Music Monday: Once the musical

Hey guys, I know its not Monday, but close enough eh? so today's Music Monday is a little different, as it is a review of a musical I saw last Saturday. Now I'm not really a Musical type of person, if I do watch them its usually movie versions and there are only three musical movies I like- Oliver!, Greece, and Annie. No high school musical for me thanks, when I was about 9 and it came out I refused to watch it and I still do to this day. But anyway, what I'm trying to say is that if I like a musical, you can expect it to be pretty damn good as my expectations are very high.

So on Saturday I went to see the musical "Once" in the Phoenix theater, and I'd read the description and it seemed like something I was going to dread- a soppy romance. I'd been forced to choose a musical of some sort to watch and I initially chose "Wicked" because three of my friends are completely obsessed with it, but then changed my mind as my step-mum who is from South Africa had come over and hadn't been to London in years so I thought I'd let her choice be the one we went to, plus I had heard from a friend that it was going to be good. I am so glad we went to see "Once" instead of "Wicked" as it now has its place among the musicals that I rank the highest.

Set in Dublin (which means that everyone has lovely accents which is a nice change, I'm getting a bit fed up with London accents by now), it follow the story of a young musician who is trying to make it but has just about given up, but is unexpectedly saved by a Czech girl who shares his passion and talent for music. Its not your average love story but not just plot-wise, the way the characters interact with each other is not the usual boring romantic way either. The script is hilarious, and the use of lighting to create other rooms on stage but with using just one set is very clever. The actors are all amazing, all of them are musicians and have to dance at the same time as play music and act, and they are brilliant musicians and singers too, the music sounds as if it has been recorded. The thing that really makes this is the music, its traditional Irish and Czech sound is awesome and very fitting, used in clever ways to change scenes and also to create powerful emotive connections between the characters stronger than just the dialogue alone.

Anyway what I'm basically trying to say is: go watch this NOW! Its just too good to miss, there's probably still tickets left as I booked mine just days before I went, take advantage of that! I'm definitely hoping to go again!

Yas xx

P.S. Just before I saw it I had dinner at my new favourite restaurant, Bill's, which is near Leicester Square in London in St Martins Square, and I highly recommend it, the food is amazing! If you see the muscial you should definitely eat there!

Music Monday: Jake Bugg's Secret Show

Hi everyone! So last Wednesday was a pretty exciting day for me, I went to Jake Bugg's secret location show in London!

 It was in a small upstairs room in a pub, the first venue that Jake had ever headlined in London before, so it was a pretty big deal. There weren't many people there so it was a very intimate gig, not one that you could really sing the lyrics to but I did anyway, and not surprisingly the crowd mostly consisted of teenage girls, but my brother spotted Jake's friends who were in the Two Fingers video which was cool. He let us request songs and played a few new ones from his next album that will be coming out soon, and he played everything on acoustic guitar with no band, which sounded great! Definitely made up for missing most of his set at Reading this year, and he played and sang really well. I'm really looking forward to his album coming out, the new songs that he played sounded amazing, so I'm thinking the rest will too. I was really lucky too as the tickets were free as my brother (who is the luckiest person when it comes to competitions) won them, and after the gig we got to meet Jake! Very shy and nice in person, and also surprisingly about the same height as me. Got a pic with him an all which was nice, he took the time to take pictures and chat with everyone there!

The new video for Slumville Sunrise is out now and is really weird, but funny, and it contains Elvis. What's not to like? The album "Shangri La", named after the space in which it was recorded, comes out on 18th November, so not too long a wait!

Yas xx

Music Monday: Best All-round Albums

Hi guys, today I thought I'd share a few of the best all-round albums in my opinion, and by best all-round I mean the ones where you rarel skip songs, or don't skip at all! I'm not going to cover all of my favourite albums, just the ones that stand out to me the most. So, (*mario voice*) here we go!

1. Is This It?- The Strokes. This album is probably my favourite album of all time, and every song is just perfect. For me, the best albums are the ones where its incredibly hard to choose a favourite song from that particular album because there is not one bad song on it. And this is a definitive good album in that sense.

