Mix Tape of the Week 07/01/2010 - Feisty Females of Music

07/01/2010 - Feisty Females of Music

A selection of my favourite female vocalist fronted groups.

(( DOWNLOAD HERE ))

Track List :

Crystal Castles - Alice Practice

The Canadian duo of producer Ethan Kath and cacophonous Alice Glass make up Crystal Castles. Rushing violently into the experimental electronic music genre Crystal Castles combines discordant melodies with Alice's screaming vocals.

Alice Practice was the pair's first single, secretly recorded by the sound engineer as Alice was performing a mic check in their first studio session. 

CSS - Music Is My Hot Hot Sex

CSS, short for Cansei de Ser Sexy (lit. I got tired of being sexy), are a brazillian new rave band from Sao Paolo. Consisting of six talented members, fronted by the dazzling Lovefoxxx, they are not only well known for their own songs but remixing many others.

Music Is My Hot Hot Sex gained unlikely success when used in an unofficial iPod advert released on youtube, leading to the song reaching #63 in the US charts.

Feist - My Moon, My Man

Feist, the stage name of Leslie Feist, is a prolific Canadian singer-songwriter also well known for her work in the indie rock supergroup Broken Social Scene. While most well known for her song '1234' due to it's use in multiple adverts, Feist also has four successful albums and multiple awards to her name.

My Moon, My Man's music video, showing Feist and others dancing on the moving walkway in an airport,  was filmed in a single continuous shot

Dragonette - Take It Like A Man

Formed in 2005, Dragonette is a four-piece led by singer-songwriter Martina Sorbara and bassist and producer Dan Kurtz (who also produced Feist's first album). While Dragonette have never reached mainstream success in the charts they have a small fanbase and have garnered success in their native Canada.

Take It Like A Man's video is based on the film Boogie Nights, full of thinly-veiled references to sex like lifting weights and squirting syringes.

Metric - Gold, Guns, Girls

Metric are a long-running four-piece indie rock band from Toronto, formed by multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Emily Haines and guitarist James Shaw in 1999. Metric's members, especially Emily and James, feature prominently in other Candian indie groups such as Broken Social Scene and Stars.

Gold, Guns, Girls has featured in numerous television programmes, including Gossip Girl, Entourage and Grey's Anatomy.

Song of the Week 07/01/2010

This week's song is 'In For The Kill' by La Roux, British Electropop duo made up of singer Eleanor Jackson and synth player/co-producer/co-writer Ben Langmaid. 

Heavily influenced by 80's music, La Roux's popularity has grown quietly alongside the many other female vocalists heavily popularised in 2008.

The track in question 'In For The Kill' is a powerful piece about relationships and telling people exactly how you feel no matter the circumstances.

In speaking to Steve Harris of XFM Eleanor stated "It's about telling someone how you feel regardless of what you get back, and not waiting to find out if they want you or not."

"I was quite in to someone in quite a deep and intense way and I went overseas (Paris) and told them I like them. It all fired back in my face but that's not the point you do it for yourself."

(( DOWNLOAD HERE ))

We can fight our desires,
But when we start making fires
We get ever so hot
Whether we like it or not.

They say we can love who we trust
But what is love without lust?
Two hearts with accurate devotions.
And what are feelings without emotions?

I'm going in for the kill.
I'm doing it for a thrill.
I'm hoping you'll understand,
And not let go of my hand.

I had my hopes out on the line,
Will they be ready for you in time.
If you leave them out too long,
They'll be withered by the sun.

Full stops and exclamation marks,
My words stumble before I start.
How far can you send emotions?
Can this bridge across the ocean?

I'm going in for the kill.
I'm doing it for a thrill.
I'm hoping you'll understand,
And not let go of my hand.

Let's go to war to make peace,
Let's be cool to create heat.
I hope in darkness we can see,
And you're not blinded by the light from me.

I'm going in for the kill.
I'm doing it for a thrill.
I'm hoping you'll understand,
And not let go of my hand.

What this will be about

I feel, perhaps, this should open with a 'mission statement'; a manner in which I can define this page's purpose instead of being a constant rambling or biting social commentary.

My life is quite solidly defined by music, at almost every moment of the day I am either listening to or thinking about music. Songs float through my head, memorised with perfect clarity and crystal in their melody or lack thereof.

The logical step is to bring this outside of my own world and mind to a written word which I can share.

So, without further ado...

I will post at least one song here every week as a 'Song of the Week'.

I will post a 'mix tape' of at least four songs a week under a general theme.

I will post a 'mix album' of at least ten songs once a month under a general theme.

These will all be uploaded in mp3 format, unless noted otherwise where they may be in m4a format. Though I will endeavour to convert everything into good quality mp3s.

These are my resolutions.

I will also post any lyrics that interest me, or any other songs that pique my interest or fit into the week's 'theme'.

Simple? I hope so, let's see if I can stick to it.