THE JELLY BEAN FACTORY

CURRENT MUSINGS...

Stevie Stewart (half of 80s fashion pioneers BodyMap) is really cool. I don't know how she is so little known and how their label doesn't even have a wikipedia page! Check out their fashion shows if you can find them, they're ridiculously NOW, even though at least 20 years old.

I am really hoping that Italo-Disco isn't about to explode into the mainstream and go the same way as Nu-Rave. I'm loving Heartbreak, but can't really see that mainstream popularity would do any favours for the scene. 

I love Freaks&Geeks. It's a little-known Judd Apatow series about a brother (geek) and sister (freak) set in an American high school. With ace performances from Seth Rogan, Busy Phillips and James Franco, you should really check it out. Hilarious, heart felt, and totally cool.

How shit are charity shops getting? Until dickhead indie girls stop paying £15 for ugly sequinned capes your Granny wouldn't have even wiped her vagina with 5 years ago, we're all gonna have to keep paying (literally) for their ignorance and bad taste. Grr!

Night Night. x

CHECK IT OUT

this is new music you should listen to. if you don't like it, you don't cut it. 

ANIAETLEPROGRAMMEUR are being compared to Crystal Castles A LOT but i'd say they were far more MASCULINE and raw. If CC were indie electro punks then AELP are electro rockers through and through. Their album Die Kir(s)che Auf dem Kopf sounds somewhat like NIN jammin with The Knife (imagine such a thing!) and is pretty fucking cool. The darkest electro, at times it recalls early Prodigy, then Ladytron, then The Stones. It's pretty glorious, and bound to be pretty big for '09 (if this prediction is wrong then it's YOUR FAULT not mine). Oh and by the way, they're french (if you didn't guess) and from their track names (I Am Not From London) they seem kinda keen we don't forget it. 

SHRAG are from the best City (yes we're a city now) in England. Ok so I'm slightly biased, but they are pretty Brighton if i say it myself. Harking back to '90s style bubblegum riot grrrl (Kinickie, Garbage) they pump it up to volume with wandering electro and awkward guitars. It definitely won't be for everyone, but anyone wishing there was a British Gravytrain!!!! with guitars who grew up on The Slits then you'll be in for a treat. At times their self titled album wanders too much between girl-centric shouty indie and pop-tastic comedy electro, and you wish they would veer one way or the other, instead of lingering limply somewhere inbetween. Howvever, I don't really think they know what band they want to be, Bikini Kill or Elastica. Their singer is no Kathleen Hanna, and their album is no Cut, but there are some great tracks on there, and I think their next release will be something to look out for if they find their sound in '09. (ps. their vocalist sometimes drifts into Kate Nash style droning, you have been warned, avoid these tracks like the plague).

PANDORA'S HOLE

REMEMBER PANDORA??

ARE YOU READY TO BE LIBERATED?

MY NAME IS BRODY, I'M FROM MELBOURNE, FITZROY MELBOURNE, FITZROY MELBOURNE...... I LOVE A MAN FROM CALIFORNIA. HE'S THE PRETTIEST THING, WE GOT THE SAME DISORDER.

I'm listening to The Distillers today. I used to love them when i was about 15 and, no matter what people may say about Brody wanting to be Courntey Love or them selling out, they're a really good band. To be honest I'm not a huge fan of most of the first album, but the second is class and the third a totally new direction but still awesome. Don't listen to the hype. Listen to the band. Download the discography here.

MUSIC JUDGMENT

I wish music journos were more trustworthy and not generally so shit and biased. If so we could just have a list like this nd you could trust that, even if not yo your taste, what you were about to consume would at least be of a high quality. Here are some recent album reviews for you.

FLEET FOXES are really quite good

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE are very good

ZACH HILL is bloody brilliant

JAMES MORRISON is so boring you'd rather eat the CD than listen to it more than once

NO AGE is a really good one

KINGS OF LEON is fairly average 

LILY ALLEN's single is a grower but a very good pop song

BRITNEY SPEARS' album is electro pop brain mush but if you love Britney you'll gorge on it

TODAY I AM MOSTLY LISTENING TO :

East 17 - Greatest Hits

Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life

Bikini Kill - The Singles

I am also trying not to think about various things including...

The large amount of money i spent yesterday 

What a twat my ex boyfriend is

How much heavy shit I have to carry back to Londres tomorrow

The fact that i'll be all alone in Epsom come Monday : ( 

NOBODY'S DAUGHTER

ARE YOU EXCITED YET??????????

