music television

Best Coast's new music video, "Our Deal," is basically a who's who of people whose work I love.

Directed by Drew Barrymore.

Starring Chloe Moretz (Dirty Sexy Money, (500) Days of Summer, Kick Ass, Let Me In), alongside Donald Glover (Community, Mystery Team) and Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development, Whip It, State of Grace).

I've played it no less than a dozen times. Whoever did the styling did a fantastic job. It's completely fifties inspired but with punk leanings. Such a gorgeous video.

Get More: MTV Supervideo, Music, Best Coast

Besides being brilliant, it makes me so nostalgic for the MTV of yesteryear. When they played music videos instead of crappy reality television nonstop, and people made music videos that were creative and worth watching frequently enough for it not to be surprising when one came along.

in search of brogues

I searched for the perfect pair of brogues for years. Seriously. From my teens into my early twenties. I was obsessed, a completely batshit crazy shoe lady.

--Tan, not dark brown, not light tan
--Five rows of eyelets, four simply wouldn't do
--Leather exterior, lining and sole; they had to last years and years
--Cap toe, with no actual brogue detailing
--Sturdy but not bulky or vaguely orthopedic
--Brogues/lace ups/oxfords/insert appropriate term, but definitely not some hyper feminised interpretation of that (=jazz shoes)

Despite having very specific ideas about what I wanted, I bought so many pairs of shoes in pursuit of my ideal pair. Topshop, Office, Pied a Terre, Via Spiga, thrifted men's oxfords. Fortunately I was able to return some and re-sell others on eBay. That being said there are still three pairs languishing in my little sister's closet (they'll be part of a clearout I've been talking about having for months).

Finally earlier this year I spotted a pair of Church's brogues on the Outnet.

Church's.

Outnet.

They were tan.

After grappling with myself about what size I'd actually be, I bought them. They weren't exactly what I was looking for but they are absolutely divine.

I've worn them all of three times though. Apart from those rare occasions they've been stuffed with paper, tucked in their individual dust bags, in a box, stowed away in a corner of my closet...for safe keeping. Because clearly they're magic. Sadly, I'm not really joking.

I really wanted to savor them.

That didn't work out very well. I brought them on a trip to New York to wear on my birthday. I walked a couple of blocks from the hotel to Le Pain for brunch before realising there was no way I would be able to trek about the city for the day wearing them. They needed to be broken in.

I changed into a pair of Steve Madden loafers and silently cursed myself. They didn't go nearly so well with my dress. My mother agreed, telling me so unprompted (in her usual fashion).

I've decided to be greedy with them instead and in that vein have worn them twice in the past week. And while I still love them dearly, they are a bitch to break in.

I'm no longer consumed with this obsession (much to the relief of those around me), but I forever have my eye out for another quality pair.

baby you've got to be more discerning...

Me: Please tell me a Mexican dress that makes me look 11 months pregnant is not something my wardrobe needs no matter how badly I've been wanting one. 

[Apr 3 2:24pm]

Nicole: You don't need it!!! 

[Apr 3 4:56pm]

Me: I just imagined the look you'd give me if you were there in person and I walked away. 

[Apr 3 5:19pm]

Oh Land - Rainbow (live on Big Ugly Yellow Couch)

Dreamy electro-pop.

Her album dropped this week and has been in heavy rotation since. I sing along in my car, make other people sample tracks, and dance around my room to it.

girl with four eyes

I've decided I'm due a new pair of glasses. For the past two going on three years I've been wearing a sweet pair of vintage Ray Ban Wayfarers. But I'm seeing them everywhere and regularly being asked whether my glasses are real (they are, I'm blind as a bat without them).

I love the whole retro, vintage, nerdy aesthetic though so these Tom Ford glasses would be a perfect alternative.

listening to: oh land - lean

Lykke Li - I Know Places (Live on the Moon)

Lykke Li + Adele

I have such love for their debut albums--both of which were the soundtrack to my life at one point. Putting on make up, drinking, getting ready to go out in search of adventures? Youth Novels. Riding the bus, catching the tube, tuning out other people and tourists while shopping, or feeling homesick for London because you're getting ready to leave? 19.

Both albums define a specific year of my life which lends even more weight to their greatness for me. I wondered how their next endeavors would measure up.

How could anything be as epic, lovelorn and grand as Youth Novels? And how do you follow up 19?

You grow up apparently.

LYKKE LI - WOUNDED RHYMES

a natural evolution

Wounded Rhymes is a darker and grittier progression from where Lykke Li left off with Youth Novels. No longer coy and girlish but brash and bold. This isn't anymore obvious than in her first single "Get Some" where she purrs, 'don't pull your pants before I get down [...] I'm your prostitute, you gon' get some.'

"Dream of times when you were mine...sadness is a blessing, sadness is my boyfriend, oh sadness I'm your girl." Still lovelorn and lush and full of wishful longing, but now reminiscent of a sixties girl group meets Joni Mitchell but hungrier.

She's just as appealing and fierce when she's making softer, more wistful propositions a la "I Know Places", a pared down acoustic affair not unlike "Tonight".

It's an album of contradictions but it never once feels false or inorganic.

Rating: Amazing. Invest in the vinyl and bemoan the fact that you won't get to see her live.

ADELE - 21

growing pains

I've been listening to her performance of 'Someone Like You' on Jools Holland obsessively for months now and was positive 21 was going to be every bit as brilliant. After the opening track, "Rolling In The Deep", a thundering, big number evocative of the Ronettes or the Supremes or [insert suitable 60s girl group here]; I was sure this album was going to surpass 19.

Only it didn't. It stutters and stumbles along--veering from forgettable songs to bland ballads until suddenly a song so good it hurts appears ("Set Fire To The Rain" "One and Only").

This album's great flaw though is poor production values. Adele's voice is muted on some tracks not nearly as dramatic and effective as she's been in the past. "Someone Like You", which closes the album, is a shadow or more accurately a tarted up version of its original self. "Do You Remember" falls victim to the same problems. The live acoustic versions (offered as bonus tracks on some versions of the album) are stunning, and 21 would be a completely different record had they been used.

When unhindered by slick production or Adele's new found inspiration (the American south, Lady Antebellum, etc), the music is timeless and shows just how much she's grown in the intervening years since 19.

Rating: Fairly good. Stick with the copy your friend burnt for you and shell out to see her live when she's touring this summer.

They'll both be doing Unplugged Sessions--Adele for VH1 (you can watch online now) and Lykke Li for MTV (it won't air until next month)--to promote their new albums.