25782697 – CHUNES

By 25782697 on EDM, Recommendations tagged #Barrycantswim, #EDM, #Music, #UKMusic, #Underrated- Leave a comment

Barry can’t swim, but he’s flying to the top!

The vibrant new EDM producer has gone from strength to strength providing so many of us with this summer’s soundtrack.

The London-based DJ Barry Can’t Swim (real name Joshua Mannie) is without doubt one to watch in the electronic scene. Barry‘s groovy samples and jazz-infused melodic house tracks have already built him a sea of fans desperate to see his sets and I am certain this is just the beginning.

The Scottish born producer blends a variety of dance music sub-genres, including disco, garage and jungle. Barry‘s sound has a unique feel, as he is heavily inspired by traditional jazz music. Interestingly, his appreciation for jazz music started from an early age, as he learnt to play the piano at age 9 and then worked in various jazz bars during his teenage years, purposely surrounding himself with the more traditional style of music.

Barry Cant Swim started creating his own dance hits in 2020, working hard to produce a number of extended projects and singles and he has been unstoppable ever since. His newest EP ‘How it feels‘ is currently on repeat for me with it’s emotive feel, colourful samples and refreshing energy.

2023 has already been an incredibly successful year for Barry Can’t Swim. This year, the producer has massively increased his exposure, attending a number of festivals as well being invited to do a set with the notorious Boiler Room in his hometown of Edinburgh.

Barry can’t Swim – Boiler Room – Edinburgh (2023)

Despite his newfound fame, Barry seems to be remaining humble, telling 10magazine that the greatest highlight of his career so far is simply “seeing people you’ve never met before in places you’ve never been before singing along” telling them “it’s still so surreal”.

Barry‘s rise in popularity is not surprising due to the EDM scene in the UK booming in the last couple of years. A report by the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) revealed that electronic music is the most popular genre at UK festivals overtaking rock – which has dominated for decades. In the last year, similar British EDM artists have had wider global success for example Fred Aagin.. and Fourtet have quickly risen to the top even headlining the iconic Coachella with fellow producer Skrillex.

Barry is set to release his debut album ‘When Will We land?‘ on the 20th of October.

“it’s a huge personal milestone for me, after 10 months of solid writing plus a whole 20+ years of dreaming about it. I’ve poured every thing I have into it, and really hope yous like it”
– Barry via Instagram on his upcoming album

Personally, I’m very intrigued about the new album as the young DJ has recently taken his sound in a new direction by releasing more chilled, melodic downtempo tracks for example ‘Sonder‘ and ‘God is the space between us‘. So, I’m excited to see what it will be like and how it will be received.

Check out his music below and please comment any other underrated similar artists.

17 Sep

By 25782697 on Submissions with 1 Comment

‘This Isn’t Your Average Song’ – So give it a listen

This 10-minute-long spoken word song comments on the challenges of being a music artist in the modern world. It’s relatable, passionate and witty – but make sure you listen to the end!

26-year-old Jamie Felton from Oxford wrote this unconventional long form rap to highlight the difficulties of navigating the music industry. The eerie chord changes, hard-hitting lyrics and intense delivery help create the persona of a beyond frustrated musician.

The scenarios Jamie refers to in the song are all too familiar for wannabe or emerging artists. For example, being told “it’s not what you know it’s who you know”, the difficulty of trying to sell tickets to a show when they can see you in the local pub for free and of course, the dreaded “Sing Wonderwall”!

The character that Jamie presents in the song seems to be yearning for the past and simpler times, in terms of being an artist and the way that music is consumed. For instance he references the need for a big social media presence, having to fit into pop culture and the requirement to constantly try new things in order to stand out.

“Every single writer, performer and ‘tryer’ of music will be able to relate to this monologue of honesty, rejection and self-deprecation, representing the daily grind required to sound the tiniest of drops in the musical pond that is the entertainment business”
– Jamie Felton

However, when you get to the end of the song, you realise the brutal assessment of how modern society has brainwashed the artform of music is actually not what Jamie really feels at all! He explains that the song up to that point was a parody and he was portraying a fictional character of a snobby and bitter musician. The lyric that perfectly captures the overall message of the song is “If it sounds good, it is good, so leave off with the technical derision”.

5 Sep

By 25782697 on Concert review, EDM tagged #concertreview, #Fredagain, #UKMusic- Leave a comment

Fred Again.. at Alexandra Palace – a euphoric and unforgettable show like no other!

Alley Palley night 1: Fred was in his element! The performance was flawless, from live remixing to incredible visuals but perhaps incomplete?

Last week, the 30-year-old Electronic producer, Fred Gibson, announced on Instagram that he is beyond excited for the show, and that each night of his tour will be different, including setlist, and remixing songs live.

On the 4^th of September Fred Again.. played his first show of his European tour and the first of his four shows inside London’s Alexandra palace. The London-born EDM performer smiled in disbelief as he told the crowd, that he grew up going to the iconic concert venue. On the screen he wrote “nothing is ever as good as playing at home”.

