AUGUST 2012 MIX

I made a mix of music that's been on repeat for me these past couple of weeks.
My first mix and it's gotten 30+ likes and 260 plays! Listen to it on 8tracks here.



I Can Make You Love Me - British India
Bad Kids - Argentina
Surrender - Ball Park Music
You've Got Something - The Jungle Giants
You, Me, Backseat - Microwave Jenny
Survival Expert - Something for Kate
Steal Money - The Belligerents
We Used to Wait - Arcade Fire
I'm Gonna Make it Better - She & Him
Stuck on the Puzzle - Alex Turner
Kettering - The Antlers
Michicant - Bon Iver
Cocoon - Stu Larsen
The Mortal Boy King - The Paper Kites

HOW TO: MAKE AN IRON ON SHIRT

After falling in love with Belle & Sebastian, I wanted a shirt with their 'Dear Catastrophe Waitress' album cover on it. Not available on their store, I decided to make it myself! Here are the easy steps for making your own Iron-on print shirt.

You will need:

• Image
• Inkjet printer
• Inkjet transfer paper (I bought mine at Oxlades for $5.20 a sheet. They are available at most art and sewing stores. There are different kinds for dark and lighter fabrics, so make sure you get the right one for your shirt.)
• Shirt (I bought the Boyfriend T-Shirt on ASOS for $16)
• Iron and Ironing board

Instructions:

1. Print image onto paper. Try first on a scrap piece of paper to make sure the colours are correct, and the whole image fits on the A4 sheet. Make sure you use an Inkjet printer (not a laser) so the ink soaks into the paper properly. The image will appear exactly as you print it, so don't worry about printing it flipped if it has text.
2. Cropping. Cut the image around the edge of what you want on the shirt.
3. Iron shirt and placement. Iron your shirt so there are no wrinkles in it and lay it flat on the ironing board. Then, remove the backing on your sheet of transfer paper and place the image exactly where you want it to appear on the shirt. Place brown paper sheet (which should be included when you buy the paper) over the image.
4. Ironing. Put your iron on the highest setting without steam. Iron in circles, through brown paper, for 60-90 seconds until image is firmly attached to shirt.

COLLAGE CRAFTERNOON

After running Collage Crafternoons with my friends for a while now (see their creations here), I decided to make a public event so everyone can get crafty together, as well as raising money for a good cause.

Where: White Box Gallery, Queensland College of Art, Southbank QLD.
When: September 30th, 1-5pm.
Cost: $10. To purchase tickets click here.
Rsvp: Not required, but can be done on the Facebook event page.

There will be acoustic performances by Corduroy Club, O' Little Sister and Wafia Al-Rikabi, and all materials will be provided. All profits raised are going to Brisbane Youth Service.

Hope to see you there!

4 WALLS MUSIC FESTIVAL

4 walls is a yearly festival held run by Youth Music Industries. It's 8 hours of solid music. This year I saw Tundra, The Vernons, The Belligerents, Mountains, Bandito Folk, Cub Scouts, Moonshine Sally, Millions, Avaberee, The Medics, Stu Larsen and The Paper Kites. The Medics, Mountains and The Paper Kites were my favourites. The Medics are insane - the drummer Jindhu running up the crowd and onto the sound box in the final song, Joseph. Mountains is Tom Eggert from Cold and Need's side project, his voice is soft and he plays with vocal effects to make a beautiful sound. The Paper Kites are, as per my previous post, a fairytale. At the end of the day we went to The Paper Kites signing, had a chat, and I told them I reviewed their last show. Leadman Sam said he had read the review and it was nice and offered me a review spot at their next show. Best day.

THE PAPER KITES LIVE @ ALHAMBRA LOUNGE

Header by FasterLouder.

Friday 20th July, 2012 is the last show of The Paper Kites’ Heavy Rein tour. The show is sold out, the line outside stretching the whole block.

Inside, there is a relaxed atmosphere. There’s a bustle of voices, clinking glasses and lamps and candles lighting the room. The Phoncurves provide music to start the night. The female duo are a quirky pair. They are soft and melodic, with sweet voices humming ‘do’s’ and ‘ahh’s’ as the crowd fills the room.

Patrick James and his band have a similar folk/acoustic sound to The Paper Kites. Their set is completed with three part harmonies, a beret and a banjo. The band is all males, which works especially well in their third songStay where they sing in unison, finishing the song with a line from Bon Iver’s For Emma. In Shine they invite Christina Lacy from The Paper Kites up to sing a duo with Patrick.

The Paper Kites have filled the club with a crowd by the time they enter. They start their set with the familiar strums of their track Featherstone. In the quieter moments, you can hear the crowd singing along to their reminiscent lyrics. Frontman Sam Bentley has a certain unique and beautiful quality in his voice. Bar a few songs, their set is almost completely new material – songs from their upcoming EP Young North. Though the crowd does not know the new songs, they are full attention to the group as they perform. Their songs are like lullabies, each as captivating as the one before. A stand-out track was a new song that Sam explained was about his Grandpa Joe who built a house for his wife. The song explores the feelings of living in that house alone after her passing, and is performed with honest emotion. The interaction with the crowd is courteous. At one stage, Sam orders a beer from the bar as he stands on the stage. The beer is passed forward until it reaches him and the crowd breaks out in applause. When the band perform Bloom, Alhambra falls silent. The song is romantic and delicate and full of love. His voice is ambient and echoes across the crowd, as they stand still, their eyes fixed forward and captured in the music. The woman next to me who walked down the isle to the song smiles in excitement. The next song, Paint, is brilliant. Written about Sam writing on the roof with invisible paint in a previous relationship, it tells tales about moving on, but the reminders left of those before. The encore is a cover of Feist’s Comfort Me.

The whole night feels magical. With such wonder, The Paper Kites performance is truly fairytale material.

I wrote this review for FasterLouder, view it here