Tuesday 25 September 2012

♡ Heathers ♡


Ellie and Louise from Heathers kindly accepted to answer few questions for the blog. I feel really excited to post this interview as they are extremely talented and nice. Their new album Kingdom was released earlier this month so it's time to spread the word!



You’ve come a long way since the release of the first album in 2008. I’d like to know how you would sum up all the stuff that happened to you until now. What are the best memories that you keep in mind regarding the past four years?
It’s been an amazing 4 years. We both feel extremely lucky. We have had the opportunity to visit and play in so many incredible places and meet so many wonderful people. There are an awful lot of great memories but some would be, our release show for our first album Here, Not There, the two tours of America that we did with American band Ghost Mice, Recording our second album Kingdom.

I am totally and absolutely in love with the new album and especially two songs: Forget Me Knots and Flight. Could you please tell us a bit more about these two songs (lyrics, inspirations…)?
Forget me knots is probably one of the most important songs on the album. It’s a hopeful song and was written for a friend of ours who passed away 2 years ago when we were beginning to write the album.
Flight was one of those songs that were not going to be on the album and then we all changed our minds last minute. When we write songs we write the melodies first and then work on lyrics so initially we work with made up lyrics that don’t necessarily mean anything. For this song we kept those lyrics. I guess they still make sense to us. I think the meaning and feeling of this song especially comes through in the melodies and we didn’t want to lose it. I this song musically was inspired a little bit by Enya. We both adore her.


Who did the artwork of the album and how was it created? You generally use a lot of blue and purple. What do these colors evoke to you?

The artwork was done by New York based artist Stephen Hawlker. He is so fantastic. We did all of our two-ing and fro-ing over skype which was interesting. We wanted to create something that would illustrate what’s going on in the album and I think that the artwork does that exactly. It’s a little bit eerie and dark but uplifting at the same time. I think blues and purples and dark but calming colors. They’re very mysterious and then the red along side that is very direct and again dark. I think, in a way, the colors used represent the emotions felt in these songs.

I saw you did a Gaelic version of Remember When. Can you please tell us a bit more about it? What does it mean to you in terms of tradition and folklore?
Myself and Louise went to a Gaelic/ or Irish summer course when we were 17 and while we were there we translated one of our other songs into Irish. We’ve actually ended up mostly playing that song in Irish since then. We then had some help to translate Remember when into Irish too. The Irish language is a big part of our culture and tradition. As a child, in Ireland, we are brought up in school learning the language and, as with any language, it’s important to keep the motivation there for learning it and to keep it alive. Music can play such a huge part in this because it transcends language and cultural barriers.



Have you ever done music without each other? Do you feel like something crucial is happening when you work together?
We sometimes work on music separately but it is definitely different when we work together. We are able to be completely honest with each other and we know each other so well. I think that helps!

How does it feel to be covered on youtube
Aw, this is so lovely! It’s very surprising when we see people covering our songs. We get surprised to hear that people even listen to our music so this is just shocking. But it’s incredible! Always puts a smile on my face.

What are the plans for Heathers? Any collaboration?
The plan for the moment is to tour! We’re doing a tour of Ireland in the coming weeks and then we hope to get over to the UK, Europe and eventually the US and further afield. Also, writing bits of new music and possibly some collaborations. We’ll see what happens. We’re very excited to get going again anyway.


I would like to show you some videos and you are supposed to make a short comment on each of them!

Video 1: La Dispute - Such small hands
I’ve never heard La Dispute before. This is really cool! I feel sad listening to it. But in a nice way.Very powerful song.

Video 2: Bonfire Madigan
There’s something very haunting about this!

Video 3: Jessie Ware - Wildest Moments
Her voice is absolutely stunning. The video is really simple but gorgeous.

Video 4: The Jezabels
The Jezabels are a band I’ve heard lots about but have never heard. This song is amazing!! Hayley's voice is beautiful!

