Taken By Trees.

I have to admit that Rough Trade Records have an eye for good music "for me". There're many bands' names you can see on their website here http://www.roughtraderecords.com/ and as far as I've checked, about 60% of the bands suit my taste. Um, might be 70%?? Not sure since I'm still working on it! Checking all bands on their website. haha
Today, I found a lovely singer song writer called Taken By Trees from Rough Trade. Taken By Trees is a solo project of Victoria Bergsman who was a lead singer of Swedish band The Concreates. A sweet and girly taste of The Concreates is still alive in her solo project, but it gets sweeter and girlier and less pop. Her songs are like sweet and bitter songs that are brought by a cute girl in love. I should look up her lyrics to know how close my first impression of Taken By Trees is.

Rough Trade Recordsのサイトからアーティストを見まくってて、見つけた素敵なミュージシャンTaken By Trees (Victoria Bergsman)。彼女はかつてThe Concreatesというスウェーデンのバンドのボーカルで、このTaken by Treesは彼女のソロプロジェクト。The Concreatesの可愛らしくて、女の子らしい要素は健在してるけど、ポップな感じは削れて曲の女の子らしさに磨きがかかった感じ。
特に私が見つけた下のMusic Videoの内容は恋する女の子の可愛いけど、複雑で少し憂鬱なのが感じ取れて、私のTaken By Treesの第一印象は、恋する女の子が作った可愛くてほろ苦い曲。そういうの、大好き。笑 単純に彼女の声も好きだし。Rough Trade Recordsは私好みの音楽で溢れてるな。





Official site: http://www.takenbytrees.com/

I love her voice. :)

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It's been a while since I posted the last post on this blog..! All I can say now is the typical classic words "I've been busy". haha I'm going to blog about two gigs and one festival I went if I can find a time. I always think too much when I write about shows I went..since my vocabulary is not rich enought to describe how good gigs were. Mmm frustartion. I've been making a playlist on Spotify which is kinda mess and rondom but they're good to change my mood. Tonight's BGM to get myself going for studying is old school punk such as Iggy Pop & The Stooges, Ramones, MC5, New York Dolls, Richard Hell & The Voidoids and Johnny Thunders. It looks like I should've said American Punk



最後の記事で、次はMystery Jetsなんて言っておきながら長いこと更新してないー！もしこのブログ見ている人がいたら、ごめんなさい。理由は、単純に"忙しい"でございます。１番嫌いな理由だけど、こっちの大学でいい成績残さないと、大好きなイギリスに居られる期間が短くなってしまうので今は勉強を頑張りたいと思います。といってもテストは１月なので、テスト勉強期間内に少しずつでも更新予定。Mystery JetsとEgyptian Hip HopとConstellations Festivalの感想を書こうと思ってます～画像つき！それがないとつまらない！

今夜のBGMはオールドスクールパンク！↑にも名前を挙げたように、気付けばアメリカのパンクばっかり。パンクと言えば、イギリスのイメージが強いけど、生まれたのはアメリカ。最近それに関する書籍もけっこう出てるよね～。パンクはアメリカで生まれた。みたいなさ。一応パンクの始まりはIggy Pop & The Stoogesってことで合ってるのかな？パンクのゴッドファーザーと呼ばれてるIggy Popは今でもパンクの始まりの話をするときに「俺らが始めた音楽をRolling Stoneのやつらがパンクって名付けたんだ」って言ってるし。あってる？あってるの～？← うちが好きなのはRichard Hellです。パンクスタイルの定番でもある、立てられた髪と、破かれたＴシャツを始めたのは彼だと言われてて、あのSex Pistolsを売り出したマルコム・マクラ―レンにSex Pistolsに入らないかと声をかけられたんだって。かっこいい。ていうか、もし入ってたら１人だけアメリカ人になるね。Richard Hellは声と歌い方が好き。あとアメリカ勢で言うとJohnny Thundersも好き。イメージに過ぎないけど、Johnny Thundersは男の人のファンが多いような。うん。取りあえず、パンク好き。かっこいい。パンクの話したらVelvet UndergroundとかLou ReedとかPatti Smithとか出さないとダメな気がしてくるけど、そろそろここらへんでおいとましますー。というかVelvet Undergroundの音楽はパンクじゃない気がして仕方ない。

