birthday list

My birthday is coming up on August 4th, so I decided to make a hypothetical birthday list like the ones I'd make as a kid (only way more expensive.)

1.)  hot pink Lisa Frank studded vest

mystic mayhem designs

2.) Moon phase bed runner

salt and still

3.) Girl faces dress

Leah Goren

4.) Tatty Devine Large brown tortoiseshell glasses necklace

5.) Lazy Oaf 'Let's Make Out' shirt

Lazy Oaf

6.) Lazy Oaf Tuesday cropped shirt

Lazy Oaf

7.) Emoji stickers

found on etsy

8.) Jeffrey Campbell heart platforms

jeffrey campbell

9.) Tatty Devine pink poodle necklace

10.) Happy Meal party dress

I'm Your Present

11.) Miss Piggy party dress

I'm Your Present

12.) Garden Gnome high heels

irregular choice

13.) Charles Burns embroidered cyclops head

Wilkie Stitch Witch

14.) handmade marianne leather t-bar heels in soft hologram

golden ponies

15.) Lazy Oaf cosmos dress

sold out: I am devastated I snoozed on this.

16.) Vandor rainbow cloud teapot

found on etsy

17.) weather pattern sweater

found on etsy

18.) tickets for Paramore on the Monumentour

19.) Monumentour merch

20.) Wildfox Luna shades

 21.) Wildfox Lobster Lenon sweater

 22.) UNIF Blotter Kimono

 23.) Wildfox Rainbow sweater in mint

 24.) UNIF Stay Fly Kimono

25.) Wildfox Watermelon sweater

upset phase two

I somehow waited until now to read Girls to the Front. I got to the part where the writer is talking about Nation of Ulysses' mission statement and Bikini Kill's deliberate, revolutionary aspirations. It made me wonder what I wanted for Upset and from Upset.

I started Upset as a way to stake some claim for myself musically. I believe every person's role in a band is of equal importance, and I think some of my former band mates would disagree. I wanted to be part of a band, not in someone's backing band. I also didn't want to be the kind of musician with a backing band. As a drummer, I felt I was making the same physical and emotional sacrifices as everyone else, only with less reward.

Both bands I was in before Upset, I had joined somewhere between formation and ascension. I knew if I were to continue playing in bands, I wanted it to be something I helped build from the ground up. I needed to prove to the world and myself that I am capable of creating. We accomplished that with the first album.

Now what? Where do we go with this? I guess part of the battle is knowing that you want to keep fighting.

I want to reach as many people as possible with music that is sincere and empowering.
I want to be an accessible band of smart women.
I want to be able to finally do what I was always too timid to do.
I want to explore my relationships with female friends and dissect them and reflect on them.
I want to be honest and open about my body image and the struggles I have with it.
I want to learn to be honest with myself and write about my experience as a woman.
I want to sing about my love for my boyfriend.
I want to share my shortcomings.
I want to inspire a generation.
I want to make sense of my thoughts and memories through song.
I want to outdo myself and challenge myself to get better and stronger.
I wanna make someone cry and start a band.
I want to leave behind a legacy.
I want to have fun creating things with my friends.
I want to feel part of something bigger than myself.
I want to stop worrying about who I will appeal to.
I want to create what comes to me, free of pretension and constraints.
I wanna scream.
I want Rachel to sing too.
I want to hurry up and write another album.

I have to be patient and have faith that all of this will come together the way it should, but I also need to keep moving forward. I don't want to wake up one day and realize I've just been shifting my weight side to side. There's not enough time for that.

etsy listing blast

While I was home in the beginning of the month, I had to help my parents organize my stuff in the attic. They are moving to Florida, but my brother is buying the house we grew up in, so I get to keep a lot of my stuff there. I brought back a bunch of treasures I found up there and I just listed some of my vintage clothing collection and old favorites in my etsy shop. Link here: her name is ali shop

the fashion of bikini kill

I could write a very long winded post about how important Bikini Kill is to me and all women in music and how they shaped the person I came to be and the path I walk on, but today I just wanna talk about how amazing their style was and how I continue to draw inspiration from the fashion of Bikini Kill.

Clothing aside, Bikini Kill's "don't fuck with me" attitude is my number one style inspiration. Before discovering Bikini Kill, I dressed to fit in. I would wear clothes to hopefully bring me closer to the norm. My hair was long  and blonde and I seldom wore more than chapstick on my face.

When I got into the music and message of Bikini Kill through teen movie 10 Things I Hate About You, there was a shift. I was exposed to a type of femininity I knew little about. As a kid I always pushed the boundaries of what was expected of little girls; I played drums and shot bee bee guns, but as a tween I briefly lost that spirit. I quit the school band and traded in my jncos for skirts and platforms.

