An Ode to the Laser Light

This is in part a review of the Foals gig in Birmingham on Tuesday and in part of tribute to lighting in live music, or rather a chance at attempting to articulate the swirl of euphoric bliss I can remember from the cold Tuesday night. Ending college at 5:00pm, and trudging home in the cold and dark knowing you'll be leaving the house again in less than an hour for a gig is always a bleak thought - enough to tempt you to forget about your plans and stay in, watch celebrity come dine with me on catch up and forget about the outside world. The initial energy involved in getting yourself out of the house and into the cold, with nothing more than a denim jacket as a shield is pretty exhausting - redeemed only once you're inside the venue and surrounded by fellow denim jackets.

It is always a difficult ask when deciding what is the "best" gig you've been to, there are many determining factors for different people, getting to the barrier, not getting trampled to death, being completely trampled to death. For me, the inclusion of a good laser is always a high point of a gig. Seeing The Wombats in October 2011 (shut up) was perhaps the first gig wherein I truly experienced the gig, complete with the whole kit and caboodle of lights, lasers and coloured strobes, it was more than my excitable 15 year old self could handle (it was also the first - and so far the only - gig in which I fell victim to mortifying shoe lift from a stranger at the other end of the room, with only a sock protecting my left foot from the alcohol covered floor).

Foals were a whole different ball game, and at risk of sounding like one of those dickheads, Spanish Sahara - and the visual accompaniment - was almost enough to drive me to the highly cringey task of linking arms with the stranger next to me in a "totally, like, beautiful moment". The room went silent (and blue) with Yannis' angelic vocals, and the crowd were doused in a sheet of blue laser, smoke swimming across the air like the rainbow shine on the surface of a bubble. Spanish Sahara was an out of body experience (ignoring the decision of 2/3 of the room to sit on the floor to "totally appreciate the moment", which to my mentally 83 year old self seemed entirely impractical), and a pretty spectacular memory.

What makes lights so attractive and appealing at gigs is the overall sense of feeling like being a part of something. Being trapped in a room full of sweaty-indie-point-winning-teenagers is a daunting idea, but with the inclusion of a well crafted light display, you find yourself being consumed in the moment, "I Wanna be Yours" in November was a perfect example of this.

Although nothing does quite beat the DIY spontaneity of seeing a band in a pub or a warehouse, or some other sort of tiny venue with no apparent sound system, having on average a square inch of space and being effectively stood on by everyone around you - once in a while it is rather nice to be immersed in lasers and colours and an almost euphoric sense of togetherness (sorry), that and it does makes for a highly instagramable gig.

Happy Valentines Day!

Forget Lionel Richie and Celine Dion, here are my picks of the best luuurrrrvvvee songs in music

Down by the Water - The Drums
I Can Change - LCD Soundsystem
Suicide Policeman - Yuck
Duet - Everything Everything
Just Like Heaven - The Cure
Baby - Warpaint
I Need My Girl - The National
Lover of Mine - Beach House
No One Like You - Best Coast
Pale Blue Eyes - Velvet Underground
Blue Blood - Foals
Fall In Love With Me - Iggy Pop
Heart Swells - Pacific Daylight Time - Los Campesinos!

Rohanie x 

The Best Samples in Music

There's always the ignorant few that dismiss sampling as "stealing", adopting phrases along the lines of "Omg that band totally stole that riff, that it totally ridiculous". But sampling successfully is a real skill (slowly glossing past some previous attempts), here are my pick of the best sample in music.

BOUND 2 – KANYE WEST
Although the whole of Kanye West's back catalog would work for this post, Bound 2 is by far my favourite track on the album, opening with the modest piano before the glorious charm of Charlie Wilson, and of course (the highlight of the track) the "Uh-huh, honey" sampled from "Sweet Nothings" by Brenda Lee. Despite Kanye using multiple samples in this track, the obvious stand out is the children’s choir-esque vocals of ‘Bound' by The Ponderosa Twins Plus One providing the glistening gem that features in all of West’s music. This sample is bopping your soldiers whilst frantically tapping away at your laptop finishing your homework on a Sunday evening, it’s take your dog for a walk in the pitch dark and aching to break out into a high school musical shimmy down the road. He embraces his ever so slightly misogynistic signature lyrics, and still manages to be both courteous and putting his laundry first, “I wanna fuck you hard on the sink, After that give you somethin’ to drink, step back can’t get spunk on the mink” (and who the hell is Jerome?).

CAN I KICK IT – A TRIBE CALLED QUEST
Arguably one of the best hip hop groups of the 20^th Century, A Tribe Called Quest managed to encapsulate the warmth and beauty of Lou Reed’s ‘Walkon the Wild Side’, sampling it on their track Can I Kick It. They seamlessly combined it with the grove and rhythm that the band always delivered, with the smooth and flowing sound of Reed’s piece being teamed with the simple yet highly effective beat. In a complete U-turn to Kanye’s choppy and disjointed use of sampling, A Tribe Called Quest blended in ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ to such a degree it sounds as if it were an original element of the song. This track will always remind me of skidding on my kitchen, wearing my bed socks eating a choc-ice; and I’m not entirely sure why.

NEWPRINCE (CROWN ON THE GROUND) - CHILDISH GAMBINO
The slightly more frenzied option on this post, Childish Gambino uses Sleigh Bells’ ‘Crown on the Ground’ to create this loud, bordering on manic and very dance at a house party worthy track. The siren like sound of Sleigh Bells track grant this song an obnoxious and arrogant yet perfect opening, paving the way for Childish Gambino’s (real name Donald Glover) simple yet suave “I do not talk, I am just a rapper” before launching into a mammoth of a song. What’s unusual about this track is that no specific piece of the sampled song is lifted, instead what seems like Childish Gambino pressing play on the YouTube video of Crown on the ground whilst he raps over it. Because of this there are clashes between his and Alexis Krauss’ vocals, resulting in a highly successful and bordering on beautiful track.

