March playlist

Childish Gambino- Heartbeat

MIA-Bad girls

Foxy Shazam- Oh lord

Jessie Ware- Running (disclosure remix)

Sharks- Arcane Effigies

The Milk- B-road

M80-Midnight City

Alabama Shakes- Hold on

Childish Gambino has many strings to his bow, not only is he famous for his filthy lyrics and chart topping single ‘Bonfire’, he’s also an established comedian and co-writes and stars in 30 rock with Tina Fey. The show depicts Fey as the head writer of a live comedy sketch series mirroring her actual experience writing for Saturday night live for 9 years. The comedy is arguably unknown to British audiences despite critical acclaim and a brilliant cast including Alec Baldwin. I highly recommend this show and please persevere; it takes a while to fully appreciate its humour.

They may have a rubbish name and a few mediocre bordering on tedious songs such as ‘Broke up the Family’ but The Milk equally have a number of crackers. B-road, (All I wanted was) danger and their cover of Galvanize by Chemical Brothers are particularly engaging, their 60’s soul vibe and lead singer Dan Le Gresley’s unique voice and good looks certainly sets them apart from the crowd. Dan has an uncanny resemblance to Brian Fallon with his long, blond slicked back hair and has all the qualities of an excellent front man including a rock star name.

Most anticipated album release: The explosion - Bury me standing

Dave Hause of  The Loved ones recently tweeted the biggest news, well to my ears anyway, that punk band The explosion are releasing their third album ‘Bury me Standing’ which fans and the band  themselves never thought would make it to the shelves. After two album releases and signing to Virgin, they were dropped suddenly and despite recording their third album it was never released. Years later they were encouraged by The Bouncing Souls during a number of one-off shows they played together to release their album through Chunksaah records, an independent label owned by the souls.



Although this may seem promising for the band, Matt Hock (lead singer) is quick to deny a reunion, as questioned by Tyler Evans for Amp magazine he says “before you get too excited it’s a single release not a plan on a reunion”  which will disappoint many fans, he explains part of the reason is down to his fellow band members, “don’t get me wrong, they’re fantastic people, but I don’t have an interest in being in a van with them really (laughs)” and who blames him after being on tour for years and despite a loyal a fan base they never increased in size.

Both Hock and Walsh (guitar) knew the band needed closure and without the release of ‘Bury Me Standing’ this could never be achieved. I cannot help but speculate that if this album is well received they will be tempted to ride on its success, especially when The loved ones, Walsh and Gonzalez (bass) current band is on hold while lead singer Hause is touring with his solo project. It all seems like perfect timing, too perfect in fact.

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