Video 5: Lovers Love Haters - Poison
We are liking this. The lead singer has a sweet, interesting voice. Nice video too.

Video 6: Arcade Fire - Sprawl II
We are big Arcade Fire fans, and this is by far one of our favorite songs. We got very excited when we clicked on this link. This is also probably one of our favorite music videos ever. Régine's movement and dancing in the video is mesmerizing!!!

Video 7: RVIVR: Edge of Living 
We're also big RVIVR fans & were delighted when we clicked on this link. We saw them play for the first time last year in London when we were recording 'Kingdom'. Love this song! Great band!

Last but not least I read on your Wikipedia that David Guetta would like to work with you. Is that true?!!
We were approached by David Guetta’s US A and R team who had heard ‘Forget me Knots’ on a US blog and they asked if we would be interested in trying to write for his new album. So we’re working away at the moment. It doesn’t necessarily mean that anything will come from it but it’s so great to be asked! We’ve always been interested in writing different types of music and for other people.

Thanks again girls, I wish you the VERY best for the future ♡
You deserve it ♡

See you readers, xxx!

Monday 17 September 2012

News of the week Vol.3

Loving the Alberto Juan online Shop.

♡ I am currently going through a neo metal revival. I'm still totally moved when I listen to KoЯn debut album. It's so emotional and raw. Watching Jonathan Davis recording Daddy in the studio is so hard considering the meaning of the song... breathtaking. Talking about neo metal, you guys need to check The Human Abstract. The album called Digital Veil is a real treasure in the Deftones style.

♡ I totally forgot how much I loved Lords of Acid when I was a teenager. Lust, Voodoo-U and The Little Secrets... 3 albums that I really adored back in the days... sexy, trash, hot, vulgar and funny. The perfect mix to dance like crazy in your room. The first singer, now called Cherrie Blue, released a solo album in the style of LOA and TKK, maybe a bit more easy listening. But they ALL have done SO MANY stuff, it's just crazy and impossible to find/know everything! If you like them, you should also check Alice in Videoland

♡ The current line-up of the all star band Bomb Gang Girlz accompanying My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult just released a full length album and it seems really cool! You can find more information about both bands here. So many great girls were involved in BGG at some points: Carmen Marusich, Christina Petro, Jacky Blaque, Laura Gomel, Louanne Ponder, Lydia Lunch, Pepper Somerset, Rhonda Bond, Ruth McArdle, Sekret DeZyre, Shawn Christopher, Sinderella Pussie, Viva Nova... HOW COOL IS THAT? SUPER COOL! I love all star bands

♡ Do you remember Fatima's old school super hit Warm Eyes? Well, the lovely woman is back with an awesome song titled Phone Line. Don't miss it... she's gonna get big one day. 

♡ I found some old CD's in my room and I was really happy to listen to Munshy again. I loved this band when I was younger. The female singer, Faustine Berardo, is a talented person, a kind of mix between Portishead and KoЯr. Apparently, the singer released several decent albums with a new formation called Orchester.

♡ Did you guys listen to Cadaveria's album Horror Metal? To be honest, considering the artwork and the title of the album, I was not SO excited about it... but I was wrong it is an awesome album! You guys need to check this out asap!

♡ I just found one of the best music blog of the entire blogosphere: Nathannothinsez. Seriously, so MANY amazing stuff have been posted on that blog, it's just crazy. Times Square OST, Invisible Chains, The Geraldine Fibbers, Brainiacs, The Twits, Enigma Variations, Alley Cats, Frightwig, Sick F*cks, Pussy, Suckdolls, Retardos... AAAAAAH!!!!!!!

COUP DE COEUR OF THE WEEK: Death Ride '69 and everything related to that band!!!

