#alisha's attic

[weaversweek]

1997: women with soul and vision

Bit of a grab-bag in this set. Coming up: Nuyorican Soul, Veruca Salt, Beth Orton, and Alisha's Attic.

"I wanna be the only one" - Eternal and Bebe Winans

Esteemed chart commentator James Masterton wrote,

Every once in a while there comes along a record that cheers and inspires. One which achieves the ultimate for any pop record and makes the world seem brighter, the sky clearer and which motivates you to set the CD on repeat so you can hear the whole thing all over again. The latest Number One single in the UK is just such a record. For the second single from the Before The Rain album, Eternal team up with American gospel legend Bebe Winans for one of the most heartwarming duets you are likely to hear all year. Combining the best elements of pop and gospel in one wonderful package, the single is perfect summer radio material with a soaring chorus that defies you to dislike it. A masterpiece of production and arrangement, just listen to the way it changes key twice in the last minute as the mood of the chorus spirals ever higher and higher. From the moment it was released the single flew out of the shops and now easily gives Eternal their first ever Number One single, three and a half years since their chart debut with Stay. Easily the best pop record of the year so far, at least until next week.

Have the gospel version.

"Runaway" - Nuyorican Soul ft India

ob Loleatta Holloway, tick. She was the vocalist on Salsoul Orchestra's original song in 1977, given new life by "Little" Louie Vega and Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez. Absolutely majestic orchestration, effortlessly combining house and salsa and scat jazz. Inspired Janet Jackson to write and record "Together again".

More! DJ Magazine goes behind the scenes with masters at work.

"Volcano girls" - Veruca Salt

The group's second album Eight Arms to Hold You disappointed some fans, who wanted more grunge than the alternative pop on offer. Our lead single showcased the group's new and different approach: one could describe them as the Spice Girls with guitars, except Kenickie had bagsied that, and Shampoo were bubblegum-with-attitude.

Barely marketed and sold about 600 copies over here, into the top 40 at number 137 and straight out again. Decent hit in the States, where the group toured with Bush.

More: An "oral history" of "Volcano girls", from Veruca Salt's reunion in 2014.

"She cries your name" - Beth Orton

Opens with a wailing and distinctive guitar line, then a divine voice sing-speaks a tale of domestic woe. Beth straddled the line between electronica - she'd dated William Orbit, produced by Andy Weatherall - and a folk-roots sound influenced by Carole King and Carly Simon. In later years, the folk-roots sound would win; this song remains a touchpoint for the late 90s and no other era.

More: Live review from 1997.

"Indestructible" - Alisha's Attic

Karen and Shelley Poole, making music for the art. A full-on art package: remember the little cartoon imp from the single cover, and every single single from the album?

"Indestructible" is an oasis of calm, peace, inner strength. We are indestructible, there's nothing to stop us. A world of wild romantic imagination, mystic adventures this way; guess some people hadn't picked up a book (as opposed to a Man City matchday programme) since leaving primary school.

A couple of long watches: The Hidden Treasures of Alisha's Attic, and a collection of interviews.

[albumswhatilistenedto]

[confide-in-me]

my sexuality

[heartlandians]

Heartland - 16x15 - A Light in the Dark

[ianslifegoeslikethis]

I’ve obviously listened to many debut albums over the years, but the first to come to mind upon reading this was Alisha Rules the World by Alisha’s Attic. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go listen to it again.

