Welcome to the world of Mac and Les Paul and Ellipsis *NEWS*

Hello! Late blog! OOPS! So the past few weeks have been hectic as I am appearing in a production of 'We Will Rock You' as Killer Queen and it is coming to the end of the process now and I've not stopped running around like a headless futuristic chicken.

Firstly I want to talk about how I've just purchased myself a Macbook! For the past year since I've been with Ellipsis its been a world of Garage Band, Logic, Pro Tools (All music recording software) and basically me slobbering every time I saw a Mac and finally I am running not only Snow Leopard but I have dual booted it so I can also run Windows and effectively have the best of both worlds! I am already running Logic and working on getting Pro Tools soon. Logic Studio is going to take me forever to work out how to run but I have Garage Band to see my recording needs through until I have it down.



Now I really wanna talk about and amazing documentary I saw last week, Les Paul: Live in New York. Most people know Les Paul as a guitar brand but I'm talking about the person who created this guitar. Lester William Polsfuss was born in 1915 and up to the day he died in 2009 he was STILL playing. And not playing to sell out massive arenas hunting for money and eternal fame or doing special one off shows to gather tens of thousands of fans.. but he was playing in a small Jazz club on a Monday night in New York EVERY WEEK. Someone who suffers from arthritis as well as a whole bunch of degenerative disorders but he loved what he did so much that he carried on. His sense of humour was impeccable and it was almost a comedy show with some amazing Jazz, Blues and really classic Rock 'n' Roll. He gathered a full house every week and for a 90 year old man he had more energy than I do. And 18 year old on the cusp on my music career. I just hope I turn out like him.

Ellipsis will be playing The Roadhouse in Manchester May 27th and I'm really looking forward to playing!

Follow me on Twitter @muvabitch
Follow my band @ellipsis_band

Imogen Heap, civil partnership me.

I suppose looking at it commercially, Adele is one of the biggest ispirations to female vocalists out there at the moment. And I don't fault her I really don't she is amazing and has a lot of depth that everyone can relate to but I want to talk about the artist I feel is overlooked in the music industry quite a bit.


Imogen Heap

Imogen Heap started in the mid 90's in a band called Acasia and although I guarentee most people who read this (if ever) wouldn't be able to recall any of this bands work. I can, but I only discovered it after I discovered Imogen Heap. Imogen Heap was more well known for her work with the band Frou Frou but this is not where I think her best work was done. Imogen Heap as a soloist is absolutely without any doubt one of the best musician's of my lifetime (so far). Her album iMegaphone is a mix of Electronica and pop that makes some kind of freak elctop baby. Everything she writes, records and prodcuces mainly herself with little help from outside partys and it really shows in her raw work that sounds absolutely perfect the way it is. A lifetimes dream of mine as a singer/songwriter is that I would meet her to pick her brain one day (infact I hope she accidentally stumbles on this whilst googling her own name out of curosity and thinks what the hell. A girl can dream heh?). Getting back to iMegaphone, 'Come Here Boy' a track from the album, is the first song I ever heard by Heap and I was instantly hooked and bought all her work. Anyway, I could ramble on all day about Imogen Heap and I hope to review her new work as soon as I get a good collection of songs.
Imogen Heap is currently working on a 'concept' album where people send her in different sounds and she records a track over a two week period every 3 months and releases it immediately. She has recently brought out 'Lifeline' Source - Wikipedia and Imogen Heaps official website

Imogen Heap's 'Hide and Seek' was recently used in a remix, and all of a sudden more people seemed to be listening to her music. But I really wish Heap was advertised more so I could share my love for her with a thousand other people. Although as a musician myself I appreciate she probably has the perfect career as a musician, making a good living, has a good following without the hassle of mega fame. So, I take it back, this amazing woman actually has it all.

Come Here Boy (1998)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggcTEQaTpd8&feature=related

CHERRY GHOST, YOUTUBE AND FESTIVAL SEASON!

These past two weeks have been a mixture of mental and paint dry boring. First off I decided I needed to broaden my music library even more from 103 albums on my ITunes to at least 150 hundred so I'd have a massive amount of new music to listen to and find something I'd love. I found Cherry Ghost.

Cherry Ghost have a slight 'Editors' sound with a massive edge. They write relatable memorable lyrics and melodies that made me want to listen more. As I want to make this a short blog as it is 1:30am that is all i'll say on them for now. (so great to use HTML again...)



I am currently planning a venture into the YouTube community. Music is allot to put out there for myself and since I'm only just starting to take learning the guitar seriously, I'm sure it's going to have some shocking results. I'm stuck in a rut of same strumming pattern, refusing to try barre chords, refusing to sting pick instead of strum and I have no ability to learn chords past A, Am, Asus2, Bm7, Bm, C, C7, D, Dm, D7, Dsus, E, Em, E7, Esus, F (the non barre version and I still struggle with it.) G, G7. Now, That sounds a lot but all of sus and 7th's I learnt this week. Transition is still a little off but I'm sure I'll get there. Never the less I am planning to start my venture into YouTube within the next month at some point.



So festival season starts this month with FOM in my hometown of Manchester, Unfortunately I can't afford to go (story of my life), The Buzzcocks, one of my personal all time favourite bands are playing so I think it's going to be an amazing weekend that I will be catching up with online. My festival of choice this year will be Wakestock in Abersoch. Biffy Clyro to headline and with acts like Ellie Goulding, Chase and Status and The Wombats I was there for its well priced £125 weekend ticket (the say weekend but its actually Thursday - Monday). And although a girl can dream to have endless money so I could attend the festival to end all festivals Glastonbury I guess I'm gonna be there but in living room spirit. I'm more than excited for this last summer whilst permanently living in Manchester.

Well this first blog experience wasn't so bad after all.

Chloe