David Bowie is review – a god, an alien and a dead man at the V&A

Style & Then Some contributor Hector MacKenzie has been a Bowie fan since he was ten. Living in Tunisia, he first heard his dad’s Station to Station CD playing in the lounge, cocaine funk on a half decent Sony Hi-Fi.

Here he takes us through the V&A’s ‘David Bowie is’ exhibition which opened this weekend and runs until 11th August 2013.

“I once read that the album cover for ‘Heroes’ can be read as International Sign Language for “this album is a fucking masterpiece”. It’s one of my favourite album covers ever and one of my favourite albums. It’s like he knows it’s a groundbreaking album and he’s not afraid to admit it.

A fair amount of the ‘David Bowie is’ exhibition is pretty factual – you could read it online – but that’s no bad thing. Newbies to Bowie get a good snapshot of the defining points of his career and Bowie fans can zone in on photos, footage or stories they want to know more about or something new they haven’t heard of before.

For me that was seeing the images from the Heroes photoshoot, instruments like Brian Eno’s EMS Synthi AMS synthesizer and the cocaine spoon Bowie used in the mid seventies when he was recording Station to Station – an album he can’t remember making because of his time spent with that spoon.

Seeing the costumes in the flesh was another of my favourite parts. That might be a cliche but it makes you realise how out there they must have been in the 70s. Bowie broke down a lot of walls for accepting what seemed like strange ideas in fashion at the time. The handwritten lyrics and ideas for songs are displayed well as are the 3D scenes and set ideas for ‘Diamond Dogs’, alongside storyboards which show his thought process and influences.

Footage of Bowie playing live is great for both hardcore fans and casual visitors to the V&A and the sound element of the exhibition is very interactive. If you walk around the whole thing with your headset on, you can learn everything there is to know about Bowie but you can still choose when to just look at one of the Bowie artifacts by yourself. Don’t be worried when you find you’re still inside three hours later, just grab a postcard with film stills from The Man Who Fell to Earth on, buy the book and leave smiling.”

*Note: the headline refers to some of the top searches relating to ‘David Bowie is’ on Google – lazy we know but not as bad as some.

Images:

Self Portrait © The David Bowie Archive 2012. Image © V&A Images
Cut-up lyrics for ‘Blackout’ © The David Bowie Archive 2012. Image © V&A Images
Striped bodysuit Aladdin Sane tour  © Sukita / The David Bowie Archive 2012
Installation shots (c) Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Dear Solange Knowles, I’m Crazy in love With You

Solange Knowles may have been on a five-year hiatus, but if that’s how long she needed to craft her long-awaited EP ‘True’, then it was sure worth the wait.  Despite being a long-life Beyonce fan, it’s immensely refreshing to see Bey’s little sister (who is only 26, mind) emerge from her older sibling’s shadow, say no the booty-shaking and power-ballad bellowing and produce an easy-listening, soul-searching and relatable EP, sans any collaboration with will.i.am and ultimately not producing a generic slice of clubbing crud. 

What’s so striking about ‘True’, is it’s surprising direction for Solange, and even with her army of girldem fans in the bag already, she’s sure to catch a few more now the EP is getting serious radio play.    With Annie Mac already championing her ‘leftish’ direction away from mainstream pop and the ‘Sucks to be You’ shadow of Beyonce, there is something ultimately riveting about listening to Salonge’s tales of heartache, which aren’t necessarily her bloke’s fault.  ‘Lovers in the Parking Lot’ spins her story of actually having missed her chance with her love, as she ‘wasn’t done having her fun’ and unfortunately regretting it later on in life.  Does this mean, shock horror, little Knowles doesn’t think all relationship problems are the man’s fault? Are womenkind allowed to say this?! (joke joke, We love you man readers, please don’t navigate away).

Track Listing:

1. Losing you

2. Some Things Never Seem To Fucking Work

3.  Locked in Closets

4. Lovers in the Parking Lot

5. Don’t Let Me Down

6.  Look Good With Trouble

7.  Bad Girls (Verdine version)

Despite being released digitally on 26^th November, the physical EP was released yesterday and it set to lead to the full blow out album rumoured for 2013.   With ‘True’ screaming Summer, it might be the best cure for my extremely middle class S.A.D disorder – anything to help that doesn’t involve a tanning bed or sticking my head in the light box at work.  Easy, breezy, unashamedly gorgeous, I feel like I’m cheating on Beyonce.

Nostalgia for high school – why the EBacc just won’t do

I have never been – and might never be – as well rounded a person as I was at high school. Considering that I’ve had eight years since of more education, holidays, part time jobs, travelling and a first ‘proper’ job that might seem a bit of an exaggeration.

