Yes, Ono You're a Witch

Today I went to (ak.'sa.ra) Kemang, at first I was looking for Goldfrapp's latest album; Seventh Tree. But it ended up, that I couldn't find it anywhere. So rather than went home with empty-handed. I bought Yoko Ono's album; Yes, I'm a Witch. I never listened to Ono before, but I knew she is an avant-garde musician. I was distracted by her song list on the back cover. There's plenty of favorite musicians of mine featured in Ono's album, such as Peaches, Le Tigre, Apples in Stereo, Cat Power, The Polyphonic Spree. After a little consideration and got called by my father for a few times because he needed the driver. So I bought it in a hurry, didn't have time to listen it first. On second thought; why not bought an album that featured my favorite musicians of all time in one pack?

I listened to it all the way home. It sound quirky and surreal at first, I was waiting for Peaches to sing on track 3 but her vocals didn't show up it was only Ono's, so I skipped to track 10 on the intro it sound typically Cat Power, but again only Ono's vocals. Curious, so I browsed on internet about it. I found out that all the artists that were featured in, only contribute to remix or cover a song from Ono's back catalogue. According to the press release, nearly every artist chose only the vocals, and created entirely new backing tracks to demonstrate the versatility of Ono's compositions.

Here is the track list:
1. Hank Shocklee – "Witch Shocktronica Intro"
2. Peaches – "Kiss Kiss Kiss"
3. Shitake Monkey – "O'Oh"
4. Blow Up – "Everyman... Everywoman"
5. Le Tigre – "Sisters O Sisters"
6. Porcupine Tree – "Death of Samantha"
7. DJ Spooky – "Rising"
8. The Apples in Stereo – "Nobody Sees Me Like You Do"
9. The Blood Brothers – "Yes, I'm a Witch"
10. Cat Power – "Revelations"
11. The Polyphonic Spree – "You and I"
12. Jason Pierce (from Spiritualized) – "Walking on Thin Ice"
13. Antony and Hahn Rowe – "Toyboat"
14. The Flaming Lips – "Cambridge 1969/2007"
15. The Sleepy Jackson – "I'm Moving On"
16. Hank Shocklee – "Witch Shocktronica Outro"
17. Craig Armstrong – "Shiranakatta (I Didn't Know)"

Muse of the Moment (part #1)

Forget Gisele Bündchen, Heidi Klum, Agyness Deyn, Irina Lazareanu, Gemma Ward, yeah-you-name-it for a while. I'm bringing you back-to-back 1950's to 1970's style icon.

Nico (October 16, 1938 – July 18, 1988)
Christa Päffgen was a German singer, songwriter, fashion model, actress, keyboard player, and featured on Warhol superstars, best known by her pseudonym Nico.

As a musician, she is remembered for both her time in The Velvet Underground and her solo work.

For over twenty years, Nico was a heroin addict. She died because of a severe cerebral hemorrhage while on holiday with her son in Ibiza, Spain.

Nico has been an influence on many acts. Siouxsie and the Banshees, Patrick Wolf, Bauhaus, Stevie Nicks, Patti Smith, Morrissey, Björk, Coil, Jocelyn Pook, Fabienne Shine (who covered "All Tomorrow's Parties"), Dead Can Dance as well as numerous contemporary goth bands have all cited Nico as a major influence. Two of her songs, "The Fairest of the Seasons" and "These Days", both written by Jackson Browne and taken from Chelsea Girl, are featured in Wes Anderson's film The Royal Tenenbaums.

And one of my favorite singer, Natasha Khan from Bat for Lashes has quoted Nico as an influence in particular Desertshore. During 2007 she would start concerts with "Le Petit Chevalier" from that record.

Edie Sedgwick (April 20, 1943 – November 16, 1971)

Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, and heiress who starred in several of Andy Warhol's short films in the 1960's.

She died in early age, when she was 28 because of her addiction to alcohol and overdosed barbiturates.

But, she influenced many people as in music, movies, and fashion icon. The Velvet Underground song "Femme Fatale" (on the album The Velvet Underground and Nico) sung by Nico is an ode to Edie.

Sienna Miller played Sedgwick in Factory Girl, a fictionalized film about her life and times, released in December, 2006. The film portrays Warhol as a cynic who leads Edie to psychiatric problems and later death.

Jane Birkin (14 December 1946 – until now)

Jane Mallory Birkin is an English actress, singer and film director. She met Serge Gainsbourg while playing on the set for Slogan as her mentor, and married in 1968. They separated in 1980. Their daughter is actress and singer, Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Hermès named and designed a handbag - the Birkin bag - for her in 1984 after the actress was seen in 1981 by the head of Hermès struggling with several bags while boarding an aeroplane.

Their daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg

I do love vintage fo' sho'! Always inspiring me all the time. And how about you?

Moss, Please Stop Mosshart-ing!

Everybody knows that Jamie Hince from The Kills is dating Kate Moss. Last week, I was browsing for fashion blogs, and I found these pictures.
It looks like Kate Moss is dressing up in VV style.


P.S.: I don't care if her BF is Jamie, but dressing up like that doesn't make her "a-VV-make". Nice try, Kate!

The Kills

Currently I'm overplaying this quirky-duo garage punk band called The Kills. When I first listened to it, it seemed that there’s nothing special with their music. I was wrong, then. I fall for their heavily-distorted upper guitar-strings into the rhythmic bases for each track I’ve listened; they were amazing, frizzling fast into my ears.

The Kills consist of Alison "VV" Mosshart and Jamie "Hotel" Hince. These two have been making music for the past year and doing a lot of home recordings where they live in the UK as well. Mosshart was previously in Floridian punk rock band Discount, and Hince was in the British rock bands Scarfo and Blyth Power, the latter an anarcho-punk band. The duo first met when Mosshart heard Hince practicing in the hotel room above hers, and when the former groups disbanded they struck up a songwriting partnership. For months, the pair air mailed work tapes across the Atlantic; this proved to test the patience of both artists as it took days or weeks to get each others tapes. And it didn’t work. Frustrated, VV traded Florida sun for London rain in January, and found that her leap of faith paid off.

They began their career with Year Zero project. They renamed themselves as VV and Hotel respectively and began writing sparse, minimalist songs together with the aid of a drum machine.

Here are their studio albums:

Keep on Your Meanside (2003)

No Wow (2005)

Midnight Boom (2008)

Alison "VV" Mosshart

For me, I always have thing for heroin chic looks. I think it's really sexy in mysterious way by anorexian looky, pale skin, dark circles underneath the eyes, and jutting bones (e.g. Kate Moss [eventhough I don't like to call her as an example] and Edie Sedgwick). When the first time I saw her. I was blown away by her onstage swagger and intensity that makes any other musician look like spinal tap. When it came to rock n' roll I realized that she's the real deal. She is my definition of cool. VV smoke ciggs and almost looks anorexia.

Hell yeah I love her cranky personal style!

And also she does this cover album for Placebo's recent album, Meds (2006).

Her collaboration with Placebo is featured in Meds.

Fyi: Brian Molko from Placebo has been friends with Jamie Hince for almost 17 years.

Videos

URA Fever

Cheap and Cheerful

Last Day of Magic

Introduction

Hello! Thank you for taking time on this lame page. Emm… well as you can scroll this is my new blog a big vice versa reviews about my life lately and my points of view towards music, art, film, architecture and style. Happy scrolling! Woo-hoo!