PAPER PLANES – M.I.A.
Perhaps the obvious choice when talking about samples used in modern music, M.I.A uses the Clash’s ‘Straight to Hell’ for her most known track, launching her onto endless playlists for parties and being played in Topshop (it’s no surprise the YouTube video has almost 42.5 million views). This track opens with a spirally and glossy sound, reinventing the guitar sounds of The Clash into a far more sleek and modern take - the opening bars of this track are instantly recognisable, even if only yelled by a tipsy 14 year old at a houseparty (“all i wanna do is *gun shot gun shot gun shot gun shot cash register sound*”). The rest of the Clash’s song is ignored, but is also unnecessary, as the few seconds M.I.A does lift are repeated throughout creating the right genre balancing sound that she always toys with, I dare you to find a teenager that hasn't danced profusely to this song – complete with the gun shaped hand gestures – whilst sipping on apple cider.

And the rest:
Kendrick Lamar feat. Dr Dre ~ The Recipe  (sample)
KiD CUDi ~ The Prayer (sample)
Beastie Boys ~ Rhymin and Stealin (sample)
EPMD ~ Strictly Business (sample)
Jay Z and Kanye West ~ Otis (sample)

In Defense of One Direction

NB: I wrote this on a very grey, cold and rainy motorway at 11:38pm on a sunday night, it may not make entirely make sense.

It seems that everything is about acceptance these days, the spontaneity and do it yourself features of subcultures and genres from the past were intrinsic to their development. Although it could be argued that acceptance has always played a key part in the role that youth play in popular culture – when looking at movements like punk, the form of acceptance they adopted was about a sense of comfort, about finding a group of similar people and having a good time. Now, however, acceptance is treated more as a security blanket, a cloak to hide under, a way to avoid persecution by anyone as you have no unique qualities to be criticised. Whether you fit into the godforsaken “generic” tag (by which it means you buy your clothes first hand and you didn’t inherit your dad’s music collection) or you are the opposite, living the wildly individual lifestyle, spending any and all money you obtain on only vinyl, buying “merch” and scrutinizing people for listening to music only released in the past 3 years. Regardless of what anybody tells you, your music taste does not make you inferior or superior in any way, the charts play as much a role in the progression of music as any of your obscure bands signed to a totally funky and hip east London record label. The main issue with the self importance seen in some music fans is the assumption that because a song includes a repetitive bassline produced from a laptop, and lyrics set in a club, then it has no emotional impact and does not succeed as a song. The very notion that said song is not available on a 7inch record and is possibly heard from the back of a bus blaring through tinny mobile phone speakers is enough to drive these music fans into a sense of franticness, adopting such phrases as “real music” and “not a proper band”. To these people I say GET OVER YOURSELF.
On a slightly annoying note i’m going to quote my religious studies a level textbook, in Abrahamic religion there is a concept called “epistemic distance", basically that the gap of knowledge between ourselves and god is only a good thing as it strengthens our faith. (Sorry) in other words, having a connection with god is an entirely subjective experience. Subjective. Sound familiar? This idea, that there’s no such thing as a wrong opinion is exhausted in primary school, topping endless lists on how to be a good friend.
Here is where I’d insert the Google definition of “musician”  except 1) i’m currently in the un-beautifully  not at all scenic or multicultural countryside of Luton and so have no internet access, but more significantly, 2) I think I’ve already proven facetious enough in my inclusion of the words “Abrahamic religion” on the internet.
How many times have your parents commented on how your favourite musicians have lifted certain sound from musicians of their heyday? Music provides an escape for many people, a chance to ignore their surroundings and immerse themselves in their own mind. Whether this sense of isolated euphoria is gained through listening to your favourite Smiths vinyl, or through a One Direction YouTube video, no one can and nobody should dictate the emotive impact that their music has. One direction are not particularly to my taste (get me started on “What Makes You Beautiful” and I will drive you into a coma), but the demonised role that they have had thrust upon them by endless over-sized denim jacket clad teenagers is enough to jump to the boys' defence. Singing songs about dancing is not a worthy reason to despise a person, wearing chinos and deep V t-shirts is not a worthy reason to despise someone and using a platform like the X Factor, although not as lengthy a process as one might deem to be the correct way (like gigging and busking) it is still a creative platform to gain exposure and potentially produce as competent musicians as any indie label underground enough to sell their own tote bags donning their logo. Either that or you could just not listen to the radio.



My not at all guilty pleasures:
- Miley Cyrus_Wrecking Ball
- Kanye West_Bound 2
- Frank Ocean_Thinkin Bout You
- JLS_Everybody in Love
- Iggy Azalea_Murda Bizness
- Drake_Hold On We’re Going Home
- Pharell Williams_Happy
-Jason Derulo_Talk Dirty

The Worst Tracks of 2013 (apart from blurred lines)

2013 was a pretty spectacular year for music, for every Johnny Borrell, Beady Eye and The Strypes album, there was an Arcade Fire, Foals and Atoms For Peace album, to mention just 3. Here are the top 10 worst singles of 2013 (apart from the obvious one that we all know and really do not love).

