sarahsmusicalthoughts

my name is sarah, i'm 19 & studying popular music journalism @ southampton solent.

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Album Review: Lily Allen – Sheezus

That girl that fused floor length dresses with Nike trainers and sang sarcy songs about Cheryl Cole, Tony Blair and her ex boyfriends is back again to bitch about the music business after ‘quitting’ to focus on real life after her 2009 album ‘It’s not me, It’s you’ Lily Allen has brought us Sheezus,  unknown as to whether it’s wordplay on a female Jesus or just a complete pisstake of rapper Kanye West’s referal to himself as Yeezus, it has shown a dreaded growth in Allen’s music and attitude.

After putting out first single from the album ‘Hard out Here’ which featured lyrics mocking the portrayal of women in the music business and a fun video in which she copied other popular videos from the previous years as well as the musical irony of overusing auto tune, the important message from this track would lead anyone to believe that Allen’s album is going to be somewhat enjoyable to listen to and somewhat like that classic Lily Allen sound. Wrong.

Yes, the fun element is there with the upbeat pop tracks such as ‘Air Balloon,’ ‘Life for Me’ and ‘Our Time’ and the experimental grassy elements in ‘As long as I got you’ although the extensive pisstake use of auto-tune makes all of these tracks almost unbearable for any fan of actual music.

It’s almost as if Allen’s songwriting skill has completely disappeared when lyrics like “I’m just about to get my period. Periods, we all get periods, every month thats what the theory is, it’s human nature, i know the cycle” pop up in lead track Sheezus, that consists of Allen making a mockery of other popular female artists such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Lorde and Beyonce. As well as the repeated “I’m here to make money” in ‘Insincerely Yours’ as she rips into celebrities on social networking sites, it’s obvious what her motives are here.

Overall, Sheezus is just a musical, lyrical disaster; Music is dying for Lily Allen’s sins here.

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Track Review: Lewis Watson – Stay

Since the release of his first EP, It’s got four sad songs on it BTW, Lewis Watson hasn’t taken a break from touring the UK, Europe, America AND Australia, recording another four EP’s (and now an upcoming album), playing festivals and making more of a name for himself in the business. With so much Radio 1 airplay, playing festivals such as Glastonbury and acquiring a vast increased fan-base from when he was just a YouTuber doing covers in his bedroom in front of a Paramore poster, Watson’s made it pretty far… and he’s not going to be stopping anytime soon.

‘Stay’ received it’s first airplay on Radio 1, with Watson posting links to the video on his twitter page soon afterward, check it out below.

The track begins with Watson’s voice and a single acoustic guitar before bringing in a fusion of graceful harmonies, melodious keys and timely drumbeats. Watson’s vocals are raw and vulnerable throughout, it’s almost as if not abusing auto-tune articulates the veracity in his music. Lyrically, as always with Watson, the romanticism is evocatively poignant as he croons, “When I close my eyes, I hear you singing/ you pick me up, but I let you down/ why can’t you stay? / If only I could dream, we could start again” and it’s flawless.

The video features Watson (looking strikingly handsome with his new ponytail hair and trim suit BTW) in a graveyard warbling to an audience with his guitar and a comely female watching him through a TV screen before she begins searching for him, many scenes solely consisting of them gazing at each other before they hover (literally) off to a shop for an awkward exchange and Watson inevitably vanishing.

Wherever he’s disappeared to, Watson will be back as he’s set to embark on another UK tour in September and has recently announced intimate church shows for places missed off the tour. Click here for dates and tickets.

Watson’s album ‘The Morning’ due June 16, is available for pre-order now, you can get that (and other deluxe options) here.

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Track Review: Owl City – Beautiful Times (Ft. Lindsey Stirling)

It’s always been like embarking on an enchanting musical journey every time you hear any Owl City track (Aka Adam Young) and why should this time be any different?

Young, at this point in his career has become a connoisseur with synthesizers and in ‘Beautiful Times’ he’s achieved just the right amount of auto-tuning in there with lyrics still somehow sounding as crisp and clear as a night sky.

