Kina Grannis

...way back when I was a young'un, (I mean even more baby-faced than I am now) I stumbled upon a lady called Kina Grannis. I watched her 'Gotta Have You' by The Weepies cover with her sister, Emi. I watched her cover of 1234 by Feist. I got hooked.

When you're starting out at high school as I was then, people often underestimate how far little things go. And week in, week out, watching these videos on YouTube were my little sanctuary at 6 o'clock in the evenings. This was so far back that you could actually e-mail Kina herself and request shout-outs to be posted at the end of her videos (a random message, a birthday wish etc) and I did this several times. I ordered a signed copy of her first LP Stairwells: it was the first thing I'd ever ordered online. I used my dad's card. I fudged a lot of it up. (Who knew Address 1/Address 2 meant the lines of your address and not to put two different addresses 'just in case'?!?!)

 I think the thought of ever seeing her live was a little crazy because a) she was from Cailfornia and b) I was 11 and lived in the remote countryside of England.

But hey, crazy can. happen. My decision of going to university in London has blessed me with so many opportunities and the one I have cherished the most is watching (AND MEETING, EEEK) Kina Grannis. This is the modern fangirl-tale. Kina announced her return to England after two years (the last time she was here, I was merely but a fifteen year old child living 3 and a half hours away from London by car) and I rejoiced. Like, full on screamed 'hallelujah' into the ceiling of my room and memorised the date and time of the sale. And it was done.

If you still haven't heard of Kina Grannis, you're really missing out. Her compelling tone matched with the acoustic companion of her trusty guitar will bring you to your happy place. And it's brought the likes of Ellen Degeneres to hers too. Her new album, Elements, has such an attitudinal edge to it. It can't be described in a way that will do it justice, so maybe take a listen for yourself right here?

I do, of course, have a signed copy of Elements as well, and I'm going to try to make this a tradition.

Elements is the whole reason that Kina (and her wonderful husband/talented musician Imaginary Future) came to England/Europe. Their show was beyond amazing.

It was held at The Tabernacle in the Borough of Kensington/Chelsea.

Imaginary Future (aka. Jesse Epstein) was an astoundingly awe-inducing opener. He has such a charm, charisma and wit that emanates into the crowd, and then pauses time with his tranquil-toned voice. It's really, really captivating. You should definitely check out his music - my favourite song just so happens to be 'I Knew This Would Be Love' (*wink*).

Kina Grannis. *Deep breath* She was mind-blowing. She sang a couple of oldies and ended the show with The One You Say Goodnight To. It felt so surreal to have her stand a metre away from me. She brought Kate McGill (of Meadowlark) on to sing backup for a few of the songs and the harmonies felt like they could melt if they were touchable. I don't have enough words.

I also attended a free show at Westfield's (Shepherds Bush) as part of the Westfield's Present scheme. It was pretty spectacular and a good crowd of Kinerds were there to show their support. She played a lot more oldies which made me feel all kindsa nostalgic! Like, literally, my feels.

Here are some of the pictures I took and I might mush together the footage and create a little video. We'll see eh. Thanks for making it all the way to the end of this blogpost. I hope you're now a fan.

L.

The Summer Set

Almost missed this gig. We thought it was next Monday but it turned out it was last night and it's fine because 3 looks like a half 8 and whatever. BUT I'M SO GLAD WE DIDN'T.

The Summer Set played around the UK and had their finale show at the O2 Academy, Islington, London. Although we didn't get VIP passes to meet the band, it was a mind-blowing experience. (It would've been ULTIMATE had The Cab not pulled out but s'alright.)

The show started off with Paradise Fears, a 'baby band' (as described by Brian Dales) that switched up their pop-rock genre with a little spoken word action in some of their songs - kinda rapping, but not fully there, if that makes sense? Very Ed Sheerany! They were good. They got the crowd hyped up and were very accommodating to the fact that they weren't so well known. Their > website <!

The second opener was William Beckett, ex-frontman of the band 'The Academy Is...'. This guy.

He was so charming and brilliantly talented - his solo stuff is spectacular, which isn't surprising as his songwriting talent is phenomenal. You should definitely check it out. I especially liked his song Cracks in the Ceiling and Compromising Me! He also made the best entrance to Eminem's 'The Real Slim Shady'. *Ahem*, I mean, The Real William Beckett. I'm a little bit sad I didn't get to hear 'About A Girl' live but y'know, William Beckett was still a pleasure. His > website <!

And the climax - The Summer Set. I was buzzed. The prospect of seeing Chelsea Kane (who joined the band for a couple of the dates) added fuel to the fire. Unfortunately I didn't, but a friend of mine did! Bah humbug. ANYWAY, the band came on to Rescue. It wasn't the first time we'd caught a glimpse of Brian, as he came in for a Third Eyed Blind cover with Paradise Fears and sang back up for William Beckett's 'Just You Wait' beforehand. 

