I’m Still Beautiful: Music & Fashion With A Passion

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“Giving back is always in style,

and now is the time to start.”

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Flavor of the Week: The Heavy (How You Like Me NOW?!?)

In Noid, a tiny hamlet situated to the south west of Bath, some of the most dangerous and ill-sounding beats and riffs are being created by four wolflike personalities. The Heavy started out ripping and chopping beats from the likes of Bo Diddley, Little Walter and The Parliaments and fusing them with their now-patented brand of high grade dirt. Guitar riffs that intoxicate, bass lines that reverberate around your head like a King Jammy dream, and vocals that will challenge any of the genres they decide to take on.

Trendspotter: Mod Prints + Clap Tracks Making a Comeback?

Throwback Thursday: The Faces

The Rock term “Supergroup” is one usually reserved for bands like The Yardbirds, Blind Faith, Traveling Wilbury’s, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the like. Most people wouldn’t immediately recognize the British rock band, The Faces, as being a part of that conversation.

Flavor of the Week: Aloe Blacc

Orange County MC, Soul Singer, and multi-instrumentalist Aloe Blacc is blowing up, and rightfully so. The 90’s Hip Hop veteran (Emanon) is back with his most organic release to date, and his latest with Stone’s Throw Records.

Throwback Thursday: Linda Keith

In the spring of 1966, a beautiful, well educated, music obsessed (traveled with her blues 45s), 20 year old aspiring model and girlfriend of Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards, walked into The Cheetah Club in New York. On stage was a little known NYC act named Curtis Knight and the Squires, playing for a smattering of less than 40 people in the 2000+ sized room.

Flavor of the Week: Lord Huron

The LA-based Michigan-transplant Ben Schneider is back with his second Lord Huron EP, Mighty (the follow-up to his debut EP, Into The Sun). This world traveler gives us four songs, independently released, with carib-afro influenced rhythms lying under a bed of rich harmonies and Sufjan-esque melodies …Love.

Listen to “Mighty” by Lord Huron

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Want to suggest a band for our next Flavor of the Week? Send it here.

Cover Up: She & Him

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In our Cover Up posts, RCM uses the color scheme of an album cover to build an outfit! To sharpen our style skills, we’ll even attempt to match the design style or era of the album cover in our fashion choices.

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Our first ever Cover Up features a uniquely designed album cover from “Volume 1” by the girl-guy duo, She & Him. The designer used some crafty tools in building this cover (we love how the design looks like it’s screen printed onto a t-shirt!), and we’ve tried our best to mimic the playful style of the cover design in the outfit. Also, we think this outfit is just as ready to travel as the girl on the cover apparently is, so get ready to jet set in this ensemble.

Pants: These amazing red-orange cigarette pants from Urban Outfitters are a perfect color match to the background of the album. Not to mention super hot. $49.00

Shirt: This so so cute bicycle tee from CausticThreads captures the playful vibe of the cover art. $18.00

Shoes: Man, these suede pumps are just… doin’… work. This classic silhouette from Urban comes in a plethora of lovely shades, but we loved them in orange/red. $49.00

Cardigan: A cozy-looking cardi from ModCloth adds that splash of beige that we see in the “screen printed” clouds on the She & Him cover. It also makes for a warm plane ride or road trip. $29.99

Necklace: How perfect! This vintage suitcase fused glass pendant we found on Etsy is not only the perfect shade of blue, but also looks just like our little traveling girl’s suitcase! $20.00

Bag: My personal favorite from this set, this vintage brown faux leather purse from RubysRed sure beats lugging around that giant suitcase and is great for every-day. (You better snag this before I do.)  $20.00

Get the music: She & Him’s album “Vol. 1” can be snagged on iTunes for a mere $9.99. Pick it up, kids. I promise, this purchase will not sit in your closet, never to be worn.

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Got a unique, old-school, and colorful album cover to suggest for our next Cover Up? Send it here.

Boots + Roots

1. Laces High. These boots are made for walkin’, but if you wanna take them off, well, that might be a little more difficult. The influence of old-world trends in modern fashion isn’t news to most of us, but we have been noticing recently that lace-up boots of all shapes and sizes are making a major comeback. We’ve spotted many an indie-chick (or dude, even) sporting boots that look like they were popular circa 1912. (I’d be lying if I said I didn’t own a pair myself.)

Get the featured boots: Urban, Anthropologie, ModCloth

2. Roots Grooves. For this first Music TrendSpotter post, we thought we’d get our feet wet with a shout of praise to the big picture changes going on in music. Music, like fashion, trends in cycles. So here we are: Vintage and raw is now new and fresh.

The biggest thing that turns the page is when we, as a music drenched culture, get drunk on one style or trend, and then the pendulum swings back the other way. (i.e., Grunge answering the 80’s processed pop world and makeup-wearing hair rock bands).

Well today, you don’t have to go very far off the disgustingly beaten path of the pseudo Hip-Hop influenced FM radio dial to notice a very real and growing movement towards our musical roots. Everyone from rock legends to hipster icons are returning to a time when ‘groove and feel’ ruled. For example:

The Black Keys | Spin Magazine’s Artist of the Year
Robert Plant | 5 Grammys, inc. Album of the Year for “Raising Sand” w/ Alison Kraus
Avett Brothers | SOLD OUT 2010 tour, including Nokia Theatre, Radio City Music Hall, and The Ryman Auditorium on back to back nights
Jack White | White Stripes, Dead Weather, Raconteurs, 3rd Man Records
Mumford and Sons | 2011 Grammys New Artist of the Year nominee

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So, what do you think? Will you be rockin’ lace-up boots in the near future? Or maybe you’ll just stick to rockin’ the blues beats.

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If you’ve spotted a trend that you’d like to see featured on Rock Candy Music, send it our way!