あ、最後にもうひとつ。最近邦楽では毛皮のマリーズを聞いています。メジャーデビュー前の曲たちは聞いててとても楽しめる。クラシックロック好きなのが、聞いて取れちゃうようなサウンドが好み。あとNMEでLondonベースのBo Ningenっていうバンド知ったんだけど、かなり個性的で面白い。2009年に聞いた中で１番よかったアルバムとしてThe HorrorsのボーカルFaris Badwan(Faris Rotterやめたんだね)がBo Ningenの名前を挙げてた。NMEはPsycho-metalって言ってたけど、とりあえずカルトっぽい感じの曲とか個性的なのが好きな人はお試しあれ～です。けっこう知ってる人いるみたいだけど。最近音楽に対しておばあちゃんな気がする。

Carl Barat at The Cockpit in Leeds -22/10/2010

22nd October in 2010 has become one of the best days in my life. One of The Libertines, Carl Barat played at The Cockpit in Leeds. This gig is my first gig in England, and was incredibly amazing one.

Before Carl plays, there were two supporting bands ‘Swimming’ and ‘The Heartbreaks’. I actually liked both of them and became a fan especially of The Heartbreaks. Their style including playing style and the way they dress are rockabily and a bit of like Mod but once they started playing, all songs are melodious pop with a touch of old school rock. If you like The Buzzcocks and also melodious pop rock, you might like them.

Swimming

The Heartbreaks

After they finished playing, the venue was finally filled with the crowd. I could see so many people who look like fans of The Libertines just like me. There were many older people campared to other gigs I go, but I was happy to see some young fans who seem to admire Carl Barat as their hero. Ah even that part is same as me! I'm not one who encoutered the amazing and legendary band at their time.

Okay, first of all, I'll explain about the stelist of Carl's show since stuff started putting them on the stage while the supporting acts brought their stuff back. I couldn't take a piece of paper that the stlist is on even though it was right in front of me. There was more aggressive fan than I am. Damn it. But I took a picture of it, and here it is.

I know, you can't see it at all. I tried to read them and I found most of the songs he played in order except a couple of songs around the end. Sorry! x(

・Je Regrette, Je Regrette

・Run with the Boys

・The Man Who Would Be King

・Carve My Name

・She's Something

・Deadwood

・The Mangus

・So Long, My Lover

・Up the Bracket

・Irony of Love

・What Have I Done

・Death Fires Came at Night

・Death on the Stairs

・Bang Bang You're Dead

・9 Lives (p.s. I finally got all of songs on the setlist! 28/10/2010)

・France

・The Fall

・Truth Begins

・Time For Heros

・Music When the Lights Go Out

・Don't Look Back Into the Sun

This is all I got from the pic of the setlist and also I remember. I thought Carl would mainly play songs from his selftitled solo album, but he chose songs from The Libertines, Dirty Pretty Things and his own songs. The setlist is very well managed to make the crowd absorbed in his show and also excited. I also believed that he'd play acoustic songs a lot since he seems to like it and he's got a back band with a cello and a contrabass kinda thing..but he didn't! I was really surprised and happy at the same time when Carl palyed The Man Who Would Be King. The crowd got really excited and Carl looked like he knew they'd be like that. We sang along and it felt so good. I really think that he succeed in making the setlist. Really enjoyable and never got bored. I loved it that he put Don't Look Back Into the Sun at the very end. People do love the song and it's also chosen as an anthem of this summer. It's even worth to be an anthem of all time. I was about to cry at the moment when we all sang along the song and there was Carl Barat in front of me playing the song. Really overwhelming and moving. I felt his love toward The Libertines and his/their fans during the gig. He talked to the crowd, asked them if they want more songs from The Libertines and even tried to hear a guy's request. He is a genuin rock musician..and my hero at the same time.

from here, it'll be totally fan-talking..

After the gig, my friend and I waited Carl outside, and there was a little queue out there. Maybe just less one hour waiting, Calr came out of the venue wearing a big mod coat, and started having chats with fans in order.

I got his autograph on his autobiography that I brought with me, took a picture with him. The most precious thing for me is that his big hug!! I coudln't believe that moment that a guy who's been my hero actually was standing in front of me and gave me a big hug. He was so nice and fan-loving person. Even though security stuff kept telling us and him that we couldn't stay any longer, Carl answered fans' request and asking. He looked tired after the gig, but still wore smile on his face, had a chat with fans, and gave them hug if they want. It made me really really happy to see him like that. Now I'm just hoping that he'll come back soon and "hopefully" as The Libertines next time..