2. Origin of Symmetry- Muse. This album is just brilliant. Every song flows into one another perfectly. This is like my equivalent of The Strokes Is This It because I love every song and it's almost impossible to choose a favourite song. I would probably say that my favourite is "Citizen Erased", but as soon as I say that I immediately feel bad because I also love "New Born" and "Bliss" and "Plug In Baby" and "Hyper Music"... and I should stop or I'll end up naming every single song on the album. Side-note, recently I've been getting very into Muse's stuff, which is weird as I went through a phase of liking them as a kid but only knowing about 4 of their songs, then didn't like them for a while, and now they're my favourite band at the moment (emphasis on 'at the moment' as my all time favourite is still The Strokes).

3. Come of Age- The Vaccines. Not absolutely perfect as I'm not a huge fan of "Change of Heart pt 2", but its still pretty close to perfection. And also definitely an improvement on their first album, but I still absolutely love 'What Did You Expect'. I'm just wondering what The Vaccines will make in the future after hearing their EP.

4. Nevermind- Nirvana. Great album, I prefer it to In Utero, which a lot of people disagree with since they say Nevermind is commercialised and isn't the same as Bleach, but I just genuinely prefer Nevermind, because of songs like "Come As You Are", "In Bloom" and "Lithium" which I love listening to.

5. London Calling- The Clash. Now this was a hard one to decide where to put. It probably is at the same level as Nevermind in my head really, but for the sake of it being a 1-5 thing I just decided on a whim to put it here. Almost all the songs on this are some of my favourites, especially Death or Glory", "Clampdown" and loads of others. Out all of all their albums this is their most recognised, and my overall favourite (hence why it is on my list).






Its funny as my favourite songs from all these bands (or at least the ones I say are my favourites because I can't really choose actual favourites) are not on any of these albums, except for "Come As You Are", which is my favourite Nirvana song. But I guess that just shows that I pick overall favourites rather than albums with just a few stand out songs on them. Anyway if you haven't heard of some of these (you probably have but there's always going to be someone) then you should listen to them when you've got the time, I usually listen to new albums while I'm doing something else like my homework, so why not try something like if you don't have enough time?

Hope you enjoyed!

Yas xx

Music Monday: Reading Festival Review Pt 3!

Hi guys, final review of Reading Festival!! yay!

So by this last day, I had sort got into a proper routine now, I knew exactly where I was most time (except later that night which I will explain nearer the end of the post) and I knew all the secret places that make surviving at the festival a little easier *cough* the church by Tesco has nice toilets and serves cheap breakfast *cough*. Unfortunately it was the last day (even though I left the next morning), so I was incredibly sad when I got home (but also relieved since there were some not so great parts about it which again I will explain later).

Anyway onto the bands! First band I saw were Haim, who'd I'd been really looking forward to the whole weekend, and they didn't disappoint. I especially liked their new song "The Wire", but of course songs like "Falling" and "Don't Save Me" were crowd favourites too. Next was Fall Out Boy, who I didn't really watch from the crowd because I wanted a good view so I was fairly far a way and looked a bit weird jumping around to some of their songs as no one else was, and I think the 8 year old me would have slapped myself for not trying to get right to the front or something because she liked that kind of music a lot more than I do now even though I only knew a few songs, but anyway it was a great set and was kinda surreal (as was Green Day and Eminem from the previous days).  the straight after that were Nine Inch Nails, who I hadn't listened to before so I didn't quite know what to expect but they were pretty good! Also managed to get really close to the front of the main stage this time which made it even cooler since I could see all the cool smoke and effects they used, the only thing is is that their songs seemed to get progressively worse as the last few seemed to all sound exactly the same: just a heavy bass line which gave me a really bad headache (I sound like a grandma). And then Biffy Clyro. Again, hadn't really heard of them and just assumed they'd be some quiet folky hipster type band from the music that was played while the stage was being set up, but obviously, I don't think I've ever been so wrong in my life. Me and my friend actually decided to leave the front of the crowd after their third song since the moshing was the most violent of the whole weekend, including a guy on top of a guy's shoulders with another guy on top of his, and naturally they all fell down and the guy at the bottom of it all got a concussion. The annoying thing was that I'd just made friends with a nice person and his friends and then these loud albeit very funny nice guys and a couple girls too ran in front and pushed us far away from them, but we had a good chat with those people too anyway (including the question: "what language do you speak, I speak Christian" they were super drunk). So, back to the band, I was intrigued by them so I will check them out as unfortunately due to the fact that me and my friend left pretty early I don't really know if I'll like them or not. We also then proceeded to get lost in the dark and go to Tesco to find that it was closed. (yay.)