‘Beautiful Times’ explores the premise of life being wonderful, despite it’s occasional gargantuan low points. Both lyrically and musically Young articulates this. “We all suffer, but we recover just to discover, life where we all are… I fought all through the night; I made it alive…the sun’s starting to rise… This fight of my life is so hard… These are beautiful times” Lyrically, it feels like a colossal picturesque paradox, explaining life perfectly, and effortlessly at that. Musically, the alterations between dark and jaunty synth and unobtrusive and heftier drumbeats fused with other spellbinding synthetic melodies are just charming, and again surely just illuminate life.

The track also features astounding violin playing from Lindsey Stirling, although minimal it doesn’t stop it adding more of a mesmerizing aspect to the track.

Young announced plans to release a “slow and steady” stream of music this year in forms of standalone EP’s rather than a full-track album throughout the upcoming year. These are indeed beautiful times.

Click here to ride a few waves, get the track for free and embark on an enchanting musical journey

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Album Review: Green Day – Demolicious (Record Store Day – 2014)

Green Day’s last three albums,¡Uno! ¡Dos! & ¡Tre! released in 2012 (as a trilogy)received an unenthusiastic retort from their older, of legal age fans. But, the more over-edited, middle-of-the-road, polished bullshit was a good tool for them to pull in a fresher audience after 2009’s 21stCentury Breakdown turned out to be a total flop, receiving a reception of ‘what the fuck is this?’ … It’s not all bad, just compare it to Dookie, think of the word ‘sell-out’ and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Demolicious is a compilation of sixteen demos of the ‘greatest hits’ from the trilogy, an acoustic version of ‘Stay the Night’, new track ‘State of Shock’ and compound attempts by the 3-piece to save their dignity. Indubitably, it’s not Green Day at their finest, but surely an upswing.

Paradoxically, the musical differences between the demos and their squeaky clean equivalents are essentially undetectable, although Demolicious offers a palpable edgier attempt at production with occasional screams and some inconceivable banter, which honestly is a heaven-sent change from the ear-piercingly, heavily-shrill guitars used in the triple-decker shit sandwich that was the 2012 trilogy. As a matter of fact, one statement that stayed true through the whole duration ofDemolicious was ‘Fuck, these guitars sound great.’

Previously un-released, only-heard-live track ‘State of Shock’ seems to be the closest that Green Day have gotten to sounding like Kerplunk, with repetitive chords, repetitive drumming, repetitive bass, repetitive lyrics and repetitive anything else involved, yet surprisingly still a desirable listening experience. Bassist, Mike Dirnt proclaimed earlier that this is what the trilogy would have sounded like if they were still on Look-out Records… If they were still on Look-out Records, they’d never have gotten to the point in their career when they’d feel any need to release the cringe-inducing trilogy.

However, there was a quick feeling of refreshment during the bridge of ‘Let Yourself Go’ in which Billie Joe croons “Wanna live with normal people, I wanna breathe with normal people, Go to work with normal people” Rather than the uninteresting and repetitive“always fuck-fucking with my head” in it’s polished counterpart.

The acoustic version of ‘Stay the Night’ on the end consists of only Billie Joe’s mesmerizingly raw vocals over a single acoustic guitar, adding more of a romantic element to the track rather than just some male rock band in their forties with families may I add, asking someone to “Stay the night” In all honesty, hearing this track actually played alternatively to the counterpart (something I expected from the whole album) feels like the only thing preventing the record from being a complete waste of everyone’s time.

To recapitulate, the record is simply the trilogy, but Kerplunk-ed. However, the point still stands that it’s the trilogy songs, and that should say enough.

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Album Review: Paolo Nutini – Caustic Love

Caustic Love, Paolo Nutini’s third album, sees the singer transforming from naive boyhood to a full-grown man with a cause. He’s achieved it almost effortlessly.

From the get go, the reverberated guitar riffs and hubristic bass from ‘Scream (Funk my life up)’ set the tone that this follow up is going to be distant from resembling 2009′s ‘Sunny Side up.’

