This week has mainly just been work orientated, moving house and unpacking. Musically I have managed to entertain myself none the less. So here are a few little bits of ear happiness.

I Blame Coco

This lady will be hitting up Camden Crawl which I have just bought tickets for. I heard it played a few times on the radio but not sure it was this version. I have always been quite a fan of Robyn so to have her featured here is great. I feel her vocals add to this a whole depth. I am looking forward to hearing other material by her. I will certainly be ready for some serious dancing. Oh and I would like my hair to be like Robyn’s. Ta!

Marina and the Diamonds

It was with a slightly unsure click that I embarked upon The Family Jewels, the debut album from Marina Diamandis. Now however I am thoroughly happy that I did. She has produced a musical treat of Pop that is smattered with darkness. It may seem sickly sweet at times but the elements gather together elegantly. If you haven’t had a listen then do. Yes you might hate it but its certainly worth a listen.

The Dead Weather

Horehound is probably up there as one of my favourite albums of 2009. I found it after my Uncle (always the cool one) sent me a text telling me just how much I needed to listen to it. So I did just that. There is something fully edgy about it. I Cut Like Buffalo pretty much epitomises the album for me. I am pretty much determined to see these guys live sometime.

What tracks have you been hitting hard this week? Anything that I should be listening to?

Link love for the week just gone. These stories have had me feeling inspired or just plain entertained.

Design Assembly on Grafik the lovely Matt Judge heads up an interview about the design blog he founded. Worth a read to see what inspires him

Its (not) all about the music – what to wear at a festival at Code For Something is a nice little round up of practical but stylish outfits for the festival season. Having just bought tickets for Kings of Leon at Hyde Park I was really feeling this post.

The Sartorialist – Graphic Chic I love love love both of these outfits. That skirt just pops. Delicious!

Youth, Excess and the Indie Film Soundtracks at Little White Lies is a good little discussion on why soundtracking is so vital to indie cinema. The films mentioned all how fabulous soundtracks, checking it out and have a listen and maybe you can suggest some more for me.

Wallpaper* and Swatch Collaboration we need your votes! You even get entered into a draw where you could win a watch. Pretty good deal for 10 seconds of your time.

The Brits happened this week as you no doubt already know (or were you living under a rock?) I didn’t watch it but I made sure to catch up with the highlights one of which that I was most impressed with was You’ve Got The Dirtee Love the awesome mash-up of Dizzee Rascal and Florence and the Machine. Excellent stuff.

On that note have a fabulous weekend. Hopefully your Friday will fly by.

Photographer Saga Sig has a lovely blog that I came across whilst stalking my way through Flickr recently. Her imagery and vision come across with a distinct fantasy feel, and her models often have this look that is so etheral and raw.

As a Fashion Photography student her portfolio is a host of delicious images and I really look forward to seeing what the future has in store for her.

Read her blog here

Mark Peckmezian has photos that make me wish I could pick up a camera right away and go shoot life. There is something very nostalgic about them. I think that the amount of black and white photography on here shows that I am a bit of a sucker for it. These certainly help to solidify that.

I am an avid reader of fashion blogs, despite my own sense of style often edging on non-existant I love to see how others throw together their outfits everyday. The blog world has been taken over by guys and girls alike showing off how they have teamed the latest James Campbell shoes with their favourite vintage dress. Its great fun and pretty inspiring. Along with that there are some damn nice photos out there.

So on that note I thought I would introduce over a few posts my favourites.

Karla’s Closet has fast become a bit of a favourite for me. Her blog tends to be photos of her outfits and then any inspirational magazine tears that she has found. There are occasionally pretty interesting “days out” photos, such as trips to flea markets etc but really its just about her clothes as the name of the blog would suggest. Karla has some beautiful clothes, always in such radiant shades. Her selection of blazers is something I greatly envy and as for her accessories… wow. Her shoe’s are lush. I adore her Cholé boots. Lovely.

Now how to get her wardrobe on my budget? I think I need to work on it. Oh and her hair. Nice!

Now back last year I had the pleasure of getting my first intern at Wallpaper* and as luck would have it I was sent a talented young chap called Tom. What I loved about Tom was his talent when he got behind the camera. I loved looking through his pictures. He has a whole mighty set of stunning photos over on flickr and not only that he is also a contributer The Style Press. On top of that his photographs are now getting picked up by the likes of Icon_ology. Pretty sweet.

