What I’ve Been Listening To // Jan & Feb

Hey guys, how are we all?

Finally we can all breathe a sigh of relief, January is over! Time to celebrate with some awesome tunes right?

Right!

I’m hoping this post won’t be a particularly long one, because I haven’t really listened to much new stuff. In fact, I’ve only really listened to one song religiously since its release.

Let’s crack on..

Redshift – Enter Shikari

What else?

I LOVE this band, not a day goes by where I haven’t played The Mindsweep (now a year old, crazy!) and I was so excited for them to release new music I stayed up till midnight to listen to it on Spotify before I went to bed.

I’ll admit, when I first heard it I didn’t think it quite as heavy as previous singles (The Last Garrison and Destabilize, for example) it seems to have a little more of a pop feel to it than normal, but I suppose it’s a good song for new fans to hear and enjoy. After 2/3 plays I was totally sold am now more than ready to scream it in Rou’s face when I see them next.

I think I played this song every day in January, and I’ll probably continue to do so for months afterwards. Even though this single might seem to be simply focused on the cosmos, to me their focus on the skies is a reference to religion.

 ‘Just contemplate, what if the heavens were abandoned?’

For me this line means, what if we were all on a level playing field, what if our different ideas of heaven, the afterlife and religion generally were abandoned?

Surely we can feel content enough when looking up at the sky at night and feel proud that we managed to get this far when so many generations didn’t make it.

Anyway, I’m seeing them again in Cardiff this month (feb) and I can’t bloody wait.

Here’s Redshift, play it LOUD:

Bat Out of Hell – Meatloaf

I think I mentioned in a previous post how much I love this album. This month I’ve been playing it quite often (mainly on Spotify though I do have a vinyl copy), it has helped me write and given me something to sing along to while packing up and moving my stuff onto the boat.

My friend and I watched a shitty movie not long ago about Meatloaf and the effort they (being Meat and Jim Steinman) put into getting Bat Out of Hell taken on by a record label. It was amazing to see the amount of companies that wouldn’t take them on because it was too “over the top”, at a time where Ziggy Stardust was taking the world by storm and people’s blood-streams were swimming in LSD and Cocaine…

Weird.

 Still, after plenty of gigging and promotion, Bat Out of Hell was finally given the recognition it deserved, and now they have the pleasure of me raving about them. Lucky lucky!

My favourite songs from the album this month are Paradise by the Dashboard Light and You Took The Words Right Out of My Mouth because they’re both such full songs, both lyrically and instrumentally so much is going on. I love to hear music where you can tell so much effort has gone into it from lots of people, not just one guy with an electric keyboard like we hear so often today.

I love Paradise in particular because not only is the song seriously catchy with its typical 70’s disco beat, the lyrics tell a story of teenage relationships gone sour because of old attitudes towards sex and promiscuity. Aside from that, they’re just really good songs to sing along to!

Enjoy:

Paradise

YTTW

David Bowie – The Very Best Of 

It’s no surprise I’ve been listening to Bowie’s work much more this month, along with millions of others.

My friend broke the news to me the morning it was confirmed he had died, and I (again like so many others) immediately started playing their favourite albums and singles (mine being Space Oddity) from that day on.

When I’d heard the news I remembered the exhibition I was lucky enough to see a few years ago at the V&A in London, David Bowie is was a walk through his life and success as Ziggy, The Thin White Duke and the matured rocker he grew to become. It talked about the artists and writers that influenced him and displayed iconic outfits and scraps of paper covered in song lyrics from writing albums.

I’ve been listening to this album a lot more because it’s conveniently got all the biggest hits in one place. It’s perfect for when I’m on my way to work or just after something to play in the background while I’m packing or blogging etc.

My favourite songs from the album are Starman, Rebel Rebel, Fame and Lets Dance though really I’m happy to listen to any of them.

I love Starman because I like to think that Bowie was the Starman he sang about. He blew our minds and then left us too soon. Rebel Rebel because I think it pretty much sums up the feelings of every angsty teen trying to figure themselves out, and my face is often a mess…

Fame because I love the bass and Let’s Dance because its the only Bowie song I really remember hearing at home growing up. I defy you not to do some sort of dance, standing or seated, when you listen to that song!

Starman

Rebel Rebel

Fame

Lets Dance

Well I’m afraid that’s it for this month; not quite as lengthy as normal, but hopefully next month I’ll have some newer music to share with you all!

Till next time, 

love, Leigh 

x

 

Like this post? Why not check out What I’ve Been Listening To Dec/Jan & October*!

twitter // instagram // facebook 

 *(I skipped November for some reason)