3. 

after a 5 year break (the last album being Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!), Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds made a grand return. their 15th studio album, Push The Sky Away was released at the beginning of 2013 along with announcement's of the band's many headline places at festivals all over the world. 9 tracks and 43 minutes of material provide the listener with a unique experience. what i love about this album most is the use of the string section. it is so subtle, beautiful and atmospheric. the percussions along with guitars provide a joint, connecting Nick's deep, but gentle voice and the beautiful strings. the album is also somewhat prophetic - Nick mentions miley cyrus' demise in one of his songs and we all know what happened to her... 

Nick may have been the underground god in the 80s and 90s, but now, whether he wants it or not, he has become somewhat of a legend. this last album is definitely one of his most accessible works, but it is also a masterpiece. it's a great combination of masterfulness and simplicity, combined with great songwriting and appealing production. definitely one of the "to-listen" of 2013 for me. that's why it's in 3rd place. 

H&M Lookbook SS2014

Christmas is not here just yet! But, oh spring! Can't wait! Love the no.12 look. So feminine!

Gift Wrapping Ideas

Top 3 I want to try out this year!

All found on pinterest.com

4.

okay so this is harder than you think. choosing 5 best albums in such a fruitful year. 

for #4 i chose an album released at the beginning of this year. Foals' third studio album Holy Fire came as a sequel to the debut album Antidotes and the follow-up Total Life Forever. the first two albums are very different musically, Antidotes being the crazy math-rocky album, which is the reason why we all like Foals in the first place, while Total Life Forever gets more synthy, psychedelic and sad, but still has its happier spots. Spanish Sahara is an excellent example of the sadness in Total Life Forever. and in Holy Fire, Foals released yet another completely different album. maturing in terms of both sound and lyrics, their third album is probably the most varied in terms of individual songs. Inhaler was released over a year ago with its explosive chorus, but on the album we can find different kinds of songs. Moon and Stepson are songs based on mellow synths and Yannis actually sings well in them. My Number will get you dancing wherever you are. Providence is an aggressive tune with an absolutely killer ending and Yannis shouting the line "i'm an animal just like you". inspiring, eh? Late Night will remind you of Spanish Sahara, but in my opinion it's even better - it's one of their best songs for sure. 

anyways. parts of this album are my favourite Foals material - but on the other hand i can say that about either of the Foals albums. especially songs like Late Night and Providence stand out to me. but on the whole, from beginning to end, it's a very diverse, mature and entertaining to the Foals story. i'm hoping for more material soon. 

Gift Ideas for Him

1. Iphone5 cover    2. Yumaki toothbrush 

3. Fred Perry gloves      4. Urbanears

MUST SEE - RUSH 

I admit you could say I'm only in love with this film, because it's about cars and I'm a car lover. No! It tells the real and legendary story of the 1970's golden age of formula one racing, a battle of two. Niki Lauda and James Hunt. Their only thing in common was passion for success. A growing rivalry has forced these two to excel. 

PLEASED that this film didn't go the Holywoodie direction. Ron Howard, the director of this car drama film has done a brilliant job, but quite different to his other films if you ask me. He usually plays safe. I’d say the cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle deserves a big round of applause for the amazing work, too. Or more like two rounds. He captures the sexy, cool atmosphere of the era just right, with a few sexual scenes. I was amused right from the beginning. I can't get over the thrilling racing scenes! "Teeth-rattling" said a review from telegraph. The visual tricks were pulse provoking, including many angles and perspectives. I almost felt like I was there. I like the fact that the film included some original footage from the 1970's. For me the greatest racing footage ever! Visual effects were really outstanding.  The dark scenes, imagery and grey clouds storms make just the right atmosphere.

Daniel Bruhl plays Niki Lauda, while Chris Hemsworth plays James Hunt. Both roles are very well played. Bruhl is very convincing. Does the role of the tactically thinking, disciplined Lauda well. Hemsworth is just the right english playboy, risk taker with sex appeal and a girl around each arm. These two oppose each other just perfectly. The film goes beyond the racing, unlike many other trashy racing films. I'm in love with Niki Lauda's character, he races for the love of the sport not the girls and glory. Some scenes with his wife were really powerful for me, even the gruesome scene from the hospital.

Last thing to add to make you watch this film - humorous script by Peter Morgan!

Go watch it if you haven't done so yet. 

My rating : 10/10

okay, so i shall make a list of my 5 favorite albums of this year. it's really been an exciting musical year. some albums came as positive surprises, some became disappointments (franz ferdinand and yuck i hope you're reading this). even debut albums are going to make it onto my list here, so it's really been an unpredictable year and i hope you enjoy this journey. 

5

for my number 5 of 2013, i chose Vampire Weekend's third studio album titled Modern Vampires of the City. to be honest with you all, i really wasn't expecting much from this album (this was one of the positive surprises). i enjoyed their first album - sometimes i'd give it a listen and it didn't bother me, in places i would nod my head and smile a little. but Contra was just a disappointment. so i thought it was all downhill from here and i didn't have much faith in this album. but, as you can see, it is on my top5 list. let me explain why:

i always considered VW to be this jumpy smiley indie band, which i didn't consider to be bad, but i'm just not that kind of guy. but this album, while continuing to sound like VW, also has very mellow and sad parts to it. i felt that this new direction that Ezra and co took was just so fresh and much needed. i think it was exactly what VW fans were needing at this point. songs like Hudson and Ya Hey are why this album is on this list. the percussion section is just masterful throughout the whole album, while mellow pianos and synths are also quite prevalent as the album goes on, only adding to its mood. i'm not sure Ezra was at any point a very deep lyricist, and this album just proves that (unless of course, Ezra is so deep that we don't understand what he's trying to send across / Ezra doesn't want us to know what he's singing about). anyways, i really recommend a listen. 

love, b.