Ezziriah’s Neighborhood

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BRITPOPCAST #6: THE GIRLS OF BRITPOP (wave 2)

The show was actually longer, but I'm including more Jarvis-stalking festivities until next week. This week is all about the second wave of girls of Britpop (the first wave consists of Powder, Sleeper, Salad, Echobelly, Elastica). Since we've talked so much about them already, I thought talking about the second wave was a little more interesting.

Second wave:

• Kenickie (Lauren Laverne - all girls band)
• Kenickie, believe it or not, was the only all-girls Britpop band.  There was another band called Fluffy around this era, but they were more hard-rock than brit-pop.  While Fluffy's ultimate was branded with "eight tits no talent", Kenickie was more loved in general.  While their music is often more polished punk/pop early on, they shifted their sound to more lounge for their second album.  Obviously the band was still in their infancy ... but eventually broke up shortly after the second album.
  
• Lush (Miki Berenyi & Emma Anderson)
• In early Lush's history, they were two best friends, Miki Berenyi & Emma Anderson.  They were fanzine producers, and started their own band based on their love of shoegazing music with their EPs and debut album Spooky. You can hear their love of melodies as they sing in and out.  Of course, when you have two songwriters, they often clash if they have other interests.  In this case, at the time Split came out in 1994, some of the songs were clearly "britpop"esque.  Even the naming of the album (Split) was an indication, between aggressive pop songs like "Kiss Chase" and "Hypocrite" - the britpop songs would later continue with "Ladykiller" and their ultimate britpop moment with Jarvis Cocker on "Ciao!"  While I did tend to like the Miki songs, Emma did coin a few great pop gems like "Shake Baby Shake" (which is about the love of her car).
  
• When we heard that drummer, Chris Acland committed suicide by hanging himself, we all knew the band would be split up after this.  And it's true, they never quite recover.  I was lucky enough to catch them before the tragedy and continued to follow to see what the band's been up to.  The last I heard, Emma is in Sing-Sing, which had a great pop song called "Feels Like Summer".
  
• Catatonia (Cerys Matthews)
• Since we previously talked about Catatonia in our previous Welsh Britpop bands, I'll only briefly mention them here.  The thing with Catatonia for me was that each of their song was either a hit or miss... no inbetween feeling.  I either hated or love it. But the songs I really love, I really love, so that makes up for them.  I love the way Cerys sings, in fact, all Welsh people have a particularly weird accent to them and it's always a nice earful when you do hear them sing or talk.  It's like they're speaking English, but learned it from another planet.
• Favorite songs: "Mulder & Scully", "I Am the Mob", "Karaokee Queen",  "Road Rage", "Dead from the Waist Down"
  
• Theaudience (Sophie Ellis-Bextor)
• This was a very brief band from 97-99, fronted by Sophie Ellis-Bextor - who went on to have a series of very successful Eurodisco releases.  I must admit, I never followed the band that much - they arrived a little too late for me.  I didn't buy their debut album (it was never released in the US), but managed to get their debut single, "I Got the Wherewithal".  The song is quite good, and even their b-side "Penis Size and Cars" is amusingly catchy.
  
• Bis (Amanda MacKinnon)
• I love this Scottish band.  Although they were far too "kiddish" in their cute unreadable spellings and anime-influence, they were pretty damn cute and catchy.  Songs like "Kandy Pop" topped many playlist around this time, although in retrospect, looking back, it was a pretty mindless dum (dumb as in DUM) song.  Unfortunately, many people, including myself, didn't regard Bis as a Britpop band, but they're often grouped in.  My favorite song: "Action & Drama"!
  

Honorable mentions:

• Black Box Recorder (Sarah Nixey)
• Very catchy/dancey, but not Britpop.  Their bassist is Luke Haines, formerly of the Britpop band The Auteurs.
  
• Dubstar (Sarah Blackwood)
• This British act came out during the birth of Britpop, but they were far too alternative-dance/electronica to be considered Britpop.  The singer is Sarah Blackwood, who, I reckon the band ditched toward their later music releases.
  
• Sneaker Pimps (Kelli Dayton)
• Fluffy
  
• Republica (Saffron)
  
• Fat Les (Lily Allen sings on their last single???)
  