♡ I have finally seen The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. The movie was really hard to watch, very emotional and moving. Mathieu Amalric is perfect as usual. The whole movie is a very beautiful ode to life. Sometimes it gets a bit cheesy with the very dramatic voices and the images of landscapes and all but, well, I loved it anyway. Plus, the music is really beautiful. I am a huge fan of Mathieu Amalric, imo he's the ultimate incarnation of the sexy French intellectual and sensitive man. My favorite movies starring MA are L'Histoire de Richard O., Rois et Reines and Comment je me suis disputé ma vie sexuelle.

I also watched Les Anges Exterminateurs by Jean-Claude Brisseau. Many people talked about it with me for the past years so I finally decided to try it. And I was pretty disappointed to be honest. The whole sexual thing of the movie is pretty boring, the philosophical stakes are not so interesting, the actors are not always convincing... I admit that some scenes are well directed and there is definitely something special about the atmosphere of the movie but I was not impressed.

♡ The surprise of the week was Breathing by Karl Markovics. It's a deep movie about an incarcerated young man, working at the morgue, who tries to build a new life to come to terms with the crime he committed. The actors are really good, the atmosphere is deep and moving. The story of the young man is quite emotional. I was really into that movie and thought about it the whole night after watching it.

♡ Another very VERY good surprise was the Danish movie Nothing's all bad by Mikkel Munch-Fals. This is a chorale movie (and an excellent one, which is quite unusual!) involving four different persons. They all can be considered more or less as misfits in the normative society but they end up finding something positive to link them. I loved it. It's a wonderful movie about loneliness, maybe one of the best I have ever seen dealing with this delicate subject. A MUST SEE.

♡ I'm currently reading Women of the Underground: Music - Cultural Innovators Speak for Themselves. This is an AMAZING book, it makes so happy to read what all these fabulous women have to say. It is very, VERY inspiring. Can't wait for the second volume about Women in Art to come out!

♡ To finish, I just found the documentary made by Ulrich Seidl called Models. I am very very excited so I wanted to it for you guys! 

Love you readers, xxx

Saturday 1 September 2012

Pop Corn Session Vol.3

It's Saturday and I finally finished my master thesis... it means I can watch even more movies! Here is a selection of what I'm going to watch or re watch. See the pictures, clik on the numbers as usual.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

And since YouTube is going crazy and let people upload movies, do not miss the opportunity to watch one of my all favorite movies, Synecdoche, New York.

LGBT and friendly bookshop in Nice, France

If you ever come to Nice in France, don't miss the great LGBT and friendly oriented bookshop Vigna. It is very easy to locate in the city center and you will find a LOT of very good references there! The library is run by two nice ladies (who like to talk about their books!) and it's open on Friday and Saturday from 2pm to 6.30pm. They would love to recommend affordable popular or rare books to you... whether you're into pro sex feminism, lgbt classics or edgy art books for example! They also take part in the LGBT cultural life of the city with exhibitions and film projections.



I asked them to talk a little bit about some of their favorite books. It's in French but anyway you can catch some names to google ;)



Le premier livre qui me vient à l’esprit n'est pas une fiction, c’est le Dictionnaire des cultures gays et lesbiennes dirigé par Didier Éribon : une source formidable, un recours pour vérifier une info ou creuser un sujet. Bien sûr, il y a des lacunes et il mériterait d’être révisé (il est paru en 2004), afin de donner leur place ou nouveaux/nouvelles protagonistes des cultures homosexuelles, mais quel incomparable outil ! C’est un livre qui nous a encouragées dans notre projet de librairie spécialisée : oui les cultures homosexuelles existent, elles méritent d’être approfondies, connues et développées et elles concernent tout le monde. Les livres qui s’y rapportent sont précieux ; je citerai encore La culture gaie et lesbienne d’Anne et Marine Rambach, qui revient sur l’histoire récente, le militantisme gai et lesbien, et les combats toujours à mener pour les droits humains.

