Summer Playlist 2014!

10:01 am Angie 2 Comments

Wondering what to listen to this summer as you're soaking up the rays on holiday or maybe you're looking for something to listen to as you're having a mega chill out session? Never fear, for cliché Music Bloggery is here! Delivering emergency services to music, we've lined up a few brilliant singles and albums for you to listen to this summer.

1. Ghost Beach

Ghost Beach are my personal summer favourites and when I recently come across them, they shortly released their début album Blonde. This New York based electronic duo might be a fairly obscure band, but they have performed with the likes of David Guetta, Imagine Dragons and Vampire Weekend. Being quintessentially beach-pop, I think the marriage of powerful vocals, the synthesiser and encouraging use of slap bass make for a perfect summer album! Check out the video for Been There Before, and tell us what you think! Quirky and original, or are they singing the same old tune?

2. Foster the People

We at Music Bloggery are massive fans of Foster the People, so when they released their second album Supermodel, we were jumping for joy! For those of you who don't know, this band received fame with their début single Pumped Up Kicks which eventually landed them a record deal. However, upon listening to their new album, we're not sure how to feel. Of course there are a few songs that really stand out (Coming of Age, Best Friend, Goats In Trees) but the rest of it seems a bit lacklustre and disjointed compared to their first album, Torches. The tracks we think stand out are great summer tracks nonetheless as they allow you to chill and unwind. Check out the video Coming of Age on the right hand side.

3. Charli XCX

Most of you may know her from her amazing 90s dress sense and her hit single Fancy with rapper Iggy Azalea, but Charli XCX A.K.A. Charlotte Aichison is a brilliant artist in her own right. Having experimented with synthesizers from the age of 16, she has made a name for herself on the pop scene (although she's more synthpop).  She's gained even more recognition for her single Boom Clap for the film The Fault in our Stars, but we don't recommend this song as it's not even her best work. We love her 2013 single, SuperLove - it's got everything a good song needs, catchy beat and a stellar sing-along hook. The only thing I would say about this song is that the lyrics are a bit generic ('You're the bullet and you're making me draw/please save me') but nonetheless, it's a addictive song. Check the song on the right and tell us what you think!

4. HAIM

Brilliantly embracing that classic 80s sound, any single from Haim's Days are Gone album is a perfect chill-out song. My favourite has to be My Song 5 purely because of the energy and fierce rhythm of the drums alongside the overarching tone. Oh and that bridge! The guitar riff is INTENSE! Haim are a band named after the surname of three sisters from California, USA who grew up listening to their parents' 70s record collections. Having worked together and performed around the country for years, the sisters eventually got signed and released their début album, Days are Gone. We personally recommend Forever, The Wire, Honey & I and If I Could Change Your Mind for summer listening, check it out and tell us what you think!

Keep checking this page as I'll be adding more songs throughout summer!

Let's Go Back to the Shack....

11:13 am Angie 0 Comments

Weezer released the official audio for their single Back to the Shack from the upcoming album
Everything Will Be Alright in the End (releasing 30 September 2014)! The band said in Entertainment Weekly that the 'record sounds like it’s going to have the tight structure of the Blue Album with a little bit more abandon like Pinkerton', which sounds great considering Raditude was pretty shoddy for a Weezer album....

 Check it out and tell us what you think! What do you guys think? Yay or nay?!

Music Bloggery's Song of the Week! [Version 3]

9:57 am Angie 0 Comments

THE DRUMS ARE BACK! That's right, you're reading this correctly! After a three year absence in which guitarist Adam Kessler and drummer Connor Hanwick decided they wanted out, the original line-up are back (Jonny Pierce and Jacob Graham) with their new single Magic Mountain. Excuse my French, but this song kicks ass!

The song delves away from their sedated sound as it is much heavier on the guitar. Could this be the start of a more punk-rock angle from The Drums? Frontman Jonny Pierce stated that Magic Mountain 'is a sparkling reflection of our last three years. It's about shedding off what binds you and protecting what's good, finding a safe place away from everyone and everything that wants to destroy you' and it feels like it with this track. I like that the band aren't sticking to the same rigid style; they enjoy experimenting and venturing to new territories, which is what all great bands do. The single is a unique marriage of the guttural guitar alongside Jonny's unique vocals and Music Bloggery wants to see more of this! What do you think? Yay or nay? Check out the song below.