1). Of the Night - Bastille

It feels a rather snobby phrase to adopt, and it shouldn’t be applied lightly, saved only for the worst attempts; but when confronted with a track like bastille’s Rhythm of the night, there’s only one word that comes to mind: MURDER. In short, this song is painful, skin crawlingly embarrassing, pissing on the genre that is disco. It’s not clear which of the awful elements administer the fatal blow, possibly the stupid and hideously faux-twee twinkly chimes of the opening bars, the stupid accent that the singer (whose name i don’t care to google) adopts making every word he croons sound annoying and melodramatically gag inducing; perhaps it’s the loud and unnecessary auto tune voice spelling out the actual name of the song (most likely to try and give an indication of what the hell is going on). Then comes the line “Oh I can ease you of your pain” which has about as much emotion as wallpaper, Tuesday afternoons and the colour beige. Made of both “Rhythm of the night” and “Rhythm is a dancer” this song is enough to confirm hatred of chart music, music involving wind chimes or music by posh people.

2).  Walks Like Rihanna – The Wanted
I normally “don’t mind”, bordering on “tolerate” inching towards “quite like” boybands. I almost sympathise them for the gratuitous hatred they receive for merely playing as much a part in music as any band does. But this song is suicide, this song is throw yourself off a bridge and bring your radio with it. From the romanticised chauvinism of “What Makes You Beautiful” an attempt at making girls feel good about themselves whilst inadvertently demonising any sense of body confidence and self esteem, a whole new ballgame was released, in the form of a slimy and, to be honest, audibly boring song by the wanted. “Walks Like Rihanna” embodies the cocky, River Island bloke, who uses casual racism, sexism and a bit of homophobia in the pub with work colleagues, who’d categorically deny any bigotry due to him having “many black friends” and his “bird’s hairdresser being a gay”. This song teaches that a woman doesn't need to have any skills worth mentioning so long as she has a seductive walk, which is really admirable when you remember it’s 2013 and we have moved on from misogyny in music, I mean, like, this song was released a whole 3 months after blurred lines for gods sake.

3). 23 - Mike Will Made It (feat. Miley Cyrus, Juicy j and Wiz Khalifa) 
Miley’s plight into the world of hip and swag is a clumsy and painful one; appearing as guest vocals on this car crash of a song in a desperate bid to shake off the middle class white girl she cannot quite seem to shake. Ooh! Miley is smoking cigarettes! Ooh! Miley is writing things such as “#23” on the mirror with lipstick! Ooh! Miley is sat on a basketball hoop holding a glittery basketball! Please. Cue yet more product placement and the worst attempt at rapping(?) since PJ & Duncan. With such lyrical dynamites like “I’m so high, I got three bitches that go bi (pussy), I’m so fly, I’m getting’ head like a blowdryer” it's a wonder this song only got to number 85 in the UK; and the less about Wiz Khalifa the better, unless this track is to be used as an example of how not to rap, in which case he does a sterling job. At least when Miley was Hannah Montana she made an attempt at singing (“true friend” will always hold a special place in my heart), but the teeth achingly dire attempt at gravelly and seductive fall flatter than the football jersey-cum-minidress. This song has about the same level of authenticity as Pizza Party, “Got a joint if you wanna get stoned [...] Waitress asked how many bottles? I said 23” BAM. 

And the rest:
4). Wake Me Up - Avicii (feat. Aloe Blacc): a hook that can only be described as sickeningly annoying.
5). Do What U Want - Lady Gaga: "You can't have my heart, And you won't use my mind but, Do what you want with my body" WOW.
6). I Wish - Cher Lloyd: Cher croons about wishing she "Woke up with a butt and a rack" in order to catch a certain gentleman's eye.
 7). If You're Ready Come and Get It - Selena Gomez: using a "hindu tribal feel" (her words) to create a slightly racist promo around an ultimately bland pop record.
8). Inner Ninja - Olly Murs (feat. Classified): using a painfully artificial ~reggae~ feel to a song won't make it any less BLAH Olly!! neither will using a children’s choir or a nondescript rapper!!
9). Give It 2 U – Robin Thicke: Er, yeah, no thanks.
10). Let Her Go - Passenger: “The vocals sound like a little gremlin is singing for the first time in its life” Nuff said.

Bedroom Walls

I am guessing that most teenagers of this day and age have bedroom walls covered in posters, gig tickets, photos and other precious memoirs; I am only assuming this though. I have discovered that here at FIBLAR, we have quite a varied range of bedroom walls which are all magnificent and need to be shared. 

Molly's Wall

It's kind of typical nowadays for a teenager's bedroom walls to be entirely dominated by pictures and posters of the things that they love. The wall behind my bed used to be just that; every inch covered in tiny little pictures cut from magazines, no order or pattern at all. Thankfully, that phase has ended and around a month ago, I decided I no longer liked how my wall looked. I took everything down and kept only the biggest things, arranging them in a new, minimalistic and almost symmetrical way, which I am immensely proud of. The wall includes Palma Violets, The Smiths, The Vaccines, JAWS and more, but taking centre stage is Biffy Clyro (I also have a poster of them on my ceiling) because really, I just love looking at Simon Neil.



Amelia's Wall

  This is above my desk. My stereo is blocking out a lovely picture of grimes and hidden behind my lamp is the poster of peace that came with In Love.

This is a close up of my main wall featuring some bunting and fairy lights. I think I stuck this up around the time In Love came out and every magazine was filled with Peace pictures as there seems to be an alarming amount. Having a slanted ceiling makes fitting stuff in a challenge but all the more rewarding when it ends up looking ok.








Laura's wall

 Filled with indie dreamboats, memories, tickets and whatever else is up there; my walls are the best part of my room. The photos of me and band members from gigs of the past are there such as Peace, Swim Deep and JAWS. Smaller sections are dedicated to various artists such as Everything Everything, Arctic Monkeys and Haim. Almost every band or artist that puts a smile on my face, they're all on there.




