I had to do it. There’s something so stereotypical and predictable about the shrewd and twangy of pop romanticising about emotion, heartbreak and lust. And I love it.
So, in true fashion accommodating to the popular, I made a playlist returns with a Pop Romantics playlist for you. Whether you’re an individual in heartbreak, in a friendship wishing for something more, or in an amazing relationship with someone you hold dearly in your life, Pop Romantics is perfect for you. It’s perfect because everyone has experienced their fair share of love, right?
Get emotional below. Let me know your fantasy favourites or ones you intend to avoid.
It’s been an exciting week so far. I’ve had my first taste of returning to live music with a prospect of performing the drums live soon in the coming summer. I have also got dates in mind when we can return to the practice studios so I can begin to practice yet again and pick up where we all left off. Although many are looking to return to the pubs, I’m most excited to returning the throne of a drum kit again. It’s been too long. It’s been too long without my music release and I need it! Well, reviewing albums all day and every day has something taken some weight off, but I’m still carrying a load. I know that getting back on that kit will shake the remaining amount off and I’ll be returning to playing music in glorious fashion!
If you wish for me to post regular updates on my playing, (including video formats, if you so wish) do let me know and I’d be happy to accommodate. For now, enjoy the flurries of music content I’ve prepared incessantly and let me know your thoughts on it all.
The Work of Island: Problems from an ever-changing line-up whilst working in dingy London studios …
… Comes a new tale in the alternative.
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From the fibres of the alternative rock scene – loosely translated as a much more tame beast as opposed to its distant relative of hard rock – ISLAND are a prestigious band gleaming with prospect.
Inspired from their distant adventures on the road, the band released their 2018 debut, Feels Like Air. Since then, they have kept themselves busy with European tours, stretching as far as the coast of North America, even. Whenever they have had time off the road, they’ve been knuckling down in the studio, creating joyous tales once more. In 2019, they released coveted EP, When We’re Still with Editors-inspired plateau, Just That Time of the Night.
Prior to all this however, it seemed that regardless of their reverent line-up, the name of ISLAND would prevail throughout as 2015 was the year when they such things to be true. With feelings of maturity and a hope filling the air, they released Girl in 2015. Who knew the beautiful simplicity of Stargazer would rise the band to new heights?
Bringing a completely new set of tools and brand to the wares of alternative music that seem simplistically beautiful in creation, they are bringing a fresh perspective to musical songwriting and ask for those to join the congregation.
Forged from the inspired thoughts due to their extensive time on the road, Feels Like Air, champions exactly that.
Music that is so effortless and seemingly made so emphatically, it is equally fair to listen every bit the same, too.
I’m sure those echoic guitars first thrilled the studio when they heard them.
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Feels Like Air
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Ride (a powerful album start-up)
Try (For fans of Grizfolk and Circa Waves)
The Day I Die (for fans of Editors and Radiohead)
Something Perfect
Interlude
Horizon (for fans of JAWS)
Moth
We Can Go Anywhere
God Forgive (empowering moments make it my favourite amongst the list)
Feels Like Air (self-titled makes it a close second)
Lilyflower (light acoustics settle the album to a close)
Fresh, bold and stark-raving mad, cleopatrick are a worthy accompaniment to murder.
Not a murder in the ordinary sense of the word, no. The murder of a genre we once knew as rock – a genre which had become far too complacent with the drip-tap of pop trickling through its cracks. The Ontario best-buddies hard rock duo are becoming the known from the unknown with their blistering slap-in-the-face boom that makes Royal Blood‘s new music work of Limbo sound like a pansy. Although dressed as the fashionable duo – similar to those as Royal Blood and the White Stripes – their music has a beautiful sense of youth, hostility and freshness that we’ve not really heard before.
Hoping to collate their work into a debut album this year – rather than the feral singles we’ve received so far – they’ve forewarned us not only to watch this space, but to start chipping away their mark within the rock halls of fame too, as they’ll soon be entering them.
Anarchic favourite hometown, explosiveGOOD GRIEF, shrill-thriller of youth and doom-and-gloomy sanjake, top the bill of the band’s extent to writing future-cult classics – and we can only imagine there’s room for more.
Rock duo have known each other since they were 4.
More importantly, they have shown us they can’t just create quick-biters worthy of four minutes or so – but can create the dirty lingering types, too. Divining inspiration from the likes of Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, belly button blues is an instant favourite that tops the lot for me.
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My friends are wasted And I don’t even care I’m in my basement Texting girls that aren’t even real My youth is gone and I know it
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youth, cleopatrick
After hearing their most recent, THE DRAKE, which was released in early March this year, we can certainly expect their debut in the coming months – especially after picking up so much traction after their first EP via “14” in 2016.
Pulled straight from the archives of an old hometown gig they played, THE DRAKE‘s official video perfectly showcases the rampant display of their telling of a high-school bully story.
It’s all quiet in the cleopatrick camp for now … but we’ll hear the notorious thumps de thumps soon I’m sure.
For us delving into the music industry, hoping for the reprising role of live music to return to our lives with the majesty of concerts, events and festivals over the Summer, this is another important topic of discussion.
What are your plans for when music does return?
Are there any of your rescheduled gigs or concerts pushed til the end of the year?
If so, who are you going to see?
Are you one of those people that is feeling fairly uncomfortable still in the midst of the crowd and will wait til the safety of 2022? If so, let me know your thoughts.
For me, I do have gigs that were indeed, necessarily postponed from the start of this year and deferred til the autumn of 2021, and even to the starting winter months of 2022. I’ll probably decide to steer clear of summer festivals until there is a conditional format of safety and concern with these. There is something about the uncertainty of festival planning that makes me nervous about maintaining social distancing and the undoubtable risk of rising cases yet again for us as a nation.
I am set to watch Idles and Foals in the coming months in London, and of course – I am hoping to return to the fields of Somerset for Glastonbury in 2022 – if I get the chance to grab those aloof tickets, of course! But, unlike most, I haven’t gone out and purchased every festival ticket under the sun, because undoubtedly, the majority of those tickets will be refunded. This is where our consumer haste to return to normality will be our downfall during these extraordinary times.
If any, let me know your music plans for 2021/2022!
Isle of Wight Festival line-up intriguing you? Lost to pick for live music? View below and gain a bit more insight into what the live music sector has to offer you this summer.