Then leading into a psychedelic groove altering Bettye LaVette sample in ‘Let Me Down Easy’ into a duet, it seems Nutini has left that grouping of insipid troubadours such as James Blunt and John Mayer.

The incessantly vivacious elements of his previous albums are nowhere to be seen, as Caustic Love is an album full to the brim with fifties soul funk and sixties jazz influence, subtle libido-guided lyrics, slivers of psychedelic rock fundamentals as well as hints of modern sensibility.

Lyrically there are tracks on the album undeniably led by nothing other than Nutini’s concupiscence and impulsive passion for the opposite sex. For example in duet, ‘Fashion’, featuring Janelle Monáe, he lusts, “What a body… putty in your hands” before Monáe’s diminutive verse emerges in attempt to keep him from busting his nutini.  

This yearning is apparent in the first track also as the raspy voiced star sings “Never heard her coming… Thought it was just another woman” before “screaming hallelujah” for a “girl so fine.” It’s pretty debatable ‘Diana’ could also included in the sex-fuelled song list, as Nutini warbles the chorus “Diana, she loves me, no innocence or compromise… the only way she knows.”

That said, Nutini put more sentiment than just a raging boner into writing ‘Better Man.’ Beginning with Nutini’s raw-throated vocal and a humble stripped down guitar melody before a soothing bass and nimble drumbeat break in, the erogenous jazz elements located throughout the rest of the album are nowhere to be found. It’s perfect, soothing and just what the record needed for that real Paolo Nutini feel to it.

‘Iron Sky’ marks the unmistakable growth of Nutini since his 2006 debut, as his influences for music move further than using his hurt and whisky soaked voice for singing about his own sorrows, as he brings politics and world issues into the mix. Nutini’s voice sears through the powerful chorus, “We’ll rise over love, over hate, through this iron sky that’s fast becoming our mind, over fear and into freedom… you just got to hold on.” Halfway through the standout track, a sample of the Jewish barber’s speech from 1939 Charlie Chaplin film, The Great Dictator urging people to unite against despotic orders, plays out resonating Nutini’s declaration of not being dependent on neither politics nor faith to capitalize in your best interests, and this gutsy approach gives ‘Iron Sky’ the to be one of the prevalent and mature statements Nutini has ever made, and for a minute, you forget that this is the same troubadour that gave the world ‘New Shoes’ and ‘Pencil full of Lead’

The short two-minute end track, ‘Someone like you’ opens with a melody similar to what you’d hear at some fairytale-esque ball taking place only in your dreams before changing to merely a funked-up replicating bass line and Nutini’s singings of affection awaiting echoes of ‘Oohs, Aah’s and ‘Ladadadada’s’ to sign off.

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Track Review: The Neighbourhood – Honest

Fresh off tour with The 1975 in February and being announced for several summer festivals in the UK, The Neighbourhood have released a lyric video for single ‘Honest,’ taken from the soundtrack for The Amazing Spider-Man II  set for release on April 22, 2014.

The video features the band’s black-and-white aesthetics, taking a minimalistic monochromatic approach with simple fonts and television statics.

Imagine a mix of Snow Patrol and (sorry to say it) The 1975 and you’ve got yourself this little beauty.

The track starts with what The Neighbourhood are the most well known for, their brilliantly eerie mix of guitars, synths and keyboards before Jesse Ruthford chimes in as every word he sings echoes beautifully behind him. These echoes calm down for the pre-chorus consisting of simple triangle-like keyboard sounds and lighter guitar rhythms fused with more synth before the drums kick in providing the mix with more eccentricity as Ruthford repeats “I wish you could be honest, I wish you could be honest with me” 

The song speaks a painful testament of lack of honesty, betrayal and hopes that the culprit of the pain will find a way to “be themselves someday/in weakness and in strength” – it’s hypnotisingly heartbreaking.

Watch the lyric video here.