Noboody's Daughter (Courtney Love's first release since America's Sweetheart)is due to release the 9th of February. 

I hope it's swell.x

BACON ACHIN'

DEFINITELY check out this band SPIDER AND THE WEBS founded by ex-Bikini Kill drummer and possible coolest woman alive Toby Vail. If you are a girl under 25 and you've never listened to some riot grrrl you have no fucking soul. Here's their myspace too.

IT'S THA SSSSSSSS OOOOOOOOO VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV !

HOW HAVE I ONLY JUST SEEN THIS WHEN IT'S BEEN ON YOUTUBE FOR A WHOLE MONTH ALMOST ?!

It's verging on Indie Disco which is mega upsetting but I love the concept for the video even if it has been carried out a little shoddily. It's theme is that awesome eighties movie The Warriors, suckkkkeeerrr! I think it's def. a grower and bound to be a huge hit with the scene kids. Urgh I bet theyll even be playing it at New Slang, hopefully I'll have the will power not to be there next time. 

Check it out for yourself. Kinda Thriller-esque non? LONG LIVE LADY SOV ! x

REBEL GIRL

I am really loving Bikini Kill at the moment. 

I hadn't listened to much riot grrrl stuff for a while and only started to get back into it when we covered it in history of music. I'm glad we did though cause I've been in the perfect mood for it recently, and it's going down a storrrrm in my bedroom. I feel like a bit of a cheat cause so many of the bands I used to love have now become Greatest Hits collections as far as my listening goes. As much as I love albums it's always pretty fulfilling just to get that injection of all the songs you love one after another. Yeah it's cheap and dirty but it's thrilling too.  

I have a sickly headache and am attributing it to all the crap I've eaten today. Breakfast was strawberry milk, lunch was pizza and dinner was a burger (albeit homemade and without bun or fries, my Mother's version of junk food). I am looking forward to the weekend but am also kinda bummed knowing that this time next week I'll be going to sleep alone with all my friends gone, in the pits of darkest fucking Epsom. Boooooo!

I am also loving: Fiona Apple, truffles, Lily Allen, St Ives apricot face scrub, Southern Fm, being home, tweed.

SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK ALIEN

If I couldn't get to sleep for a solid reason it wouldn't drive me quite so mad. As it is I lay here considering the most ridiculous things and pondering why I am inextricably confused by other human beings. I think I missed out on that feeling of isolation somewhat as a kid cause I felt the same as all the other kids. Horny, miserable, mischievous, and with an overpowering urge to consume or take part in anything which might danger myself or provoke any kind of fun. 

Now, however, I feel like everyone is running around with a purpose they forgot to tell me about and I'm still sitting in the P.E. changing rooms trying to get high off PVA. This isn't a drug thing though, that was just a weak analogy. What makes things even more difficult is that apparently it became really cliched to talk about anything after you hit seventeen. Now some people will tell you this isn't true but they don't come from my school of thought, which is that 99.9% of stuff is tragic and cliched and should be avoided at all costs. Hence you have to get off your face before you can say 'shit why is everything so fucked up?' but in doing so become even worse than the cunts at student nights discussing how 'mega wrong' it is that alexandra burke covered jeff buckley's hallelujah cause she's so 'commercial' and it's totally disrespecting his memory (it's a leonard cohen song by the way titwanks and no one with a brain really fucking cares now) because you have, by some passage of evil, become a person talking through a haze of drugs and alcohol ABOUT YOUR EMOTIONS.

I am going to try to sleep now ignoring the crushing sensation of confusion which soils my life on a daily basis and try to get sweet dreams about the following things which shine sunlight and happiness across my face when I'm feeling like this (annoyingly adolescent and socially retarded).

SUNNY HAPPY

marrying charlie brooker 

dropping out of uni and not becoming a fucking loser

people i dislike buying pasta sauce with their ugly children in 10 years time 

dresses

listening to records in the summer on long boozy days which never seem to end (puke)

SHITTY CRAPPY

having to go back to Uni in 5 days

dancing on ice is back....... shudder

in two months i'll be twenty and my childhood (and obvious best years of life) will officially be over

i read in the guardian charlie B is looking to get hitched and fear i will not have enough time to ensnare him before he meets some media type with big boobs and teeth and shitty blonde bridget jones hair 

MORNIN' SUNSHINE !

