I was thinking about francobelgian singer Axelle Red for a while again, mostly since I listened to her album Tojours Moi released in March of this year in 1999. It's pretty much middle of the road, jazzy adult comtemporary pop, but singles off it are some of best takes on Trip-Hop sound but in this mature, french Chanson way, very sensual - it doesn't really remind me of softer Trip-Hop groups... it's different, unique... Video for opening track, Faire des mammours is such a beautiful visual, interiors of beautiful modernist state of art house... which is referenced in her performances of this song on French/Belgian TV where she's seated on designer chairs - the Eames chair, the Barcelona chair. Such an excellent way to do it, making usually boring TV performances unique.
I love when women sing and write songs. I think British singer-songwriters that aren't PJ Harvey are underrated. I never really liked Tori Amos (but I love From the Choirgirl Hotel and I'm not warming up to Fiona Apple either, their music isn't my thing in most of cases. Their British counterparts come from a different musical background, mostly indie-pop, folk, downtempo or electronic music in general, like it's with Beth Orton, Dot Allison (foremly of One Dove) or Astrid Williamson and many others. Afterglow is a perfect mixture of British indie pop and trendy downtempo sounds. Colour Me builds up mood while perfectly opening the album, Message Personnel is dark but end of the century ethereal. Mo' Pop is my favorite track off it, sweet, hopeful for the future pop with mandatory orchestral arrangement for this feeling.
I love Beth. Even if her proper debut, Trailer Park isn't my favorite in it's entirety (but She Cries His Name is beautiful) but Central Reservation cemented my love for her music. There's something of everything in it, specific moments captured in the sounds of it that make you imagine so much of views, scenarios and feelings... Stolen Car is the sunset during the last days of August. The Sweetest Decline is sweet, sort of classic pop thing with this piano. The Stars All Seem to Weep, produced by Ben Watt, is a EBTG track made my someone else, it feels like it did foreshadow sound they went with more on Temperamental. His remix of Central Reservation is excellent... it makes me feel something I can't describe. A truly great album.
I knew about Dubstar but somehow their music didn't interest me before I heard Stars. It's such an ethereal track, something that lets you truly chill out, synthpop in conventions of Downtempo/Trip-Hop... I've been thinking about it's lyrics:
But as the stars are going out
And this stage is full of nothing
And the friends have all but gone
For my life, my God, I'm singing
We'll take our hearts outside, leave our lives behind
And watch the stars go out
We'll take our hearts outside, leave our lives behind
And watch the stars go out
Loneliness, everyone who left, self-reflection. I know it all.
I remembered about their existence while I sorted some of my CDs and exactly about this album... It was a while. This kind of 80s nostalgia for the 60s mixed with comptemporary sounds... mature and very polished. Ubran Clearway is the fantasy of cruising in a British sportscar with a really beautiful woman... Cool Kids of Death is excellent indie dance track... that truly wants you to hit the dancefloor.
Burning incense sticks... last time I wintessed it was when I still was a child. While ago I got some but I didn't get around to burning them. They were cheap, so I took few, all with different scents but either orange with something or lemon-green mix. I managed to find a suitable vessel to put them in to burn them, it's good enough. After burning I felt more classic incense scent and artificial scent that I felt before burning was barely existent early on, but later it felt nice.
I already had a shimmery beige lipstick, but I wanted to make it even more sparkly. I was thinking about getting this shade before, which is just gloss equivalent of this lipstick, but I got it only like two weeks ago? I didn't have chance to wear it since I keep my makeup pretty low recently. I love how more oily and less sticky it is. Color in it is not strong, but shimmer is high. It looks great on my lipstick in similar color. I need a lip liner under it that won't affect color as much, most universal one I have doesn't give exact look I want.
I'd love it if it was a bit less sticky, but after a while it's fine but not in corners of my lips where I hated it. I rubbed them too much to get it off and now I can't wear any lip makeup for a while. Maybe I need to get used to, since I love the subtly shimmery color that is in my natural lip color, but bit darker. Packaging is so nice, I like the applicator which is more hard but I like it over very fuzzy applicators lipglosses usually have.
I was considering making one for a while, first for summer and then for winter and autumn... but I wonder how I'll fit in metrage I usually got? Will I wear it? Now I want to sew some from random wool pieces I got since it's a good use to use entire amount (usually one meter) without leaving too much. Did get a mohair skirt from Solar too, but I need to find something to wear with it before it gets warmer...
Usually I found them ugly in many ways they got worn, but they look nice if you replace the shirt with a nice shell top if you wear one with pants or skirt, my prefered way to wear it would be with a dress. I like it in specific colors, never dark ones - they will look great in medium melange gray, but not that good in black (but I saw it styled well in one magazine) or pastels. Mostly beige melange, beige with hint of olive. It's more of a choice for spring though.