Alley Palley opened its doors opened at 7pm. The queues were bearable and after taking time to get some food and drink inside, I made my way into the actual venue and took my spot not far from the front barrier. The support act was London-based EDM duo, Joy Anonymous who played for around 30 minutes starting at 8pm. Their set was lively and well-performed, which set up perfectly for Fred’s show.

After a long wait in what can only be described as a greenhouse due to the venues large glass roof, Fred was finally on at 9pm. Despite the extreme heat and underlying smell of sweat the crowd remained in high spirits throughout the whole show, selflessly helping pass cups of water back to help those struggling in the middle of the crowd.

Fred Again.. opened with the wholesome spoken-word poem turned dance track, Kyle (i found you) whilst the audience screamed every word. Then Fred seamlessly flowed into a handful of emotional songs from his trio of albums titled ‘Actual Life’. This included Bleu (better with time), Tate (how i feel) and into the more energetic track Kammy (like i do).

Then, Fred asks if he can try something he hasn’t tried in a long time, he parted the sea of fans down the middle and walked through eagerly to a smaller stage set up in the middle of the room. The producer then hit the exhilarated crowd with fan-favourites Jungle and popular grime dance track Rumble, playing the song twice and making a completely new unheard remix as he adds heavy drum sounds live.

The king of electronic music then returned to the front stage keeping the high energy and live drums as he teased an unreleased song that samples Baby Keem’s ‘South Africa’. For me, this was when the show went up a level from very good to incredible.

The music then slowed down, as Fred transitioned into his new song, 2023 summer release, adore u, that features the beautiful vocals of Obongjayar. The gentle glittery notes were received with pure elation amongst the crowd. Fred announced, “this one is for your brothers and sisters,” dedicating the song to his sister, whom he wrote the song about. Some people around me were even moved to tears as the song played alongside a compilation of heartfelt videos of loved ones filmed by fans.

The emotions continued to run high, as Fred played his euphoric remix of Frank Ocean’s ‘Channel’ as a video of the beloved singer performing played on the large screen. The crowd then erupted when hearing the first few chords of Delilah (pull me out of this), chanting the melody as they waited for the drop. Simultaneously, the main screen showed videos of fireworks travelling up above the heads of fans onto the huge overhanging screens that fans could look up above to.

For the next track Fred Again.. told fans hold up their phone torches and blue plastic squares they were given in the queue creating a sea of small blue lights. The interactive idea was great in theory, but as the lights in the room were already blue, it didn’t work as well as the producer may have hoped.

The incredible show closed with Angie (Ive been lost). Fred Again.. commanded the crowd to sing along, splitting them into 2 sides and at the end asking them to sing in unison, creating an overwhelmingly ecstatic atmosphere to end the show.

Unfortunately, the only thing stopping this show from being a perfect 5/5 stars was the abrupt ending. Personally, the sudden ending made the show feel slightly incomplete without an encore as a few popular songs were still left to play and it had not yet reached 11pm. For example, the high energy Marea (we lost dancing), Baby Again.. and Turn On The Lights again.. were all missing.

However, as I mentioned earlier, each show is supposed to be unique from each other so it makes sense that some songs will be swapped so he can have a different setlist each night. This didn’t make it any easier for the loving fans who waited at least 15 minutes hoping for an encore.

To see exclusive videos from the show follow our TikTok @chunesmp

15 Aug

By 25782697 on Submissions tagged #Music, #Mxlode, #Newsingle, #submission, #UKMusic, #UKrap- Leave a comment

Melodic rap single ‘War and Dior’ shows real promise

The new track is short but very sweet with rich vocals being paired with smooth sound production to create a high-quality rap tune.

For this record, the South-west London based rapper and songwriter Mxlode (pronounced ‘Melody’) collaborated with Teeqro, his life-long friend, fellow artist and producer. The duo’s vocals compliment each other well to create a more complex sound.

The lyrics of ‘War and Dior’ reflect Mxlode‘s dreams as an artist as he manifests a successful future “see I never did a show but when I blow I’ll tour arenas with millions”. The chorus also highlights the hate Mxlode received about his music in the early stages. He goes on to suggests that some of those around him switched up after his music career began taking off.

Due to the eclectic mix of sub-genres on this track, there are a number of artists that come to mind who I think will have influenced Mxlode‘s music style. Personally, I hear similarities with UK rap trio D-Block Europe as well as America’s 6LACK. This was echoed by Mxlode himself as he said he looked up to a wide range of artists including Akon, XXXTentacion as well as the king of pop – Michael Jackson.

Mxlode kindly allowed me to listen to the unreleased EP that will be out later this year and it’s definitely a project to get excited about! It’s multi-layered, honest, strongly-produced and flows cohesively, so be ready for the release!

