Birthdays

When writing blog posts, there are certain bands that - although you enjoy to listen to - you are never really sure if they will be appropriately appreciated by the public or even the wider music community. But then there are other bands that you immediately sense are destined for wide adoration after listening to just a few of their tracks.

Birthdays are one of those bands whose hype is easily understood, and most of the reason the hype is so easily understood in all honesty is the one track Howolding Girls (which you may have heard or read of an earlier version, which was called Procreating Flower Bug). As much of a boring cliché it is, it’s one of those songs that really is gripping from the start – opening with vibrant looping synth sounds and bursting into life with celebratory and chant-like distorted vocals and drumming that switches from dance-y bass-snare to tribal tom rolls. It’s a bit like eating sour flavoured Skittles for the first time; the intense flavour forcing your face to do all sorts of unexplained weird shit.

As far as looping experimental psych pop goes, Boston-based Sam (who makes up one-man-band Birthdays, and is also apparently vegan, which makes him cool even without the great music) aren’t a one song pony. I’m Keeping Some Of Mine For Me is a slow-paced droning take on the Animal Collective sound, yet still excites and brims with brilliance. Part That Grows has a country/folk-y Conor Oberst feel to it yet through an underlying pulsing drum beat and rattle shakes, unusual strums, and some “ooh”-s chucked in for good measure, it manages to not feel out of place alongside his other work.

Pretty darn exciting stuff. Listen and download below, and find more on HypeMachine.


Birthdays - Howolding Girls


Birthdays - Software


Birthdays - I'm Keeping Some Of Mine For Me

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Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas music lovers of the world. Here's a little festive tune for you to enjoy - Stiff Little Fingers covering White Christmas live. My Dad thinks it's rubbish, bu I disagree.



Have a good one!

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Justin Bieber's pretty eyes?

Selena Gomez - Justin Bieber's pretty eyes

Reported, Selena Gomez is apparently a fan of Justin Bieber's pretty eyes. Although she didn't confirm or deny rumor Selena Gomez is romancing Justin Bieber during a recent interview with Y-100 Miami, the Alex Russo of "Wizards of Waverly Place" has opened up that Selena Gomez finds Justin Bieber's eyes "very interesting".

Selena Gomez
made the statement after laughing off rumor that the Grammy nominee's new song, "Latin Girl", is about her. Asked what would she call a song she'd write about her rumored boyfriend, Selena Gomez hesitantly said it will be titled "Brown Eyes". On the reasons why, she noted his eyes are "like brown/hazel-y" before adding, "They're really pretty."

During the radio chat, Selena Gomez also noted that she didn't received death threats from his fans for their hook-up story. "Because I've been friends with him for a while, now," she claimed. "We've always been friends and we've always just kind of supported and loved each other. If anything, the fans have been really sweet, and I really appreciate that."

Meanwhile.. Selena Gomez'll soon be seen among the list of performers for 2010 Disney Parks Christmas Parade, that will be aired on ABC on Christmas Day this Saturday, December 25. Selena Gomez joins the likes of Mariah Carey, Lee DeWyze, Jackie Evancho, Sean Kingston and Darius Rucker in providing the holiday entertainment.

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Vanessa Anne Hairstyles Gallery

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Cute Hairstyles For Short Hair - Tips to Create Trendy & Cute Hairstyles

Cute Hairstyles For Short Hair include kicky cool to very professional hairdos. Most of the celebrities are flaunting these ultra-glamorous haircuts in various events and ceremonies. You can easily exhibit some of the trendy hairstyles by opting for short hair. It is always advisable to know your face shape in order to have most appropriate look this season.

Tips To Create Trendy & Cute Hairstyles

* Treating your hair with high quality shampoos and conditioners is important before designing your tresses. In order to flaunt the best celebrity hairstyle, you should preferably do a bit of research on the latest trends. Consulting a hairdresser is a good idea.

* There are various hair makeover tools online that promises to give you an idea about your face shape. Every woman craves for a trendy and cute hairstyle. It not only transforms you but also makes you feel good.

* Choosing the right color is also necessary for enhancing the overall look and feel. It is advisable to pick colors according to your skin tone. One should completely avoid extremely bright shades if he or she is having a dusky complexion. You should also pick up accessories that match your hairdo.

* Some of the most preferred hairstyles are short crop, bob, wild cut and pixie. While getting a short hairdo for women, you should always avoid going too short. However, you can always get it trimmed. You can also carry picture of your desired short hairstyles for giving an idea to the hairdresser about the cut.

One should know his or her face shape before taking up any haircut. You should preferably search for a hair makeover tool online for discovering the most flattering short hairstyles for your face type.

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Curly Hair

The height of twee folk's popularity has been and gone, probably to a fair few people's relief - typical boy-girl harmonies, acoustic guitar strums, glockenspiel pings, cutesy lyrics, but too often had little imagination behind them. What can occur when a 'scene' fizzles out, though, is that all the popularity-chasing bands pack up shop and head on to new, now-hip ventures, leaving only those genuine bands from the lesser-popular genre standing.

Curly Hair were never really your typical boring twee folk/folk pop duo, but could have been lumped in with the movement given their male/female harmonies, acoustic guitar, and odd use of glock, (plus the fact that the male vocalist sometimes wore a scout shirt to gigs). The statement that they weren't in it for the popularity can now be said with a little more confidence now, given that plenty of other folk acts have up and chased the surfy/lo-fi thing (Lightspeed Champion's second album, Jay Jay Pistolet in The Vaccines, etc), whereas Brighton's Curly Hair stay true to their name, still plugging away at the music that their love is genuine for.

I don't know that much about Curly Hair. Not even the number of official band members. The photo above suggests five, their MySpace profile picture suggests just the one, when I saw them live it was two, and plenty of other live photos show three. To be perfectly honest, I'd almost forgot of their existence until an email from Toy Soldier Records plopped into my inbox with a new free song, thanks to the recent snow forcing the cancellation of a gig. But I do know that their lo-fi folk-y sounds, the male-female vocals, the occasional high pitched keyboard tones, out-loud metronome, and glock, as well as their pop sensibilities make me very happy.

Download (the lovely) High Fives, Low Fives taken from debut EP (from 2009) Ivy League from The Line Of Best Fit here, or stream and download (the older) Blow The House Down and (the brand new) demo Plentiful Is The Choir below.


Curly Hair - Blow The House Down


Curly Hair - Plentiful Is The Choir (demo)

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