I just thought I should let you know.

Now this is somewhat inspired by a post by Aimee-Marie and her lovely post about Rock and Roll Bride (which I have to say is a truely fantastic site) but basically I have fallen in love with weddings.

Now I can safely say I am not one of those girls who you find drooling over wedding brochures, partly due to not having any love in my life of which to garner hope for these things and also partly down to that just not being my style. I like to look at pictures and be rather impressed and then get distracted by the next shiny thing. However when looking at the above mentioned sites I came across Jill Thomas’ photography and the photos for her brother’s wedding and I couldn’t let this one pass.

Now I have to admit that these are possibly the two most photogenic people ever but that aside I just love the style, the fun, the energy that are contained within each picture. Also where can you go wrong wearing some hot pink sunglasses and pink deckshoes with your gown. Retro. So tasty.

It is a testament to Jill’s talent that all images on her site are of such great standard. I also happened across the engagement photos for the couple and they are equally lovely. Not only that but they prove that wedding photography need not be something that is frowned upon as a profession. Its a fantastic opportunity to create something that reflects the couple, that can be timeless and treasurable.

Under the Street is a collection of photos on the popular site Flickr. For their year round up Flickr picked out their best. I love the above two pictures. I find that they both are so suggestive of the environment whilst also making the viewer want to know more.

Its some beautiful viewing.

Now you know with a place like this you’d never have to worry about asking the time. With four 14-foot-high clock faces impacting upon your open plan living area you’d more than certainly never have an excuse for leaving the house late, that is unless you were stuck looking at the view each window provided you with.

The ClockTower Building in Dumbo, Brooklyn has just gone on the market for a mere $25 million (the highest ever recorded price for a Brooklyn property) and offers the owner 3 floors of luxurious living.

With each picture I fall more and more in love with the place. Imagine how amazing it would be to ride the elevator up to the top floor and hang out on the ‘bird’s nest’, or sit drinking a coffee whilst looking out over that view of Brooklyn Bridge.

Images: ©:2009 Angel Franco/The New York Times
Article : The New York Times

So it’s time to look at the year and think about what has come and gone and give my highlights an airing. So 2009. My my what a year. I guess one way of looking at it is through my musical adventure.

A key feature for me was the introduction of Spotify. The Swedish born software brought new musical horizons. The ability to stream music for free from any computer anywhere wasn’t exactly a new idea with other developers creating the sites of pandora, last.fm and hype machine. Spotify however allowed a user to search a database of millions of tracks by thousands of artists. Albums could be played in full, added to playlists or sourced from a top tracks list. Users also had the ability to share music with any other spotify user.

The only real downside for me was the adverts, “jonathon” from spotify quickly became a much detested element of the spotify machine but really it was mainly seen in a tongue-in-cheek attack and many can deal with the ads so long as the music is free.

None-the-less as someone who rather enjoys music I have happily taken to spotify. It has a catalogue that allows me to not only play old favourites but also discover new music as recommended by others. Mumford and Sons debut album was one such treat, I was happily introduced to Metric and their fantastic album ‘Fantasies’, Yeah Yeah Yeahs much anticipated ‘Zero’ certainly proved the wait was worth it. The XX were one of my favourite break through acts along with the Temper Trap who to this day have been a true festival highlight.
Speaking of which I revisited the Mystery Jets after a sensational set at Field Day.

Gigs wise I managed to squeze a few in with the likes of the All American Rejects, Lily Allen, Kate Voegele, Jack’s Mannequin and Lady Hawke. It’s been fun for sure. 2010 already has plenty in store with Vampire Weekend’s ‘Contra’ due in January, and The XX tour in March and no doubt plenty more but until then here is a playlist of my years adventures. Enjoy!

2009 Its All Over

I know I’m a bit late in the game, what with this work being plastered all over blogs of late but for my own personal record I wanted to just take a moment to acknowledge the greatness that are these posters by Exergian.

Currently available at Blanka these would be ideal gifts for a tv geek like myself. I have to say that my favourite is the interpretation for Six Feet Under. Damn good…

Also another of Blanka’s featured designers has now brought out check out type tumps 2. The second round of the type card game have finally come in stock at Magma and the Design Museum just in time for Christmas. Created by the lovely Rick Banks these cards are a stroke of genius. I’m not in the slightest bit suprised at how successful they have been.