The Domestic Playlist

Hello lovely friends!

We believe that music definitely has the effect to change the mood. We dedicate (almost) every Saturday morning to cleaning our apartment and doing our grocery shopping. To enjoy ourselves more while we dust our shelves and clean the bathroom, we usually get one of our computers out and blast some music. It is even better when it is a sunny day and we have all of the windows open letting the fresh air in.

This playlist I first made as a smooth driving tunes mix that would satisfy both our parents and us when I am in the drivers seat (yes, we are 19 and still on our L's). However, I discovered that the mix also works well with cooking and cleaning. I added a few songs, and now we have the perfect domestic task playlist filled with many old and new tunes for easy listening, and dancing around singing into your broom. 

WARNING: There is a lot of adult contemporary on here. 

 

What are some of your favourite mixes or playlists?

Stay Gold,

Claire & Grace x
--

p.s What? you can embed Spotify playlists?! Well this is just a game changer.

Spandau Ballet: The Soul Boys of the Western World Tour

While growing up, it is not unusual to be exposed to your parent's (or whomever is raising you) favourite bands/music, reminiscent of when they were younger. For most, it was The Beatles or Rolling Stones, Meatloaf and Fleetwood Mac. For us, it was Van Halen and Spandau Ballet. What a contrast, am I right? 

When you grow up with one thing, you can either get over it once you are older, or you can appreciate it more. Spandau Ballet is an example of the latter, much to our mother's enjoyment. (She's their number one Australian fan, the Original Fangirl). So, when it was announced that the British 80s New Romantic band was returning to Australia in May 2015, our mother was quick to purchase tickets for herself and our dad. However, what she forgot to do was ask to see if we would like to come! However, in the end, after expressing how we would love to see Spandau Ballet in concert (after watching their new documentary, Soul Boys Of The Western World, with her), we purchased our own tickets. 

Now, you may not have heard of Spandau Ballet, but you may know their hits "Gold" (a favourite of the 2012 London Olympics) and romance classic "True". 

An Intro to Spandau Ballet: The Soul Boys of the Western World trailer

As it is an 80s band, and we weren't even alive when Spandau Ballet were in their prime, we expected to be the only people our age actually attending the concert. And we were correct -- at least from what we could see. The only people we saw younger than us, were children who came along with their parents, probably without a choice. We were joking that our presence made sense when we were walking around with our parents, until we split up as we had different seats from them. Then people probably thought that we were lost or something. Let me tell you, we were not lost! (Update: Claire saw plenty of boys our age afterwards. Hello, where were you hiding?)

In our seats we took our Instagram pics, started the obligatory "I'm at a concert" snap story on Snapchat, sung along to the 80s jukebox playing over the speakers, discussed our favourite 80s song** and hoped they would play our favourite songs. We're pretty sure we were given questionable looks from the Gen X audience members around us, but who cares? We're fans as much as them (a bit late to the party, but still.)

The concert itself was amazing. Those men are in their 50s but they still got it! Big props to Tony Hadley, the lead singer, who could still hit those high and long notes after all these years, and to the musicians Martin and Gary Kemp, Steve Norman and John Keeble for their simply electric energy.

Highlights include our (and our mothers) favourite song Round and Round, which, half-way through the song, included old footage from their 80s days played on the screen behind them. This was a very heart-strings tugging move for us, especially when you think about the line "We were the news" from the song and then the old footage form their hey-day/the height of their frame. It gave us SO MANY EMOTIONS (which is quite astonishing for two people who weren't even alive back then. Thanks Mum and the Spandau Ballet documentary movie for making us feel like we were also fans in 1985). 

Graceful and Claire does not take ownership of this photo. Source: Spandau Ballet (Official) Facebook page.

Another favourite was when they did their homage to the Bliz Kids of their past (and looking at them now in their suits, you would not have known they were so outrageous/Blitz kids/founders of the New Romantics back in the 80s, honestly) with their funky neon BLITZ sign. The first time Gold was sung was a beautiful acousitc version where us, the audience, sang most of the words. When a whole arena of fans all sing the same song at the same time is a truly magical moment. The second time was their second encore, the perfect ending.

Overall, it was a stellar night. The music of Spandau Ballet for us is like a warm, comforting hug. It reminds us of our childhood, plus who doesn't feel all fuzzy inside listening to some smooth sax? 

Stay Gold,

(not even sorry)

Grace and Claire

**  (We both agreed our favourite 80s song is If You Leave by Orchestral Manouvres in the Dark, from one of our favourite movies, Pretty in Pink. It just gives us The Feels. Snaps to that music video #classic.)

The Moving Out Mix

What is hip-hop-happening, party people?
(I don't know what that is, but let's just roll with it, 'kay?)

We are currently visiting our parents home, and today Claire started packing up her bedroom to officially move out of home, like a lot of people that may be starting Uni in the next few weeks and moving to the big city like we did a year ago. 

Despite the fact that I have already officially moved out, the posters and photos on my wardrobe doors were still hanging up. I felt that it was time that they finally came down, so that is what I did this morning. Down went the Glee posters and the photos of our family holiday to Nelson's Bay when we were in Year 7. There were reminders of my campaign for School Captain, my ribbons for high jump, and a photo of Princess Grace Kelly and her son as a baby I once cut out of a Sunday magazine. I removed my poster of Florence Welch only to find that a quite fetching photo of Chace Crawford was on the back this whole time! Obviously something went wrong when I was deciding which side of the poster to use a few years ago.

Packing up your childhood bedroom can be daunting and a little bit like a reality hit, but something that makes the task more enjoyable is having the perfect soundtrack! Claire and I struggled with this last year when I packed up my whole room to move to my apartment, and Claire packed her things to move in to on-campus residential college. (Claire just gave up an made her own mix, which you can listen to here) Even today I can hear Claire in her room constantly changing mixes on 8Tracks trying to find the right vibe. 

Today I decided to listen to Nick Jonas' latest album and it was perfect for my poster removal! I was, and still am, a big Jonas Brothers fan (no point lying about it), and they were a big part of me growing up, so listening to the newest music to come from a Jo Bro seemed like the perfect decision to have that fusion of reliving my childhood and looking towards the future. Plus, I am totally digging this jazzy, cool vibe coming off this album that just made me dance and bop my head while removing every trace of blu-tack I could find. I cannot get Jealous out of my head! A+

If you are in the process of packing or moving, what music have you been listening to? Have you been feeling the nostalgia and listening to some throwback tunes? Or do you listen to french music to feel like a domestic goddess? Some chill-wave to allow for some reflective thoughts? Or some cheesy pop for a dance party? Let us know on our Facebook, Twitter, or in the comments below and help us build the perfect Moving Out Mix! 

Stay gold.

Grace