I’m such a sucker for demos and debut albums. it’s scary! to put a piece of yourself into the world for the first time! It’s like ‘here’s our first album, we’ve bared our hearts and souls and put our all into this. we don’t really know what we’re doing musically and the production quality might not be the best but we know that we’re passionate and willing to make a difference.’ and goddamn do I cherish it

[haveyouheardthisband]

[come-see-our-show]

Now that it’s been a week since I've watched Roald Dahl's Matilda: The Musical, here are all my thoughts (as someone who loves the musical and played Bruce once):

THE BABIES SINGING IN THE OPENING NUMBER WAS THE CUTEST SHIT I'VE EVER SEEN

The cast was INCREDIBLE!! Emma Thompson was terrifying! Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough were hilarious! Lashana Lynch was so endearing! AND I WANNA SEE ALISHA WEIR IN MORE STUFF BECAUSE SHE ATE IT UP

I want to give credit to the makeup team for Trunchbull's makeup because even though I knew it was Emma Thompson, they did such a good job of realistically transforming her into someone else. Her appearance wasn't a joke in the same way that it is in the musical. Her character in the stage version is definitely pretty misogynistic and transphobic because they play into her masculinity by having a man play her. Here, it's just a way of adding to her character, but it isn't what makes her scary.

All of the changes worked so well in adapting it for the screen. It wasn't just a copy-paste (couch cough everybody's talking about jamie) Examples of the changes that really worked:

Getting rid of Michael Wormwood. It makes sense since the Wormwoods clearly hate kids.

Giving Lavender a pet newt (very Chekhov's Guncore)

Including telekinesis throughout the whole story instead of just showing it a few times in the 3rd act. This includes Nigel asking Matilda if she has TK, Matilda messing with the doors in the cake scene, exploding the chokey, THE FUCKING CHAINS

Having the Spain news earlier in the story, causing a catalyst of events. Matilda is enraged, she sings I'm Here, she explodes the chokey (which was BONE-CHILLING), it gives Trunchbull a reason to make more chokies, and now Matilda is so emotional that she can take her powers to the extreme with the chalkboard and the chains and throwing Trunchbull out the window. All of this gave much better pacing in the story and made it all connected.

Having more scenes outside of the classroom (the cake scene and The Smell of Rebellion) and putting Ms. Phelps' library in her car. It's quirky and also gives them an excuse to put the storytelling scenes in pretty locations.

Giving Ms Honey a bike while her co-worker had a car, foreshadowing her being poor.

Putting Matilda's bedroom in the attic made so much sense because the Wormwoods obviously did the bare minimum for their child.

The students' drawings in Ms Honey's cottage

SO MANY FANTASY SEQUENCES! BRUCE!! WHEN I GROW UP!!! QUIET!!!!

All of the kids were so adorable (and ridiculously talented!)

The storytelling sequences!!! Interweaving it with the real world worked so well, like Matilda making it a real story for school but also clearly using it to cope. And putting them in a real circus made me more empathy for the Honeys, which lacked in the stage version because it always felt very thrown-in to me. Like, I genuinely got nervous during the stunt with the dynamite. It also made "I'm Here" even more emotional. Carl Spencer was amazing as Magnus and I teared up a bit. Also the parallels of I'm Here vs My House, helping Matilda put the pieces together.

The new song wasn't my favorite but it was a really nice finishing touch. Even though the circus at the school didn't logically make sense it was so fun

The only things I disliked: I wanted more of the already incredible stuff. More of the Wormwoods, who were absolutely hilarious, especially Mrs Wormwood. I really missed "Loud" (though removing it helped with the pacing). I wanted a bit more of Bruce (they didn’t give him the high note in Revolting Children 😭), and I would've liked Ms Honey to be a bit more affectionate with Matilda.

Anywho I want snort this movie like cocaine

[joe9cool]

A little sneaky peaky of the new Epilogue

The rehearsal was catered by Traeger Grills. Justin and Sara loved the crew as they had come over to film sponsor videos with Justin.

As they all enjoyed the full barbecue banquet, both sets of parents had surprised everyone with a sideshow of the couple growing up. Justin died of laughter seeing Sara go beet red when some childhood photos popped up she thought were buried deep in the attic. Mark and Holly came through with Justin's pictures. 

The planner made sure that everyone disbanded and was at their rooms by 9pm. "We want to make sure we all get a good night's sleep. 6am wake up call tomorrow."

