Pick Your Own Record Night

Vintage vinyls, iced coffee, homemade cake, and sparkling wine... Perfect evening? And I forgot to mention the best chips in town...

The Thieves Kitchen is nestled in Warwick Street, Worthing, by day this cafe is packed and with afternoon tea on the menu and a juice bar it is no surprise, by night however this little gem turns into the perfect spot to grab a drink with friends and listen to some amazing music. A few weeks ago I went along to a 'play your own record night' with as many of our records as Luca and I could carry. The DJ also had an extensive collection of vinyls spanning across the decades including hits from the 50's and 60's and soundtracks from films like Pulp Fiction and Grease.

The Smiths, The White Stripes and The New York Dolls were all popular selections as well as more obscure records. We ended the night dancing (and singing rather loudly) to Summer Loving so as you can imagine it was a pretty perfect evening.

Have you been to The Thieves Kitchen yet?

The Summer Playlist

Songs to add to your Summer playlist:

Mac DeMarco - Salad days / Ode to Viceroy

The Fall - Frightened 

Vampire Weekend - Hannah Hunt

Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating in space

The Beach Boys - Don't cry, put your head on my shoulder

War on Drugs - Red eyes

Mercury Rev - Holes

Fat White Family - Wet hot beef

Ennio Morricone - Ecstasy of gold

Pavement - Box elder

Captain Beefheart - Electricity

The Pogues - Transmetropolitan

The Felice Brothers - Dream on

Brick Lane

I have heard so many amazing things about Brick Lane so when we were recently in London we thought we would see what all the fuss was about, we did go on a week day and I am told the weekend is what it is all about but anyhow we had a lovely time. We looked through the racks of countless vintage shops then had tea and cake in an adorable cafe. After which we headed to Rough Trade, Luca was pretty excited about this part! They had a photo booth too which was really fun.

What's your favourite spot or shop in London?

Notting Hill Carnival

This year was my first year at Notting Hill Carnival, I can't believe I have never been before, it is amazing. The sights, the smells, the entertainment ...  all creates the most incredible atmosphere and not to mention all the gorgeous costumes! People are literally dancing in the streets of Notting Hill dressed in feathers, flowers and headdresses to all sorts of music. The food is delicious, real authentic Jamaican Jerk chicken sold on stalls and out of peoples windows. The weather this year was lovely as well and the sunshine really added to the vibe.

If you are thinking of going next year I would really recommend it, we decided to stay in London but you could just as easily come home again after the carnival is finished. It doesn't have to be an expensive trip either, just bring a few beers and you'll be set for the day.

August Playlist

Aside from Fashion and Beauty I'm a bit of a Music obsessive, so below I have selected a few songs that I really like right now:

Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band - Electricity.
The Captain is one of my all time favourites, his Avant Garde  Jazz, Delta Blues, Punk, Rock and Roll racket is literally impossible to categorize so don't even bother trying just sit back and let yourself into the insane world of Captain Beefheart.

Pond - Xanman.
This is the first single to be taken from Ponds new EP Hobo Rocket. It's almost impossible to talk about Pond without mentioning Tame Impala, lead singer Nick Allbrook is former Impala bassist and Pond features other members of Tame Impala, even Kevin Parker featured on their previous album on the drums. But whereas Kevin Parker is clearly massively influenced by Tomorrow Never Knows era Beatles, Pond's sound is a lot heavier, imagine if The Stooges had been on acid instead of heroin and lived in San Fransisco in the late 60's instead of Detroit and you have an idea what they sound like. This single is magnificent fun and is loud enough to annoy the neighbours which is a phrase I haven't been able to use enough recently.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Higgs Boson Blues.
The latest single to be taken off the Bad Seeds album Push the Sky Away is one of the best songs this year. I can assure you that you won't have heard another song this year sung by a 50 year old man rhyming Hannah Montana with African Savannah and for this alone it is worth a listen! To me the song sounds like it's going to explode any second but never does and I think it's the case with a lot of the album, there's almost an underlying threat through all the songs but whereas in previous albums they would have delivered on this threat they seem more restrained on this record but I think this gives the song a brilliant atmosphere.

Lou Reed - The Kids.
One of my favourite songs ever from one of my favourite albums ever Lou Reeds Berlin. This song is incredibly brutal and chilling and nothing like any of the songs from the glam rock Bowie produced Transformer. The first lyric sets the tone:

"They're taking her children away, because they said she is not a good Mother"

If this wasn't enough towards the end of the song there is the sound of crying children over the music. Legend has it that Lou got the children to cry by telling them their parents had been killed. Unsurprisingly the record was a commercial disaster but would go on to influence bands such as Joy Division and is now considered a masterpiece. 

Deerhunter - Monomania. 

Halcyon Digest was one of my favourite albums of the past couple of years and I could have easily listened to 10 more albums from Deerhunter like that but what I love about Deerhunter is that they never rest on their laurels and this song finds Deerhunter in a completely different place. Whereas the last album had a very dreamy, ambient sound to it this song is urgent, fast and the sound of a band playing as if their lives depend on it and I love it! It's a great garage rock song that literally sounds like it was recorded in a garage, it just makes you want to jump around. I mean it's not as good as Helicopter or Desire Lines but it's by no means at all a backwards step for the brilliant Deerhunter.

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