2010年10月22日は私にとって、すごく貴重で特別な日なりました。

今住んでいる街LeedsにCarl Baratがライヴで来て、私の初のイギリスライヴはとても素敵なものとなったのだ！

セットリストは上にもある通りだけど、セットリストの紙は他の人に取られてしまったから自分の写真にうつってるセットリストをなんとか解析して、分かったぶんと覚えてるぶんだけ書いたけど

後日Manchesterのセットリストを取った人のを見てみたら、同じ流れだったかた１つ分からなかったところはFranceだろうということで足しておいた。多分これであってると思います～。

ソロアルバムの曲中心になるかと思えば、それよりもThe Libertinesからの曲が多かったうえに、しっかりとDirty Pretty Thingsの曲(盛り上がりやすい定番を２曲)演奏してオーディエンスは大盛り上がり

The Libertines全盛期をリアルタイムで経験してない私には、このCarlのライヴでThe Libsの曲が流れた時の観客のなんとも激しい熱気と押しにかなり気分が高揚して、その瞬間にThe Libertinesがどれだけイギリスで愛されてるかを少し感じた気持ちになりました。ライヴ後に外で待つファンの為に出てきたCarlは優しくて、寒い中辛抱強く待っていたファン一人一人の要望にしっかりと答えて、少し会話をしたり、写真を撮ったり、サインをあげたりしていました。あのCarl Baratが目の前にいることが私は信じられなかったけども、このミュージシャン、バンドとの近さもイギリスの特権だなあと実感。しっかり写真、サインそしてハグをもらって結局はThe Libertines大好きないちファンの私は夢心地で帰りましたとさ。

Carlのギグで撮った写真はここを見てみてください。私のmyspaceのアルバムのページに飛びます。

次回はMystery Jetsのライヴ！

future and music

さっき部屋を掃除して、こっちに来て初めてってくらい綺麗に整った部屋を見て、なんか自分イギリスに居るんだなって突然実感した。イギリスで学生として生活してるんだって。ずっと大好きで憧れてきた国に住んでるんだなーって。それから音楽のこと、将来のこと、自分の夢のこととかについて考え始めて、この国を離れたくないって思った。日本には恋しくなる人も物も沢山ある。でもそれ以上の魅力がこの国にはあって、きっと一生うちの心を掴んで離さないと思うし、離してほしくない。音楽に興味が無くなった自分なんて、音楽をただのエンターテイメントとしてしか見られなくなった自分なんて自分じゃないと思うから。人によって音楽の在り方や捉え方は自由だけど、自分の場合は言葉じゃ説明できないくらい大きな大きな影響力を持ってる。自分の人生は音楽と密接に絡まってて、ほどけないくらい。音楽の事、ロックの歴史、偉大なバンドやミュージシャン、彼らのしてきたことや創り上げてきたもの、未だにもがきながらも進んでいくその流れとか、そういうもの全部の大きさを考える前に感じて、いつも泣きそうになる。なんて凄いんだろう、って。とにかく好きで好きで仕方なくて、もっと知りたいし、学びたい。目に見えて存在するものじゃないものに対して言うのは変に聞こえるかもしれないけど、傍にいてほしいし、傍にいたい。
うちは今自分の大好きな国イギリスに住んでて、その中でもサブカルに富んだリーズに居て
安くそれを楽しむことができる。カルチャーキッズに対して寛大なんだもの。うちはここが好きだし、この国の創り上げてきた文化が好きだし、良くも悪くも惹かれ続けてるしそれは変わらない。
いったんは日本に戻るけど、絶対にこの国に戻ってくるって決めた。自分が愛してやまない音楽の為に。一緒に働いて、生きていくのだ。今は自分の中にある何か大きなものがそう力強く言ってる。
As I was cleaning up my room, I was thinking of my future, dream and music. I don't know why, but when I finished cleaning up my room and was looking around my tidy room which is becoming filled by stuff I like, I suddenly feel that I don't wanna leave here. I mean England. You really never know what kind of things bring you a massive and strong feeling into your heart and brain. It really (and finally) hit me that I am in England which is a place that I've been longing for a long long time. I've been here as a tourist, and it also can be described "I'm in England" but there's a huge difference. I'm in England as a student now, which is more like I live in England. I wake up by myself two hours before leaving the room in the morning, make a breakfast by myself, do a groccery shopping and go back to my place with heavy laggages, keep a note of how much you spent and clean up my room by myself. Organizing almost everything by yourself and it means you live there, it gives you an actual feeling that you live there. That's what I suddenly got today..after the cleaning up. haha I miss many people and places in japan but I'm afraid of going back there. I wanna be here and I wanna feel, touch, smell the culture where I am has. Leeds offeres you a lot of fun especially at night. You'll have many choices to enjoy your night life here. In my case, music is the most important thing to decide how to enjoy my night life of course in a day time as well though. I just love rock music. Its history such as who, which band created or developped this genre, scene, the way of playing and the way of dressing. Who made this band name famous by what event in when, what genre of music has created and become like a trend including fashion. Everything that relates to music appeals to me, and even only thinking about rock music, its history and legendary people in the scene make me cry because it gets me to know how big influence it has to culture, people and even to the world. It's indescribable how big and important music is for me and in my life.It is England where my biggest influence was developped into many ways and etablished. That's where I live now. It has lots and lots of charms that attract me. I'll definitely come back for music and its culture that surely never lets my heart go, if once I get back to the country where I was born.　Something quite massive inside of me is strongly saying so now.