3 BIG Reasons Why I Hate Lana Del Rey

4:04 am Angie 0 Comments

For those of you who have been living in a cave, Lana Del Rey is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her distinctive vocal style. She found fame when her single Video Games went viral and followed this up with her 2012 album Born to Die. Now, in 2014, she has already released a short film (Tropico, which is just about the most pretentious thing I have seen) and a number one album Ultraviolence. I'm not going to mince words here, I strongly dislike Lana Del Rey. I think she's fake, overrated and just plain depressing, so here's my top 3 reasons for hate of this 'singer'.

1. Fakery 

Let's face it, Lana is a fake. Her name, her collagen laden lips and her voice are all an act just because she couldn't make a career for herself without the use of cheap gimmicks. Listen to her stripped back, early performance when she was still Lizzy Grant and you'll see she doesn't actually need the bravado that Lana
Del Rey holds. I guess the music industry doesn't
want to see just another average performer so OBVIOUSLY that calls for selling out. Obviously.

I can't help but feel that her singing voice is completely put on. Again, in this old footage of her, the vocals seem much more natural and relaxed which makes for a pleasing sound. Songs like National Anthem and Ride sound so exaggerated and vexatious. The drawling notes of Ride sound like a drunken karaoke catastrophe. Her voice has become almost as annoying as Lights, and that's saying something.

      2. The same old repeated themes

Yes Lana, you're 'depressed', we get it, can we move on now? In actuality, she gives off the impression that her music will deal with deep, philosophical ideas of life and death yet below the surface she sings about her seemingly mundane relationships. In her recent article for British newspaper The Guardian, she says: 'I wish I was dead already' (read the article here) yet shortly after the article was published, she tweeted that the interviewer's questions were 'cold and calculated'. The moment she delves into these dark, somewhat interesting questions, she panics and wants out. Rather than addressing this in her music, she leaves it lurking behind and nothing is worse than bottling something up (trust me, I know). The only thing that comes close to this issue is Dark Paradise ('every-time I close my eyes, it's like a dark paradise') but even this illusion is ruined with the next line: 'no-one compares to you'. Same old love song. Depth please. Next!

      3.   Self-pitying

All of her songs force the listener to feel some sense of pity for this woman because she's lost the love(s) of her life and her heart is broken. Poor you, can we PLEASE move on to something else now? Nothing she actually offers is original and after the first album, it all gets a bit tedious.

Music Bloggery's Song of the Week [Version 2]

9:33 am Angie 0 Comments

Finally Music Bloggery is back, and we're kicking it off with our song of the week! This week we've chosen the single Mecca, taken from Wild Beasts' recent album release, Present Tense. The band originally formed in 2002, under the name Fauve (which means 'wild beast' in French - classy lads!). Eventually they were signed on Domino Records which was timed perfectly because following this, they achieved commercial success with their 2011 album Smother. Present Tense is their 2014 follow-up album, also received with acclaim (NME giving them 9/10 and Line of Best Fit 10/10!).

Mecca is a personal favourite - the untamed falsetto of front-man Hayden Thorpe, the timely drums and balanced sounds of the synthesiser work together in harmony to create a truly ethereal track that is genuinely a pleasure to hear. I have no idea whether this was the intention, but I like to think of the progression of the song as symbolic of the journey to Mecca. The chorus provides a culmination of emotion, while the sedate, dulcet tones of the bridge act as a representation of the end of the journey, almost if a feeling of enlightenment is reached (yes, we're mixing religions here).

The only problem with this song is that it takes a while to get used to. By this I mean that the chorus is catchy but the music is so sedate throughout, that might be hard for someone used to alternative rock to get into. Alongside this single, the band released the music video which is too weird for my liking. The psychedelic video is way out of line with the song itself - I just feel as if it is the music video for another song, not this one. Do you agree? Comment below! Check out the song below and share your thoughts, we'll tweet the best one at @musicbloggery.