Anyway, I'm just gunna go say all the other things which I haven't mentioned about the festival as these three posts have mainly been about the bands: Camping was fun and horrendous at the same time, as it was freezing at night and someone decided to "mark" our tent which was lovely but it rained so hopefully that washed off, I didn't once use the toilets at the camping sites as they were like the pit of hell itself so me and my friends either used the toilets at the arena, Tesco or the church we found.  The thing I regret is not forcing more of my friends to come with me and not actually taking any details down from any of the people I met, and for being a bit reserved when it came to talking to new people at the start of the festival. It was only really on the Sunday that I found my confidence with new people, and found myself having a conversation with a person through my tent about Game of Thrones even though we couldn't see each other and sharing food my with random people and just chatting and giving people high fives and hugs.

So to conclude, it was one of the best experiences of my life and as long as the line up is good next year, I'm definitely going again. This years line up wasn't as good as some of the previous ones (especially the 2011 one- The Strokes, and Muse playing "Origin of Symmetry" in full, I would have killed to see that, I'm not joking) as it was trying to cater to a slightly wider audience and they should probably just stick to the normal demographic or it loses its identity a bit, but I still loved it. Recommend you go 9/10! (would have been 10 if it was the 2011 line up!)

Yas xx

P.S. if you are confused about my sudden enthusiasm for Muse, its because I have recently rediscovered them and now they're my second favourite band and my fave band for the moment (that changes every few months, recently it was tame impala, and before that was the vaccines etc.but I think Muse will be my favourite band for a long long time, but The Strokes are still my all time favourite band). Anyway I'll probably do an updated top five bands or maybe ten in the future.)

Reading Festival Review Part 2!

So, Saturday of Reading review! This was the day I was most looking forward to as one of my favourite bands, Tame Impala played that day and they are still my favourite live band after seeing them for the second time! Their set was of course considerably shorter than when they had played at Hammersmith Apollo, but that didn't stop them from still being amazing!

I'll go chronologically now, the first band I saw was Palma Violets, and their entire set was brilliant and energy filled, Chilli Jenson looked like some  sort of wizard that was controlling us what with all the weird hand movements and everything. I was most looking forward to Palma Violets that day because I've never seen them live before and I've been listening to them a lot recently. Anyway back to their set: Chilli Jenson actually went into the crowd, plus Alana from Haim was in the crowd on someone's shoulders at one point! So basically a fun gig. Next was Splashh, fun and lots of moshing, but not as good as Palma Violets. I caught the very end of Imagine Dragons, and I kinda regret not having seen all their set as they were good, plus my favourite youtubers Dan and Phil introduced them on stage! Ah well, at least I got to see them perform Radioactive.

Then next it was Tame Impala, who I've already talked about (my favourite band from Saturday). I managed to catch 4 of Jake Bugg's songs after that, and luckily he played my favourite song by him ("Seen it All"), before I had to rush off to see Eminem. And yes, Eminem. Eminem was one of my favourite artists as a kid so I was so fricking excited when he came on stage, even though I was incredibly far away as there were so many more people than there had been for Green Day. People said he was miming, but I like to think he wasn't. Highlight of the set was when he sang "Stan", and Dido came on stage and we all went absolutely mental. The only problem was for me personally that there were too many new songs which just aren't as good as his old ones to be honest, and there was also zero on stage chemistry between him and Dido, but it was still Eminem so it was a pivotal moment all the same and I did enjoy singing lyrics which I obviously didn't hear properly when I was little so I was just making the lyrics up.

