Everyone loves Lemmy.
When it comes to buying music, it can be expensive to buy a whole album when you only really want or even just enjoyed one track. Take for example the latest Crystal Castles release “Crystal Castles (II)”.
Crystal Castles
I loved the first CC album a lot, frankly it was a breath of fresh air in the fairly boring, predominately guitar led indie music scene at the time.
If you dont know who Crystal Castles are:
Crystal Castles is an experimental electronic music band from Toronto, Ontario, consisting of producer Ethan Kath and vocalist Alice Glass. Crystal Castles are known for their chaotic live shows and their melancholic lo-fi home productions. The duo have released many vinyl EPs between 2006 and 2007 and also two eponymous albums, in 2008 and 2010 respectively. The band’s debut album was included in the “Top 50 Greatest Albums of the Decade” by NME Magazine, at number 39. Source
I wasn’t so impressed by their second full album – only a couple of tracks actually stood out to me as proper tunes. The tracks in question: Doe Deer and Baptism. Minus those couple of tracks the album, in my honest opinion, is just another scuzzy, dirty sounding electro-punk album. More (sad to say it) “style over real substance”.
Crystal Castles Feat Robert Smith – Not In Love
Here comes the real point:
The rise of “on demand” streaming programs such as Spotify have led to it being hailed as a major player in the online music space.. The impact that this has on indeed ones own bank account is phenomenal. Now, I cant simply browse the artists, find related artists and buy the songs which I like – obviously iTunes works under the same principle – but with Spotify I get to listen to whole tracks, rather than a 30 sample.
How this helps me:
Improves my bank balance – I now (thanks to my inability to save money) do not have to worry about spending money on something that I don’t really want. Whether you want to get into an argument about online downloads and how they’re “ruining the music business”, is for another day. The truth is that not having to purchase full albums is really making a difference to my current account.
If you have any questions, or indeed, some points you would like to raise – feel free to leave a comment and start the debate.
Rugby players tend to be less fashion conscious then their Football comrades. This is especially evident in this frankly charming video, shot for Esquire magazine.
According to the report from writer Teo van den Broeke, the experience of watching a suit fitting by French, ‘made to measure’ firm Eden Park, was an “emasculating experience”. I guess being in a room full of fairly beefy Rugby players is enough to feel slightly unnerved.
Fortunately however, our writer Teo, found the experience to be pleasant.
Esquire talks style with the England Rugby Team from esquireuk on Vimeo.
The real reason we made the journey over to Pennyhill Park Hotel – the team’s Surrey-based training ground – however, was not to make friends with the England squad, but for the fitting of the team’s brand-new, made-to-measure suits from French outfitter Eden Park.
The suit itself (a single-breasted, slim-fit grey number) cut a surprisingly elegant figure on the generally bulky players. Accompanied by a skinny red tie, white shirt, wool-cashmere blend black overcoat (complete with some on-trend lapel piping) and some very shiny, very pointy black shoes, the combination, on the whole, works well. Though we’re still in two minds about the tweed baker boy hat.
The real winner, however, is the fact that Eden Park’s offering is free from the giant red roses found splattered willy-nilly over previous suits. Bar a few rugby ball-shaped buttons and a couple of miniature roses here and there, the team had little to complain about – in fact there was no complaining at all, our previous emasculation was somewhat negated by the team’s eagerness to jump out of their sweats and into their suits.
Following the fitting, a few of the squad’s more vocal members took time-out to discuss style with us, we think you’ll be surprised by the level of insight, we’re ashamed to say – we were.
For the full report click here
