothing". Most people think of Shampoo as a Nineties cheesy one hit wonder Girl duo, but they were soooo much more. Yes, really, I'm completely serious. They actually had Three albums in this country, and a couple of B-side compilations that were released in Japan, where they were huge (another reason why I love Japan).

One of my earliest memories from the school playground is running around when I was 10 years old, with my BFF at the time, Catherine, pretending that we were Shampoo. I was always forced to be Carrie (the shorter, slightly dumpy one), but I didn't mind as I secretly preferred her anyway, and I still do. I remember asking my mum for a supergirl T-shirt just like Jacqui had. Now, I'm pretty sure Catherine has grown out of this obsession by now but somehow I never did. Watching their videos, I can actually see how they probably played some part in the kitsch stuff that I consider to be amazing today, eg; Plastic dolls, Heart shaped sunglasses, Flamingos and other general tacky OTT stuff. I mean, just look at them! What a pair of mega-babes. <3

I really think that if they hadn't had such a big chart hit with "Trouble" then they might be considered 'cool' today.

I have no idea what they are doing now, but would love to find out. There was a rumour going around that they are mega rich from the money they made in Japan. I wonder...

Here are some links to hear more of Pris, and Shampoo:

http://soundcloud.com/i-love-pris

http://www.myspace.com/grlgotskills/music

So..

Hi, my name is Cat_grrrl, welcome to my blog. I work for a music website and spend my days at work writing descriptions of bands and events that I don't like, so I thought I would start my own blog so I can actually write about the ones I do like. This blog isn't always going to be cool, though it will be sometimes. It definitely won't be amazingly written or use pretentious phrases, it might introduce some people to music they might otherwise never have heard about though. I could post about any band from Girls Aloud to Dinosaur Jr, the current number one in the charts to the latest obscure hipster band that the kids are chatting about. I will be sharing new music that is making me excited, old music that I randomly feel like writing about, talking about records I buy, gigs I go to, and amazing support bands that I come across. I may post everyday, I may not post for a month. It's just a bit of fun right?