Anyway, overall Saturday was a great day, some great bands and the ones I was most looking forward to didn't disappoint!

Day 3 next Monday!

Yas xx

Music Monday: Reading Festival Review Pt 1!

Hi guys, so last week I went to the Reading Festival! And no, not Reading as in books, Reading as in the place. It was so much fun and at the same time disgusting but was well worth it! I saw tonnes of bands including all the main stage headliners and loads of smaller bands too, but writing about all of them is going to take a lot of time and space so I'm spreading this review out and won't talk about everyone I saw but almost everyone. As a heads up I'll list everyone saw in chronological order, note that for some of the bands I only stayed for a couple of songs!

Friday:
Parquet Courts
Fidlar
Peace
RX Bandits
The Strypes
Green Day

Saturday:
Palma Violets
Splashh
Imagine Dragons
Tame Impala
Jake Bugg
Eminem

Sunday:
Haim
Fall Out Boy
Nine Inch Nails
Biffy Clyro

So, a quick review of Friday's bands- Parquet Courts were great, they had a really great energy so the atmosphere was awesome, and I'd only heard two of their songs before seeing them so I was pleasantly surprised when they played the songs which I hadn't heard yet, I'd definitely recommend checking them out. On the other hand there was Fidlar, I did have a lot of fun at the gig but they didn't really convince me and I probably wouldn't listen to them on my iPod so I don't recommend them. The only reason I watched Fidlar was because I was waiting to see Peace, who I preferred but I'm not mad about them, I will check out their album though. While waiting to see The Strypes I wandered into the Lock Up Stage tent and caught a good amount of RX Bandit's set as I was intrigued by the sounds emanating from that tent, and was glad I did watch them instead of Kate Nash who I could hear wailing unintelligibly from the Festival Republic tent where The Strypes would be on. And The Strypes were awesome, really loud and fun with some great songs and a surprisingly long set, everyone singing along to "Blue Collar Jane." They may look about 12 but they're helping to save this generation of rock n roll. And then what we'd all been waiting for: Green Day.

Green Day deserve their own paragraph because they were just that AMAZING! They played a couple of songs, Billy Joe Armstrong talking to the crowd and getting us to chant, and then they proceeded to play their album "Dookie" in full! They even got a guy up on stage to sing along before they played "Dookie", and other highlights of their performance was when Billy  got out a hose and what I can only describe as a toilet roll gun and started covering up the nearest camera with, you guessed it, toilet roll, and got an awesome t-shirt gun and starting firing Green Day merch out into the crowd. Mid set billy also started randomly playing a bit of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" and got everyone singing along for a bit. After playing "Dookie" they played a couple more songs with two encores, and out of their whole performance these songs -"Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Wake Me Up When September Ends", "Basket Case", "Minority", "American Idiot" "Jesus of Suburbia",  and "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"- stood out to me the most. It was an incredibly long set so I was kinda tired by the end of it but it was well worth it, they saved the best till last in my opinion with their encores so I'm so glad I saw the entire performance. If I ever get the chance to see them again I am definitely going.

Anyways so that's day one of my Reading experience covered! Stay tuned for day two and three!

Yas xx

Music Monday: The Vaccines new EP

So a couple days ago The Vaccines released their new EP "Melody Calling" which they've been talking about since the beginning of the year, and its taken them in quite a different musical direction. Its starts off with the title song, which is still similar-ish to Come of Age, but then its also completely different from their usual stuff. As the tracklist progresses there's that same feeling that they're changing their style; they have a more mellowed out sound which is almost polar opposite in a way from their very loud and energetic first album, "What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?". My personal favourite from this EP is probably "Everybody's Gonna Let You Down", and I love all the other songs apart from the remix of "Do You Want A Man", but that might just be because I'm not a remix type of person.

