Predicting the Future, Wanted on Voyage and Junk of the Heart
Hi, it’s Friday, so that means new post time. I don’t have so much to talk about this week, so hopefully the post won’t be so long. I just read through it and wow that was long but anyway I’ll try keep it brief this week.
Actually talking of last week’s post, I don’t know if you saw, but King has actually been at #1 in the UK charts all week (since Monday I think) so that was good and also, Bloodstream, which we also mentioned (the Rudimental version) has also been hanging around at #36. Thinking Out Loud is still at #14 which I think we mentioned in passing, in case you were interested. (These stats are from the Official Charts Company which is updated regularly here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles). Also, Coldplay released a new video! The video was for Ghost Story, from the Sky Full of Stars EP. I’m glad they released a video for this because it’s such a good song and I was so sad when they stuck it on a B side of an EP where no one would pay any attention to it, but now finally, it may actually get a little more attention :D . Anyway, this isn’t another Coldplay blog, so I should probably talk about a band other than Coldplay - as much as it pains me. Talk about topical though.
Artist: George Ezra. Seeing as it’s March and the sun is out where I am (lucky I know), I’ve decided that this week I’m gonna talk about George Ezra. His cheerful songs Budapest and Blame it On Me seemed just right for the weather right now, but if you're in a more rainy climate then he does have some more downbeat songs to suit your meteorological mood. You may like Did You Hear the Rain? (although that does get a little more upbeat towards the middle chorus) or Spectacular Rival. I did mention him in passing last week in connection with the Brit Awards - he was nominated for 4 awards and performed live - but seeing as this week had such nice weather it made me think of summer, so I decided that I’d talk a little more about him. His first album, Wanted on Voyage proved to be very popular last summer when it was released and has stayed in the charts for 36 weeks (it currently sits at #4 incase you were interested). Anyway, since it’s such a cheerful album I thought I’d remind those of you who put it away at the back of your mind for the winter months to get it out for spring and listen to it again. I love the variety of the songs on this album - some are quite lyrical (Did You Hear the Rain?) and some just quite happy-go-lucky if you see what I mean. Anyway, based on Wanted on Voyage I’m giving George Ezra a sunny 11/12 :) It would have been a 12/12 but I did have to consider the fact that some of the ohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohs do get a little tiring after a while. I will give a special mention to the track the Da Vinci Riot Police - prize for the most random track name must goes to...- this track is only available on the deluxe version of Wanted on Voyage but this is actually a great track. It sounds nothing like Budapest or Cassy ‘O (which is apparently about a clock - see you learn something new every day), so if you’re not really into the other tracks try the Da Vinci Riot Police (sorry I just like saying that) :)
Track: Junk of the Heart (Happy) - The Kooks. I was talking to some friends during the week and was kind of surprised to hear that a lot of them haven’t heard of the Kooks, which prompted me to talk about this track. The Kooks are an indie rock band from Brighton, England who are most famous for their songs Naive and Ooh La. Arctic Monkeys fans will probably know the lead singer, Luke Pritchard, as the man who supposedly kicked Alex Turner in the face although that was all a hullabaloo and a story for another time. The Kooks were quite popular a few years back, but they kinda ducked under the radar a bit recently so a lot of their new stuff was missed. Junk of the Heart is from their 2009 album of the same name and proved to be quite popular track then - I say quite in the loosest sense of the word, people liked it, reviewers didn’t. I could have talked about Listen, their latest album - released last September, but to be honest I don’t really have much to say about that - it was kind of a bit non descript. It was good, but there was nothing really outwardly amazing about it - I’m sure plenty of people will disagree with me though. Anyway, I love the upbeat feel of this track and the kind of vintage sound that they manage to achieve without making it sound corny, which always seems to be a problem for some of the retro indie bands that try and get that sort of feel. Also I’m pretty sure it’s impossible not to smile when it gets to the chorus of this song. This track’s getting 10/12. I knocked 2 off because I have to admit some of the rhymes are a little dodgy, “life is no race… I’m in disgrace”, and I do have to agree with some reviews that this song doesn’t really have the clarity or direction (the lyrics seem to change their mind from whatever they were talking about in the verse whenever they get to the words “are you mine?”) that perhaps it could have had - it was part of an album that was worked on for a whopping 3 years. Having said that, if you're looking for a pick-me-up this is your song :)
Album: Smoke and Mirrors - Imagine Dragons. Finally some relatively new music. When they released I Bet My Life, initially, I didn’t think I’d like this album as much as I do, but hearing songs like Release and Trouble made me fall in love with this album. It’s got that uplifting Imagine Dragons sound which is combined with depth and poetry in the lyrics. I think it’s quite a clever album which was missed by some of the critics who gave it a poor review: it manages to fall into both the pop and rock market without insulting either. It maintains a new sound yet could easily mix with the vintage indie rock crowd. There are both cheerful songs for those proud moments (I bet sooner or later one of these tracks will turn up on an advert somewhere) and sad songs that are just right for those rainy days. They went a little overboard on some of the effects on some of the songs, - some of that could have been stripped down, but overall this is a high quality album with lots of great tracks and for that I’m giving it a 9/12. BTW: the video is the album trailer, which is actually pretty cool – I don’t normally watch these, but it gives you a taste of some of their new tracks.
So that must bring us to top ten tracks:
Greek Tragedy - The Wombats (Also check out the Bastille remix because… Bastille :) )
These keep turning out really long, sorry about that. Should I post the Artist, Album, Track and ten tracks in different posts? I don’t know… Tell me what you think in the comments :) Ooh and I almost forgot you can now go check out the SoundCloud page for a playlist of all the top ten tracks and you never know, I might add a few extra from time to time :) If you listened to any of the tracks from last week, I'd love to hear what you thought of them. Leave a comment below and leave a +1 if you enjoyed.
That’s all for now,
See you in the next post,
M x
PS: Thank you to all my lovely new followers and visitors
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