The Womens Room

Style Icon: Poly Styrene

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Inspired by an early Sex Pistols gig on Hastings pier, Poly Styrene formed X-Ray Spex when she was 18 and went on to make some of the most iconic singles of the punk generation. 

Warrior in Woolworths from the brilliant Germ Free Adolescents album is on my Desert Island playlist and I still love her unique voice and brilliant sax playing (much to the teens disgust).

One of the first female punk singers, Poly Styrene was short and round, with huge hair, weird outfits and braces on her teeth. She wore second hand clothes before they became vintage and was one of my earliest style icons. 

Along with Siouxsie Sioux  and Ari Up, Poly Styrene was an unconventional role model for a generation of girls for whom style meant being individual and subversive.  Proud to be a feminist, the opening lines of her first single Bondage Up Yours summed up her attitude "Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard. Well I think, oh bondage, up yours." 

I felt so sad when I heard about her death from cancer this week, as not only did I love her music, she also she inspired me to be experimental with clothes. My favourite Poly Styrene influenced outfit as a 17 year old foundation student, included a bright pink crimpline 60's skirt suit, a yellow cardigan worn back to front, yellow tights and black and white winkle pickers. Oh how the people of Hull laughed, back in the day!!

If there is a heaven, I like to think Poly Styrene will be wearing something similar up there. RIP a true style icon.

Something nice to watch with an afternoon cup of tea: Arcade Fire

We have moved to a new site. Do come and visit us! www.thewomensroomblog.com

Click on The Wilderness Downtown to see hear the latest single by Arcade Fire and view the amazing video. It will actually take you to the street where you lived as a child. Make sure you watch it to the end - amazing!!

You might need to also download Google Chrome. 

Style icon: Chrissie Hynde

We have moved to a new site. Do come and visit us! www.thewomensroomblog.com

Despite being hard hearted, cynical been-around-the-block-and-seen-most-things fashion gals,we are big romantics here at TWR. Really, we are. So news that the deeply cool rock goddess Chrissie Hynde has been madly in love with a chap half her age and writing songs about him, truly melts our hard hearts. 

He is JP Jones, 33 year old Welsh singer, who met Chrissie at a party, after which she says she coudn't stop writing songs about him. In WWD Ms Hynde states “It was a surprise to me, We could have said, ‘We have no future. See you later.’ I didn’t need to create a new band. The band I have with the Pretenders is awesome. [But] when I sit down, I write about him.” Oh the romance of it.....

The songs turned into a new album Fidelity, out today in the US and October 18th in the UK (why?) and a new band called JP, Chrissie and the Fairground Boys. From the track My Perfect Lover, the words go  “I found my perfect lover, but he’s only half my age. He was learning how to stand when I was wearing my first wedding band.“ which sounds funny, sad and sexy all at the same time.

Somehow, this whole younger lover thing looks so much cooler when Ms Hynde does it (yes we're talking about you Madonna) because it seems a bit more authentic when it results in music and cool lyrics, but maybe that's just us. And it is Chrissie Hynde. 

We SO wanted to be Chrissie Hynde when we were teens because she was the ultimate role model for strong independant females, she showed you could be BETTER than the boys at music AND look fabulous.

There's even an sustainable fashion line coming out of the relationship, the pair of them are launching Fairground Luck, a clothing range of leather jackets, cowboy boots (Inspired by Emmylou Harris's boots) and T shirts, which will all be non-leather, as Hynde has been a committed veggie and animal rights supporter since she was 17. No date on the launch but we'll keep you posted, any excuse to dress up as a rock-chick. Here's the song If You Let Me, from the album, to keep you going. Sounds good to us, what do you think?

Trend alert: androgynous

Our fabulous fashion designer friend Mark recently told us his current favourite song is Tightrope by Janelle Monáe (featuring Big Boi) and at first, we thought it sounded a bit like the kind of thing we might be yelling at the teens to turn down. But when we heard it, we immediately loved everything about it. Not only do we love the sound, it looks amazing and makes us want to rush out and buy a black suit, white shirt, bow tie (although that might be taking it a bit too far!) and black and white brogues. Don't even get us started on the fabulous dancing. 

And isn't it great to see a gorgeous girl with some clothes on? I know I am in danger of sounding like someones nan, but the younger generation are in desperate need of some stylish (fully clothed) style icons.

The androgynous look is going to be big for Autumn/Winter 2011/12 and we can't wait.

Middleagedmum.com: thanks Tracey

Sometimes my relationship with music is a bit like my friendships. 
When you first meet and know nothing about each other, it's exciting; there is so much to discover and learn. You get on really well, are full of anticipation and hope the relationship is going to last for many years. This lasts a few months and then you might back off a little bit, but want the first flush of excitment to turn into something more solid which which will endure in years to come. 