With the Elder's Club graduated, this was such a sweet~* surprise!! A Nacchi concert release~!! Filmed at Kawaguchiko Stellar Theater, this concert DVD contains two discs for nearly 200 minutes of footage including something quite unique to H!P as in addition to the tour's "making of footage" there's also an opening act~ performance on the second disc which runs approximately 17 minutes~! edit: I just realized from maiZe that I forgot to say their name here (._.;) Nacchi's opening act~ is "Kamomejidou Gashoudan." Thank you~* maiZe...I have many a bone~headed moments here (*´艸`)！

While this DVD has a bit of higher price tag at 5000￥...I do think that the inclusion of a live band complete with a string quartet in addition to the extensive footage contained within, make this release well worth the interest of any Nacchi fan~ ＾　＾。The instrumentation accompanying Nacchi onstage includes guitar, keyboards, bass, drums, saxophone, percussion, violin, viola and cello~ and while the string quartet is utilized in only particular arrangements~, their presence is most profound in those performances..even giving "Amasugita kajitsu" an "Eleanor Rigby" type of feel and rhythm~!

Abe Natsumi's "Summer Live Tour 2009 ~Yappari sneaker ga suki!~ Tour Final "aratana chikai" can be ordered here at Cdjapan.

Abe Natsumi's Live Tour 2009 ~Yappari sneaker ga suki!~ Tour Final "aratana chikai" can be ordered here at YesAsia.

~While Nacchi's entire set~list is full of improvisation and new arrangements, the presence of a string quartet adds such possibilities which breath completely new life into her songs and at times are most reminiscent of a concert hall only that here pop and classical merge together in a venue of such open beauty (literally~!) and along with an ambiance of intimacy, allowing nature to shine in as a second audience to Nacchi's most special night~.

While the concert entails a very much even balance between uptempo~ to beloved ballads...the four performances that I've chosen to present here are perhaps more on the intimate side~ with my reasoning mostly being just how captivating Nacchi's vocals are during these song arrangements~...and I'll even go as far as saying that Nacchi here, in this venue, has her most strong and moving vocal performance to date~.  "Soyo kaze" opens the concert so I really wanted to feature it here first as it showcases the strings so much...then, "Shousetsu no naka no futari" for it's heartwarming melody~♥, "Iki wo kasanemashou" for it's spice~ of ska & reggae and "Sora LIFE GOES ON" as it's my most favorite♥ Nacchi song♪～ (*´∀｀*)♥ and it's a b~side! ＾　＾！

Dear Minnesota,

I’ve been a little busy performing Christmas miracles, lunching with the Obamas, and bestowing bad karma. But I wanted to send you a quick note to say I’m sorry. Sorry for the snow. If it makes you feel better, I was aiming for Wisconsin.

Love,

GOD. 

Cold, sad Midwest, warm your hearts this season with a music video. Inspired by the misery of being on weather lock-down, our friends in UltraChorus spent the holidays shooting a video for “Margins” (from the recently released Ultra-Def).  The finished product is both wistful and mildly unsettling (the shaky camera, bright lights, creepy slow walking, and 2:24 – 2:30 reminds me of a dream I once had wherein the unassuming drifter killed me in the end).  Check it out!

Also, Minneapolitans, mark your calendars:  UltraChorus is playing at the Kitty Cat Klub this Saturday, Jan. 2^nd (2010!).  Visit their Myspace or website for more information.

UltraChorus "Margins" Video

 12/29/2009 00:51:52 ♥ lara (/lara206.vox.com) ♥ ultrachorus.com ♥ myspace.com/ultrachorus 

Gomen ne~ I'm suffering from an increasingly bad cold right now...(´⌒｀。)

I really wanted to share~* Manoeri's debut album though which arrived recently...but my head hurts ・゜・(ノД`)・゜・。so I can't speak much here....*ippai~* *ippai~* new songs♪ to hear on this album and such such cute ones~♥! The LE also includes a DVD with over 53 minutes of career history footage of Manoeri♥ (*´∀｀*) and addition to her most catchy~♥ previously released songs~, my most favorites♥ "Sekai wa summer party", Hajimete no keiken and an "album version" of her signature song "Manopiano"...E~h?!! there's also Santa~san♥?! o(*´∀｀)o゛

There's also a "good~night" song too~ so adorable~♥! I'm so sorry that I'm not writing anything proper here (+_+)。。。my nose won't stop running (゜ロ゜ノ)ノ I feel so raw now...(u_u*)

~Kiite ne~ ♥ ＾　＾。。。the album artwork photography really stylishly cute~* with a sweet touch of maturity...