Ooh, my first time reviewing a song! and what better way to start reviewing than to review a favourite song from a favourite movie!

”A Real Hero” by College (ft. Electric Youth) sets the perfect backdrop for director Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2011 film, Drive. I feel as though I’m reviewing the two together, because it’s as if the song was written for the movie, it fits that well! for those who haven’t seen the film, it’s an 80’s sounding almost noir action flick. There are some words you’d never expect to be strung together! Mr handsome, Ryan Gosling, is a hollywood stuntman/getaway driver/mechanic, who happens to get caught up in the family drama of his neighbour, the ever so lovely Carey Mulligan. Ryan Gosling becomes the hero for the lady across the hall, and if you push aside all the violence and mess, it’s a romance at heart.

Now to the music! The soundtrack for this film is flawless. Each track is what i’d describe as the heart of the film squished down and pushed through a synthesiser.
This particular song, “A Real Hero”, was originally released in 2010 on a five track ep, but on hearing it, you’d expect it to be something you’d find in your dad’s record collection. The banging synth line and ethereal vocals of Electric Youth’s front lady make for a perfect match that make you feel all nostalgic about something that never happened. The line “real human being” is repeated for the majority of the song, putting a big emphasis on the fact that this hero is, yes, a hero, but a real dude who acted out of common sense and human nature. It gives you that ‘fuck yeah I’m a hero because I did something right but who wouldn’t in a situation like this?’ vibe. It also dabbles in the ‘human beings are actually pretty awesome and kind hearted’ vibe, too. It might be ryan gosling’s perfect face sketched in my mind, but this song takes me to road warmed by the sun, and puts the ‘I just woke up windswept’ look in my hair. Extremely comforting, nostalgic, and catchy as hell, this song is definitely something great.

- Mariah

(Source: Spotify)

Our sweet track sunday actually stretched out to be a full album: so here it is!

The mood of James Blake in his new record ‘Overgrown’ is a dark existentialist reality looking straight down the barrel of the nature we make for ourselves in our everyday life.

Blake breaks down barriers of artistic mediums within sound and film particularly in the tracks ‘retrograde’ and ‘overgrown.’ These two have film clips that create moments that are an overwhelming exploration of the rhythmical, almost primitive, self. Musically, the record has a strong thread of simplicity-combining Blake’s soulful voice, chill wave beats and an illustrative electronic soundscape, much like being pulled into the centre of a industrial machine. The films that have been created to support the record add another texture altogether using slow motion cinematography and dim lighting to represent the sense of disorientation in the face of a surreal world.

Like feeling a heavy pulse in the depths of your chest ‘Overgrown’ holds tight your attention while you face your own reality.

- alyshia

hey pals! mariah here covering david bowie’s wonderfully empowering hit, heroes. it seemed fitting with the current theme being heroes and all! let’s ignore the fact that I filmed this at 3am. I hope you enjoy, despite my weary eyes x

this is part of a series I did out of boredom using the technique of cut-up poetry. I felt this was appropriate because two musicians I admire, thom yorke and david bowie, have used this form in the past. I took poems from richard siken, sylvia plath and bukowski and took them apart until they were unrecognisable, then rearranged them into something recogniseable to myself.

-jonnoxxx

Maddi is wearing American Apparel shirt, Charlavail button cover, as well as jeans and boots of her own choosing.

Styling: Jonno Revanche, Rem Jawi and Pierre Kieu

Photography and Editing: Jade Elliot

Location courteously found and co-opted by: Ronnie ChinUps

Ghosts, girls, ghouls, and all things creepy - for our heroes theme, we tried to aim for that which is inherently dark, yet friendly and comforting. Our favourite heroes are those that aren’t explicitly taken from comic books or dressed in lycra, but the more humble anti-heroes, the unexpected saviours cloaked in darkness. Inspired by the art and aesthetic of our first “hero figure” for vaein, Charlavail Effron, as well as movies like Casper and Corpse Bride, our models effectively communicated the haunting narrative of two girls and one boy that have been carried on through to the other side. Having spent years in purgatory, the girls have become so close that they are unfamiliar to the presence of anyone entering their wide open abandoned home, until skull boy joins them. His isolation and dejection is perfectly contrasted with the almost unsettling closeness of the two dead girls, who take it upon themselves to make him their new play thing.

This is the 2nd part in a two section story by Lucy Moffatt.

this is part of a series I did out of boredom using the technique of cut-up poetry. I felt this was appropriate because two musicians I admire, thom yorke and david bowie, have used this form in the past. I took poems from richard siken, sylvia plath and bukowski and took them apart until they were unrecognisable, then rearranged them into something recogniseable to myself.

-jonnoxxx

This is the first part in a two-sided story by Lucy Moffat.

Gina Chadderton was in a music course with me back when I thought studying music at university was something I would be good at. I have since changed my mind on that, but have not changed my mind on her art and doodles. The style is something i am very much into. I asked her if she wanted to contribute here and there for vaein and she said yes! 

Look out for more of her stuff in the future.

- jonnoxxx