There's a Tear In My Heart, KINTSUGI (finally) and Marina and the Diamonds

Hello again. It’s Friday so here’s this week’s music.

Imma shuffle it up and talk about the track of the week: Tear in My Heart by Twenty|One|Pilots, mainly because I can’t actually physically not. I must have been so boring this week because all I can talk about is this track. Firstly, that piano - I could go on all day about how much I love pianos but it just gives the whole song a facelift - it keeps it light and doesn’t let the bass drag it down. Secondly, those drum patterns - what’s not to love? Thirdly, Josh. Fourthly, Tyler. Fifthly, Jenna. Sixthly, that synth - adds variety to the song. Seventhly, that bass - gives it pace. Eighthly, those lyrics. Ninthly, *mind blown*. I have no idea what to say anymore - too much goodness in one song. The song is deadly serious, yet hilarious (I mean, my taste in music is your face...?) ; pure genius, yet pure insanity; and completely and utterly Twenty One Pilots. I literally can’t stop listening to it. Nothing bad to say about it, so short a review. It firmly finds its place in the 12/12 club ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Onto KINTSUGI. I said I’d review this album when it came out when Little Wanderer was track of the week (you can check that review out here), and this is the first post since its release so here it is. I have to admit, not all the tracks on KINTSUGI were as great as I expected them to be, but Binary Sea and Good Help (Is So Hard To Find) are just wonderful so I’m by no means disappointed. I love the variety on this album - no two tracks sound the same and the more I listen to tracks the more I begin to like different ones (for instance, I’m definitely more into The Ghosts of Beverly Drive now than No Room In Frame). It’s not an album I can listen to over and over, but I love the experimental nature and the imagination that went into creating this album - definitely one I’m proud to have in my collection. 11/12 ★★★★★★★★★★★

I’m not really sure why Marina and the Diamonds are artist of the week because FROOT was released ages ago, but y’know what’s life without whimsy? Marina and the Diamonds is/are a kinda pop group that kinda have this habit of being really popular all of a sudden then immediately disappearing. Anyway, I made them/her artist of the week because as well as having Tear in My Heart stuck in my head, I’ve been finding it really hard to get Savages out of my head. It’s a very odd combination… but that’s beside the point. Marina writes surprisingly catchy lyrics (perhaps not ones you want to shout out like We live, we die / We steal, we kill, we lie) that offer a very unique view on modern life (that sounds a little pretentious, but you’ll see what I mean). Her/their songs have a kinda electro pop/indie pop feel that will either leave you feeling like you want to dance or you want to cry. Either way, Marina’s powerful vocals will definitely bring you back to centre. Alright so some of the tracks on FROOT are very… pop… but I think that’s what makes them/her so clever. She/They has/have these very intelligent lyrics shrouded in these little pop tunes. Anyway, you should go give them/her a listen. 9/12 ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (the rating is based on Savages)

Here are the top ten tracks:

1. Sagres - Tallest Man On Earth
2. Satellites - Mew
3. All This Could Be Yours - Cold War Kids
4. Poison - Waxahatchee
5. Marigold - Mother Falcon
6. Overture - Black Veil Brides
7. I Don’t Love You - My Chemical Romance
8. Hold On, We’re Going Home - Arctic Monkeys [Well, Drake, but you know you want to listen to the cover] 
9. Brooklyn Baby - Lana Del Rey
10. I’m A Ruin - Marina and The Diamonds

Anyway, next week: Blur, The Wombats and lots more,

See you then,
M x

PS: Leave me a comment if you want me to listen to anything and put it on the next post/s - I love finding new music :)

March

Here are, as promised, the favourites this month.

Film: The Wind Rises, [PG-13]
Studio Ghibli :) This is the new-er one. This film is loosely based on the life of the Japanese plane designer in the Second World War - but mainly centres on his love life. I love the animation in these films (not so much the plot). For those of you who have seen the films My Neighbour Totoro, or Howl’s Moving Castle, or any of the other of the Ghibli films then you’ll know what I mean when I say that they are just so beautiful. I wasn’t so taken by the plot - it was a little unfocused. At the beginning of the film, it talked a lot about planes, then suddenly it talked a lot about Nahako. I understand that it was meant to represent the change in his life, but perhaps it could have been done a little more smoothly for the purposes of the film. Twas a good film though, with beautiful graphics - 9/12 ★★★★★★★★★

Book: The Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Haruki Murakami [14+]
Murakami is widely considered one of the greatest writers of our time, yet I’ve rarely heard his name in conjunction with the topic. I’m not going to hazard a guess as to why this is but I will leave it as he is a great writer and although I read the translation of his novel, it was wonderfully written and I definitely could not have predicted the ending (which is what I always look for in a book). The plot is centered around a young man and how he some how manages to get cut off from his group of friends. He believes this is because he has always been an outcast (for instance, his name is the only one that doesn’t contain a colour - for example Kei Akamatsu, shortens to Aka meaning Red - hence the title). This leaves him feeling depressed and “colourless” - again, hence the title - until he meets Sara, which is essentially where the book begins. He finds himself telling Sara all about his friends and she helps him to solve the mystery of why he becomes the outcast, and why he’s the “Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki”. I really enjoyed it, despite the horrible ending, and the strange part in the middle. This book is aimed at adults, so it does have some strange content, but I skipped over those bits. Even if you just read if for Murakami’s descriptions it would be worth it. 8/12 ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