Justin and Sara walked slowly to the hotel lobby, they would stay on opposite ends of the hotel and wouldn't see each other until the first look. "This is ridiculous. We are already married." Justin whined as they swung their arms as they walked. Sara giggled. "It's one night. You will live." She squealed as Justin picked her up bridal style and swung her around with ease. Their lips met and even after a few years, there was still passion, the love that they had through each other could be felt through their kiss "Are you sure we can spend the night? We will just sneak back before everyone wakes up." Justin broke away.

She thought about it. "Sorry. But the girls and I are doing a little skincare before bed. Plus I'm saving myself for the wedding night." Justin snorted. "And how is that going for you?"

"Pretty well. Actually." They heard footsteps. "Alright you two you will see each other in the morning." Bella laughed as Justin set Sara down, making sure to steady her in her heels. With one last kiss, they departed and went their separate ways. 

Upon entering her Bridal suite she laughed. Above her bed were big Silver balloons spelling out 'HERBERT' 

"It's surreal huh? Sorta your last night as a Wozniak." She turned around to see her MOH, Alyssa leaning against the doorframe with a smile on her face. Sara smiled. "Yeah. I mean it feels official. I know Justin and I are legally married. But…." She trailed off, not sure how to explain her feelings.

Alyssa nodded. "I know. When Brent and I first got engaged and were in Mexico, we went to a church and got married." Sara's eyes widened. "You never said anything."

"We never did the paperwork to make it binding. But we did it. Why do you think Brent was so defensive of you two?" Alyssa walked up and grabbed her younger sisters hands. "I should have stood up for you too."

"We all should have." Now they were being joined by the other two. Katie sighed. "We are very sorry. How we reacted, God we are no better than our mother." The girls laughed.  "Where is mom, by the way?" Sara looked behind her.

"She's off making sure everything is set up. Also Denise and Linda are with her as well." Sara rolled her eyes, but before she could say anything else they were interrupted by Alisha knocking. "Come on ladies, we have everything set up!

Feeling better after the talk with her sisters, the girls joined the rest of the bridal party.

[caliburn-the-sword]

i've cracked the fucking code on how we got the blandest lesbian ship in ouat s5. listened to i am, i feel by alisha's attic out of nostalgia and jokingly tried to apply the lyrics

to ouat. and realised it's almost DEFO what the writers had in mind when making ruby x dorothy omg. there was absolutely no thoughts head empty just the song. i hate it here. now you are all cursed to share my knowledge

[des8pudels8kern]

You have great taste in music. Savage Garden was the very first cassette tape I ever received for a birthday.

Ah, thank you! Savage Garden and Alisha's Attic were my early music loves. I still keep the songs in my collections, and whenever they come up on shuffle I get a flash of that carefree childhood feeling.

[fiofo]

I was tagged by @corrodedbisexual 😘 - share 10 favorite songs with names in the title 

10 mutuals from recent notifications: @raiiiiiiiiiiiin @suvi-n @pelirroja-peligrosa @groguandin @theotherside-oftherain @lpanne @thekrakensdaughter @aworldwithoutbatman @fintenciate @treatsandtrickster

[wheremermaidsdwell]

I'm trying to accumulate all of Alisha's Attic's music catalog (one is on spotify but ofc it's not my fav) because they stopped putting out albums in the early 2000s and are hard to get in the USA as a uk duo. there's no working torrents, very sparse tracks on youtube (although some SAINT uploaded most of a limited fanclub release which is probably the only why i would have ever heard those tracks since finding that cd is impossible)

i bought 3 of their albums when i lived in england and i CANNOT find them anymore but i do still have the rips i made. i just bought another on ebay and i think i'll buy their japan release off discogs that seems to be the only way to get it. i have half the tracks off that release from back in the day off a rip my sister had that i held onto but i never had three of the tracks.

idk. this is my favorite band. they're 90's girl alterna pop with a weird bent and no one remembers them despite them charting in the uk multiple times. if i gather everything i'll probably package it and put it up somewhere.