Sometimes I take a moment to step back while music hums in the background and look around my walls - reading what the Peace lads wrote on the back of the photo we got together in April, seeing photos of me and JAWS taken inside the Think tank and Swim Deep outside. Metro tickets with the dates of shows on them, reminding me of how good thise nights were and that limited edition poster of Mark Owen my friend got me last year when I thought I'd never get to meet him. Everyone on my walls, they're all there for a reason - because they mean something to me.


Paige's Wall

 I tend to hoard any music related 'stuff'. That stuff is usually posters, old tickets, ripped magazine articles. This is for a few very basic reasons which I shall list:

1. It makes my very dark room look very cool

2. I feel like I'm hanging out with a different rockstar every night - a thrilling idea!

3. It's a form of escapism for when I want to burn my school work






Rohanie's Wall

 I have 3 walls covered in various scraps of paper and magazine cuttings, but this is the wall by my bed and so is my favourite.
I moved on from the plastering my walls from top to bottom with posters when I was about 14, since then I've been blu tacking various gigs tickets, adverts, articles, photos and posters until I was almost back to my circa 2009 roots, this time without dodgy google images of mgmt and Jonny Pierce (of The Drums) printed from my more than temperamental printer. My favourite parts of this wall are my Horrors tickets signed by the band when I met them in 2011 and Felix of the Maccabees' plectrum I caught in a fantastically James Bond moment at their gig in Birmingham in January 2012. My room was once a hideous cerise colour (the paint was actually called "sexy pink" which made my 7 year old self feel so punk rock) but it got painted to a more ~mature~ pastel colour, that ended up acting as a canvas for the scraps of all sorts that ended up being stuck on the walls. Other highlights include the 7 pictures of Grimes, a limited edition print by artist Robert Ryan and a handwritten setlist by Gareth of lc!, handed into my very hand by the then bassist Ellen, a moment that I replayed in my head in the car journey over and over until I had near convinced myself it hadn't happened and was a materialisation of my dazed mind. 

As skin crawlingly embarrassing as it may appear, my walls feel like memories, scrapbooks of what's happened so far in my life, although the majority is gig tickets from the past 3 years, there's dodgy disposal camera photos from a school trip to Germany when I was 14, clothing tags from the first time I went to brick lane aged 12, a photo of me dressed as elvis Presley as part of my tap dancing classes aged 3, a Drums poster I took off a notice board from Birmingham city university social sciences department when waiting for my mum to finish work. The only regret I have is when I move away for uni in (hopefully) 2 years, and having to intricately prise everything off the walls, pack them away and reapply them to my prison cell of a halls room, nostalgically reminiscing of a time when I had pastel pink walls and enough floor space to ultimately unsuccessfully practise doing the splits for 8 years. (the bird paintings came when I was on a school trip to france and my mum got bored)

ps. the square shaped hole is where one if my mums paintings was before being used for an exhibition, I haven't found anything suitable to fill the geometric gap yet

Nina's wall

I wish I could say there's some really deep meaning behind the posters on my wall but really all that's behind them is blu tack. But at the same time I guess certain posters can bring back memories like songs can such as my Swim Deep tour poster which reminds me of where I met one of my now best friends.

Avalon's wall 

I have always enjoyed having posters on my walls - when I was ten, I had a slightly creepy obsession with the youtuber charlieissocoollike, so I built my own 'wall of stuff' to match his. This summer, I decided that the jumble of pictures on my walls was pointless, outdated and ugly. I spent two days tearing them down and painting the wall white. I listened exclusively to Splashh and Dog is Dead and wore only my bra and faded denim cutoffs. Starting from scratch I made a 'music wall' - basically a shrine to my favourite bands and musicians. The pictures are a combination of ebay and tour posters, cutouts from NME, and A4 sheets printed secretly from my school's art room. There are a bunch of gig tickets, and awkward photos with band members, and just things that make me happy - photos taken on broken disposable cameras at gigs, polaroids with friends, pages ripped from magazines, photobooth pictures. I add things to it everyday, and it is very much still a work in progress. I am not even sure that it will ever be done!

Amy's Wall

I don't like my room. I never actually have. The first stages of my wall started in the summer of 2012 where I thought I was very cool having pictures of YouTubers and small, motivational yet cringey notes stuck up on every inch of my wall. I then started reading NME and a huge Jake Bugg obsession hit me like a swarm of flies; this urged me to have NME cutouts and front covers arranged on my wall in a messy fashion. My skin would be crawling if I had to re-live that wall and see the chaos of it. My next stage came quite recently, perhaps during summer this year, and is now the stage of my current wall. I decided that order and organisation satisfied me a lot so wanted to portray this on my wall. I built it around my Ben Howard poster which I bought at the Summer Stampede earlier this year. I have a small section dedicated to David Bowie as know that my obsession with Bowie will (fortunately) never leave. I bought The Beatles poster with no real reason at all; It just fitted in the gap that my wall once possessed. I only put the christmas lights up earlier this week but may have to keep them for the whole year until I need a new set. A few weeks ago, I decided that, yet again, I dislike my wall. I haven't tried to rearrange it as I simply do not have the effort. I plan to paint all my walls white so it feels minimalistic and clean; just how I want it. I probably won't change it for a while as I know my mind will surely return to the state that it were once in.

-Amy x

Say What???