They sang Chelsea next, which was brilliant. It's crazy, thinking of the kind of energy that emanated the room. They played for about an hour and a half and mixed the playlist up with new songs and oldies. They finished on Legendary, toasted the final show with shots and the infamous 'How I Met Your Mother' canary-yellow coloured umbrella (rumour has it, Chelsea Kane is the one holding it in the IG post Brian uploaded, and is also the one he passed it to after…) and sang 'Yellow', 'Life Goes On' and 'Lightning In A Bottle' as encores. WAAHH. So much goodness. One would even call it LEGENDARY. Their > website <!

OH THE FEELS.

You can see a mash up of snippets on my Instagram, @la_german, so please do go check that out!

:)

L.

My Running Playlist

I’m a newbie at the gym, but for as long as I remember, I’ve kept a running playlist on my phone to ‘motivate’ me. One day my flatmate asked me what songs I had on there, and I thought it’d make an interesting blogpost for you exercise buffs out there –or y’know, you wanna do your cardio in the form of dancing around to hella upbeat tunes.

First of all, it’d make sense for me to tell you that I have a little routine (which I switch up every now and then to keep my body challenged. I start off with a 10 minute warm-up at Level 8 on an exercise bike (obviously these levels vary depending on the bike’s brand, but let’s just say it’s around gear 5ish?)  After this, I stretch those freakin legs out before they feel stiff. That’s probably the wrong way to do it but y’know, I like the way I do it. Anyways, after I warm up, I do interval cardio. I walk for 10 minutes at a high incline and medium speed, to warm my legs up gradually again.

I then run like the wind. Or, try to, I guess. I run a kilometre in about 8ish minutes. That’s where the real shit kicks in and I’m sweating like a p i g. …never really got that saying. I drink water every time a song ends to keep super hydrated. Also, trying to drink large volumes of water every 10 minutes as opposed to small gulps every 4 really screws up with my breathing- and I hear getting oxygen into your blood stream is pretty important.

So, on to my playlist! Of course, I have it on shuffle so I don’t know what comes next.

1. Accidentally In Love – Counting Crows
2. Anklebiters – Paramore
3. Angel of Small Death & The Codeine Scene – Hozier
4. Big Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell
5. Black Skinhead – Kanye West
6. Break It Down – Traphik & Twankstar
7. Burn – Ellie Goulding (Codeko Dubstep Remix)
8. Come On Eileen – Dexys Midnight Runners
9. Dear River – Kina Grannis
10. Dirty Litte Secret – The All-American Rejects
11. Diva – Beyonce
12. Feel The Love – Rudimental (Kill Paris Remix)
13. Girls – The 1975
14. Gives You Hell – The All-American Rejects
15. Hero – Childish Gambino
16. Let’s Get It Started – Black Eyed Peas
17. Love Lockdown – Kanye West
18. Love On Top – Beyonce
19. No Interruption – Hoodie Allen
20. Pump It – Black Eyed Peas
21. Ring The Alarm - Beyonce
22. Say My Name – Destiny’s Child
23. Sorry feat. Big Sean – Naya Rivera
24. Still Into You – Paramore
25. Sweet Louise – The Belle Brigade
26. Swing, Swing – The All-American Rejects
27. Slow Down – Selena Gomez
28. Stronger – Kanye West
29. Timber – Ke$ha ft. Pitbull (Gordon & Doyle Quick Fix Remix)
30. Touch The Sky – Kanye West
31. 3005 – Childish Gambino

I hope you get a couple new songs from this playlist! Happy exercising :)

L.

PATATAP

BUSY DAY BUSY DAY but not too busy to write a little blog post on my new time-waster, Patatap.

I first came across Patatap on Hannah Hart's YouTube video entitled 'How To Be Sick' and became obsessed. If you're looking for 5 or 10 minutes to waste whilst you're supposed to be doing something else (let's all be honest here) go check it out!

I have spent endless evenings pretending to be a DJ (sad, I know) and coming up with intro jingles to TV shows that don't even exist.

THIS shall be one of many 'procrastination posts'.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, ya rascals.

L.

Joel Baker

Joel Baker is a mine. He’s going to explode in front of our eyes and I know it. We're not quite sure when, we're not quite sure where, but we know it…

 I first saw Joel at Orla Gartland’s Dingwalls gig in Camden, London. He was one of her many openers and to me, the one that stood out the most.

I took this! 

The first strum of his guitar already has you locked in place and paralysed until the song is finito. What’s even more great is that he’s a singer-songwriter. All these little lyrics that make you want to sit in a jazz bar on Southbank ( ;) ) with someone you love come straight from this chivalrous gentleman.

But don’t get me wrong, there are also songs that make you wanna shake your head and make the stank face, bop from side to side and genuinely just have an absolutely great fucking time (LISTEN: Kiss In The Rain)

And I dare you to listen to any of his songs and see how long you can last without humming a melody or singing the odd lyric.

Joel’s EP, ‘Long Sleeves’ was released on the 21^st of July 2013. His latest EP is now available to pre-order for release on the 11^th of May, 2014! The EP, ‘Every Vessel’ includes the most chillingly beautiful song ‘Every Vessel Every Vein’ (available to download now!)

 If the opportunity ever arises, DO go see him live, even if just for that song.

All the info you need is efficiently given on his website right HURR.

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker’s man. Bake me a Joel as fast as you can.

L.