But think about it: anyone with a full time job spends 40 hours a week largely specialising in one or two skillsets or subject areas. In a normal high school week I was throwing javelins, mentoring younger pupils, making cushions, playing the keyboard, drawing still lives, helping out with the school play and conjugating French verbs. And that’s all at a pretty mediocre state school in North Manchester which was only managing to get half its Year 11 students passing with five A* to C grades at the time. Not to mention the fact that I was a complete geek who did much better at traditionally academic subjects than anything else.

So why am I getting nostalgic about high school? There’s an article on the Guardian this week about how horrified a group of artists, directors, choreographers and architects are at Michael Gove’s proposals (announced in September) to scrap GCSEs and replace them with an EBacc examination which includes the compulsory subjects of only English, maths, the sciences, geography, history and a language.

Apart from the obvious disadvantage, noted in the Guardian, that if schools only need to shift pupils through these subjects included in the English baccalaureate they will probably drop subjects like food, music, design, I.T and drama completely, there’s also the question of where many children will be able to learn these skills if this happens: from the self confidence you get from collaborating in P.E or performing arts to the basics of Excel or a smattering of art history.

Now I’m not saying I had a particularly fine education in any of these arts subjects – being able to use a sewing machine in textiles was probably the pinnacle of my achievement in non-academic subjects – but for teenagers with talent in art, design, dance or even cooking there should be a platform for them to begin exploring their craft rather than their parents paying for outside lessons or leaping blindly into studying something at university or looking for work without the hours to show for it.

These non-core subjects should be getting more time and effort, not less – let’s see coding classes with Raspberry Pi computers, music lessons that use modern artists to stop kids getting bored to death and food lessons that will actually come in handy during a first term in halls.

Teachers, too, are worried – Aisling Lavelle, a French teacher and musician, thinks the EBacc is a “fantastic idea that should help pupils to maintain a broad skill set for longer” but “at the cost of enriching subjects like music and drama it may turn out to be a false economy.” She says: “The main thing that sticks out as a major design flaw of the EBacc is the fact that schools will still be slaves to the league table system, meaning that certain subjects will be dropped in favour of channeling resources towards the subjects that ‘count’. This was the case when languages were dropped from ‘compulsory’ status to ‘optional’ status at GCSE.”

And studying these non-core subjects could actually improve how teenagers perform in English, maths and sciences. Aisling also points out that teachers can use examples from other subjects to help explain the best ways to study: “Finding a skill in one area helps boost pupils’ attainment across other subjects, as they learn the study skills to improve. For example, when pupils ask me why they can’t remember their verb tables I compare it to learning scales; they would never expect to be able to play a scale at high speed without fault on their second attempt but would perhaps spend 10 minutes a day on it and build up their confidence that way.”

Gove, leave GSCEs alone please – they didn’t do my friends and I any harm and if anything, I would have liked to have left high school knowing more about art, design, music and drama not less. Moving from state high school and sixth form to big, bad London that’s exactly the kind of chit-chat that comes in handy and most teenagers have to discover for themselves already.

Image credit: Faraz Pourreza-Jorshari

Exhibitions | A second chance at The House of Annie Lennox

As the only Scotland-based member of the Style and Then Some team, I was rather disappointed to miss the exclusive Q & A session with legendary pop icon Annie Lennox at the Victoria and Albert Museum to launch an exhibition dedicated to the singer last October. However I was lucky enough to get a second chance at an insight into this musical genius when The House of Annie Lennox, popped up again, this time right on my doorstep and Annie’s hometown of Aberdeen.

Not only does Lennox have an impressive recording career – spanning over three decades, from her work as one half of pop duo the Eurythmics to being a solo artist – her influence on modern music is still strong today. Whether it’s Lady Gaga being accused of stealing her look, Beyonce singing the Eurythmics‘ hit Sweet Dreams at Glastonbury last Summer or Nicki Minaj sampling Lennox’s solo song, No More I Love Yous for her 2010 break out hit Your Love.

Annie Lennox, 2009 Photograph © Mike Owen

The House of Annie Lennox didn’t just celebrate her talent but also her contribution to contemporary style. Along with the likes of Grace Jones, back in the 80s Lennox’s name was synonymous with the androgynous look; so it was rather apt that the first exhibit as you enter is a Tartan suit by Jeff Banks - one of her favourite designers – worn during the Eurythmic’s 1983 Touch tour. More stage costumes are on display such as the vibrant Union Jack Tuxedo she wore for a performance at the 1999 Brit Awards and a silver and black gothic ball gown worn to perform with fellow trendsetter David Bowie. As are her numerous accolades including the Quadruple Platinum Award Disc Lennox garnered for her 1994 solo album Diva and the Oscar she recieved for the song Into the West off the Lord of the Rings soundtrack.

