Posts tagged style
Be Someone not Something
Mar 17th
“How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.”
Coco Chanel
I love this quote not only because of what it says but because in my own ignorance I had perceptions about CoCo Chanel. I imagined someone like CoCo Chanel would be all about shallowness and glamour. But she was a savvy businesswoman.
And smart.
And she understood not only branding (before there was such a thing called branding).
And she had a sense of style about herself we could all learn from.
And, finally, she understood responsibility of fame.
I probably put her in the same category as Shirley Temple Black (she became one of the first prominent women to speak openly about breast cancer and was a Representative to the General Assembly of the United Nations) and Audrey Hepburn (UNICEF and her dedication to helping impoverished children in the poorest nations). These were women who were famous for glamour or entertainment and used it, and their smarts, to be something rather than someone.
Moloko on Jools Holland – Song “Forever More”
Mar 3rd
Forever More is on the CD Statues by Moloko.
Later…with Jools Holland is one of those random shows that appears on Ovation and has five bands on at the same time (kind of like a concert in the round) and each of the bands crank out two or three songs during the hour long show).
The show I just saw was older but it opened with a band I had never heard of before Moloko. Wow. They were good. Very good. They opened with this song Forever More which is almost a jazz fusion hip hop techno disco song. The lead singer, Róisín Murphy, has some of the Natalie Merchant gypsy energy on stage and a husky voice. (I will write a little later because Moloko broke up in 2003 or so and she is now solo)
Anyway. High energy group with a nifty sound.
And now Róisín Murphy is back with a solo career. She not only has a great voice and sound but she is also a fashionista changing outfits onstage between songs in concert (some flunkey appearing every now and then to grab discarded accessories and bring more). Besides Slash, she must be the only person out there with a hat roadie. As a fashionista she says “I don’t wear clothes thoughtlessly. I like them to have meaning.”
This link showcases Roisin in all her fashion glory.
Musically she keeps getting compared to Kylie Minogue (which really pisses her off). Where the Australian princess fizzes with showgirl affability in disco spangles, Dublin born Róisín, is a more aloof figure, languidly androgynous in sculpted Viktor & Rolf fashion clothes. Kylie sings songs about chocolate and cotton candy. Róisín sings songs about Oxycontin (the neurotransmitter said to be responsible for love she says).
Nevertheless, I can see why industry people make comparisons, because when it comes to crowd-pleasing club tunes and anthemic disco, Róisín’s new album proves she can match Kylie.
Her second solo electronic CD, Overpowered, is catchy and commercial and a far cry from her first solo album, Ruby Blue, released in 2005 and was widely described as “bizarre”. It was promoted using a picture of Róisín dressed in armor milking a cow in the Alps, and by her own admission she “would go into the studio and grunt and then we’d do a great song around it.”
It certainly earned her a reputation for willful eccentricity.
“I’m eccentric maybe, but not willful, and I wish people would stop calling me an edgy, avant-garde, left-field icon as if that were a bad thing,” Róisín says.
When performing, one moment she’s cultivating the untouchable aura of a Hitchcock blonde, the next she’s stage-diving into the audience in a Vivienne Westwood ball gown.
“Am I contradictory? No,” she says. Then, contradicting herself, “Yes. Maybe I compartmentalize myself.” (I love this woman and the whole contradiction thing)
She is a really interesting woman. Róisín, who has a history of philosophy from Aristotle to Alan Turing on her iPod, seldom does anything thoughtlessly. She’s fascinated by science, and says it feeds her songwriting imagination.
“You have to keep your mind open to ideas.” “It’s like taking a pile of vegetables and fruit: when you put them in the juicer all you get is a dribble out of the other end, but it’s rich and potent.”
Awesome stuff. Who thinks of crap like this to say? Reports must love her.
Anyway. Let Me Know is the song to listen to from her second solo album, Overpowered ( a 2007 album). Written and produced by Murphy and Andy Cato of Groove Armada.
Watch Jools Holland on Ovation. Every once in awhile you catch a new band that captures your interest and you can be sure you will catch a familiar band and they sound awesome.
