Saturday 28 December 2013

Don Broco?

I'm sure I'll have mentioned it before, but I have a kind of stubbornness with listening to new music. Sometimes I will go out looking for new things - which is part of the purpose of this blog - but at other times I'm very happy to just listen to the same ten or so albums on repeat all day. When Don Broco first appeared, about a year or two ago, the suddenness with which they started being mentioned everywhere I turned (everywhere being two music channels, one music magazine and a few twitter accounts) was unsettling and I decided, in a very childish way, to never listen to them because they were obviously shit, even though I'd never heard them at all, and this guy I met over the summer told me several times over the course of a fortnight that I really 'had to listen to this band Don Broco'.
I don't remember when - obviously it wasn't voluntary - but at some point a few months ago, I heard Don Broco's song 'You Wanna Know'. Jesus H. Christ, I love that song. I've posted it on here, I know, but seriously, you need to listen to it. It's so catchy, and I really like all the things they do with the guitars, and Rob Damiani (lead singer) has a pretty interesting but still powerful singing voice.

I know you were dancing to that, you dirty liars.
That song is so fucking brilliant that, really, I suppose it's high time (especially now I have a laptop and therefore better access to the internet) that I gave the rest of their music a go. If they wrote that song, it's got to be fairly good, hasn't it?
From the moment I press play on their 2012 album Priorities, I'm getting very good vibes. The opening track (also called Priorities) is just the kind of guitar-heavy (but not too much so) music that sounds amazing, but makes you crave to hear it live because you can just tell it would sound even better. That's continued in the next track, the quite sexy-sounding Hold On.
In a way, I'm struggling to find something to say about their music that isn't "fucking hell, this is sexy music". It's the vocals, the guitars, the rhythm . . . essentially the music as a whole. The intense need I have to hear this music live is so much that I might cry - it's something about the way the choruses just seem to explode out of each song. I could have watched these guys at Leeds festival, I'm going to punch myself in the face.
It's hard to pick favourite songs at the moment, but the more aggressive edge to Fancy Dress stands out to me, and I the more melancholy sound that emerges in You Got It Girl. I really liked Yeah Man, but the acoustic version is outstanding.
Their first work, Big Fat Smile, is also awesome, if a little less polished than Priorities. The differences are subtle and hard to put your finger on, but listening to the two records back to back, you can hear where they've smoothed down the edges a little and adjusted, and they've done it well.

I've finally listened to Don Broco, and I - you also, I reckon, if you've listened to the tracks I linked - am really glad that I have. When the concussion from where I slapped myself in the forehead when I realised exactly what I missed at Leeds, I will be looking up when they're next playing near me, because they're at least six or seven times better than I originally thought they would be, and they're so worth listening to that there is really nothing more that can be said on the matter. Go and listen to them now.
(Sadly, from what I can see, Don Broco don't have any upcoming tour dates, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)

Wednesday 25 December 2013

Santa Says Listen To Hip Hop

I really don't know why, but at the moment I'm feeling quite into my hip hop. I'm not about to claim to be some kind of expert, but I've been listening to more, and hip hop is a pretty good genre. Don't get me wrong, there are some crap artists out there whose entire back catalogue is one big rhyming overcompensation for their lack of balls; you know, "I shoot everyone I see, I shot my mum, real men act like arseholes for no reason, I can't deal with my problems in a reasonable way". But who even likes them? The best artists play with words in such a clever way that you cry (that has happened to me, although I was inebriated at the time), and they'll talk about different things. Admittedly, there may still be some of that 'patting myself on the back' stuff, but it's in a much more amusing and - I think - almost satyrical way. Here are some songs I think you should listen to. Oh, and there also might be a bit of RnB, because that's also good too.

