Warning- If you value your hearing do not listen to this song

Reverend and the Makers- Bassline

This goes out to the lucky few that this record has not yet reached. A number of reports have confirmed during this song people have suffered from uncontrollable bouts of sobbing and in a few isolated incidents ear drums have burst on the first key of the record- it's damming news for the band who just want to make a positive difference.

I however, am severely sleep deprived as my faith in music has taken a serious blow, so please for your own sake do not listen to this song.

In case you are curious and feel slightly compelled to listen to it I will spell it out to you once and for all, its shit!

Tweet of the day

 @ The Gaslight Anthem
          We're gonna call our new record "Handwritten" can't wait for you all to hear

          https://twitter.com/#!/gaslightanthem

MIA- Bad girls

In all her weirdness MIA manages to churn out records that appeals to the masses and ‘Bad girls’ is no exception. She certainly abides by her lyrics "Live fast, die young, bad girls do it well” and the only way to describe her video is to imagine your local Tesco car park at 3am with a handful of boy racers doing wheel spins and use the desert as your back drop and you’re pretty much there. Alternatively take a look at the video yourself.

The Horrible Crowes- Elsie

The Horrible Crowes- Elsie could easily be mistaken for a Gaslight Anthem record, perhaps the reassuring help from his band mates on this album and wife Hollie explains some of the similarities between Fallon’s side project with Ian Perkins.

Similar to Green Day whose American Idiot album tells a lyrical story, Fallon draws from the same semantic fields to illustrate Love and Life. In particular he focuses on the preciousness of time and how this shapes situations and feelings. For instance the concept of changing seasons and natures physical cycle is featured throughout the album, for example on track 6 he mourns the loss of a relationship that ends in the winter “and there was blood on my teeth/ from the long winters here” and still describes his sufferings in spring “See all I can do is think about you/ And miss all your kisses like the spring.” Using seasons as an indicator of time symbolises how easily it can escape you and the immeasurable healing process after a relationship. The intensity of these lyrics are heightened by its symbolism with nature,  the never ending cycle as a metaphor for relationships which begin, deepen and solidify and eventually end.

Fallon continues to focus on memories, he sings “I carry the ghost of my lovers at once” expressing how none of his past lovers have ever left him. Track 5 in particular is very poignant “And I just fell to pieces on the night that you said you were leaving/ You can’t come back from the heart that you left/ So go tell everybody that your man is dead.” In this chorus he is forthcoming about the relationship coming to an end and the difficulty of trying to regain what was lost. I also believe Fallon tries to emphasise the power of the mind that will keep these encounters alive and the everyday triggers that will either haunt or enrich your memories in the future.

‘Go tell everybody’ is the triumph on this album but every song stands alone. I Love that Fallon delves from the same lyrical repertoire, it is particularly comforting as a huge fan of his work and have yet again been left reeling by his vocals.

http://www.thehorriblecrowes.com/

November playlist

Stay Gold- The Big pink
Sunday Girl- Love u More
Monarchy- You don't Want to Dance with me
Joe Goddard- Gabriel
Sbtrkt- Pharaohs
Joker ft William Cartwright- On my mind
WU LYF- We Bro's

Just a taster of a few tracks I'm listening to right now, I particularly love Joker- On my mind. It's had huge airtime on Zane and Grimmy's radio show and I’m sure will be a household track in no time. 

Also worth a listen is Jade Williams A.K.A Sunday girl. The dancers all claimed for whiplash after the making of this Video (joke) but it's worth a watch nonetheless just to see her eccentric outfits and neon pink lipstick. Although I like the song, I have a feeling she is more style over substance. See video below

Marcus Foster- I was Broken

It’s clearly the year for male singer/songwriters, just take Ben Howard, Benjamin Francis Leftwich and Ed sheeran for example who have soared the charts and have sold out tours, is there room for one more?

Marcus Foster’s latest release ‘I was Broken’ features Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame. She is far removed from the harsh northern scenery depicted in the video, but there is no denying she could break your heart as she seductively poses down the camera lens to the lyrics “I was broken/ for a long time/but it’s over now.” The chorus content could easily be mistaken for The Wanted but I don’t mind, what is lacking in lyrical content he makes up for in vocal complexity. In his video every emotion can be read across his furrow brow, I am utterly convinced by him.

Foster has the ‘boy next door’ appeal and just like his contemporaries he would happily wear a hoody and jeans to his next show. Unlike Ed Sheeran who has the lexical range of a dictionary, Foster’s talents lie in his vocal ability to make even the most mundane lyrics have exceptional meaning. He could have easily made it without the aid of Stewart but has arguably fast tracked his career and paved the way for success in the American market.

Tragedy- Pukkelpop

One of Belgium’s most popular festivals was struck by tragedy this year after freak weather conditions caused the death of five people and multiple causalities. Heavy rainfall during the three day long festival caused staging to collapse, crushing festival goers underneath and chaos to those surrounding. I do wonder whether more could have been done as these conditions aren’t unheard of in Belgium where temperatures typically soar above 40oc during the summer season, heightening the expectations of freak conditions.

I experienced these temperatures first hand at rockwerchter festival in Belgium last year only a short distance from Pukkelpop which attracts some of the biggest names in music. In 2010 two stages were shared by the likes of Green Day, Muse, Pink, Rammstein, Pearl Jam and is also why it’s popular amongst locals who substantiate a large proportion of the audience. Belgium as a city had a lot to offer and is possibly the only place I was served cheese as a complimentary side to my beer. I also managed to catch a short leg of the tour de France as well as see Kelly from the stereophonics wondering around cathedral square ahead of his performance at Rockwerchter.

Unfortunately newspapers have been plagued by tragic stories, the most recent at Pukkelpop this year and those trampled to death at Germany’s love festival the year before. Let’s hope the muddy condition of Glastonbury is all that graces the front pages in the years to come.