[heartlandians]

Heartland - 16x15 - A Light in the Dark  

[weaversweek]

13 "You get what you give" - New Radicals

writer Gregg Alexander

With Gregg you get two artists for the price of one: an Alanis-generation consciousness-raiser; and a clever-but-catchy pop-rock natural who has finally struck gold after over a decade of false starts.

Part of the UncoolTwo50 project, marking the best singles from 1977-99.

It used to be easy to get agitprop into the charts. Ask Joni Mitchell, who made a career out of doing so. Ask Paul Weller, who started kicking against the system in 1977 and has never stopped. But in the closing months of the century, with the media increasingly homogonised and nationalised, it was ever more difficult to advocate for something transgressive and different.

The video for "You get what you give" was transgressive and different. Young kids run amuck in a shopping mall, locking yuppies in cages, tying security guards under nets, moshing in the food court. All the while, this power pop song clonks along at a metronomic pace, precisely two beats per second.

A counterculture punch comes in the very first verse. "Wake up, kids! We've got the dreamer's disease." Gregg is one of Us, positioning himself against Them. "Every night we smash their mercedes-benz", something we might like to do but never would dare make happen. "If you feel your dream is dying - hold tight!" Stuff gets better, there is a place for optimism.

Gregg repeats the message hard and often, looping back through "This world is gonna pull through, don't give up, you've got a reason to live". At the end, he throws out names of celebrities he might like to kick the ass of. It's an early example of the Dead Cat strategy, all the chat is about this coda and he's been able to sneak a profoundly anti-capitalist message to the audience.

The New Radicals were not long for this world: one massive hit, an album full of blue-eyed soul (it's ended up next to Deacon Blue in my collection). There's one other enduring song on the album, "Someday we'll know" covered a few years later by Hall and Oates. Reviewing the CD, Mat Snow wrote in Mojo magazine, "in the longer term one suspects that such an awkwardly large talent as Gregg Alexander will find himself roller coasting in the career trajectory pioneered by the aforementioned [Todd] Rundgren."

Gregg Alexander turned into one of the new century's most prominent songwriters, penning "Life is a rollercoaster", "Murder on the dancefloor", "On the horizon", the soundtrack for Begin Again, and many more. He chose to concentrate on his talents: not everybody is cut out to be a rock star, and we've got to accept that choice. He spent much of the 2000s in advocacy work for poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa, working with NGOs and giving a million bucks in donations. Those farthings from your stream are going to a good cause.

Gregg continues to record: there were seven unreleased albums when he spoke to Billboard in 2018, maybe they'll come out after he's dead. The New Radicals reunited for a one-off gig in January 2021, marking the life of Beau Biden and celebrating his father Joe's new job. It was also the walk-on music in 2020 for Douglas Emhoff (Kamala Harris's husband).

Look down the list: we've not had a male vocal since last Christmas. One day, this list will have its last male vocal, and we might not care too much because we're revelling in brilliant songs.

Numbers have a certain tyranny: this was the very last cut - the Song 51 - when I did #Uncool50 a couple of years back. Some mild credit to the late cuts for this list:

51 Sixpence None the Richer "Kiss me" 52 The Waterboys "The whole of the moon" 53 Black "Wonderful life" 54 A-ha "Take on me"

55-61 Alisha's Attic "Alisha rules the world" Boy Meets Girl "Waiting for a star to fall" Debbie Gibson "Electric youth" Dream Academy "Life in a northern town" Duran Duran "The reflex" Fools' Garden "Lemon tree" Heavy D and the Boyz "Now that we've found love"

62-69 An Emotional Fish "Celebrate" Don Henley "The boys of summer" Goodbye Mr Mackenzie "The rattler" Princess "Say I'm your number 1" Runrig "Hearthammer" The Big Dish "Miss America" The Goo Goo Dolls "Iris" Wah! "The story of the blues"