Bikini Kill taught me you could have it both ways, and that conforming with what is expected of girls is boring and sad. I started to wear what I liked, not what I thought other people would like. I got into lipstick. My boyfriend at the time hated it and said it made me look weird. I didn't care. It made me feel powerful. I wore high ponytails like Kathleen Hanna, scarves in my hair like Kathi Wilcox, and big old band shirts like Tobi Vail. I started shopping at thrift stores and wearing Chuck Taylors and making homemade shirts with iron on letters. I finally started to express myself and find out who I really was. My girl friends and I would cut and dye each others hair. Sometimes we looked ridiculous, but finding ourselves through fashion was one of the funnest times of my life. 

fruit grunge

While I was looking for a background for this blog I came across a term that was new to me: soft grunge. It was a suggested Google image search for tumblr backgrounds. I perused the various soft grunge images. There were dreamy stills of light refracted through water, melting smiley faces, pastel tie dye and other muted versions of co-opted 90s nostalgia. I found a Wikipedia page devoted to the genre, and learned more about tumblr genres. I had no idea that seapunk was born out of tumblr. To my knowledge, fashion always came out of music, not blog culture. I guess this is what it feels like to get older.

I started to joke about how my friend Rachel and I were "accidentally soft grunge." While my band, Upset, were touring Australia we taught White Lung about soft grunge and pastel goth and spent the tour pointing out things that fit the bill.

At the airport in Auckland, Rachel opened her computer which has a background of fruit miniatures. Patty looked over Rachel's shoulder and said "God, you and Ali are the same person," and I said "Yea, duh, we're soft grunge." Patty then said the most genius thing ever and coined a new tumblr genre:

She said "You guys aren't soft grunge, you're like, fruit grunge."

It made perfect sense.

We started naming things that would fit the "fruit grunge" mold. Here's a fruit grunge style board for you. Maybe you're accidentally fruit grunge?

fruit grunge by alexandria-koehler featuring Forever 21

your schtick sucks: why cheeky was the best

You might be familiar with the bands Big Eyes, Aye Nako, and the Babies, but have you heard Cheeky?

Cheeky were one of the most important bands I had the privilege to see in various basements and punk houses in NY and NJ from 2007-2009.

Cheeky first came onto my radar when my friend Sarah had a song called Bad Mood on her Myspace profile (that really dates the short existence of this band). The song starts "I'm in a bad mood and I just woke up this way." I loved it instantly. The vocals were androgynous, the guitar was more skilled than most local bands, and the drumming was impeccable. Cheeky were the toughest band I'd ever heard, and 3/4 happened to be girls.

Also, their name. Cheeky is the most genius name for a band that plays fuck you songs like Grow Fins, Turkey and Get Outta Here.

When you saw Cheeky live, you felt like you were seeing something really special. Not only were their songs are all perfect, but each member of the band brought something important to the table. They were the kind of band where you wanted to know everyone's first and last names and follow anything they did or made. If there were Tiger Beat posters for each of them with fun facts and stats, I would've had them. I had to resort to hanging these polaroids in my bedroom in a line with 'CHEEKY' written in the margins.

Kate Eldridge

Angie Boylan

Kate Wadkins

Brian Schleyer

After their debut, Choke on a Cheeseburger, they released a number of songs on different 7"s.
My knowledge of the timeline of their releases is foggy, but I do know they had a substantial followup release to Choke on a Cheeseburger called What the Heck. Part 1: Is this Normal? into Part 2: This is not Normal! is stuck in my head more often than not.

Following their dissolution, Kate Eldridge started Big Eyes, Brian started the short lived (but almost equally amazing) Big Soda with Kyle Gilbride (who went on to form Swearin') until he joined the Babies, Angie drummed in a number of bands, but drums primarily in Aye Nako now, and Kate Wadkins pursued higher education and a writing career. Check her out here: Wisdom Tooth

For all things Cheeky, I've provided you with a slew of links that I STRONGLY urge you to click on. It would be impossible for you to be disappointed. Watch every video and read every lyric. It won't compare to how it felt to see them in person, but it is a lucky glimpse into an unfortunately short lived, yet epic band.

Myspace: the portal through which I was introduced to Cheeky
If You Make It: this site has some great videos of Cheeky live as well as a Cheeky Pink Couch Session
Choke on a Cheeseburger: you can download Choke on a Cheeseburger here. There is a suggested donation of 3 dollars, but really it's worth much, much more.
Last.fm: there are a handful of photos here

P.S. Cheeky covered Slingshot Dakota and it's better than the original.*

*my humble opinion

video killed the radio star: veruca salt - number one blind

Not only is this my favorite song off of American Thighs, but everything about the styling in this video is perfect. It reads like a Veruca Salt - American Thighs mood board; the falling leaves, faux fur jackets, virginal white clothing motif, sun, moon, stars, stalagmites and stalactites.

Here are my favorite stills from this video and some style boards recreating Nina and Louise's impeccable styles.

Louise Post

louise post by alexandria-koehler featuring a leaf pendant

Nina Gordon

nina gordon by alexandria-koehler featuring leather riding boots