App: Stop Motion Studio [Free - 8+]
This app allows you to make those stop motion animation videos and it’s actually pretty easy to use - I mean, if I can use it, pretty much anyone can use it. My only issue with it is saving - it’s just a little too easy to delete everything you’ve done and then not be able to be redo it. Apart from that, it’s a great app to have to entertain pretty much anyone with. 11/12 ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Game: Disco Zoo [Free - 5+]

A surprisingly addictive game that will make you feel like a five year old again - the only way of summarising this game. When you see people playing it, you think “meh, how could that ever be fun” WALK AWAY NOW. I mean it has pandas. Pandas people. Sorry, anyway, this game essentially puts you in charge of your own zoo where you can collect animals. The twist is you can throw disco parties and buy them hats. The hard bit is solving the puzzles to get the animals (when you rescue animals, you’re faced with a grid, and you have to find the pattern to get the animal). It’s surprisingly fun. The best part is you’re not forced to buy anything (I mean you can buy more money and you can buy the ZooPedia which gives you all the answers, but where’s the fun in that?). I would say that it does get a little boring waiting for things to happen, but that’s the same with pretty much all games like this so you can’t really criticise it too heavily for that. 11/12 ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆


So that’s the first Culture :)

See you Friday,

M x

Happy 15th Birthday Shiver, Years and Years and Ed Sheeran

Hi, wow, what a busy week! So much has happened this week, I just simply have not had a minute to spare - which explains why the layout still looks like it does… sorry about that. Anyway, I'm here as promised on Friday with lots to talk about.

Firstly, I’d like to say happy birthday to one of my favourite songs, Shiver by Coldplay. For those of you who don’t know, Shiver was one of Coldplay’s first tracks and it was released back on 6th March 2000 - which makes it 15 today (almost the same age as me funnily enough). Anyway, I’m not going to go on and on about how Shiver’s an “atmospheric” alternative rock song and one of Coldplay’s “finest works” anything like that; I’m just going to say that it’s a good song and you should go listen to it. What I will say though is, compared to Yellow, (the more popular track from the album Parachutes - which Shiver was released on) it’s more tuneful and personally, I like it slightly better but that’s just personal preference. Give them both a listen and tell me what you think in the comments :) If you don’t like either, being a Coldplay fan, I have Magic up my sleeve ;) (Coldplay joke… you get it?... oh you do… oh… moving on...) Sticking with the Parachutes theme, from all the various people over the years that I have tried to convert to Coldplay, I have learnt that those who don’t like Yellow, tend to like Shiver; and those who don’t like Shiver tend to like these next two tracks: Don’t Panic and Trouble. These two tracks are much more relaxed than the previous two. Don’t Panic has a kinda acousticy vibe to it (“vibe”? seriously... sorry about that…) and Trouble just has a nice piano a part and being a pianist I like songs with nice piano parts :).

I wasn’t actually going to talk to you about just Coldplay today, so if you just read that paragraph and were thinking “I really hate Coldplay” firstly, have you recently suffered a blow to the head (hehehe I’m only kidding) and secondly, I apologise, I am moving on now - as hard as it is for me.

Each week, as part of the regular blog, I’ll talk about an artist, a track/song and an album each week and give it a rating out of 12 just because that’s a nice number and ten would be boring ;) and then I’ll end with a list of 10 tracks that are on my playlist this week. (However, each month, I’ll tell you about a book, a film and all the other stuff just because I hear more songs and albums each month than the other things I’m going to talk about in this blog. I’ll also tell you a little bit about my life from time to time if you’re interested but to be honest with you I don’t really do anything that interesting, but I’ll keep you posted anyway. I think that clears that up because I just read my last post and that was really not very clear.)

The artist I wanted to talk about this week was Ed Sheeran and in particular, his performance at the Brits. I was going to mention this last week, but I got so hung up on layouts (of all things) that I ran out of time. Anyway, if you missed it on the TV, it was pretty amazing. Many of you will know that he tends just to perform by himself on stage, but he uses a loop pedal to lay down the tracks in front of you to make it seem like there are several people playing. That by itself is very impressive, but combined with his talent and showmanship, it’s creates a flawless performance (how cheesy was that sentence). At the Brits last week he performed Bloodstream, live, which is from his latest album X or Multiply (the track has recently been re-released featuring Rudimental - I don’t really the re-release as much as the original just because it has such a heavy beat which is a little oppressive but it’s still about a 7/12 because it’s quite energising in a strange sort of way because of the frantic drum beat towards the end if you have to go somewhere early or for a run). X is his second “smash-hit” album which features the number one track Thinking Out Loud which has been lingering in the UK charts for almost six months now. When the company that runs the Brit Awards asked which artist the British public wanted most to perform at the ceremony, Ed Sheeran was the most requested by far, so you could say that he’s pretty popular. ;)

