**MIXTAPE ALERT** This is Not a Love Song

Valentine's Day is a tricky occasion for many of us to have live through. Whether you're 'in a relationship', 'happily single' or 'it's really complicated, seriously I couldn't explain to you what's going on between us if I had a million years' everyone wants to know what you're doing for Valentine's Day.

Are you going to waste £10 of you're hard-earned, or not really that hard-earned in my case since I work in media and stare at a screen for the majority of my day, money to see a truly, god-awful chick flick and receive a present that you honestly can find no use for.

It's fine if you like that kind of thing but for the cynical folk like me another second of this mindless lovefest cannot be tolerated. In the spirit of all things cynical I have whipped up a 15 track mixtape that features anti-love songs about heartbreak, cheating, lying and a whole lotta crying. That should stop you feeling lovesick.

Tracklisting:
1. February 14th- Huggy Bear
2. Beat Your Heart Out- The Distillers
3. No- Vivian Girls
4. Only Loved at Night- The Raincoats
5. I Love You Eddie- The Crystals
6. Single Again- The Fiery Furnaces
7. Love und Romance- The Slits
8. This Isn't It- Giant Drag
9. I'm Blue- Shangri-Las
10. Don't Wanna Hold Your Hand- thee headcoatees
11. A Real Man- Sleater-Kinney
12. Legs- PJ Harvey
13. I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You- Shop Assistants
14. Cheated Hearts- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
15 Girlfriends Don't Keep- Bratmobile

This is Not a Love Song from Steph88 on 8tracks.

**SONG OF THE MONTH**

In my humble opinion there's not enough written about The Raincoats. The post-punk revolutionaries were one of the best bands to come out of the aftermath of the London punk scene.

The band broke up after the release of their third album Moving (1984) but reformed in 1994 after Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain sung their praises and offered them an opening spot on his tour.

More than a decade later though they have not released any new material since Looking in the Shadows (1996) the band are still going strong. They are preparing for a North American tour and are playing ATP in December.

Here's my favourite Raincoats song 'No Looking' which, if you can truly trust YouTube to be an accurate source of information, is a song based on a poem called 'Breakfast' by the Jacques Prevert about a Father.

**MIXTAPE ALERT** Girls Names

50s Musicians

There are exactly 200,153 songs about girls names and that's a fact I mean don't research it, don't look it up, you can't find it on wikipedia but it's true...ish. Whatever the actual statistic is I know it's pretty high.

Call me a feminazi but I find that many songs about women written by men tend to fall into two camps. Women are either portrayed as either the temptress seducing a guy or the angel who can do no wrong. This can be a little tiresome for this blogger who just wants to get through listening to one song without being told she's a wanton woman.

It becomes more interesting when women write songs about other women as it allows a more honest depiction of femininity and womanhood.

The Raincoats cover of Lola brings the song into a whole new territory that The Kinks probably never even thought it could go and Patti Smith's classic Gloria becomes a moving declaration of womanhood every time she repeats those famous letters "G-L-O-R-I-A".

Feminist analysis aside these are all bloody good songs so enjoy and everyone sing in unison "GLORIA....".

Tracklisting:
1. Gloria- Patti Smith
2. Lucille- She Keeps Bees
3. Clara Bow- 50 Foot Wave
4. Valerie- Amy Winehouse
5. Angelene- PJ Harvey
6. Oh Marie- Ladyfuzz
7. Samantha- Hole
8. Lola- The Raincoats
9. Prescilla- Bat For Lashes
10. Anne- Santigold
11. Mary Ann- Regina Spektor
12. Oh Serena- The Distilllers
13. Headache For Michelle- Au Pairs
14. Erica Kane- Aaliyah
15. Hedi's Head- Kleenex
16. Polly- Long Blondes
17. Jenny- Sleater-Kinney

**MIXTAPE ALERT** Best of Alt 80s

The 80s is a decade that was tarnished with day glo clothes, electro and big, big hair. It's hard to look back on those days and remember that some amazing bands came from that decade.

Young Marble Giants, Throwing Muses, Au Pairs to name a few are some of the classic bands that emerged from the neon decade.

Here's my definitive list of the best of the alternative 80s, as always if I miss something out just give me a shout.

