Olympic Mixtape

So this weeks mixtape has been compiled by friends, family and tweeters that were willing to humour me with the following question:

“What would be your Olympic sport and what song would accompany your montage of best of moments?”

Some people were remarkably quick at replying, making me think that people have been daydreaming of Olympic glory during London 2012. Some people sent me hysterical replies (I’m looking at you Jo). Out of all the sports it seems cycling is the most popular, surprised no one picked Kenny Loggins Danger Zone and asked for it to be changed to Highway to the Velodrome (groan, sorry, a hundred times sorry!). You can play this Olympic Mixtape on Spotify or YouTube, track list and contributors below. Out of all of them I am grinning the most over Thom’s choice but huge thanks to everyone that played along as I’ve not stopped smiling at all the suggestions. More photo’s from my Olympic experiences can be found on my Flickr. Oh, and to my friend Lizzie, “six packing” is not a recognised Olympic event….yet. ♥

1. 13th Floor Elevators – You’re Gonna Miss Me (Monkeypicks for the 400m)
2. Hawkwind – Silver Machine (Lucy Track Cycling)
3. Nina Simone – Feeling Good (Rehanon, first of a few for the Triathlon)
4. Goldfrapp – Rocket (Burning_Lies, another for Cycling)
5. Queen – Princes of the Universe (Thom Vincent picking fencing for a gloriously camp, extravagant event being held in Britain)
6. Tori Amos – Professional Widow (Claire Loy, never worn a leotard but opts for Gymnastics Floor)
7. Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run (My Dad running the Marathon)
8. Spandau Ballet – Gold (thepubdiaries for the Kierin because it’s slightly mental)
9. Elvis Presley – If I can Dream (Gareth choosing 1500m, on the song “you can fight a bear after hearing it, its that inspiring”)
10. Hot Chip – Over and Over (Priyam for Table Tennis)
11. F*ck Buttons – Olympians (Marc for the Triathlon, also dreams of winning gold in the 10k swim)
12. Beyonce – Run The World (Natasha blasting the 100m)
13. Anthrax – In My World (Phil also for the Keirin, the lyric “nothing touches me, I’m a walking razor blade” hits it for him)
14. The Cinematic Orchestra – To Build A Home (Helen goes for Rowing)
15. Gonna Fly Now (Rocky Balboa) – Bill Conti (Matt goes for Decathlon after his hero Daley Thompson)
16. Radiohead – No Surprises (Jo opted for Synchronised Swimming, “Although I would like to imagine that the water would add an element of grace I lack on land, I think the actual effect would be more like Thom York’s slow drown in the video. You get to wear coordinating costumes and listen to music in that event”)
17. Moloko – The Time Is Now (for me when I smash it at the Triathlon)

Buff Springsteen at Hyde Park

“If he plays Thunder Road I’ll go home happy” was my first sentence about the anticipated set list. The fact that he opened with a stripped down, bare and fragile version of this track stopped me in my Wellington boots and kept my feet planted still on the soggy wood chips, holding my breath. Springsteen had already joined John Fogerty (“he uses Just for Men”, my mums opinion of the Creedence Clearwater Revival star) on stage for Rockin’ All Over The World. The set list continued to run like a dream and there were so many highlights. The River, Glory Days, Badlands, Dancing In The Dark. Impossible to pick out one particular moment.

It will go down as one of the best gigs I have ever been to. Springsteen creates something like a call to arms for all the downtrodden, the working classes, the people put upon that need raising up. He is also surrounded by the very best, musicians that have the same natural ability as he does for drama, theatre and occasion. Moments of hushed heartfelt emotion to rallying cries to stand up and be counted. Sounds over the top? No, not if you’ve seen him perform at the level he did on Saturday. Bruce (or Buff as I like to call him, as he still is) Springsteen is 63 and plays with more passion and energy than bands hungry for success. As my Dad said “In my lifetime and yours, you won’t see many Bruce Springsteen’s”.

In the past two years my brave and brilliant closest friend has lost both her parents, she said to me the night before that sharing something like this concert with mine would be something to truly cherish. It goes without saying she is utterly right, and whatever your shared connection with your family is (reading, music, theatre) create those amazing memories with them. Both in their sixties they sang, dance and drank with me. My mum in particular being very quick at her bar duties, she said “I don’t know what it is, I’ve just always been fast at getting served”. To which my Dad rolled his eyes and replied “Nothing to do with the fact she likes a drink”. For me, standing there with them screaming “I’m just tired and bored with myself”, laughing, smiling, toasting our warm wines. It was much about being side by side with them as it was about the man on the stage.

Like Father, Like Daughter

Of course much can be said about the council pulling the plug, there’s been a whole heap of people popping up on Twitter who believe the right decision was made and Springsteen should have stuck to his allocated time. Of course, they have a point, he had been playing for three and a half hours already. But, I doubt one of those people were one of the 80,000 people in Hyde Park and you have to be a pretty damned Scrooge to not feel swept up in the sense of community and occasion Springsteen had created Saturday evening, not to mention that Paul McCartney was playing at his side. Dave Rowlinson did make the very valid point that at least it stopped before we were subject to Hey Jude. Still, Bruce and The E Street Band left smiling as did every person penned into Hyde Park. A fitting reaction to the fun ruiners, they didn’t and could never of soured our night.

