SOTW: Avril 14th ~ Aphex Twin

Hello-

I waited until the perfect date to post this one.


Song of the Week - Avril 14th by Aphex Twin

Now this song holds a special place in my heart.

Ambient piano: no lyrics, no bass, no percussion. You can hear feet pushing pedals and the creaking of the piano, the crackling of the recording. The piano timbre is soft, slightly off-tune and played legato. The song is free to interpret as you wish, as there's no lyrics, only music.

Anger struck when Kanye West sampled this track for his song 'Blame Game', 2010, initially without even asking for permission from Aphex Twin, let alone paying royalties. Richard David James (Aphex Twin himself) naturally was having none of this, and got what he wished. I still feel this song was used wrongly. Perfection is best left untouched.

This track is also one of my personal favourites to play on piano.


Here is the track on YouTube:

On Spotify here.
And on Soundcloud here.

Listen to Kanye's (irresistible, and kind of good) abomination here:

Have a great week. Happy Avril 14th!

-Ella

Secrets of London ~ Tea and Tattle

Labelled teapots...and snapchat captions. Apologies.

Gooood evening-

Whilst most of my posts are music-based, I can't help but do the odd review of something else once in a while. In the future, hope I can do a few more like this.

Now- when given the concept of afternoon tea, I tend to visualise a pricey trip to the Ritz, where you're fed cakes and tea until you're stuffed for the next two days, and probably can't look at cake for a week. Afternoon tea is at least £50 each there- and well, I think I've found a lovelier, maybe less pretentious little place, for much less than half the price.

Last week, I had a friend from Wiltshire to visit- so had to do the classic trip to London. Like complete tourists, we hit Oxford Street for a while, visited Buckingham Palace...and I insisted on the prospect of afternoon tea. So for the second time, I had a lovely trip to Tea & Tattle, a lovely little underground café (it feels wrong to simply label it a café, but there's no other word for it), based around Tottenham Court Road, by the British Museum. 

Coffee & Walnut Cake...my favourite...notice the half gone homemade lemonade in the background.

For around £15 a person- you'll get your cup of tea/coffee (unfortunately I had coffee instead of tea, which was lovely, but my friend Issy referred to her tea as some of the best she'd had), little sandwiches (triangles and everything), scones (with clotted cream, obviously, and a choice of jams), a glass of their (amazing) homemade lemonade and polished off with a slice of cake. And it's all deliciously served to you in a tiny little underground location by friendly staff.

My scones...with raspberry and vanilla jam. Truly amazing.

It is a tiny little café, so would not rely on just walking in- but very easy to book online (we booked the night before and got a table for 3pm no trouble). This little spot is perfect for the afternoon tea experience, but a little more original, a little bit cuter, and a whole lot less expensive.

The cake is moist, the sandwiches are cutely cut, and the scones (pronounced sconns, not scohhnes)...best I've had. 

All served on pretty china plates and teacups. The staff also were very friendly. Their tomato, brie and ham toasted sandwiches were perfection!

So if you're a little unsure on what to do in London - Tea & Tattle is recommended. You can even do a little trip to the British Museum after...

Until next time,

-Ella

The obligatory 'sippin tea' picture.

SOTW: I'll Be There ~ Chic

Hellooo,


Yes, the main question is why I didn't do this track as Song of the Week about three weeks ago. The truth is that I completely forgot to mention this song, even though I've been obsessive over it.

As a complete 80s freak, the fact I forgot this is very unnatural and unlike me.


Song of the Week - I'll Be There by Chic


Oh my god. This new single is next level amazing. It's a classic Chic track with its brass, its Nile Rodgers guitar, strings section, vocals, break down section and of course a funky bass line. It's like everything we expect of Chic, without feeling the same- it's a completely new track, but has all those conventions we know and love.

Thing about this one, is that it brings together the past 30 years of Chic...bringing back little iconic lines: 'everybody dance', 'the clock keeps turning'... amazing. It does leavs you feeling slightly emotional and nostalgic as well
(I know I'm not from the 80s era. But as someone who has grown up listening to Chic thanks to parents.)

I'll mention it now, seeing as I haven't already- Chic at Glastonbury 2013 is my favourite ever festival set, and has remained it since I saw it on the night. That bass player was so on fire that he looked in pain as he played 'Everybody Dance'.

What saddens me, however, is this feels like this is the final ever Chic single. It's not subtle- the lyrics are about goodbyes, about loyalty, about always 'being there', and the repetition, samples of previous hits and references to previous points in Chic's career really hit home.


'Smash after smash after smash
I appreciate all the gifts I was given
Now I don't wanna live in the past
But it's a nice place to visit'


It's clearly about moving on from the past and entering the future.

And with Nile Rodgers' now being 62 (but not looking it), he may be looking to let himself retire in the near future. After all, he's battled prostate cancer, still keeping up with the music. He has a well earned break waiting for him when he does bring Chic to an end. I'm sure he'll continue being a legend of the music business, no matter what he's doing.

But at least we can all say that there couldn't have been a much better song to potentially finish such an iconic music career on. Long live the legacy of (in my opinion) the greatest disco band of all time.



You won't regret it. Listen to 'I'll Be There' here:

On Spotify here.
Aaaand here's an awesome extended club version of it on Soundcloud here.


My favourite Song of the Week yet. And I got next week's all lined up (it's date appropriate. Hint: 14/04).

Until next week!

-Ella


PS: This is all extremely appropriate, as I'm performing Good Times again with friends and family next weekend. It's been played a healthy amount of times, once even with a family and friend-formed group of 18. There were two drummers, one amazing bass player, two pianists, three guitarists, four of us playing percussion and a whole load of vocalists. It sounded insane. In a great way. Good times.)