The older you get the more certain music has associations with different stages in your life and often when the artist or band have moved on, changed direction or gone off the rails, you can feel let down and like you've lost a part of your life, that meant a lot. It's rare that musicians that you loved in your 20's, will still be making music that resonates as strongly when you are in your 40's. There is nothing more disappointing to hear that one of your favourite old bands has reformed to make a new album, only to find they have a new 'electro' sound or have become 'conceptual'. Of course simple re-creating the past is equally sad. Maybe it's all about the lyrics.

Kate Bush was 19 when she wrote The Kick Inside, which I now find amazing. The lyrics on that album, resonated in a way that no other album ever will again. It was very much a part of my adolescence and helped me through much teenage angst. I still love every song on it (although it makes my teens cry - and not with joy!). I also love her new work, and although I don't my life is reflected in her lyrics any more, I still associate with lots of her emotions.

Tracey Thorn is another artist who has been with me through most of my adult life. I loved the Marine Girls and Everything but the Girl was the soundtrack to my college years (again my house mates cringed and called her depressing). When Tracey was lost in the child yearing years, so was I. I lost my passion for music for a while, I didn't have the energy. 

But now shes back with a new album, Love and its Opposite, and I have it on a loop. She hasn't let me down. She sings about marriage, divorce, children and growing older. My favourite song is Hormones, which has the opening line, 'yours are just kicking in and mine are just checking out'.  

Oh Tracey, thank you for sticking with me and providing the sound track to my life so far...... 

Follow Tracey on Twitter.

We love: Anais Mitchell

 
A long time ago we got to know a struggling but utterly charming young musician called Anais, who on one of her tours around the UK (she's from Vermont in the US) detoured to our house and gave a concert in our shed (it's a nice shed). We liked her so much and her music was so good that we kept in touch and everytime she came to the UK to tour, we'd see her and catch up.

Well look at her now, she's gone and written herself a critically aclaimed album, Hadestown, with rave reviews in Clashmusic.com, The Word (not available on line yet, pesky subscription only link) and on Bob Harris's Radio Two (yes we DO listen to Radio Two) Saturday show and all sorts. Blimey, she might even get, y'know, famous.

She's been writing Hadestown for a while, the album is a folk opera loosely based on the Orpheus and the Underworld myth and is set in an imaginary post-apocolyptic America. It sounds heavy but it's just beautiful and the magic is enhanced by indie and folk luminaries Ani DiFranco and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver singing key parts. 

Hadestown is available to buy from Amazon on the 26th April (in the US it's already out and available from Rightous Babe records) but we'd also seriously recommend Anais's previous albums, particularly Hymns for the Exiled too

Go Anais! But remember, we loved you first

We love: cool music for small kids

How we wish we'd had these CDs when teenagesons were tiny! Jazz lullabys, Motown for kids, Ella Fitzgerald for tots, Reggae for the under fives, totally LOVE it. I remember nothing but 'the wheels on the bus' sung by some nauseating happy clappy female and 'times tables' tapes in the car, As it happens all teenagesons are rather good at maths, but it could be a coincidence.

While in the US last week we spotted these funky Music Family discs, released by Universal music a year or so ago. They feature the original artists such as Stevie Wonder and Martha and the Vandellas and the Universal reps said the CDs were for sale in the UK, but they don't appear to be on Amazon, although they are available to download on itunes, you just don't get the cool artwork on the front. Perhaps from an old fashioned music shop......

For those of you who still have kids small enough to appreciate them, or as presents for friends they are the cutest. You can listen to exerts from the various compilations on I love that song.
 

No place for a middle-age grump, Lucinda!

 

Lucinda Williams when she was blonde and not so grumpy

Live music is one of the big joys of life and we love a good gig here at The Women's Room. We first started going to see groups in pubs and clubs as teens and have progressed from sticky floors and smoky dives to proper seats and sometimes we even have house concerts at home (we've done it twice) where we hold concerts in the kitchen (huge amounts of fun and not as expensive as you'd think).

As we've got older we prefer going to concerts where seating is an option as we get a bit weary standing the whole time and also it really makes us cross if we have paid good money to see an artist and we're stuck standing behind the really tall guy. We also don't like giant size venues because we can't see the artist (we hate Wembley for this reason) and it seems a bit of a con to watch the band perform on a giant size screen, we can do that at home. We  hate people chatting in the audence (we've come to LISTEN TO MUSIC) and we love it if we get to go home before 10.00pm as that means we're tucked up in bed before 11.00pm.