I am home. Although Pevensey and Westham is one of the many places I call home, I've actually lives here for less time than I have in Epsom. It feels home-y though, mainly cause my Mother is here. 

Well I've woken up, I'm listening to Shotter's Nation (Thanks Babyshambles I have finally given in and yeah, it's a pretty solid album) and I feel pretty incredible. Strangely enough I almost miss the boys I live with, and I've only been gone one day! Must be because I'm so used to their three gormless faces, I'm not going soft. 

Right, my sister is coming round now and I am going to have an incredible day. 

GOOD SHIT.

Hole - Celebrity Skin (loved and cherished for at least 5 years now)

Yummy sweets from the BRING ON THE TRUMPETS advert - theyre sooo nice

My Mum's floaty hippie pyjamas, I've never felt so pretty in bed!

Benefit Dallas bronzer. The slightest hint of colour for my pallid complexion in January

Getting everyone on board for Matter on Saturday and therefore being able to have Friday night at Alex's with some lovely Hastings boys

SEEING MY TWO BEST FRIENDS THIS WEEKEND yayyyyyyyy

BAD SHIT

Not getting any sleep cause my head's playing games with me : ( I need to get this sorted out cause it's doing my nut. 

Thinking I'd seen Sean from Eastenders at Clapham Junction and getting mega excited before realising it was just some other hotto. Shit would deffo have asked for an autograph.

MINDLESS UNHAPPINESS

CURRENT MUSINGS

It's a shame Kimya Dawson's latest album sucks so much.

I don't know why I find it so hard to remain happy for long periods of time. Right now I am happy cause I'm listening to Adam Green and eating a croissant. Later I'll probably be bummed out cause I'll be tired and eating a slim-a-soup. Why can't I be more chirpy and less easily riled?

I am giving up on this blog as an aid to my work, it just gives me another distraction away from essays. I have to accept that I, M*** R***, have a blog. Urgh.

I don't think I will ever not want to listen to the moldy peaches album, it is seriously friendly. I don't think those words go together that well, but it always helps me feel less lonely, and reminds me of my friends.

I want it to be summer, I don't generally long for summer cause I don't really dig all the gross British flesh that's generally on display from May through August, but this year I am really longing for the sun on my face. I also live right by the beach when I'm home from Uni, and I miss long lazy days with pear cider and music and friends (no I'm not a wanker and don't live in a Magners advert *shudder*)

I have a lot of work to do today. 

Should probably start it i guess.

I HOPE YOU CHOKE

I wanna try DMT. It's becoming a bit of an obsession but seems hard to get hold of and virtually impossible to cook up without a chemistry degree. I think being somewhere totally different, even for a little bit, would be fun right now. I can't keep throwing ketamine up my nose either cause it's starting to depress me even more. 

Today I'm listening to - Motion Picture Soundtrack - Radiohead

Today I'm eating - Cup a Soup (a 

fucking terrible choice, they're rank)

Today Im watching -

 Daria, Is It College yet? 

HER FATHER AND HER

Drive your big, fuckin fake, fuckin lame, dead horse into town. 

DREAMSCAPE

After a few healthy drug free weeks before christmas, I have returned to the 'i need drugs to enjoy everything' mind frame and don't intend on leaving it for a little while. The fucking idiots I know at Uni are far too upsetting to even consider being friends with so I need something to take my mind off the fact that I have about 4 friends here (although they're pretty fucking rad friends) and also the fact that I'm at Uni at all which still kind of makes me cringe. 

I'm Fucking Loving...

Nights in getting retarded

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe (marry me please Charlie B ?)

The Virgin Suicides (for the millionth time)

The Lost Boys (for the millionth time)

My new ridiculous leather jacket which I haven't yet worn outside but which makes me feel like a Biker Mouse from Mars

Pivot's new album, Oh Soundtrack My Heart (which i bought on vinyl on a whim, cause my CD players bust, and am now totally glad I did)

Smashing Pumpkins (eternally)

Eastenders (yeah I know, but it's gripping when you feel like a total mong and can't handle anything else)

AIDS wolf (yes, a fucking Nathan Barley-ish name but awesome silly music for when you're angry)

M83 Kim&Jessie remixes SO GOOD

The heater I apparently have always had in my room which is blaring out some nice warmth right now, and which my housemate has told me not to turn on for fear of heating bills, hahaha yeah riiight 

I'm Fucking Hating...

