The Day I Was Stripped of 1,000 Followers

I awoke at 6:15am today only to discover I'd lost 1,000 Twitter followers, cue sympathetic murmurs. Distraught, I headed to the kitchen, holding back tears as I delved into a bowl of granola. I asked myself, "What have I possibly done to deserve this?"

I cherish my Twitter followers, each and every one of them, even those who never favourite my tweets. This is why I was hit hard as my followers count plummeted from 1,737 to just 773 overnight. I went from being the most followed person in my sixth form to, quite frankly, a nobody. My prestige was tarnished and my self-respect ceased to exist.

Regardless of the detrimental affair, which I can only compare to the time my beloved pet fish passed away in the summer of this year, I started for sixth form. Admittedly, I've never had a gung-ho attitude towards school, and being asked by a friend if I'd posted something controversial online to spark the debacle was merely a poignant reminder of this morning's cataclysm, a topic I wished to avoid.

The truth is, the followers were never entirely legitimate. Without prior warning, my boyfriend bought me 1,000 followers from purchasemorefollowers.co.uk, the accounts owned by click farms. I didn't ask for it, yet immediately knew he was accountable for my upsurge in followers. The reason, he claimed, was that he had 'spare' followers from a bulk-buy he'd intended for use as birthday gifts. At just £17.99 for 5000 followers, you can hardly blame him.

Other than my boyfriend, none of my friends knew what a click farm was and subsequently struggled to display any kind of empathy, leaving me feeling further disheartened. Click farms aren't well-known and that's why I love them. I got away with gaining 1,000 followers and no one questioned their validity because, as far as friends were concerned, there was no ulterior way to gain followers than to patiently wait whilst refreshing the Twitter notifications page every few minutes.

Click farms, essentially human battery farms due to the poor working conditions, require employees to churn out thousands of clicks, or follows, per day on the account purchasers so desire. According to iTWire, workers with relatively basic English skills are paid minimal amounts of money to work grueling 12 hour shifts. Click fraud is a crime and these farms subsequently have a propensity to be shut down if the accounts of workers, which are often in the thousands, are de-activated.

Visiting Who.Unfollowed.Me confirmed my suspicion that those who unfollowed me were accounts belonging to click farms, however, much to my disgust, Purchase More Followers' website is still fully functional, suggesting this incident could be the fault of Twitter.

Photo taken from http://sosyalkeci.com/?p=906

I contacted Purchase More Followers who promise "the best customer support"; they claim to reply to customers within an hour. Since emailing, I lost an additional 100 followers. Having received no response from them I can only assume they have no intention of rectifying the problem.

I endeavour to one day visit one of the world's largest click farms in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to seek answers behind the possible reasons resulting in the dramatic fall in my followers count and discover who is to blame. In the meantime, I solemnly swear I'll relentlessly email Purchase More Followers until they revive me of my pride, something I truly can't live without.

London Fashion Week Meets Church: A Step Too Far?

To pretend I know much about the world of fashion would be foolish; I gingerly arrived at St Giles-in-the-Fields Church for a London Fashion Week show wearing a cropped top teamed with a pair of pyjama bottoms.

With fashion blogger Prince Cassius

London Fashion Week is renowned for at times being outrageous, be it through the designs (think Philip Treacy and Pam Hogg, 2012), bold stunts or Karl Lagerfeld-esque insults. One fashionista decided to go all out and make a statement by selecting a unique choice of venue to showcase her collection.

Photo taken from www.tripadvisor.co.uk/

A short walk from the main venue, Somerset House, where London Fashion Week takes place biannually, picturesque St Giles-in-the-Fields Church isn't a venue you'd typically associate with fashion spectacles. The show in question was Sadie Clayton's SS15 womenswear collection, described on leaflets left on the pews on which we were to be seated as "a beautiful union of inspiration derived from Clayton's personal style", influenced by the Centre Pompidou, hence named 'Pomp & Do'. In an interview with Wonderland Magazine, Sadie divulged that she aimed for a "wow factor" element to her work.

Despite the fact the show was left off the official London Fashion Week schedule, the turnout was impressive. Shortly after entering a fairly empty church, the pews soon seated rows of people of various ages tightly squeezed next to one another.

Photo taken by Nimrod Kamer

The models, dressed in neutral colours and multi-layered materials, fitting with the simplistic yet grand design of the Centre Pompidou, elegantly appeared from the sides of the church and made their way to the back via the central aisle. The setting didn't deter people from displaying their appreciation as the show came to an end, when the crowd enthusiastically clapped and cheered as Sadie and the 8-or-so models gathered near the alter. Perhaps there is a future for fashion in churches after all. 

Photo taken by Nimrod Kamer

Christopher Owens: A New Testament

Eighteen months after Christopher Owens' début solo album Lysandre was released, it's been announced that his eagerly anticipated second solo album, A New Testament, will be made available to all on the 29th September. As well as this, dates have been published regarding what will be a no doubt exhilarating tour across the US and UK over August and September 2014.

Earlier this year Christopher has broadcast new tracks, 'It Comes Back To You' and 'Stephen', a song he claimed was "unlike anything I've ever worked on". 

Straying from the upbeat framework of songs he previously produced with San Francisco band Girls, Christopher's solo work is very raw and inspired by the gospel music which he cited as a major influence during his upbringing in the Children of God community. It's evident that this shaped his approach to music through the soul-wrenching backing vocals, rockabilly guitar riffs and simple chord constructions that can be heard in the new songs.