Annie Lennox, 1991, Photograph © Satoshi Saikusa

Just before you enter the main part of the exhibition where Lennox’s Gold and Platinum disc collection practically covers the room like wallpaper, there is an opportunity to listen to an interview recorded especially for the event. In it, Lennox reveals how her masculine style choices came about as a result of her musical partnership with Eurythmics counterpart, Dave Stewart. Although many people speculated over the singer’s sexuality due to her fashion and often short hairstyles, this did not bother her, as all she wanted was to assert herself and really stand out when placed next to a man and I think it’s safe to say she achieved her goal. Not only will Lennox be immortalised as a great style icon, she is often referred to as one of the greatest voices of our time.

Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, 1984, Photograph © Gered Mankowitz

For those of you a little further up north than London (OK alot further), The House of Lennox exhibition will be on until September 29^th at the Aberdeen Art Gallery, Schoolhill, Aberdeen. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm, Sunday 2-5pm.

MUSIC | Living next door to King Charles

Last year when I was living in a flat down a mews in Maida Vale, my flatmate and I would often hear music through the walls at odd times of the day and night. We used to joke that we lived next door to a famous band – practising the drums at 2am and spending days on end playing Bach’s cello suite no.1 was not conducive to having a normal day job.

We got to know our neighbour, Charlie, as he sat outside in the mews sunbathing in his boxers that summer. I was sure I recognised him from somewhere, with his big dark moustache and dreadlocks. Turns out his band, King Charles, is pretty well known, and I recognised him because I saw him supporting Mumford & Sons at the Scala in 2009. They’ve been featured a couple of times in the Guardian and toured with Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale back in 2007 when they first started out.

Charles in the flesh is lovely, if rather eccentric – and very, very mellow – and it was highly enjoyable hearing him tunefully singing in the shower of an afternoon (he seemed to have Black Eyed Peas, Just Can’t Get Enough, stuck in his head quite a lot last summer, in case you’re interested). He recently released his new EP Bam Bam in October 2011, and his reggae/folk/pop/electro tunes are definitely worth a listen.

How to mix with Virtual DJ – the free Mac app you should get right now

Once you’ve hit ‘download’ on Virtual DJ, the next three hours of your life will disappear into a digital DJ time warp and you won’t get them back. You’ve been warned.

Apps aren’t just for iPhones and iPads – I downloaded my first Mac app yesterday: Virtual DJ Home Version 7 which is also available for PC. Four of us ended up downloading it and got sucked into ‘mixing’ and ‘scratching’. Eat your heart out Alexa Chung/ Agyness Deyn/ other model turned DJ.

And don’t worry, even if you know nothing about the way music works it’s still fun – with this DJ app anyone can stick two tracks and yoink the crossfader between the two. Add a pair of big headphones and you’re living the bedroom DJ dream.

Step One: Download Virtual DJ Home Version for free for Mac or PC.

Step Two: Drag two tracks* from your iTunes library from Virtual DJ’s lower left hand side menu onto your digital turntables. House, electro and dubstep are all good choices, choose a second track with fewer or no lyrics and we found that Daft Punk tracks all seem to have the same BPM (beats per minute) so there’s no need to speed up or slow down anything.

* Or hit ‘CONFIG’ at the very top of the screen to get more decks but I would not recommend this for your first go.

Step Three: In order to sound smooth, both your tracks will have to play at the same BPM so press play on both and then hit ‘Sync’ on your right hand track. The BPM will be in the top right hand corner of each deck on the same line as the title of your track – above it’s 125.20 for both.

Step Four: Use Virtual DJ’s hand tool to move the second track (in red) to the first beat i.e. the line down the middle of the top section. You can drag and choose a place in the second track and press ‘Cue’ to send it to one three ‘Hot Cues’. All this means is that the track will start playing from that point. Obviously, you can set cues for the first track too.

Step Five: Next to your spinning decks are two sliders controlling pitch. Adjust the pitch of the second song to the first song as it’s playing and you’ll get a better mix, but do it in small amounts or else it’ll just sound distorted (which is also fun).

Step Six: Listen to your first track and pick a point in the song to bring the second track in – a break or an outro, something like that. Listen to the second track on its own too and decide where to stick your Cue to bring it in.

Step Seven: At the short break/ drop in track one, slide the crossfader (smack bang in the middle) over from your left hand side track to the right to bring in the second track. And hope for the best. Slide it back once you’re done with the second track or let the second track play out.

Step Eight: Play around with the Effects on both tracks: in the free Home Version of Virtual DJ you can choose from BackSpin, BeatGrind, Brake and more all of which will make you feel like a proper DJ.

Step Nine: Loop a section of one of your tracks with the loop station under effects and sampler. Choose from 1 to 32, depending on how long a section of the track you want to loop. If you click on ‘Sampler’ down the bottom, you can also record samples to playback and use in your mix.