[historyandarthijinks]

Apocalypse Mirrors Real Life

Pompeii - August 24 - 79 CE - Italy

"I might boast that, during all this scene of horror, not a sigh, or expression of fear, escaped me, had not my support been grounded in that miserable, though mighty, consolation, that all of mankind were involved in the same calamity, and that I was perishing with the world itself." - Pliny the Younger

"We scarcely sat down to rest when darkness fell, not the dark of a moonless or cloudy night, but as if the lamp had been put out in a closed room." - Pliny the Younger, Continued

"You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling to their parents, others their children or their wives, trying to recognize them by their voices. People bewailed their own fate or that of their relatives, and there were some who prayed for death in their terror of dying." - Pliny the Younger, Continued

Hurricane Katrina - August 23 - 2005 - United States

"We got on top of the roof. One baby after the other, my mother, cousin, me and my brother. We think think we are safe. Next thing you know, the home was lifted off its foundation. Water is rushing all around us. And as the house is going, we see all these oak trees. And we see all these other homes lifting off their foundations and cracking up." - Robert Green

"The water was running by my house just below the balcony railings, and I could see this black, oily surface going all around the block, filling streets and yards. People was yelling, banging on the roofs of houses from the inside. They'd climbed up to get away from the water and got themselves stuck in their attics with no way to break out." - Andre and Alisha, accounted by Jim Gabour

"Of all the nightmares during Hurricane Katrina, this must be one of the worst. Prisoners were abandoned in their cells without food or water for days as floodwaters rose toward the ceiling." - Human Rights Watch researcher, Corinne Carey

Fire Bombing of Tokyo - April 18-March 10 - 1942-1945 - Japan

"There was a strong wind that night and as I came out of the shelter, all I could see around us was fire. Burning clothing, tatami mats, and debris were blowing down the road and it looked like a flowing river of fire." - Haruyo Nihei

"Open the door! Let us in! The terrified people on the other side of the door were now shouting. But their voices gradually faded, and then there was silence. The survivors found charred bodies piled in front of the door the following morning." - Shizuko Nishio

Hayao Miyazaki, Ghibli's founding father witnessed the fire bombing first hand at a young age. He says, "From that day forward, I viewed the world, the Japanese people, my family, and myself as only one step away from cowardice and barbarism."

1991 Bangladesh Cyclone - April 29 - 1991 - Bangladesh

"We found corpses left scattered even after a week of the cyclone in the area." - Badiul Alam

"I remember we were told to hang onto hay stacks to save our lives and not drown. I had no idea what to do. And I remember so many people died because they were not prepared." - Abola Sarker

The 1991 Bangladesh Cyclone happened a little over twenty years since the infamous Bhola Cyclone. Due to neighboring nation tensions surrounding Bangladesh, they were still unable to prepare to the 1991 cyclone, leading to over hundred-thousands of deaths. If you want to learn about how a natural disaster turned into a genocide I implore you look into the Bhola Cyclone.

2019-2020 Australian Bushfire Season

"Up to 19 million hectares was burnt, with 12.6 million hectares primarily forests and woodlands. Nearly 3 billion animals were impacted by the blazes." - WWF Australia

"We spent Saturday preparing, as we were told to get ready to jump into the ocean. There were a hundred people on the beach who used tractors to dig trenches to jump into if the fires arrived." - Elizabeth Walton

"The fire brought whipping winds, bursts of thunder, lightning strikes and, very briefly, rain. There was an eerie quiet, punctuated only by the anxiety-provoking but reassuring sound of sirens. There were gas blasts, houses toppling and trees crashing or exploding. The fire produced deafening, apocalyptic roars that wills stay with me forever." - Mary Frost

[octoberbrunette]

Alisha's Attic - Indestructible