To give a further insight into what direction the album is heading in, funky tune 'Nothing More Than Everything To Me' was released today, receiving highly positive feedback from fans. The stunning guitar solo performed by John Anderson epitomises everything that's great about this song. It's clear that A New Testament, which features recorded versions of old songs previously only available acoustically, will be very different from its predecessor, yet equally as personal as is ultimately expected with Christopher Owens' work.

The video to accompany Christopher's latest single, 'Nothing More Than Everything To Me' was directed by Max Minghella. Prior to filming, Christopher hadn't met Max face-to-face. The video tells the tale of two children's budding friendship in a middle school disco.

You can listen to 'Nothing More Than Everything To Me' below or CLICK HERE if you're on a mobile device:

A New Testament Tracklist:

My Troubled Heart

Nothing More Than Everything To Me

It Comes Back To You

Stephen

Oh My Love

Nobody's Business

A Heart Akin The Wind

Key To My Heart

Over And Above Myself

Never Wanna See That Look Again

Overcoming Me

I Just Can't Live Without You (But I'm Still Alive)

Owens writes:

“Every new album is a new testament.

It’s a testament to honest, earnest, simple songwriting—”three chords and the truth”, songs inspired by the fundamentals of American music—Gospel, Country, R&B, picking the songs for this record was exciting enough for me, because they’re some of the ones that speak to me the most, of my memories, real life experiences, my battles, my victories. But hearing the record actually take form and come to life was even more exciting than I imagined. The new ground we worked towards—playing with Ed Efira on pedal steel for the first time, all of it was an amazing experience.

This album is nothing if not a testament to the power of music, and to the musicians that made it—John Anderson, Darren Weiss, Makeda—who all helped make Father Son Holy Ghost what it is, Danny Eisenberg—who was introduced to me during the sessions for Broken Dreams Club and played again on Father Son Holy Ghost, this is now our third record together, and I think that’s what shows.

It’s also my third record with Doug Boehm, who’s always made me feel I had the help I needed when I needed it, and the support I needed when I felt strongly about sticking to an idea.

I could go on and on about all these people—David Sutton, who I met recording Lysandre, just watching him play is such a pleasure. It’s the intensity with which all these musicians approach the songs that makes me so excited and proud to play with them again and again.

And the excitement, the joy, the sincerity, the craftsmanship, it’s all captured on this record.
A new testament.”

Storms- 'Swell' Review

London band Storms are relatively new to the music scene. Founded in 2013 and with just one official video online after the deletion of their YouTube video for 'I Had a Vision Last Night', it seems they're already heading in a new direction with their latest track 'Swell'. They've been likened to Nirvana and Mac DeMarco by NME, although I think certain aspects of 'Swell' are resonant with Tribes' 'Nightdriving'.

Lead vocalist George Runciman looks every bit as cool as he sounds and the punchy guitar riffs compliment his voice perfectly. The chorus is heavier than the rest of the song and contrasts nicely with the mellow nature of the verses, whilst the catchy solo encourages you to repeatedly listen to the song.  I was a fan of 'I Had a Vision Last Night' however it's expected that such a young band would experiment with their sound and, based on their new tune, I don't think that's a bad thing at all.

The video, produced, directed and edited by the band looks awesome. Made up of animated clips, stills and movie clips which tie in with the lyrics, it's almost a distraction from the song. The lyrics are shown to be sung by varying numbers of mouths floating across the screen, adding a psychedelic touch to the video.


Watch the video below or CLICK HERE if you're on a mobile device

For those of you lucky enough to live in London, you can see them live on:

9th July- Sebright Arms
7th August- The Old Queens Head

Lawrence Hayward: A Forgotten Talent

Lawrence Hayward of indie rock bands Felt, Denim and Go-Kart Mozart is my musical hero. Felt, formed in 1979, released 10 singles and 10 albums throughout their 10 years of existence. If it wasn't for the video I watched on YouTube of Christopher Owens of Girls speaking to Lawrence, I doubt I'd have been made aware of the musical magician that is the mononymous Lawrence. Felt were very much an underground band and never reached the same heights of fame as their 90s successors, such as The Charlatans, a band whose singer Tim Burgess cited Lawrence as a significant influence.
Lawrence worked alongside Elizabeth Fraser of alternative Scottish rock band Cocteau Twins in one of my favourite songs, 'Primitive Painters', released on Cherry Red Label in 1985. Lawrence was never big on making music videos and Primitive Painters is one of Felt's few videos that's posted online.

Denim followed Felt and were, in my opinion, equally as good, moving towards glam-rock with satire incorporated into the lyrics. A lyric which never ceases to make me laugh is "my gay friend said all naked women look like slaughtered pigs" in 'Glue and Smack' from their album 'Denim On Ice'. Other top Denim songs include 'Middle Of The Road', 'I'm Against The Eighties' and 'Here Is My Song for Europe'. Denim released 2 LPs in 1992 and 1996 and a compilation record in 1997.

Go-Kart Mozart, formed in 1998, a year after Denim disbanded, are still around, although Lawrence stated in an interview with The Guardian "I haven't got any fans!" after the dismal attendance rates on his 2013 tour. Despite this though, Go-Kart Mozart have an album out later this year, as well as the documentary 'Lawrence of Belgravia' (although it was due to be released in the summer of last year).

I don't believe Lawrence is as eager for fame as he makes out. After all, why would you release such a vast number of albums if fame was your predominant incentive for making music, and you didn't get the recognition you believe you were entitled to? I, similarly to Tim Burgess, feel an obligation to spread the work of Lawrence. I'm not asking you to buy any of his albums, but to simply take a listen to Primitive Painters and bask in it's glory. Although, if you were to buy an album that'd be an added bonus (remember kids, illegally downloading music is very naughty).