Nothing beats those moments in songs, those goose bump inducing moments – the ones that make you sigh an “aaahh” out loud. It’s those talky bits in songs that get me going, the little snippets that remind you that your favourite musician has a speaking voice, articulating those words in your ear as you wait for the bus on a dreary Monday morning, or are sat on your bedroom floor at 1:00am with your favourite vinyl as loud as possible. You’ve seen it done wrong - not just wrong but spine shiveringly wrong. Here is my choice of the best 5 songs featuring those oozy talky bits.

THE HORRORS – Who Can Say
There’s no nice way to be dumped, but there’s certainly a beautiful and poetic way, especially if involving a forever charming Faris Badwan, a white tux jacket and red rose; stood performing on a theatre stage flicking his skinny legs and hair about. You wouldn’t mind being told that another girl had caught his eye, and that kiss he just gave you: that kiss was a kiss that could only mean goodbye. Cue skin tingly synths and suave deep, glossy vocals, you really wouldn’t mind being dumped by him and his bowtie, in fact you’d probably be too hypnotised by the depth of his voice, and of course those fabulous legs.

THE VIVIAN GIRLS – Take It As It Comes
This song embodies teenage girl angst to such a perfect extent, it follows the narrative of kickball katy, wining in her bedroom phone in a generic American 90’s teen movie fashion, about a boy, “Should I call Johnny? What else to do? Alone on a Saturday night” to which the advice is bestowed “You've gotta think with your head girl, Not with your heart, If you ever want a love so true, Oh girl, take my advice, take it as it comes”. Their bedrooms are pink, covered in doodles of naked females, rollerblades and the cure posters; and they are everything you want to be. They are pizza sleepovers watching the breakfast club and dirty dancing, they are putting lipstick on and dancing round your room to the doors, they are eating marshmallows and drawing doodles in the back of your maths book- and they are the best girl band since bikini kill.

IGGY POP – Candy
Sung with  Kate Pierson of the B-52's, this song is the sleazy, slimy and slightly creepy Iggy you know and love. This song feels like the first conversation after a row on a bus in front of everyone, that you can’t help peer at despite knowing it’s none of your business. It’s raw, it’s bitter and it’s beautiful. It’s a debauched love letter, a sincere yet impatient cry at the beautiful, beautiful girl from the north; the imagery is rich, you can almost see the rain drizzling down your kitchen window, “It's a rainy afternoon, In 1990, The big city geez it's been 20 years- Candy -you were so fine”. The angelic tone of Kate’s vocals cut through Iggy’s gravel, sat perched at a bar wearing a navy ball gown she purrs, “Yeah, well it hurt me real bad when you left, I'm glad you got out, But I miss you”, creating what is Iggy’s most beautiful and honest, and in my opinion best song to date.

LOS CAMPESINOS! – You! Me! Dancing!
forget to 2 minutes build to this track, the almost nonsensical, rambling musing Gareth appears with towards the end is the highlight of this song. “And I always get confuse because in supermarkets they turn the lights off when they want you to leave, but in discos, they turn them on. And it’s always sad to go, but it’s never that sad, because there’s only so many places you’re guaranteed of getting a hug when you leave. And on the way home, it always seems like a good idea to go paddling in the fountain, and that’s because it IS a good idea”. This song is a pisstake, a dig at everyone that is cool and a confession of how bad your dancing/bedroom skills are. This song is wobbling home at 3am after being kicked out, it’s vomiting on yourself and it’s feeling invisible and jumping into a fountain (it’s being so high you don’t recognise yourself when you walk past your reflection) and this song is everything good about being a hyper, self indulgent, self deprecatory, uncool dickhead being embarrassing and not letting anything, least of all dignity getting in the way of having a good night.

MAJOR LAZER – Jessica feat. Ezra Koenig
Vampire Weekend’s Ezra provides the smooth and hypnotic vocals on this mastermind of a song. “My bathing suit is drying on the porch, My mother is crying upstairs, It’s batmand, you’re batman, All I want is my Jessica.” This song feels like it should never have been discovered, instead resting in the dark corners of the internet, brought out every once in a while by a 14 year old girl on tumblr, it’s almost of the same ilk as pizza party. This song is no longer boat shoes, baby blue sweater draped across shoulders, pin stripe Ralph Lauren shirt and pale peach chinos, sipping wine and pondering over various philosophical dilemmas Ezra, this is “cool” Ezra, playing with the big guns, making half unbelievable, half BEAUTIFUL music.

And the rest:
Vampire Weekend - Ya Hey
Desire - Under Your Spell
ABC - The Look of Love
All Saints - Never Ever
M.I.A - Paper Planes 
Happy Mondays - Step On
David Bowie - Modern Love
Blondie - Rapture (sort of counts)

Soundtrack of your Childhood

Memories are odd things. They can resurface at any time, with anything acting a trigger, a smell, a jacket, a place, a name, a taste. But perhaps most poignant is music - nostalgic moments entering your mind of walks in the park on Sunday afternoons, going to various relatives' houses, rainy Saturday mornings, walking home from school, that tv program your household drop anything for and watch religiously. The most embarrassing songs from childhood I find are the best. Documenting moments in your life that were so significant and important at one point that now serve as nothing more than laughable memories, like a tattoo encapsulating the person you once were, but now desperately try to suppress. The great thing about those 4 minutes of audio is that whenever, wherever you are, whomever you are with - when those opening bars are played, when the signature voice of that singer you once idolised is heard, you're instantly brought back, you're instantly the 5 year old on a drive with your dad again, you're instantly the 8 year old in your bedroom dancing to a pop party compilation cd again, you're instantly the 10 year old watching the youtube video over and over again mesmerised by what you're watching. as hard as you try, those songs cannot be suppressed.