The songs have a quality about them makes that them sound like demos rather than polished songs, creating a sort of intimacy between the music/band and the listener. Justin Young has also taken to singing in a very high pitch, and I'm not sure how well that will go if they decide to incorporate this into their next album as performing it live would probably be a little harder to do. But I have seen live performances of the song "Melody Calling" on YouTube and it sounds alright, so who knows? 

The tracklist is:

Melody Calling

Do You Want A Man? 

Everybody's Gonna Let You Down

Do You Want A Man? (John Hill +Rich Costey Remix)

Anyways I'm not quite sure how I feel about the new direction that The Vaccines have taken with their music, but I do very much like these new songs! I just hope that their next album doesn't become too mellow and self-deprecating (Justin Young needs a little more confidence in himself considering he's done incredibly well for himself haha.) But I'm excited to see what the future holds for The Vaccines!

Yas xx

Music Monday: Arctic Monkeys New Song

So, Arctic Monkeys fans have been getting all excited with the reveal of their new single "Do I Wanna Know?" and b-side "2013". Personally I think "Do I wanna Know?" is a brilliant song and probably will be on of the songs of the year with its heavy riff and simple drum beat. Its such a smooth sounding song that I'm sure I'll be tapping my foot to for a very long time as I play it on repeat for a few days. Unfortunately I can't say the same for b-side "2013" which doesn't appeal to me as much musically but I find the lyrics quite funny especially how an iPhone is referred to as a"transmitter" with a "little shiny fruit". Its not a bad song, but after hearing "Do I Wanna Know?" its ever so slightly disappointing as the expectation bar was set high. But it is only a b-side after all, although usually I really like b-sides and they end up being my favourite songs, for example the vaccines turn out amazing b-sides like "Primal Urges" and "Tiger Blood" from their first album, then some really diverse ones on their second album which I love, especially how the other band members get their turn to sing .

Artwork for "AM"

Anyhoo, back to the monkeys. Album artwork has been revealed too, plus the video for "Do I Wanna Know?" is so cool and super trippy, it kinda reminds me of a less intense version of Tame Impalas video for "Mind Mischief" but without a storyline. The album artwork as you can see is pretty simple but cool all the same (anyone notice bands are using really stripped back album artwork?).

The tracklist for "AM" has also been revealed:

1. Do I Wanna Know?
2. R U Mine?
3. One for the Road
4. Arabella
5. I Want It All
6. No. 1 Party Anthem
7. Mad Sounds
8. Fireside
9. Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?
10. Snap Out Of It
11. Knee Socks
12. I Wanna Be Yours

I'm really looking forward to hearing the whole album in September and I'm curious to know why some of the songs were called what they were (ahem "No. 1 Party Anthem" what? Haha). And the second track "R U Mine?" which was released last year is a great song too so this restores my faith after hearing "2013". But anyway, "Do I Wanna Know?" is a seriously awesome song so I think the rest of the album will be amazing! I guess only time will tell though.

Yas xx

Music Monday: First 20 Songs On Shuffle

So I've seen other blogs and also people on Facebook doing this, so I thought I might as well give it a try as it seems quite fun. This is the first 20 songs on shuffle tag, which is basically where you put your iPod on shuffle, and write down the first 20 songs that come up. Now, everyone will have at least one crap song on their iPod, and the awful ones I've got on mine are bound to come up here so hopefully this will give you a good laugh. Or it will actually make an awesome playlist, who knows?