My stupid fucking housemates waking me up with their retarded fucking keyboards at 2am when I'm on the come down from hell and their guffawing sounds like disabled children watching The Chuckle Brothers

Financial woes

Not having friends all around me who you know will always come round at the drop of a hat for spliffs and tea and bitching and company

Sarah from Hollyoaks. She is boring, ugly, scarred, annoying, whiney, stupid, conceited, ugly, unbelievable as a character, immature, not cool enough to ever lez off with Zoe (who is much cooler than her OBVS) and generally po faced and SO FUCKING HOLLYOAKS (please someone give me a pill to make me stop watching it, its like crack)

My CD player being fucked : ( 

MEGAMIX MASTERPIECE

I think i prefer music to people, which is handy, cause I don't have any friends.

Epsom is as dull as ever however I am reminding myself why I'm here and what all this is about and enjoying some phat tunes. The boys are all out and I am singing with wild abandon and drinking Vodka and Tropical juice which is fit. Unpacking it crap but i like my things which is happy. ALL TOGETHER NOW "INFOOOORRRRRMEEEEEEEERRRR!" I love Snow. yep. 

"...and if you ever get lonely, just go to the record store and visit your friends"

MATERIAL GIRL

I am a student and when we get our loans we buy things. Recently I have bought....

ONE red dress, pussy bow, tea-style.

ONE black dress, dotty, tea-style.

TWO records, Kim&Jessie - M83, Oh Soundtrack My Heart - Pivot, BOTH AMAZING.

THREE pairs of black flats. leather pumps, boring. lace up plimpsols, dull. patent loafers, chavvy/great.

EARINGS, dangly, hippie style and pretty. Pairs, TWO.

BROWN bag, fringed, braided strap, suede(ish).

BRIGHT NEON PINK earmuffs which aren't as shit as they sound.

BLAZER, tartan, lapels, shoulder pads. NUFF SED.

I'm drinking green tea out of a tea cup as an ode to my Mother, who i miss a bit. I always feel like a traitor to myself when i get attached to her as it normally ends badly, but for now I miss her and hope her promises of a visit are not pipe dreams. 

FITTER, HAPPIER, MORE PRODUCTIVE

I find it pretty impossible to listen to OK Computer without crying. I don't know why, but i think it has something to do with the obvious beauty of the music, and how lonely it makes me feel. I think you can feel affinity with Radiohead when you listen to it, and at the same time feel totally alienated from the world. It makes you feel understood, whilst reminding you how totally alone you are. It's one of my favorite albums and always something I play when I feel a bit lost, because it reminds me who I am.

I'm going back to Uni tomorrow. I am glad I'll be seeing my friends and am looking forward to some nights out in London. Hopefully this feeling of fear and loss will back up a bit. I don't really know why I feel so strange, cause I've had the most wonderful holidays, but I guess I'll realise what I'm looking for when I find it. 

QUITE EXCITING

THIS FRIDAY @ CIRCUS 

PEACHES DJ SET

THE LAST DAYS OF DECADENCE, 145 SHOREDITCH HIGH STREET

9.30 - 2.30 

Was meant to be going to Fabric for Caspa&Rusko but might have to catch this first cause I LOVE PEACHES.

YOUTH IS WASTED ON THE YOUNG

I don't want to grow up. 

CHECK IT OUT

Pivot is a band you should check out if you like Battles.

Ken Park is a movie you should check out if you liked Kids.

BBC4 is a TV channel you should check out if you like More4.

FACT is a magazine you should check out if you liked Vice.

SKIN GRAFT RECORDS needs to be checked out regardless of what you like.

ILLOGICAL

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful,
A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the birds in the trees, well theyd be singing so happily,
Joyfully, playfully watching me.
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible,
Logical, responsible, practical.
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable,
Clinical, intellectual, cynical.

There are times when all the worlds asleep,
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man.
Wont you please, please tell me what weve learned
I know it sounds absurd
But please tell me who I am.

Now watch what you say or theyll be calling you a radical,
Liberal, fanatical, criminal.
Wont you sign up your name, wed like to feel youre
Acceptable, respecable, presentable, a vegtable!

At night, when all the worlds asleep,
The questions run so deep
For such a simple man.
Wont you please, please tell me what weve learned
I know it sounds absurd
But please tell me who I am.