Avalon~

Most of my childhood memories are of America, where I have spent almost every summer of my life. 'Suspicious Minds' by Elvis Presley, 'Rattled By The Rush' by Pavement, and 'Where is My Mind' by Pixies. The songs remind me of unjaded summers spent dancing in the kitchen of our tiny house in Maine, while morning sun crept in through backdoors left swung open. They remind me of ice-cream sandwiches eaten on the beach, of bonfires and sunsets, thunderstorms and drive-in movies. Of woods near my grandparent's house in Vermont, sandy swimsuits and bike rides to the store. Of family singalongs and falling asleep on the plane on the way back to England. These songs were the soundtrack to the summers of my youth, repeated endlessly on cheap record players, tinny radios of cars, and walkmans with complementary British Airways headphones
Tyler~
Growing up, I didn't really relate to the music my parents would play; Neil Diamond and The Eagles dominated my Sunday mornings courtesy of my father, whilst Westlife and Ronan Keating would resonate through the walls of our house whilst my mum cleaned. I don't feel nostalgic about this music, though: all I really remember are the songs I would play on my Walkman to drown out the noise my parents were playing.

Kate Bush's 'Babooshka' is definitely the first song that springs to mind; I remember seeing her for the first time on some kind of Greatest Hits countdown on the TV singing this song. Naturally, I didn't understand it at all back then: I was oblivious to her role as a musical pioneer and her lyrical content completely escaped me, but 'Babooshka' is a fun word for a seven year old to sing as he gallops around his bedroom. I dare say it's just as enjoyable for an eighteen-year-old. Unfortunately, Ms. Bush is the only example of taste I displayed as a child. Another glaringly obvious song from the soundtrack of my youth would have to be AllSaint's 'Rock Steady'. I think this was the first single I ever owned; it was either this, or the 'Cha Cha Slide'. I remember how amazed I was when I put the disc into my computer and saw the music video, in which the girls are clad in latex and use whips to rob a bank. Brilliant. It's difficult to pick a third song, but I think I'm going to choose Lily Allen's 'Smile'. That song, however crass, was my gateway drug into music. It was the first song that pushed me to buy (or rather, ask mum and dad for) the album. Of course, I wasn't old enough for 'Alright, Still', But I loved it nonetheless. And now, here we are.

Amelia~

My dad is a big led zeppelin fan and one of my favourites is 'Going to California'. It reminds me of the childhood feeling of having had a really great day playing in the sunshine, and also of the excitement of actually going to California when I was little.
My dad is also a massive Bob Dylan fan. By massive I mean he owns pretty much everything he's ever released on vinyl and has seen him live loads. 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' in particular reminds me of my childhood - my dad would always try and slip the lyrics into conversation wherever he could, sort of like an elaborate dad-style version of name that tune. It's a classic Dylan song that always makes me nostalgic for my childhood. My mum is a huge Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks enthusiast, and I've been lucky enough to inherit such a gene. 'Edge of seventeen' by Stevie Nicks is so brilliant to dance around to - an important factor when selecting a favourite childhood song. It's also on the soundtrack to the film School of Rock which was one of my favourite films as a kid. Amy~
Sunday Morning // Maroon 5 Judge me if you must but I love this song. It's one of those songs which does actually remind me of my childhood, not just a song from that time. Now I'm not looking for sympathy here, but when my dad died in 2009, I had Sunday Morning on repeat constantly as he loved it and we made up dance moves to all the words and danced round on (supposedly) sunday mornings. It's a very warm song, you could say, and has very inviting lyrics which I love. 

Don't You Want Me // Human League

My mum loves the Human League and I guess this is their most famous song so I would be genuinely shocked if anyone had not heard it before. When it was just me and my mum living in a flat about 8 years ago, this song would be sung at the top of our lungs. We would dance around the small hallways and into the rooms singing. This something that, now I am older, I miss. It's also just a massive #tune. (sorry for hashtag-it just seemed appropriate). Lastly is Fire Coming out of a Monkey's Head // Gorillaz - Me being a huge Blur fan, it probably wouldn't be surprising if a Gorillaz or Blur song popped up somewhere. I think my step dad introduced me to Gorillaz in about 2007 and I used to steal his iPod and listen to this song when he was out. This song tells a story as well as it being a song which I think is genius. It wasn't until about 2 years after discovering Gorillaz, that I found out they and Blur were connected. I think knowing this has made me love both bands more as they sound so different! I also love all of Jamie Hewlett's artwork and damn that bassline!
Molly~
Floating Away (In The Bathtub) // Toploader My dad always used to play this in the car when I was younger and I didn't know what it was (I had to ask my brother what 'that song about bubbles that dad used to play' was for this) but I always sang along to the first verse. After that it got too heavy for my young, innocent ears and I pleaded with dad to turn it off. Being the loving father that he is, he did just that. By The Way // Red Hot Chili Peppers Another of my dad's favourites (mum didn't tend to listen to much music), we had lovely family singalongs on our journeys to this song, although the STEAK KNIFE bit wasn't really to my taste. Oh how things have changed. Air Hostess // Busted I have the most fond memories of this band; me and my brother would spend hours listening to our Busted's greatest hits CD on repeat whilst playing Mariokart on our Nintendo 64, until mum sold it at a carboot. I don't think we forgave her for months afterwards. Rohanie~
When I was 11 my dad discovered youtube. Then followed prolonged evenings, turning into the early hours of him hunched at the computer systematically watching live footage of every single single he'd bought when he was a teenager, Johnny Appleseed was perhaps his most played. "Just listen those drums", of course none of us were interested, at 11 I was just at the end of my faux punk Avril Lavigne phase. But the more I listen to this song, the more I appreciate it, the more I realise how beautiful it really is, and how pertinent it was to my childhood. One of the best films I've ever seen was School of Rock, I remember the cinema trip with such detail. The last scene of the film features the cast playing It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll) // AC/DC, which I fell in love with. We walked to Fopp and my dad put on the original on those cute headphones attached to this big machine they don't seem to have in music shops anymore and I listened and I fell in love further. That christmas i got AC/DC's discography and I've continued to be in love ever since. The last song I feel really grasps my childhood in a song is Sweetest Thing // U2. Yes U2 is a slightly embarrassing choice, but the lyrics "Blue-eyed boy meets a brown-eyes girl" might has well have been written for/about my parents. There's a weird warm sense of nostalgia surrounding this song when I listen to it, it's one of those tracks that was played in long car journeys, when everyone was fed up of feeling sick and of each other - yet this song managed to perfectly cut through put a subtle smile on everyone's faces. Laura~
Weird Al Yankovic // White and Nerdy