J’ai pensé ensuite à un poète américain Joe Brainard (1941-1994), dont j’ai tellement aimé le livre I remember, et qui n’est guère connu en France. I remember, c’est pourtant le modèle américain qui a inspiré Georges Perec pour Je me souviens, une variation impressionniste sur les mille bricoles dont on se rappelle et qui forment le tissu chatoyant du passé collectif et intime. Un jeu auquel on participe volontiers – je m’en souviens aussi ou non ce n’était pas comme ça pour moi – et qui distille une nostalgie puissante, traversée d’humour, le tout en version gay pour Brainard.



Remontant le fil de mes enthousiasmes littéraires, je me souviens (à mon tour) d’avoir cherché lorsque j’étais plus jeune des fictions où me reconnaître. Un petit livre m’a troublée et émue alors: Olivia par Olivia (c’est le pseudonyme de Dorothy Bussy, la sœur de Lytton Strachey et une grande amie de Gide). Son charme ne m’a pas déçue à la relecture. Olivia évoque l’atmosphère fiévreuse et passionnée d’un pensionnat de jeunes filles au début du XXème siècle. La narratrice revient sur son passé quand, élève de l'école, elle est tombée amoureuse de la charismatique directrice qui entretenait une relation chaotique mais toujours étroite avec son associée. Ça finit mal et c’est très bien. Évidemment l’histoire, son ambiance, ses protagonistes rappellent un tas d’autres ouvrages depuis Claudine à l’école de Colette en passant par Jeunes filles en uniforme de Christa Winsloe (1934), Thérèse et Isabelle de Violette Leduc ou encore plus récemment L’hymne aux murènes de Mireille Best. Le pensionnat de jeunes filles est longtemps resté une valeur sûre de l’imaginaire lesbien...

Mais l’imaginaire lesbien ne se limite pas à la description – si émouvante soit-elle - des troubles de l’adolescence. Gabrielle Wittkop, née en 1920, morte en 2002, laisse une œuvre transgressive, sulfureuse, mêlant morbidité et érotisme sadien dans une langue magnifique, baroque et classique. Personnellement j’ai beaucoup aimé La marchande d’enfants, un roman fascinant qui évoque avec cynisme les difficultés professionnelles d’une maquerelle à laquelle une consœur anglaise propose quelques conseils, le tout à la veille de la révolution de 1789.


Dans un tout autre ordre d’idée (l’éclectisme est le maître mot de la bouquinerie) j’ai lu récemment L’accompagnement de René de Ceccaty (1994), un court récit très émouvant sur la mort de son ami Gilles Barbedette, auprès duquel il est demeuré jusqu’au bout. Gilles Barbedette (son nom n’est jamais cité dans le livre, mais une courte recherche m’a appris qu’il s’agissait de lui) était un jeune écrivain beau et talentueux fauché par le Sida. On lui doit entre autre une histoire du Paris gay 1925, écrit en collaboration avec Michel Carassou, et qui fait toujours autorité. Ceccaty n’était pas son amant mais son ami, choisi par Barbedette pour être près de lui. Témoin toujours lucide, Ceccaty donne un texte sans pathos qui évoque les soignants lâches ou héroïques, la maladie implacable, les couples réclamant le respect de leur lien. Cela n’est pas sans rapport avec d’autres beaux livres : La symphonie des adieux d’Edmund White ou Ce sont amis que le vent emporte d’Yves Navarre.



C’est un exercice un peu frustrant que de présenter quelques livres, et au moment de conclure, je regrette de n’avoir pas évoqué les Grandes espérances de Kathy Acker, pionnière de la contre culture américaine, féministe punk et pro porn -, Nicolas Pages de Guillaume Dustan, controversé et si novateur, ou encore Hotel Bristol New York, N.Y de Michel Tremblay, un bijou d’humour et d’émotion…

Les livres qu’on aime, on oublie quelquefois qu’on les aime pour leur en préférer de nouveaux, plus récents ou redécouverts. À cet égard, la librairie c’est mieux qu’une pâtisserie pour un gourmand !



Don't hesitate to like the Facebook page and visit the bookshop if you come to the South of France sometimes!

xxx, see you readers!