Step Ten: Hit ‘record’ if you dare and listen to you and Virtual DJ murdering two of your favourite songs. Like we did – any tips from non-beginners welcome.

VIDEO | Deadmau5 live in London – as seen from my flat

Last weekend I could see something being projected on to Millbank Tower, a skyscraper on the bank of the Thames near Westminster that I can see from my flat. I couldn’t work out what it was, but all was revealed on Monday night when it turned out Deadmau5 was playing a set there with the gig projected live, apparently in 4D, on to the building, to mark the launch of the Nokia Lumia 800 Windows phone.

It started at 9pm and watching from my balcony I couldn’t see much that looked anything more than 2D, let alone 4, but then in the last five minutes it suddenly got really cool and I got the last three minutes on video on my phone – check it out below. This tiny little video isn’t amazing quality, but, as one YouTube commenter pointed out, I had a pretty great view. If only someone could tell me what song was playing at the end I could add another video to post beneath so you don’t have to listen to mine and my boyfriend’s inane comments as we watched it.

Now, I’d like to point out that this is in no way a sponsored post, but as it happens I was given a Nokia Lumia 800 last week. It was thanks to my blogger friend Jamie of Boy Meets Fashion, he recommened me as part of a scheme called Nokia ‘into insiders’, a way to promote the phone in a market dominated by the Blackberry and iPhone. So while this is purely coincidental, I think the Nokia people will be pretty pleased that they got this self-confessed iPhone-aholic to blog a video of an event that is basically a large-scale ad for the Lumia, that I videoed on my Lumia. How meta is that?

One for the Christmas wish list: Hear-muffs

Have you started compiling your Christmas wish list yet? I know I have, and I’ll be adding these to it: John Lewis Hear-muffs combine headphones and ear muffs to allow maximum tuneage and minimum frost bite.

OK, so frost bite isn’t really that much of a risk in London, but still, no likes cold ears right? Also, the Hear-muffs are designed with the fashion-conscious music lover in mind, as they’re designed in ‘backband’ style so they sit at the back of your head, not on top – there’s less hairdo disruption that way you see?

John Lewis Hear-muffs are available in 4 colours (grey, black, cream and pink), £15 from JohnLewis.com.

Catwalk beats: Kreayshawn

Ok, so I’m a sucker for fashion-themed music, and when I heard Kreayshawn’s ‘Gucci Gucci’ on the radio with it’s ‘Gucci, Gucci, Fendi, Fendi, Louis, Louis, Prada’ chorus the other day I just had to look into this.  It is just screaming out to be sampled for the next Ashish show (fingers crossed), I mean Cazwell’s ‘I seen Beyonce at Burger King’ circa SS11…it just shouldn’t have worked but it DID.

Either way, Kreayshawn has got game, even if you don’t know half the stuff she’s bleating on about – I’m not going to pretend I know either.  One thing’s for certain, you aren’t going to catch Cher Lloyd being allowed to declare she has ‘swagger pumping out my ovaries’ – and I don’t think she’d dare.

On a slightly more random note, Kreayshawn has been rumoured to be directing the Red Hot Chili Peppers new video.  Yeah, I don’t get that either.

Do girls really run the world Beyonce?

I must have watched Beyonce’s new single ‘Run the World (Girls)’ on YouTube about 20 times this week. Visually, it’s faultless, but am I the only person who think the supposedly empowering lyrics are actually anything but?

If you haven’t yet seen Beyonce’s performance of new single ‘Run the World (Girls)’ at last weeks 2011 Billboard Music Awards then I’d do so quick smart, because it’s brilliant. She interacts with virtual drum sticks, globes and a flock of birds via a huge screen behind her, brings out an army of scantily clad backing dancers and does a mesmerising jerky shoulder dance that I’ve been trying to emulate without success. You can watch a ten-minute version below, preceded by a rather unnecessary show reel of sycophantic comments from the likes of Stevie Wonder, Lady Gaga and Michelle Obama. The music video for the single is great too – more girl armies, more shoulder dancing and a killer Alexander McQueen dress. Watch it here.

However, I’ve got a bit of a problem with the song, or more specifically, the lyrical content. You see, Beyonce asks the rhetorical question ‘who run[s] the world?’ and gives the answer ‘girls.’ OK, so far, so empowering. But later lyrics belie the supposed feminist message. ‘My persuasion can build a nation…you’ll do anything for me,’ claims Beyonce. So it seems that what she’s really saying is not that girls actually run the world, but they control the men that do, using their feminine wiles. Which is hardly the stance of an independent woman is it now?

Don’t get me wrong, I realise it’s just a pop song, not a political manifesto, but if you’re going to write a song called declaring that girls are ‘taking over the world,’ it seems a bit disingenuous to suggest that they’re only doing it by influencing men. Why can’t girls build their own nations?