Weird Al Yankovic's parodies were played constantly through my late primary school years. In year 6 when it was raining and we couldn't go out onto the yard our teacher used to let us run the classroom and use the whiteboard to listen to music and watch videos S Club Juniors // Automatic High As a youngling I loved nothing more than singing S Club songs in the car, the Juniors being my favourite. This song was often played on repeat and I used to sit in the back, wind the window down and sing along - it must've drove my parents mad! Take That // Shine As many of you will know I'm a HUGE Take That fan. In year 6 when we ran the class on rainy break times I always requested this song, I don't know why - I wasn't a fan at the time but it was riding high in the charts and loved by the full class

Georgie~
I guess the songs that provided the soundtrack to my childhood are pretty much the same ones that are sound tracking it now. My parents were a big influence on the music I listened to and they bought me up on Nirvana, The Cure and various bands from the eighties. So my first song is In Bloom by Nirvana. I put it on my mp3 player and thought I was the coolest thing going. The next is Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus. This is such a great song. Words cannot describe the love I have for this song. I remember listening to it and thinking how awesome it would be to be this moody teenager. Now I’m 19 and this real life teenage dirtbag and l still listen to it all the time. I’ve saved the best till last because this song, no matter how cheesey you find it, still remains to be my all time favourite song. This song is like, my anthem or something. It’s so feel-good and amazing and is just the best. It’s the classic- Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper. Nina~
Yellow Submarine // The Beatles I've always been brought up around the Beatles when I was younger I remember me and my dads endless sing a longs on our way to the football to yellow submarine. I often changed the words to 'we all live in a yellow submarine we didn't like the colour so we painted it green a shark came along and now were all dead I found out it was a hammer head.' But it still has a sentimental feeling to me of innocence and a sense of homeliness about it (is that even a word) Sexbomb // Tom Jones The one artist that really made up the soundtrack of my childhood was Tom Jones. I have a fond memory of being in my extremely uncomfortable car seat singing sexbomb or as i remember it 'stinkbomb'. When i was around 5 my mum took me to my first concert which was to see Tom Jones the only strong memory I have from this is seeing lots of older ladies throwing their bras on stage and me asking my mum if i could throw my knickers on stage obviously the answer was no. Viva Las Vegas // Elvis Presley - I've always been brought up listening to Elvis he was even my first crush but this song used to really stand out for me. On my first visit to Las Vegas at the age of 4 we had this song blasting as we were driving down the strip my mum even recalls me saying 'is this what movie stars feel like'. Every time I listen to that i get memories of not only sunny Las Vegas but driving to the equally as glamorous Sutton listening to the best of Elvis. Calum~
When asked to think of three songs that soundtracked my childhood, a number sprang immediately to mind. I've grown up shrouded in music, as my parents and lodger are all mad about it. So here is three songs that I think were very "instrumental" in my upbringing. Downtown Train // Tom Waits Tom Waits is one of my favourite singers, to this day even. But when I was growing up, my dad used to constantly play his music in the evenings, which was brilliant. As a really young child, I was obsessed with trains so Downtown Train was my favourite of Waits’. I love this song particularly because of the upbeat guitar and Waits’ vocal delivery as well as the mention of the word “train”. Rock Me Amadeus – Falco
Falco’s one hit wonder Rock Me Amadeus was the first song I ever had an obsession with (and it wasn’t the last). It is mainly in German and when it was my favourite song I knew all the words to it, despite not speaking a word of the language. It is incredibly catchy and Falco is a very cool guy. I Bet That You Look Good On the Dancefloor – Arctic Monkeys When I was about 8, The Arctics came on Top of The Pops to play their debut single. As a young boy, this song mesmerised me- I loved it to bits. Then a couple of years later I saw the Arctic Monkeys headline Glastonbury (2007) as a 10 year old and it was one of the best performances I've ever witnessed. They were my first favourite band.

FIBLAR's Lou Reed Tribute

Last week, the music world received the hard-hitting news that Lou Reed, frontman of The Velvet Underground, had passed away. Lou was an inspiration to so many people, and the entirety of the music world was all swift to pay tribute to the late, great Lou Reed.

The FIBLAR team were, of course, no exception…

To me, Lou Reed was the frontman of one of the most influential, and one of my favourite bands of all time, The Velvet Underground. I’ve always loved the Velvets, as my mum had Pale Blue Eyes and Stephanie Says on her driving playlist. Then, about ten months ago I purchased the LP of The Velvet Underground and Nico and was very blown away by it. In Particular, the song Heroin (Track 1, Side 2) spoke to me like no song I had ever listened to previously, and to this day is one of my favourite songs of all time. Since then, I’ve played the record over and over, and it never fails to make amaze me. In addition, Lou’s music (both solo and with the Velvets) has directly influenced many of my favourite bands, making it even more special than it already is. Ziggy-era Bowie and Joy Division both cite the Velvets as a favourite band, and countless bands have covered their music. It is for these reasons, and many besides those, that Lou’s death is a tragedy, Rest in Peace Lou.