northern accent

イギリスはリーズに来まして、もうすぐ４週間。先週からレクチャーが始まって来週でweek3に突入。
全部のクラスが難しいってわけじゃないけど、難しい授業はとことん難しい。もう１つ悩ませるのがアクセント。リーズって完ぺき北イングランドのアクセントで聞きとるのが難しいアクセントの人がおおい。やっぱうちの英語がアメリカナイズドされてるからかなーなんて授業ででさえ困ってたら
ロンドンの方から来たイギリス人の女の子がさ、私もよく聞き返すよって言ってて。こっちのアクセントはイングランドの下の方から来た子にも難しいみたい。ちょっと安心。でもやっぱり、セミナーでディスカッションの時に相手の言ってることが分からないのは問題だから早く慣れないとな。アメリカ出身の教授がマシンガントークで２時間ぶっ続けで喋るんだけど少しイギリス英語が混ざったアメリカ英語で話すから聞きとりやすくてさ。そう思った時に、これは危ないなって思った。
リーディングの量もこれまたハンパなくて。時々諦めそうになるけど、何が主に議題にされていてどの情報が大事なのか分かるように要所だけ読まないと時間がもったいない、なんてチューターに言われたから、今どうやって一語一句チビチビ読むことなく理解するかを学び中。アカデミックリーディングって言うんだっけ？うん。そんなの。今週末は大学でのイベントづくし。Brighton Beachで好きな音楽聞いて、Stand up comedy見てくる。Alex Zaneが来るはずだから楽しみ～
今日Carl Baratのソロアルバムと、自伝が届いて幸せ。CDは明日聞く！本は文章が簡単だから、忙しくないときに読もう。
最近はちょっとエレクトロにやられてます。しかも定番の。
It's been 4 weeks since I came to Leeds in England. All lectures have started last week and I'm starting my week3 at the uni from next monday. My classes are all electives so they shouldn't be too hard since students who belong to other departments are also in the classes, but some classes I take are still hard...for me. AND the problem is the accent! Northern accent is really tough to catch. Every day, I meet someone with too strong accent to follow and when they go like "Ah this girl can't speak.." with frowns, it really takes my confidence and motivation from me! I thought that it was like all my faul (my english) but I met some girls saying to me that they also find it difficult to understand, and they're from somewhere around london. Northern accent seems hard even for other English people. but still, I need to get used to the accent because it's probrematic not to understand what students or professors say in lectures, seminars and tutorials. I have a proffesor from the US and she never stops talking during her two hours lecture. Much info comes out of her mouth and I'm desparate to catch it but since she speaks an american english with a bit of British accent, I don't have a difficulty to understand what she says. When I found myself felt like that, I thought this is not good, I gotta find a good way to improve my listening of nothern accent. I'm in England, not in America. It couldn't be helped since I've learnt English with american or canadian accent in my parent uni in Japan. Anyway need to do something with it. Reading is also a hard thing that we face in uni, and especially a student like me because you won't have any problem if you don't do your reading in Japanese uni. I found how easy my uni life is back in japan and also how hard my uni life is in here. A huge difference. It'd be like a joke if a proffesor in my japanese uni asked us to read one whole book to prepare for a next lecture. 90% of the class wouldn't do it for sure. I don't have enough time to read each word so I'm gonna learn how to get key points and important info in a book without reading all of it as my tutor suggested. Is it what people call 'academic reading'? I don't know.
This weekend, I'm not going out like in the city centre but uni. For saturday, I've got Brighton Beach which is an event of Indie, Brit pop and..something. For sunday, I've got a stand up comedy show. forgot the name of it but as I remember, Alex Zane is coming and making us laugh. haha Finally, today, I got two package from Amazon and I'm happy now because now I have a book that's penned by Carl Barat and his first self-titled solo album in my room. I'm gonna listen to the CD tomorrow with a friend of mine who also loves indie UK rock and of course Carl Barat. I'm a bit excited! I still believe that he's the guy who can make great music that make me happy anytime and don't wanna change the idea yet.
When I listened to the 1st album of Dirty Pretty Things, I fascinated by it and thought that he doesn't need to be in The Libertines. I didn't mean like I don't care about the breakup of the band and the band doesn't need him, of course we need him in the reunion. What I meant to say is like he's not a guy who can make music and get attention from the public only when he's in the band with Pete. Ah, am I making sense? I don't know. Anyway, can't wait to listen to it. Well I've heard two songs out of the album on the radio the other day and I like Run With The Boys. My very first reaction for it was "Ah this is so Carl!" of course in a good way.