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Live Review: Bipolar Sunshine & Support @ The Joiners, Southampton (27/03/14)

Just over a fortnight ago, Bipolar Sunshine (AKA, Adio Marchant of Kid British) made his US debut at SXSW after supporting both Rudimental and Phoenix in February, HAIM and Bastille last year and selling out his last London and hometown show in Manchester respectively and tonight he braced possibly his most intimate venue, The Joiners for a night of swaying, clapping and creating what he likes to call ‘vibes’

First to the stage, London based artist L A Y L A is swift to compel spectators to observe in astonishment as she effortlessly hits keys warbling oohs and aahs with ‘Smokestacks’ although the real magic begins when these singings correspond with resonant drumbeats and beguiling guitar-rhythms and you find yourself being forced to dance. Pulling ‘Oh my Love’ out of the bag, the whole room was left entranced. Extending her search to the audience for two people to have ‘passionate’ sex for her new music video and humiliating her guitarist, the stage presence is on point and the room was content when she closed the set with ‘Yellow Circles’.

Following this came Indiana. Failing to introduce herself rather just leaving the audience to listen to incomprehensible yet somewhat lustrous whining for the majority of a set crammed with daughter-like echoes in the background, synth everywhere and choruses identical to that of Chvrches and The XX. This whining had clearly grabbed attention as everyone listened and stared, most likely in attempt to figure out what she was actually chanting about. Although, showcasing her actual voice, Indiana closed the set with a ballad-type track, which undeniably was wonderful.

Spotlights switch on as Marchant’s patronage walk onto the stage followed by the cool and breezy front man himself, dressed in a patterned shirt and jeans this man knows he doesn’t need to dress to impress. “Vibes, Vibes” Marchant repeats over (and throughout the set) before opening the with ‘Drowning Butterflies,’ He sways as he sings and like sheep, the room sways along with him before he delves into unreleased track ‘Deck Chairs on The Moon’ asking the audience to provide him with ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ sounds for what was cleverly built into a catchy chorus.

Marchant begins with saying he wants people to interpret his songs in their own way before the guitarist changes to acoustic for ‘Watchtower’ consisting of exquisite harmonies toning down the set and leaving everyone including the drummer of the band mesmerized.

“I’m going there! They’re going there! You’re going there! We’re all going there!” Marchant proclaims before the band hammer out ‘Rivers’ consisting of Wah-Wah guitar effects, a drumbeat with a mind of its own and controversial vocals alternating between slow rapping, pop-like chanting as well as smooth crooning and indisputably everybody was chanting the chorus by the end. That argument from The Notebook blares out through the speakers during ‘Fire’ in which Marchant mixes lyrical speech with actual singing.

The closing song of Bipolar Sunshine’s set, ‘Love More, Worry Less’ is what Marchant proclaims is the whole concept of his music, relies on Marchant’s warm vocals to see the beginning of the song through before building up into a stadium-ready chorus driving every hand in the room to be hitting up against it’s twin as the room chants “Tell me if you need someone to lean on, lean on” repeatedly after Marchant. Bipolar Sunshine pose for photos before leaving the stage as well as leaving everyone in the room wanting more.

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Track Review: Coldplay – Midnight

After providing the world with emotional swells of sound through Hunger Games track ‘Atlas’ back in August, Coldplay pulled a Beyoncé stunt and unveiled new single ‘Midnight’ completely out of the blue via twitter yesterday..

Shot in night vision, the video for the dreamy track directed by Mary Wigmore shows the band dancing round a forest overlooking city lights, with the occasional wolf appearing, it’s bizarre to say the least.

Chris Martin’s usual lower-registered yet vibrant vocals are hidden by a weighty use of overdubs leaving the lyrics practically indistinguishable whilst the synthesisers and vocoders from 2011′s critically acclaimed album, Mylo Xyloto strike again.

See the video here

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Album Review: Mano’s Daughter – Smart LP

After bracing the underground scene with their debut single, ‘The Machine’ London’s synth-pop 3 piece Mano’s Daughter have eventually got to releasing their first five-track LP, Smart. Consisting of vocalist Sarah Carter, Matthias Garrick working on synth and programming and drummer Dan See, with influences ranging from Bon Iver, Foals and Moloko the trio have previously been described as a mixture of Little Dragon and Florence & The Machine with hints of Portishead.