But what makes us really mad is a grumpy artist, particularly one that is old enough to know better. A young Amy Winehouse making mistakes at 20 is not the same as veteran country rock singer Lucinda Williams having a bit of a strop at Shepherds Bush Empire on Monday night just because she was 'nervous'.  Lucinda is a geat singer, she's won Grammys, she's friends with Bruce Springstein (last time we saw her he joined her for the encore) and she's been around a long time. On Monday night she told us (the audience) off a number of times for taking her photo and holding up our mobile phones while she was singing, 

She acted like a grumpy old woman throughout most of the show and spent a good deal of the evening with her back to her fans, Now we we can all be grumpy old women at times, it seems to be something that happens to us as we get older (we're always having grumpy rants here at TWR as you will know), but there's a time and a place and at 56 years old, with decades of concerts behind her she knows the difference between good manners and bad behaviour. Even though the music was good, our evening was tainted by her middle-age grump. get over it Lucinda! And by the way, we prefer you with blonde hair.

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We're live from virtual Glastonbury!

So, here’s The Women’s Room blogging LIVE from virtual Glastonbury, don’t ever say we’re not down with the cool kids….Well, actually, we are sat here on sofas, in a very comfy basement screening room in Barnes watching proceedings on a movie-sized projector screen. This is as ‘real’ as we are prepared to go, being old we are rather fond of our Conran beds and high thread count cotton sheets and come 11.00pm we’re very likely to fall over asleep rather than be ready for the Arcadia dance tent.

Our drug of choice is a very nice chilled bottle of Made In Provence rose wine and we’re tucking into barbied steak and summer pudding. On china plates. This seems a very civilised way of ‘going to’ Glastonbury and avoids all the stuff we no longer have the patience to put up with, such as queues, grubby toilets, mud, rain, pop up tents with nylon sleeping bags and other people. Our virtual festival allows us to hop from one stage to another without having to get up off the sofa and we can control the volume when the heavy drum and base crews (super noisy Pendulum) come on.

The middleagedads present, however, are full of abuse for the BBC coverage, the frequent mistakes in labelling the songs and the odd way everything is repeated. Much unfriendly verbal is hurled at the screen in true grumpy old git manner and they only quieten down when the uber-cool style icon and mother of four Jo Wiley comes on in her brief shorts and tiny top (EVERYONE is wearing shorts with wellies, not something we feel we could have comfortably pulled off if we were actually there.

However, we are thoroughly into our music and totally love the ancient but fabulous Crosby Stills and Nash, the nerdy looking Passion Pit and really start to show our age when we realise that our hosts (Ros and Nick) know Florence and the Machine’s dad and remember when she was born. It is reassuring to see Bruce Springsteen looking deeply cool again at nearly 60 and last night we were wowed by Neil Young, who looked more like a crumpled up old school janitor than the major rock star he is. He sounded magnificent and the oldies well hold their own against the young crew. Will we go for real next year? hmmm, perhaps if we can book into Babbington House....

 

Recommended for updating the playlist:

Fleet Foxes

check 'em out on myspace

  

We love: Spotify

We at the Women's room spend a good deal of time at our computers, composing and researching, so we often plug into our iPods to help us concentrate and improve our mood. Now we are addicted to Spotify, a web based music offer that has a stupendous amount of music we can listen to absolutely free. You log in, sign up for a day pass and then search your favourite artists to listen to.

The really good thing is that you can compose your own playlist by simply click and dragging from the huge amount of music on offer (which saves itself even if you have a day pass), but you can also listen to other people's lists, which is great fun. We are currently listening to Motown, so we suggest signing in, clicking on a bit of Dianan Ross and The Supremes and singing very loud. Enjoy.

Spotify

We love: 70's Dinner party

 

One of our more succesful Christmas presents this year, has been the fabulously nostalgic CD, 70's Dinner Party. A boxed set featuring some of our secret favourites, such as Dean Freidman, Minnie Riperton, Sailor, Tom Jones and Manhatten Transfer, to name just a few. 

 

Thats New Years Eve sorted; just wheel out the hostess trolley, throw on a Margot Leadbetter floor length dress and rustle up some Snowballs and a few cheesy footballs! We may even watch our all time favourite Mike Leigh play, Abigails Party while we're at it!

 

'Angela likes Demis Roussos. Tony likes Demis Roussos. I like Demis Roussos. Sue would like to hear Demis Rousos. So please, do you think we can have Demis Roussos?'

 

70's Dinner Party

Abigails Party

 

We Love: Deezer

Fancy a trip down memory lane, or a chance to 'get down with the kids'. Or have you simply forgotten how much you love music and havent quite got to grips with the whole concept of downloading.

Put aside a couple of hours this weekend, log on to www.deezer.com and create your own playlists, absolutley free. The beauty of it is, you can log on wherever you are, plug in the speakers and dance, dance, dance.

This week we have been travelling back in time to the school disco, circa 1973 with Manhatten Transfer, Tina Charles and The Four seasons. As well as listening to the very latest from Antony and the Johnsons.