I wrote a lot about Carl but what's been catching my attention is electro rock, plus, it's very typical one. Daft Punk, Justice and The Bloody Beetroots. Well-known electro rock. i've been looking for indie electro rock bands.

Any recommendation??

Free stuff.

When I arrived to my room in my dorm, there was this box from the uni. Since it says student AID or something, I thought that there were some good to use in a case you get hurt or slight injuries. Yesterday, my friend told me that there're some candies in the box and I finally opened it after 6 days I first saw it. haha
These are what I got.


I was like "woa! there're some stuff I just bought the other day!" like toothpaste. haha They give us two chocolate bars, one bag of HARIBO, a bag of snack, energy cola, very lazy garlic paste, a small bin of Tabasco, a pen, a box of condoms, instant coffee powder and a card case for free. Thank you! Actually condoms and Haribo are not same as what my friend got. haha A box of condoms I got look more like what boys tend to carry since one that my friend has has a cute designe on its box..and Haribo looks more tasty than my friend's. :P well, whatever. haha Speaking of free, there's a welcome event at every accommodation tonight with free food and drink. It'll be a good chance to know my neigbours and also to make new friends. I'll def go since I've been a bit bored and tired of my days here. Isn't there any exciting stuff? Maybe I should look around the city. I'd like to go to a museum, art exibitions and cinema! I haven't found a cinema in Leeds yet. Where are you? Oh, I gotta go ask about my temporally enrolled class. I can't drop a class because of it.

I just read 'How To Save Rock 'N' Roll' by Nicky Wire in NME and it really made me want to write about it again esp about The Libertines! because he mentioned that The Libertines were a lifestyle and a mythology. What a great words he chose to describe the band.

Music Lover

I love music and am a huge fun of Indie Rock and other kinds of Rock music as well. I've been to clubs and music bars to listen to music I like and have fun in Japan. Then I found that I'm not really into those kind of places. Even though there're supposed to be like places for enjoying music, they aren't. Simply it's because they're places for drinking. In those places, I feel that music just turn into a tool to have fun and make the place sound enjoyable. I've felt pity when I was in a rock bar before because all music I like only sounded like accessories in that place. Since I'm a music nard, I'd rather talking about music with someone with the same taste as me. Talk about how brilliant songs the band makes, how I feel when I listen to it and what kind of emotion it brings to me. I know that music basically is considered as part of entertainment by most of people but for me, it's not. It's part of my life, emotion, expression and myself. There definitely is music that shouldn't just be entertainment or sellout. As music is categorized to Art in university, it's a way to express yourself and how you feel about things around you, isn't it? Music is what bring you up and also brings you down depends on the way you use it. It has such a power. It has something more than entertainment for sure and I just don't feel good about going clubs and rock bars. It's ok to go there to have fun with friends but it's not really a proper place for enjoying music. I've learnt many things from Music since my dad had me listen to The Beatles when I was a baby. I learned what love people think is, what family is, how sad to lose important things, how many sad things are going around in the world and how important peace is as well. Sometimes they don't teach what exactly it is, but they at leat give me a key or clue to think about those topics. Of course there're many people who take Music as a fun thing and it's not a problem at all if they really think so, but I can't take it like that because I know if there was no music in this world, I'd be nothing. Just think how music influences you. It's a big existence in my life.
and I'm gonna read How To Save Rock 'N' Roll by Nicky Wire in NME. People have kept saying that there's no Rock hero now. In a bonus DVD of Almost Famous, Lester Bangs said exactly the same thing that there's no Rock Hero at that time, but it's 70's! still the golden age of Rock! Maybe I can say so because I'm in 2010 and have never experienced 60's. haha When he said that, I thought he'd might change his idea if he encountered Nirvana. They're like the last Rock Hero I know. The Libertines can join the circle though. Rock will change and I don't think we can stop it but it'll never disappear as long as there're huge fans like me.