The Brits as a whole were pretty good. Taylor Swift opened the ceremony, then there were some awards then Sam Smith (who was wonderful ftr), then there were some more awards, and George Ezra (who I am a very big fan of) then some more awards. I was just casually sitting down eating my dinner when this quiet little intro starts, building up, and building up and building up until the chorus kicks in (see what I did there? wow these are getting worse). That’s when I knew I had to talk about Ed Sheeran this week. If I haven’t convinced you to go listen to it yet, perhaps the fact that over 5.8 million people already have, so go listen to it. If I had to rate his performance I'd have to give it a very high 11/12.

On to album. This week I’m going to tell you about an album that came out a few weeks ago: American Beauty/American Psycho. I’ve been playing this album on repeat... until I fall asleep (if you got that reference I’m impressed, we’re now friends :) - not that we weren’t in the first place... I really am putting the pro in procrastination today… yep just gonna get worse from here). Fall Out Boy actually changed their tune (ha... ha… ha... just hilarious…) a little with this album. If you’re familiar with their earlier albums, Folie a deux or Infinity on High or even Save Rock and Roll then you might be shouting at the screen right now "I KNOW RIGHT" (or possibly not, then we've reached an awkward crossroad haven't we...) Now this is the point where you either love me or hate me. I kinda like it. Please don’t kill me. Yes, I know it doesn’t make me a true Fall Out Boy fan and I don’t claim to be. Alright, so it’s a little less heavy and a little more mainstream, but you know what, I don’t mind. As long as they’re happy with it, I’m happy with it.

If you haven’t heard the album yet, can I suggest you don’t go and listen to the first track they released straight away. Centuries was the lead track from the album and went to number 10 and all that but to be honest there are some better tracks on the album. Centuries was a little forced - I do agree with some of the comments that Fall Out Boy could have picked a better track to lead with. Next came Immortals, which featured in Big Hero Six, which I kinda want to see now - if you’ve seen it, leave me a comment, is it good? Immortals was also not the greatest track from the album in my personal opinion, and it seems that quite a few agree. There is a glimmer of traditional Fall Out Boy in the chorus but it’s kinda drowned in the opening which I think is a little messy. They then released Irresistible, and now we’re talking. I was a little worried at first, when I heard the trumpet opening, but it actually kind of works. I think it really opens the album well. When we get to the line "I love the way you hurt me" I knew I was going to like this song - this was going to be a great album. It's definitely up there with one of my favourite Fall Out Boy songs. I’d also recommend taking a look at American Beauty/American Psycho (the song), The Fourth of July and Favorite Record. These three songs really epitomise (good word there *pats self on back*) what the album’s all about (bad phrase there *face palm*). Anyway, my point is this is a really great album, and although it’s kind of a little pop, a little rock, and some of the tracks do let it down a little, I still like it and for that I’m going to give it a 9.5/12.

Years and Years. Years and Years is not a reference to how long it has taken me to work out how to use WordPress; they are in fact a band. If you haven’t heard of them, they’re a popular beat combo from London (that’s an old joke… look it up). Seriously though, Years and Years are an a electro pop trio who are rapidly gaining in fame. King is I think their sixth single and is set to be a big hit this week, which is why it’s my track of the week - see logical :) Anyways, I like it. It has a catchy, albeit slightly repetitive opening and a nice chorus. They kind of remind me a little of Clean Bandit who I absolutely adore, and I'm not really sure why... there's no violin or anything... I think it's the kind of electronic sounding parts in between the chorus' and verses. Also, you should go listen to their acoustic sessions. To be honest, I kind of like them slightly more than some of their pre-recorded tracks. The acoustic version of Take Shelter is great to wind down to at the end of the day. I’m going
to give King 8/12, just because the riff does get a little repetitive after a while and I would have liked a little more of a bass line, but it's still a great track. You can tell that this group have a lot of talent.

Here are my ten tracks for this week. I kind of tried to pick quite calming songs, just because so much seems to be going on at this time. Having said that, I did pick Mayday Parade... Yeah... never mind.

1. Way in the World - Nina Nesbitt
2. End of Me - A Day To Remember
3. When You See My Friends - Mayday Parade
4. Syndicate - The Fray
5. Baba O'Riley - The Who
6. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
7. Chocolate - The 1975
8. Shattered - Trading Yesterday
9. Taxi Cab - Twenty One Pilots
10. This Charming Man - The Smiths

It's pretty late now, so I'm going to have to leave it here. Leave a like if you enjoyed and tell me what you think in the comments below. Sorry it turned out so long.

See you next Friday,

Mxx

Update: I've linked everything in a different colour so you can take a look at some of the things I've mentioned if you have no clue what I'm on about. I've also added in the videos at the sides :)