Music Monday: Review- The Strokes "Comedown Machine"

So for Music Monday today, I thought I'd do a review of my favourite album of 2013 so far by my favourite band.

Out of all of The Strokes' albums, "Comedown Machine" is by far the most interesting. The first song is "Tap Out" with a kind of funky, disco sound, and the perfect way to start the album off. Followed by singles "All The Time" (which was the first song to have its name revealed to the world and got everyone excited) and "One Way Trigger", which caused quite a stir when it was leaked as some people loved it, and some hated it due to the distance it has from earlier stuff from The Strokes. The songs each sound quite different to each other, but have a running thread of sounding like it came out fresh from the 80s and most of the songs have falsetto, except for "50/50", which sounds like it could be on "Room on Fire" due to the effect on Julian Casablancas' voice and the chords + riff reminiscent of their earlier albums. My personal favourite is "Welcome to Japan", with its syncopated beat and odd lyrics (although weird lyrics are kinda always The Strokes style), but I love every single song on the album. When I first heard it, I wasn't that convinced by "Partners in Crime", "Happy Endings" and "80s Comedown Machine" though, but I very quickly grew to love them after a couple listens.

Concerning the cover art, as you can see its very simple, which I quite like, and on the little booklet there are silhouettes of the band members on a red background from the pictures taken in their first album, which is pretty cool. Albert Hammond, Jr. explained this by tweeting "the cycle is complete" when someone asked him about the pictures, meaning that "Comedown Machine" is the last album of their contract with RCA.

So, to wrap up this review, "Comedown Machine" is an awesome album, and is in my opinion The Strokes' second-best album, because even though I prefer a few of the individual songs better than a couple from what I think is their best album ("Is This It?"), as a whole "Is This It?" beats it by a tiny fraction as I loved every single song on that album as soon as I heard it, and didn't have to grow to like any of the songs at all. But its still a fricking amazing album!!

Yas xx

Song for the Week

If you're generally feeling like the world is against you today, (teenage angst and all that) you might want a relatable song to listen to in the week, so my song choice for today is...

Poison Heart- Ramones

Happy Monday!

Yas xx

Film Review: The Wave

As far as history/politics films go, I'm not exactly the most interested person in the world unless there's a lot of action (even though I love studying history and politics). But this film is the exception to my rule. The Wave, or its German name Die Welle, is, you've guessed it, a German film, based on a true story on an experiment concerning how dictatorships come to be by creating one in a classroom. You're probably thinking, that sounds incredibly boring, but due to the fast moving plot it really isn't.


The actual experiment happened in 1967 in California, but the movie is set in modern day Germany and follows a group of kids who have decided to take the autocracy class but are bored with learning about Hitler and The Third Reich. Their teacher, Rainer, experiments with the idea of creating a dictatorship by making the kids feel like they are part of an elitist group, by implementing stricter rules (calling him Herr Wenger instead of by his first name, wearing uniforms etc.) but the experiment spirals out of control within just a few days. Really worth watching, quite a good soundtrack too, but be prepared for the onslaught of emotions in such a short space of time.

Yas xx

Music Monday: Great TV show Soundtracks

If you've read my previous blog post, you'll know that I will posting about music every Monday, and to start off I thought I'd talk about awesome TV shows with equally awesome soundtracks.

First off is My Mad Fat Diary, a six part series on E4 which is based on the book My Mad, Fat Teenage Diary by Rae Earl but set a decade after in the 90s. The story is great on its own, but the soundtracks for every episode are brilliant, and they get the song just perfect for every part of the story. Expect a lot of Oasis, Radiohead, The Stone Roses and some random stuff too (Babylon Zoo's Spaceman for one, but you'll get why when you watch it). If you haven't watched this definitely check it out on 4od, and to get the playlist from the series, search it on Spotify or go on the My Mad Fat Diary website.


Next is Russell Howard's Good News. This is my favourite stand up comedy show, and what makes it even better is the music inbetween the different sections. The songs are only played for a few seconds, but I still get really excited when I hear a song I like. The songs are mainly indie rock, but you get one or two other genres in there. You can catch up on the latest series of Good News on BBC iPlayer

And finally... Made in Chelsea. Don't judge me, I initially hated this show as I generally find reality TV incredibly boring, but my mum watches it so she got me into it. Part of what made me continue watching it (and shouting at the characters when they're annoying, which is most of the time), is the music. I'm not a huge fan of the songs they play, but if you want all the current and newest indie music, check out their Spotify playlist. I'm not going to recommend the programme though unless you like reality TV, and I warn you, you will get addicted. The last episode of this series is on tonight at ten on E4, but if you do ignore my warnings and want to watch it, you can see it on 4od.

Hope you enjoyed this post and have a listen to these soundtracks!

Yas xx

Song for the Week (+ Music Monday)

So I've decided to jump on the #MusicMonday hashtag from Twitter and incorporate it here, so every Monday in addition to my "Song for the Week" there will be a music post! To kick off Music Monday here's the Song for the Week!

Perfect Day- Lou Reed

Happy Monday! 

Yas xx

My Birthday!

Today is my birthday woooooh! This is a bit of a random post but I just wanted to share what I'm hoping to buy soon with my birthday money.

What I've wanted for a while now is Doc Martens. They're the epitome of punk rock in fashion and can make any outfit look a whole lot edgier. There are two kinds I want to get:

 This white and rose patterned pair are just so pretty, and perfect if you want docs which are still feminine. 

And then there are the classic black docs. I was considering getting patent leather ones, but I think these are better since I wanted some simple, ordinary ones, and patent leather might make them look a bit like wellies. 

Also on my birthday "stuff I want to buy" list is a good camera, as I currently can't find the lead to my 5 year old camera which I was hoping to use for my beauty posts on this blog (that's why I haven't posted about makeup yet), and the last thing on my list is an electric guitar, as I already have an acoustic but I just really want an electric! 

Anyway if I hopefully get the camera and any of the other items in this post I'll put up some pics! 

Yas xx

Song for the Week

If you live in the UK, you'll know the weather has been very up and down for the most part of the year so far, with random sunny days and plenty of rain too, so I though the song for this week could be one that would encourage some nice weather which ever part of the world you're in. So today's pick is:

Here Comes The Sun- The Beatles

Happy Monday! 

Yas xx

Song for the Week

So I've decided to do a song for the week every Monday, just to keep everyone going throughout the week! Anyways the Song for the Week this week is (drumroll please)...

Instant Crush- Daft Punk ft Julian Casablancas!

I chose it 'cause it's literally the last song I listened to and its pretty amazing. Anyways Happy Monday and good luck for the rest of the week!!

Yas xx