Clare Halls' Recent Postings

I confess, I am actually a noise addict. I hate silence. I need some kind of beat or melody going on in the background otherwise I feel uneasy and find life much more harder than it already is. Slight exaggeration. Not.

Fortunately, the essential flow of sound that my ears require is easily provided for by my little boom box radio. And to keep things simple I just have it tuned into Radio 1, which to a large extent plays, I think it's fair to say, commercial chart music. After seven o'clock it gets alternative and all the rad DJs come out and play the freshest music, which will inevitably end up on daytime rotation in a month or so.

It was on Zane Lowe's show that I heard the following track, and I think it was his 'Hottest Record in the World Today' or something. Calvin Harris' 'I'm Not Alone' really struck me as an innovative and current piece of music - in keeping with the new-wave of nu-rave and all the electro based bands that Sony is churning out, but adding an authentic touch of euphoric perfection into the mix. Basically, it's an awesome song: Zane said so, I said so and then the UK said so and it was number one.

The fundamental flaw of the listening UK population however, is that they really do not get the whole Calvin Harris experience without hearing this song when it comes on in a club. Seriously, with a copious amount of volume, this track is faultless. The build up single-handedly makes the world a better place. I would strongly recommend trying it out!

If you do get to witness it, be sure to look around the room for the hundreds of faces lighting up and marvel at the countless people making a wonky 'T' shape with their hands. Magical.

Other culprits of the same crime include: Dizzee Rascal's 'Bonkers',  Rudenko's 'Everybody' and Benny Benassi's 'Satisfaction'.

Oh and if you like the original of 'I'm Not Alone', you should check out the Deadmau5 remix for sure. Everything that man touches turns to gold!
The first episode of The Hoff: When Scott Came To Stay aired on Living TV last night and I have to say, it was brilliant. Quality telly!

I find Scott Mills (Radio 1 DJ) hilarious anyway, but on this he really exceeded my expectations, as did the Hoff. The basic story behind it basically that Scott got one of David's singles to number one through his Radio show and then he got invited to stay with his 'idol' in LA for a week. Not the kind of offer you would turn down, really. So off he went!

Oh and in case you were wondering, yes,  Hasselhoff does actually have a music career but the majority of those fans are in Germany. He has a whole wall of shiny disks in his house!

Despite a major case of jet-lag Scott did a great job of getting the crazy life that the Hoff lives down on film and although most of it was filled with Hoffmania in Las Vegas and on jet skis (on the beach that Baywatch was filmed!!) he even managed to find time to sit and chat to him about what is closest to his heart and stuff. That stuff was mostly to do with his daughters and their music career but I have a feeling next week will expand on that.




In other news, I am currently hooked on America's Next Top Model. They're down to the bottom three now - exciting stuff!! I know who I want to win. Tyra is a badass.

Also, Zac Efron's new film 17 Again is out tomorrow, you MUST have seen the advert. It's on every 2 minutes. Rest assured I will be in the cinema in the next few days getting my fix of Efron and teen comedy cheese.... I still haven't come to terms with the fact that there will not be another High School Musical.

Oh and finally, I must announce that I have finally come to terms with Twitter, and I love it.

The new Mr Scruff track is WEIRD.
I didn't actually get to the end of my previous blog. I was in a booked-out room in the library and the people after me got there and I just saved what I had done thinking I could edit it later but alas, that was not the case.

Now then. Spotify! It's basically the newest music sharing application that is tipped to be massive and I don't doubt that because it's free music. Everyone likes free stuff and most people like music. Those that don't can ROFL on.

It does upset me a bit that the physical CD is rapidly making an exit because I like the whole package that comes with them. I'm not even over tapes though! Cassettes currently in rotation in my car are: Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Take That, N'Sync and the Zombie Nation single. The latter still had the price sticker left on the case, and I bought that from HMV for £2.49!! That sounds like a lot to me for a single, especially then. So when you think that on Spotify I can play the same single for free whenever I feel like it does seem like a better deal- especially as it also offers a Kernkraft 400 Megamix!!

The day they invent Spotify for cars will be amazing.


In other news, I have a MASSIVE High School Musical obsession, I have to come up with entertainment stories in Warrington (of all places) for Journalism and now have three weeks left to tank out my dissertation!
YO. There are a number of things I feel I should use this space for. First and foremost - shameless self plugging.

This is the link for my first ever mini-mag, STRIFE. Everything by me! (Apart from the drop dead ad - I had to fill 2 pages so it printed equally or something so that was what I used.)

You can obviously tell its amateur but it was a good way of learning how to use In-Design and actually opened my eyes to a whole new area of journalism. And as a result of that I am even contemplating persuing design as a career when I graduate. Then there's the worry that magazines are dying etc... but whatever, I shall take it online.

Next on the agenda is the newest gadget on my desktop: SPOTIFY! My friend Becki sent me an invite so I don't know the ins and outs of signing out really but seriously, you need it in your life.

It is slightly darker and simpler than itunes, allows you to make play lists and search for music as you would expect. But it's all free. Yep, free.

The tiny catch here is that an advert gets played between about every ten songs or so. But for a free stream of almost unlimited music you can't grumble. I did find that lesser known bands on indie labels are yet to be added to the list.
For those of you that are musically illiterate in the alternative field of noise, Johnny Truant were in fact a very awesome metal band from Brighton so my first post here is not as crude as you may have first thought.

WHY DO ALL MY FAVORITE BANDS DIE?!

The Gorgeous, Bossk, Mea Culpa, The Panic, Hondo Maclean, Her Words Kill to name just a few. And now Johnny Truant. WHY! THERE WAS NO NEED! THEY JUST TOURED CANADA! AND THE VOCALIST WAS SEXY IN A SWEATY AGGRESSIVE WAY! DAMN!

When I move to Brighton next year I will be hoping for some fresh noise, so get some projects started boys!

In other news: I have a stinkin' cold, some horrible person stole my dictaphone, I have started to manage a band (more to follow), and I have been writing reviews for the Daily Music Guide.

I'm also trying to put together content for my own mini-mag for a journalism module and at some point will be starting my dissertation.

I wanna go back to the med for a few months. Have I digressed? Yes. Farewell Johnny Truant, you will be missed.