Piquing our interest as he retools and rebuilds his sound, Sob Rock is Mayer’s faithful return to the tail-end of tween soft rock and delightful pop. Known for his eloquent voice, soulful bops and jazz-inspired chords, he is best known for antiques of Your Body is a Wonderland, Slow Dancing in a Burning Room and now, New Light. The next tale in straight-edged music writing. In what others may seem as boring and easy to listen to, John Mayer’s songwriting is simplistic, elegant and perfectly suited to his approach to music. And funnily enough, we listen to easy music for easy listening. It is no wonder Mayer has racked up such a loved and compelling audience, what’s not to love?
Sultry enough for 2am elegance but chill enough for a casual night-in, John Mayer joins in on the fun and shares what he’s been getting up to during the pandemic lockdown. No doubt having your own recording studio helps.
Campers for Latitude festival are set to prep camp and arrive today at Henham Park in sweet anticipation for Latitude Festival this weekend (22nd to 24th July) – the first major festival in the UK to go ahead since ‘Freedom Day’ on Monday for COVID restrictions.
Announced as the Government’s Event Research Programme, the 35,000-capacity is set to go ahead this weekend, as thousands flock in droves to see the likes of Bastille, Bombay Bicycle Club and The Chemical Brothers headlining.
In order to gain entry to the festival, which runs until Sunday (July 25), ticket-holders will be asked for proof of a negative lateral flow test taken within 48 hours of arrival at the festival, or proof of full vaccination with the second dose having been received at least 14 days prior to the first day of attending the festival. As a test event – it can go ahead with no social distancing requirements.
With this, where many are unsure and doubtful of such festivals going ahead in such vast quantities, many people are loathing at the prospect of missing out, and seeing live music come back in such large volumes again.
Hopefully, this is the first of many (test) events that will help provide ample funds to the music industry that so desperately needs recovering from the swollen pit it has fallen itself into.
That’s right, folks! The second ‘drop’ for Record Store Day drops tomorrow on the 17th. Rife with deals, discounts, rare finds, treasured and limited vinyls, it is another day to celebrate the world of vinyls.
While independent stores revel in the rise in sales and continuous community turnover, one particular store is hoping to get involved this year – for its 100th anniversary special. That store is HMV. As the store is raised of independently owned chain of stores, they would “love” to be involved with RSD, and feel it would certainly benefit the local music vinyl scene, especially in areas where there is not a presence of such independent record stores. While I think independent and chain shouldn’t belong in the same sentence, it would be nice for such a store that is commercial and massive on a music scale to get involved with the help and support of such an industry. Although, many are saying otherwise. Many feel that HMV’s involvement could very well cause this momentous occasion to lose its independency, style and charm that makes it what it is.
Brash and brazen English-quartet, YONAKA have returned with their second album release, Seize Your Power. With no attempts to slow down after their triumphant debut of Don’t Wait Till Tomorrow back in 2019, the rife punk-ists return with a vengence for heavy riffs and hard punches as Call Me A Saint and self-titled, Seize Your Power takes the band down a path of eclectic electronica, which ultimately shapeshifts into some of their most powerful songwriting they’ve done so far.
Aired with a mist of maturity within its run-through, Seize Your Power demonstrates the bands’ ability to bend their sounds to the current, but still keeping it fresh within their own sound.
Although not as boomy and nowhere near as rocket-fueled as their debut – and no where near the same running time – it still holds its head high however, with a sense of satisfaction of finally finishing. It may be a far cry from the frenzy mish-mash of Don’t Wait Till Tomorrow, but this does come with its own advantages … With the band beginning to gain traction through staying prominent, maintaining track records and creating euphoric music, it seems that they are starting to get it.
So, I finally managed to get around to tallying up the votes from my blog post about finding the best British artist (according to my amazing readers world-abound) – and you can have a look at the numbers below. Out of 50 comments received, these were the results!
<Also have a gander at my favourite bloggers’ playlist, which denotes all her favourite British artists in one handy collection. Thanks Catnip!>
THE RESULTS
DISCLOSURE: the results of this voting may bear down to listener preference, taste, demographic and influences.
Elton John, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits and Pet Shop Boys all gathered in FOUR votes apiece, resulting in 18 votes overall for this as the TOP FIVE BEST BRITISH ACTS/ARTISTS. There’s some artists that are simply expected to top the lost, but it was surprising for me to see Elton John top the list too, but I’ve never been one to dabble into his music, so there you are.
These pioneers are shortly followed up with Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Queen and The Rolling Stones with THREE votes apiece, resulting in a total of 12 votes for the second list of artists who made the cut. With me being a massive Queen fan, it was disappointing not to see them earn more votes in the long run, but I’m pleased all the same that they were mentioned ample times.
Entering the territory of those artist underdogs or under-appreciated artists, we have: The Who, The Cranberries, The Smiths, U2, Kate Bush, The Kinks, Massive Attack and Duran Duran and rather surprisingly, Fine Young Cannibals. These artists clocked up TWO votes apiece, with resulting in 16 votes in total. WhileThe Smiths somehow outmanoeuvre their Manchester counterparts of Blur and Oasis to earn more votes, the overwhelming appearance of Fine Young Cannibals solidifies my need to have a listen to their music catalogue as I am not aware of them as an artists, as much as I’d like to be.
The final recommendations come with earning ONE vote apiece, resulting in 17 votes in total. Bearing in no particular order: The Cure, Blur, Simply Red, Ed Sheeran, Amy Winehouse, Jess Glynne, Adele, John Newman, Rudimental, Sex Pistols, Talking Heads, Tears For Fears, PJ Harvey, Joy Division, New Order, Duran Duran, Electric Light Orchestra, Judas Priest and Def Leppard.
What’s missing?
While this is a highly commendable line-up with some fantastic music artists involved, many aren’t mentioned at all. Britpop giants, Oasis, Leicester local-lads Kasabian and fanatic funks of The Police were all missed out. But this is the use of saying such a thing like the Bestof something, which usually refers to us thinking about the classic artists from back in the day, rather than the present ones we see and hear today in “popular”music.