Bruce Springsteen played Thunder Road ▪ Badlands ▪ We Take Care Of Our Own ▪ Wrecking Ball ▪ Death To My Hometown ▪ My City Of Ruins ▪ Spirit In The Night ▪ The Promised Land ▪ Take ‘Em As They Come ▪ Jack Of All Trades ▪ Empty Sky ▪ Because The Night ▪ Johnny 99 ▪ Darlington County ▪ Working On The Highway ▪ Shackled And Drawn ▪ Waitin’ On A Sunny Day ▪ Raise Your Hand ▪ The River ▪ The Ghost Of Tom Joad ▪ The Rising ▪ Land Of Hope And Dreams ▪ We Are Alive ▪ Born In The U.S.A ▪ Born To Run ▪ Glory Days ▪ Dancing In The Dark ▪ I Saw Her Standing There ▪ Twist And Shout

Sunday Swoon. July 15th

Feels like it’s been a massively busy week in terms of the very favourite thing I like to submerge myself in, the thing that helps me completely ignore all those nagging questions I like to put off. Questions like why haven’t I wrote a book yet, whats the meaning of life, could I ever become a proper vegetarian, should I risk the handwash cycle on the washing machine? Music, wonderful music. My excuse to ever procrastinate and drown out the nagging voices in my head.

1. Full post of Bruce Springsteen to follow, for now I am still in that lovely haze of a gig high so will save my words for another day. For now listen to this lovely stripped down version of Thunder Road that he opened with. Perfection.

2. Lianne La Havas released Is Your Love Big Enough this week and it’s instantly become the soundtrack to a new chapter in my life. To hear the storytelling of her loves and loses at the tender age of 22 shows a true life wisdom. Feels like it’s a womans world in the music industry this year, makes me immensely proud. I believe we’ll be talking about this lady in the same breath as Joni Mitchell, Lauryn Hill and Marianne Faithful as the years roll by.

3. I imagine I’m not alone in being batshit happy about the return of Bloc Party this week? Octopus is exactly what I’d have described had someone asked me what I’d want from their return track. Ferociously fast strummed guitars, that constant thud of drums that drowns out your own heartbeat and Kele’s honey vocals drizzling effortlessly above the noise. Perfection.

4. One of my very favourite bands Summer Camp (live, for their album Welcome to Condale and general understated brilliance)released their Always EP this week to help tide us over with new material. Love the underlying menace and sneering in title track Always. Dark.

5. A couple of weeks ago Frank Ocean posted poetic and brave words about falling in love with a man on his Tumblr. As a result I suspect people who hadn’t even heard of Odd Future, and many who dismissed them, have sat up and taken notice of a refreshingly vulnerable and honest performer. The release of Channel Orange was brought forward and it truly is brilliant. Comedic, fragile and clever. ♥

The Letter ‘B’ Mixtape. Part 1

It’s been tough getting this down to my self-imposed 10 track mixtape so I am splitting this into two posts, this is the first installment. Until I decided to conquer an alphabet playlist I had no idea my music collection was made up of so many bands/musicians beginning with the letter….

And before any smart asses leave comments saying “What the F! You left out The Beatles” I am fully aware of this and yes it’s intentional. I’m more of a Rolling Stones girl myself. That’s what I’d like on my gravestone. “Here lies Hannah. She was always more of a Stones girl”

If you’re a Spotify user click here to play the mixtape and if you’re a YouTube purist click here to play the videos. ♥

1. Belle & Sebastian – Lazy Line Painter Jane  (In John Osborne’s must-see monologue for all music lovers, John Peel’s Shed, he mentions the number 1 rule in music is “all girls like Belle & Sebastian”. So utterly true).

2. Bow Wow Wow – Go Wild In The Country (An old colleague is married to drummer Dave Barbe, there were countless occasions where I clutched this on vinyl but chickened out when it came to asking her to have him sign it. Annabella Lwin was discovered singing at her saturday job in a dry cleaning shop, I don’t feel that she ever really got put on the plinth she deserves for being one of our great frontwoman. I literally worship this track).

3. Battles Featuring Matias Aguayo – Ice Cream (Non sensical grunting and groaning over plonky keyboards makes me smile until I’m sore. One of my favourite tracks from last year. Battles also have the most talented, insane, genius drummer)

4. The Bandana Splits – Sometimes  (I can’t remember which 6 Music DJ introduced me to this band but it was definitely one of them! If you like The Pipettes you’ll like this girl group. Trust me)

5. Bruce Springsteen – Dancing In The Dark (Glastonbury 2009. Bow down to The Boss. “I’m just tired and bored with myself” is one of my favourite ever lyrics, surely we can all relate to that feeling? I’d type more but literally… have to dance when I hear this song and I’m playing it right now…)

6. Black Keys – Howlin’ For You  (I was lucky enough to see these a couple of weeks back at Alexandra Palace and blogged how I firmly placed them into my “Fucking Living It” category. How are they from this generation? I swear Bill & Ted kidnapped them from the 70′s)

7. The Beach Boys – God Only Knows  (Seeing Brian Wilson perform this, a single blue spotlight illuminating this genius made fragile from a life of excess moved me to tears last year)

8. Braids – Lemonade  (There are certain songs I really, really, really want to hear in a field, with the sun setting and a gallon of ciders running through my insides. This song would also make that playlist)

9. Bloc Party – Two More Years (This track has got me though many a bleak time, I can’t think of any other song that whispers such hope tenderly into my ears. Listen to the lyrics “be brave, there’s a right way and a wrong way, this pain won’t last forever,” to “You don’t need to find answers for questions never asked of you”and “I know, my love, this is not the only story you can tell”. Kele should man the helplines, he knows exactly what to say in a crisis)

10. Bat For Lashes – Daniel (I definitely have a ‘type’ when it comes to my girl crushes. Alexis Krauss, Karen O and Natasha Khan. Not a blonde in sight)

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