Chance The Rapper - Juice
Warren G & Nate Dogg - Regulators
Luniz - I Got Five On It
Chance The Rapper, Vic Mensa & Twista - Cocoa Butter Kisses
Biggie Smalls, P Diddy, Jagged Edge, Nelly, Avery Storm - Nasty Girl
Snoop Dogg - Who Am I (What's My Name)
Coolio - Gangster's Paradise
De La Soul - A Rollerskating Jam Named Saturdays
Jay Z & UGK - Big Pimpin'
Gorillaz - Rock The House
Eminem - Just Lose It
Eminem vs. Survivor - Without Me
Fifty Cent - P.I.M.P.
Jay Z & Kanye West _ Niggas In Paris
Chance The Rapper, Nate Fox & Lili K - Pusha Man

Sunday 22 December 2013

Is This A House Playlist?

Due to the influence of my boyfriend, I've been getting more into house music than usual of late. I know there's a load of subgenres that I'm not versed in enough to be able to distinguish though, which is the reason for the rather shit post title.
Anyway, I've been helping him pick out some music to put on a mix CD for his cousin, and thought that maybe - if anyone still reads this blog - you might be interested in having some dance music of various kinds to listen to.

Armand Van Helden - My My My

Armand Van Helden - I Want Your Soul

Eric Prydz - Call On Me

Adrian Lux - Teenage Crime (Axwell & Henrik B Remode)

Themroc - Gold Is Your Metal (Paper Faces remix)

Midnight Juggernauts - Shadows (A-Trak remix)

Junior Jack - Stupidisco

Freemasons - Love On My Mind

Sunday 8 December 2013

Satan's Helpers (Izzy's Christmas Playlist 2013)

I love Christmas. I mean, I really fucking love it. I have a lot of friends who are quite jaded about it and just mumble "it's fine, you don't need to get me anything", when I ask what presents they want. But not so for me. I'm not religious, so Jesus et al have nothing to do with it for me. It's the atmosphere. I like the food, the television, the absence of school, THE PRESENTS, the fact that my birthday comes ten days after. Obviously, to keep this relevant to the blog, I love the music. Why I love Christmas music, I couldn't possibly tell you because I don't know myself. But whatever it is, you need a Christmas playlist, and I am making you one, from songs both classic and new.

Wham - Last Christmas

All Time Low - Merry Christmas, Kiss My Ass

Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You

The Darkness - Christmas Time

The Pogues - Fairy Tale Of New York

The Nightmare Before Christmas - Making Christmas (did you really think I'd leave this out?)

My Chemical Romance - All I Want For Christmas Is You (cover)

Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody

Jackson 5 - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Corey Taylor - X-M@$

The Killers - Don't Shoot Me Santa

Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas

Of Mice & Men - You're Not Alone


I was starting to get a little tired of Of Mice & Men. I got into them in that sort of dry period where a band isn't touring or publicly working on new material, so you have what they've already put out, but no massive incentive to stay interested. Don't get me wrong, their two already-released albums (Of Mice & Men, and The Flood) are awesome, but I have a short attention span. I am in constant need of new material.
Then, the other day we finally received news of their new album, Restoring Force, due out sometime next year. They also gave us the first single off it, titled You're Not Alone.
It took me a few days to give it a listen, but I have, and now I have also gotten access to a computer to write this. I'm not sure about this song. I think, as with some other songs they've made, it's probably a grower that I'll find myself listening to on repeat once I've gotten used to it. Maybe it's because this is work they're doing without former member Shayley Bourget - he's got a very distinctive voice, I think, so the absence of it really messes with what I have in my head as Of Mice & Men. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, though.
However, I do have some issues. I know every band has to grow and work with trying to change their music a little bit each time to make it better, but I'm not quite sure about Austin Carlile's vocals in this song. It just doesn't feel like he's screaming properly; it's not as raw and angry as on their older stuff. Also, the lyrics and the music itself feel a little too similar to that kind of 'lifesaver metalcore' that so many bands make - you know, where every song is about how you just have to hold their hand and it will be ok, and the breakdowns come in the same places . . . it's a bit boring. I know that's kind of OM&M's thing already, but in their older work they did it in a more original-sounding way.
So, maybe it's not the strongest track, but I'm not going to write off the album just yet.