Here’s what the rest of the FIBLAR team said about Lou.

Nina:

“I remember that when I was younger, and my dad used to play to me Walk on the Wild Side and I remember my parents talking about the Velvet Underground. When I was that young i had no idea who they were, but when I was 12 the Velvet Underground’s Heroin came up in my suggested videos on YouTube and since then I’ve been hooked. The Velvet Underground have changed my perception of music and they were one of the first artists that made me feel something- as cringey as that sounds.”

Avalon:

Lou pictured with the mighty David Bowie and Iggy Pop.

"Nina was actually the reason I started listening to The Velvet Underground. We were in Camden a few weeks ago, and we were just walking around aimlessly chatting, when she mentioned that she had started listening to them. I had previously seen people tweeting about Lou Reed, and I knew my parents liked The Velvet Underground, but I'd never properly listened to them. On the same day, we visited Urban Outfitters - and they had iPads that you could listen to music on. Most of the albums on them were terrible, but they surprisingly had “The Velvet Underground and Nico”. I put the headphones on and chose the song “Sunday Morning”. I instantly knew that it was one of the most, relaxed, beautiful songs that I'd ever heard. I can't explain it any other way - the song felt like it put what I had been feeling that day into words that I could never have dreamed of.”

James:

“To me, Lou Reed was an inspiration. Walk on the Wild Side was the first song that made me want to pick up a bass guitar, and it was one of the first things I learnt to play. From a different angle, the overdose scene in Trainspotting when Renton sinks into the carpet is one of my favourite scenes from a film ever. It's accompanied by Perfect Day, which indeed makes it perfect. I was on the M1 with my family when I found out he'd died via Twitter. I read it out to them, and the rest of the journey was spent in near silence, the mood reflected by the freezing, pissing-it-down darkness outside. Rest in peace, the godfather of pop music.”

Amelia:
"The Velvet Underground & Nico is one of my favourite albums ever; when I was little we’d listen to it in the car sometimes whilst driving home in the dark. When I first got into collecting records and hauled my dad’s vinyl collection out of the loft I rediscovered it - I truly fell in love with the album and daresay appreciated it far more than my sleepy six year old self ever could. Lou Reed has also been the inspiration behind so many of my other favourite bands and artists too, and for that I am eternally grateful."

Amy:

“So, Lou Reed’s death. I’m quite sad that another legend has gone. I guess because I would never call myself a Lou Reed ‘fan’ that I found it more shocking than sad. My step dad is a huge fan of Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground so I stroked his hand when a Lou Reed montage was displayed on BBC news as I could see he was trying to hold a tear back. My step dad once went to see Lou live and has a tour shirt with all the tour dates and everything. All the images on it are rubbing off so he preserves it at the back of his wardrobe under a mound of ties he never wears. I’ve also found some Lou Reed song books among our hundreds of books. Lou’s lyrics were actually pretty meaningful, I mean you won’t find ‘No matter what I did, it never seemed enough’ coming out of Harry Styles’ mouth. Another favourite lyric from Lou is “I’ve got to bring home the bacon; someone’s got to bring home the roast”. I’m not entirely sure what it means but I like it anyway.”

Rohanie:

“Growing up I had a very prominent soundtrack to my house, influenced by both my father's Catholic Northern Irish upbringing, and my mother's South American heritage, and the scenes and fads the two went through in their own upbringing. A key participant in the score of my childhood was Lou Reed, specifically with the Velvet Underground and Nico (particularly as it was originally released in 1967 on my birthday, which is something I held as a bit of a claim to fame as a 9 year old). "I'll Be Your Mirror" became intrinsic to our house, almost a lullaby. The Velvet Underground soundtracked Sunday mornings in the bath, sitting in the kitchen having wet hair combed methodically with a nit comb just on the off chance, drives on drizzly afternoons through mounds of sludgy leaves and mud. The iconic banana cover is an image etched into my youth- with Heroin and I'm Waiting For the Man, smoothly skipped without me noticing, and Femme Fatale and All Tomorrow's Parties blared as loudly as the speakers could handle in the marble green machine of a car we owned. The slick, fluid and somewhat effeminate vocals Lou provided glossing through the stagnant air of long car journeys and endless 2am nights during the Christmas holidays. Lou Reed's passing has left a gaping hole in our house, and rest assured he remains immortal on our CD shelf.”

Aisha:
“Lou Reed made so many people who didn't feel like a part of anything feel as if they weren't worthless and that they did belong. He made it against all odds and was subject to revolting ignorance but he got through it, a true hero and inspiration. Rest in Peace, beautiful angel. In the words of Carl Barat, you gave me my strength and helped me in my weakness, thank you for everything”

I find it really quite beautiful that even now, over 46 years after the release of The Velvet Underground and Nico, people still find the music of Lou Reed a source of comfort, joy and inspiration. It’s very apparent that Lou’s had a profound effect on many people of my generation, as well as those of his own generation. I think that ten, twenty, or even a hundred years from now people will look back at Lou’s music and find it sensational. Generations to come will marvel at the works of the Velvets, much like they’ll look back at the Beatles, or the Smiths, and be inspired to make rock ‘n’ roll music. So whilst Lou may have passed away, he’ll be immortalised in our iTunes libraries, our vinyl collections and our CD shelves. R.I.P Lou Reed.

(by Calum Cashin and the rest of the FIBLAR team)