More renowned for creating unpredictable, explosive live shows crammed with mainstream-ready choruses and thought provoking lyrics, the forthcoming LP has allowed Mano’s Daughter to experiment with their mingling of ominous neo-goth, electropop and 90’s dance sound.

‘The Truth in Madness’ the first track on the EP instigates with comely synth-sounds before delving into a spaced-out, masterful fusion of Carter’s vocals driven by a background of bombastic synth melodies. Beginning slowly, third track ‘Tailored’ provides an eccentric mix of See’s gradual drumbeats with Garrick’s addition of robotic textures before running towards synth-pop anthem.‘September’ shows softer side of the ensemble, filled with desirable celestial keys, dreamy lyricism and spellbinding synth; the track shows the true heart of the band.

Inclusively, Smart offers a creative and bewitching facet to the UK’s underground music scene, with melodies conjuring imagery of sitting under star-filled skies and falling in love for the first time.

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Album Review: Nina Nesbitt – Peroxide

After releasing 5 EP’s starting in 2011, supporting Ed Sheeran and Example on tour, winning iTunes award for new singer-songwriter in 2012, doing her own tour of the UK and Ireland last year as well as being a festival favourite at T in the Park and V-fest, half Swedish half Scottish singer/songwriter Nina Nesbitt’s debut album Peroxide has finally landed. Eagerly awaited by ‘Nesbians’ Nesbitt’s fan base, the album was the most pre-ordered debut in Island history.

Peroxide shows the world from a perspective of a nineteen-year-old girl; growing up, first loves, heartbreaks and friendships being the main focuses.

Nesbitt teaming up with former Snow Patrol writer, Iain Archer as well as Jake Gosling (Producer of tracks from artists such as Paloma Faith and One Direction as well as Nesbitt’s buddy Ed Sheeran) brought about high expectations for Peroxide and they were met.

“You’re like a junk email in my inbox, you keep coming back…. Like a constant ringing in my ears, keep calling back” Lyrics boasted in the opening track ‘Peroxide’ as Nesbitt gives a crafty and full-blooded story of ex-boyfriends being pests, something many girls will relate to.

Lily Allen, one of Nesbitt’s main musical influences worked with Nesbitt on writing ‘Mr. C’ a track in which they speak about ill-mannered men in clubs, truly a portrayal of a female adolescent life. ‘Selfies’ the debut single from the album talks about pictures posted online by girls, living through fake realities; Many of the tracks on Peroxide reach out to adolescents and young teenage girls alike.

‘Hold You’ the ballad previously released on Nesbitt’s 2012 EP The Apple Tree was re-recorded as a collaboration with Dublin’s finest, Kodaline; The track features endearing harmonies, giving the album only more depth.

Nesbitt signed copies of Peroxide in her hometown of Edinburgh as well as Glasgow HMV branches on Monday.

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Live Review: The 1975 & Support @ O2 Academy Bournemouth (14/2/14)

Tonight, Bournemouth’s O2 academy was bursting with excitement for the sell-out gig from Manchester based four piece, The 1975 with support from Wolf Alice and The Neighbourhood.

First openers Wolf Alice delivered a set filled with hard-hitting drumbeats and psychedelic guitar rhythms; despite being unfortunately cut short by technical issues, the North London alternative indie band did not fail to impress leaving the audience stunned by Ellie Roswell’s vocals in particular.

Genre crossing ensemble, The Neighbourhood made their entrance afterward with blaring strobe lights and more intense production than the previous. Providing an evocative mix of rock elements with R&B and hip-hop aesthetics, the Californian group know how to keep a crowd transfixed. ‘Sweater Weather’ made trendy through social networking site Tumblr received a worthy reception, as well as their other catchy tracks ‘Female Robbery’, ‘Afraid’ and ‘WDYWFM.’