Tracklisting:
1. Mexican Women- Throwing Muses
2. White Mice- Mo-Dettes
3. Private Idaho- B-52s
4. It's Obvious- Au Pairs
5. Music For Evenings- Young Marble Giants
6. I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You- Shop Assistants
7. Dream Come True- Dolly Mixture
8. Mais ou sont Passes Les Gazelles- Lizzy Mercier Descloux
9. Man Thinks Woman- Mecca Normal
10. Anticipation- Delta 5
11. Army Dreamers- Kate Bush
12. No Looking- The Raincoats

This Is Going To Be My Theme Tune

*MIXTAPE TAPE ALERT* Feminist Anthems Pt. 2

I promised you the second part of the Feminist Anthems mixtape and here it is. I think it's pretty cool, covers a number of genres and also has a few tracks that you might not have read a feminist meaning in but it's there.

Let me know if you agree, disagree or think I left some out. This is going to be the soundtrack to the next Feminist Tsunami so it's gotta good.

Find Feminist Anthems Part 1 here.

Tracklisting:
1. She Bop- Cyndi Lauper
2. Bata Model- Crass
3. What's Love Got To Do With It- Tina Turner
4. Typical Girls- The Slits
5. I'm A Woman- Maria Muldaur
6. I'm So Excited- Le Tigre
7. Too Many Fish In The Sea- Marvelettes
8. Lola- The Raincoats
9. Tunic (Song For Karen)- Sonic Youth
10. Suck My Left One- Bikini Kill

GIG REVIEW: The Raincoats + Trash Kit @ Scala 20/05/10

To say I was a little excited about this gig would be a hell of an understatement. I was bouncing off the walls just thinking that I was going to see the legendary post-punkers The Raincoats, but first on were Trash Kit.

Now I know Trash Kit have a lot of fans, though it seemed to be just a meagre 20 or so in the barely full Scala that night, and I do like some of their songs, their energy and their general approach to music but they NEED to learn a new chord. Not a lot, start slow, but at least one that will stop the opening to every song, and they had a lot, sounding alike.

Their single Cadets is an example of when Trash Kit get it right. The off kilter guitar riff and battle cry vocals make well dressed alternative kids want to move their skinny limbs to.

Now to The Raincoats who, thanks to ATP, played their first influential album 'The Raincoats' in full. You would think that knowing which songs would be played next would ruin the evening but it didn't. If anything it made the night that much more exciting. Since everyone there were fans or super fans the atmosphere was electric. If you've never been in a room full of people singing along to The Raincoats powerful cover of The Kinks Lola then you haven't lived.

Even though it has been 30 years since the release of their first album it hasn't aged a bit. The songs bounce and flow like they always did and The Raincoats themselves are just as good as they ever were. 'No Side to Fall In' sounded amazing and 'No Looking' was so good they played it twice. This was definitely one of the best gigs I've been to this year. If you're one of the few who haven't been influenced by The Raincoats then take the time to get to know them, it'll be worth it.

www.theraincoats.net

**MIXTAPE ALERT** Consumerism Harms Women

"Are women happy consuming or being happily consumed?"

The issue of consumerism and how it negatively effects women in particular has been around for decades. X-ray Spex and The Slits were singing about it the seventies and The Gossip carried on that trend in the present day with their homage to Poly Styrene, 'Spare Me From The Mold'.

I really think consumerism is a particularly nasty evil in our world. I know I get too addicted to shopping to the point where I begin to think I'm incomplete if I don't buy that new bag or whatever.

So this mixtape is a compilation of what I think are some of the best songs about consumerism.

Tracklisting:
1. Spare Me from The Mold- Gossip
2. Everything- Sleater-Kinney
3. Art-I-Fical- X-ray Spex
4. Shopping Girl Maniac- Voodoo Queens
5. Spend, Spend, Spend- The Slits
6. Shop For America- Bratmobile
7. Teen Tighterns- Huggy Bear
8. Germfree Adolescents- X-ray Spex
9. Fairytale in the Supermarket- The Raincoats
10. Viva La Persistence- Kimya Dawson
11. Ghost of Corporate Future- Regina Spektor
12. Pop- M.I.A.
13. Aerobicide- Julie Ruin

Raincoats Interview in the Guardian

There's an interesting interview with The Raincoats' Gina Birch and Ana Da Silva. Apparently Birch and Da Silva didn't really get along in the seventies which resulted in their break up in 1984.

"We broke up after every record," says Da Silva. "We broke up after every gig," says Birch.

To read more about their breakups and how Kurt Cobain apparently saved the day click here.