1. Dreams- Fleetwood Mac
2. When I Was Young- Ramones
3. Use Somebody- Kings of Leon
4. Kids With Guns- Gorillaz
5. The Clash- I Fought The Law
6. Someone Told Me- Jake Bugg
7. Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers
8. Stop The Clocks- Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
9. Hooked Up On Us (piano version)- Jay Jay Pistolet
10. Shes A Rebel- Green Day
11. Knights of Cydonia- Muse
12. Hot n Cold- Katy Perry
13. Death or Glory- The Clash
14. Blow Your Mind- The Vaccines
15. Happy- Travis
16. Why Should I Love You (live) - The Vaccines
17. River of Brakelights- Julian Casablancas
18. Some Might Say- Oasis
19. If You Want Blood (You've Got It!)- AC/DC
20. Music To Walk Home By-Tame Impala

Wow not one single crappy song! Quite a nice mix too, but maybe not for everyone, this is probably for people who have a wider range of music taste.

Extra 3 songs which played after the twenty which I just had to include because they are just awesome!
Last Nite demo- The Strokes
Is This It- The Strokes
Starlight- Muse
And unfortunately my lucky streak stopped there as the next song to come up was Like Wow!- Leslie Carter. Yeah, thanks for that Shrek soundtrack.

Hope you enjoyed! If you have a blog (or even if you don't) try this too! You could end up with a brilliant playlist or a hilarious one!

Yas xx

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

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

My Top 5 Bands

So I think it's best I let you in on my favourite bands. There are so many great bands I love including Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Palma Violets, Gorillaz, Muse, Bloc Party, Radiohead... I'll stop there or I'll go on for ever. So instead I've decided to show you my top 5 bands instead:

1. The Strokes

This indie/garage quintet from New York are my absolute favourite band in the entire world. Ever. Their debut album "Is This it" met with huge success worldwide, which some say they weren't able to top with later albums, but I disagree. Their latest album "Comedown Machine" has had pretty mixed reviews including fans turning against them due to the fact that they've moved away from garage-revival and sound very 80s New Wave, but personally I love it. It's also great that over the last few albums there's been more input from all of the band members, as frontman Julian Casablancas wrote the first couple albums basically single-handedly. The Strokes haven't lost their spark to me but have improved. 

Favourite Song: You Only Live Once

2.The Vaccines

The way The Vaccines came about is reflected in the pace of their songs in their first album: fast. And it didn't take long for them to become a favourite of mine after seeing them at Alexandra Palace in November last year. Their second album "Come of Age" is a lot better than their first (but I still love "What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?"), their sound is evolving from Ramones-y punk and they're coming into their own a bit more. Their dress sense is changing too, they've forgotten their hipster-y look like the one in the above picture and adopted a more rock 'n' roll double denim and longer hair. It's impossible for me to choose an absolute favourite song by them as I have so many, so instead I've just chosen the one my iPod says I've listened to the most. 

Favourite Song: Teenage Icon

3.The Clash

Dodgy haircuts and dress sense aside, The Clash are too cool. They're good to listen to in any situation as their songs are quite diverse and for every mood. I listen to them mainly on my journeys to school as they wake me up a bit, especially "Clash City Rockers", and from school too, but they're great to listen to/sing along (and play air guitar) to anywhere (just don't embarrass yourself haha). Helping to define punk rock in Britain during the late 70s, they're a mixture of everything ranging from reggae to rockabilly.

Favourite Song: (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais

4.Tame Impala

If you like psychedelic, colourful, dreamy and chilled out sounding music, check out Tame Impala. I'm not in love with all of their songs, but I love their sound in general. Great for picnics on summery days or walking back home in the sunshine. Sadly bassist Nick Allbrook recently left, but is still making music with his band Pond which shares two other band members with Tame Impala. Very excited to see Tame Impala play at Hammersmith Apollo in June! 

Favourite Song: Elephant

5. Oasis

When you think of music in 90s England, you think Oasis. The Gallagher brothers and co were one of the first bands that made me obsessed with music. I can always go back to their songs if I feel nostalgic or just need cheering up. And most people know the lyrics to Wonderwall even if that's the only Oasis song they know.

Favourite Song: The Importance of Being Idle

So there you have it, my top 5 bands. If you don't know any of them, go check 'em out! And if you do, then leave a comment saying your favourite songs by them :)

Yas xx