The stage filled with smoke; ambient sounds were booming from the speakers, strobe lights flashed round the room jam-packed with screaming girls and on walk The 1975. Playing in front of a simple backdrop in every day-like clothes with a levelheaded attitude, fame has not changed this group of boys from Cheshire. Opening their set with The City, squeals from fourteen-year-old girls were expected after the single received big love from pop’s hottest, Harry Styles via Twitter earlier last year.

Sipping at a bottle of wine, front man and guitarist Matt Healy declares his love for Bournemouth, as it’s the first time they’ve ever played the Academy. Hammering out the first half of their set with pop-like choruses diversified with beguiling guitars and soft drums with fan favourites such as ‘Settle Down’ ‘Girls’ and ‘Heart Out’ sent the fans into frenzy. “You need to look after yourselves, every one’s being sick and getting kicked out” Healy proclaims before the set itself ‘settles down’ into quieter, more hypnotising ambient instruments and vocals alike on tracks such as ‘You’, ‘Me’ and ‘Menswear.’

The band disappeared before chants of “We want more” mostly from females, echoed round the 1,800 capacity venue. Back to the stage again appearing rather coy, the quartet closed the set with ‘Chocolate’ and ‘Sex’ the two better-known singles featured on the self-titled album. The room went black, the band departed and it felt like being alive on Valentines Day was worth it.

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Live Review : Natives & Support @ The Joiners, Southampton (15/11/13)

Southampton venue The Joiners, proclaimed NME’s best small venue in the UK played host to a few local household names in indie-rock on Friday evening.

Four-piece alternative-rock band, Six Minutes to Sunrise opened the show with a setlist of songs filled to the brim with beguiling guitar riffs and love-themed lyrics: something you would hear over an American TV Drama about racy teenage love affairs – who doesn’t find themselves Googling and Shazaming all the songs in One Tree Hill and 90210?

Not on the original bill, second to the stage came fresh-faced four piece punk-rock band Hey September. Despite the sheer awkwardness of performing an almost lyric-less cover of Taylor Swift’s ’22’ and leaving the crowd feeling as if they were at one of their earliest band practices, the set flourished quickly in quality as they had the whole room clapping by their third song. The end song of their set ‘Naïve’ showed them evidently capable of giving off a remarkable energy as the song allowed them to sneak in a little scream to finish.

Cue a band who have been on the Southampton music scene perhaps a little longer than the previous performers and fresh off their September UK tour, Rickie Lambert obsessed local band Mr Tom. Opening their set with the Match of The Day theme tune, the four-piece ‘Indie Banger Pop’ band lifted the spirits of every single person in the crowd.

Not only was the crowd’s energy ecstatic with hands in every direction, the band were swinging guitars and basses all over the stage as they performed their most well known song ‘Feet Hit the Floor,’ most recent song ‘Reputation’ and previously unheard tracks by local fans in the crowd driving them into frenzy. Mr Tom were definitely a marvelous warm-up choice, producing a more than just lively atmosphere in preparation for Natives.

The lights dim, and onto the stage walk the headliners of the show, Natives. Previously known as Not Advised playing support to the likes of You Me at Six and Attack! Attack! (UK) the forthcoming set showed their evident growth since then, both music-wise and age wise; Jack, guitarist of the band celebrated his birthday in style, as a cake was brought to the stage and party spirit was created as the crowd rejoiced in a birthday sing-along whilst the candles were blown out leaving a tranquil ambience amongst the crowd.

Showing their progression, the band crammed their set with performances of new songs encompassing Natives’ standard huge choruses and eccentric guitar riffs, particularly ‘Can’t Say No’, the first single from their new album set for release early next year. The band also performed their well-known single, ‘Stand for Something’ with the rawest emotions demonstrated by front man Jim Thomas, indeterminately putting across the message to stand for something…. And the crowd jumped with everything they had.

It was previously announced through Natives’ website that their tour will be taking place in March 2014 rather than the upcoming month. Last Friday’s date in their hometown took place as a special occasion to show fans unheard material, and was also special due to the fact last week they were previously signed to Transmission Records / Notting Hill productions.