“This EP is 100% my best work yet. It’s the most honest I’ve been about my experiences. I really leaned into a strength of mine which is my vulnerability on this project and I hope it’s able to resonate with people the same way it does when I listen to it”
– Mxlode

Let me know what you think of the tune and please suggest other similar underrated artists in the comments below!

Listen on Spotify here:

By 25782697 on Recommendations tagged #indiemusic, #Indiepop, #Indierock, #Music, #Top5, #UKMusic, #Underrated- Leave a comment

Five Indie Artists You Need to Listen to This Summer!

The last decade has shown a decline in the popularity of the British indie scene in comparison to the love that Britpop music received in the 90s and early naughtiest. But that does not mean their is a lack of talent in modern day indie-rock music – it’s just harder to spot. I handpicked these five artists as I believe they are all underrated and deserve more appreciation and exposure. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Cucamaras

The fourtet that formed in 2019 has since tried their best to grow Nottingham’s indie scene one gig at a time. This year they released their first EP, ‘Buck Rogers Time’, consisting of five singles, with the strongest in my opinion being ‘Cotton Wool’ and opener, ‘Porcelain’. Lead vocalist, Bowley, told NME that the band’s sound developed as a result of the pandemic, “We couldn’t actually do ‘band stuff’, so we just talked about and shared music instead”.

The band are now making waves further than hometown, Nottingham, and in fact across the continent, as they’re being invited to play at smaller festivals across Europe. Additionally, the band has been named in NME’s Top 100 Essential Artists for 2023, highlighting the respect and belief the band already has from mainstream music media.

Cucamaras on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2Zy8a1P2tEwHdQK56s0v8T?si=3vabIZD7SgC_nVoVpssVSg

Danny Mellin

The Oxfordshire-based singer songwriter has released a total of ten singles so far, with themes including the importance of good mates, girl trouble and everyday life struggles. Danny told ‘The Bucket Playlist’ blog that he plans to keep releasing singles because he believes it’s a better way to distribute music. In lockdown, Danny developed his sound from mostly acoustic guitar songs to indie rock, with the help of newly formed band. Danny became influenced by heavyweights of the modern indie rock scene, Sam Fender and Arctic Monkeys – inspiring him to make a “bigger sound”.

Using TikTok to promote his singles and reply to fans, with his great vocals and hard hitting lyrics, Danny is slowly but surely building his own fanbase. The recent single, ‘Ordinary Day’ is already a personal favourite, with its high tempo, classic indie rock guitar rifts as well as perfectly unrefined vocals. This year Danny and his band completed a headline UK tour – I think this is just the start!

Danny Mellin on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0kmWqI1anuHvgq589NVsAr?si=C1dGRlaXTT-OspcYYSzl_w

Ora Violet

Ora Violet are a band trying to break barriers within the indie rock scene. The band that formed in 2019, consists of five members, each with a different nationality, allowing them to create a culturally diverse sound drawn from their different backgrounds. Everything from their music to their song cover art is ambiguous, unique and artistic.

This year, the band released their first full project with EP, ‘Have You Met Me’ consisting of five guitar heavy tracks. Ora Violet said on Instagram: “We are so proud of this, so much work went into it, this is us now”. The standout tracks for me are ‘Feel the Same’ and ‘Last dance’ with the second being about frontman, Tommy’s struggle with addiction and coming to terms with his sexuality.

Despite being so new, the group have already had some success, as they were chosen to support Duran Duran at Hyde Park in London last year as well as having upcoming headline shows in the UK.

Ora Violet on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/649PbKfSwqkPEsos9mHuUJ?si=69SJB_20R_axTKMM6fp-Ww

BERRIES

This London-based garage rock trio are an exciting group and you should give them a listen! The all female line-up and intricate yet rocky beats gives them a new and individual sound. In terms of their songs influences, they told ‘Gigrader’ that: “it can totally vary sometimes we write songs about different moods or a feeling rather than an actual topic”.

BERRIES return with their first release since their debut album last year, with new track. “Control”. The new track is certainly one of my favourite of their songs, with it’s grungy guitar and layered melodic vocals it stands out as a great single all round. The band is currently going from strength to strength as they have just successfully completed a headline UK tour and announced a string of smaller UK festivals that they will be playing at this summer.

BERRIES on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3S3lyrc9kKx4EPWCduLKi5?si=eAQBLXf0Ssqhrg6kNnZRxg

CVC

CVC also known as Church Village Collective are a Welsh psych-rock band that are working hard to showcase their music not just across South Wales but worldwide. The band have gained popularity with their debut album ‘Get Real’ as they received a very decent review from NME (one of the Uk’s leading music magazines) as well as having over 63,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. The album sounds well put together and all the songs fit together excellently whilst having a variety of subgenres. For me, the standout tracks were the beautifully melodic and effortless ‘Sophie’ along with the catchy and authentic ‘Docking The Pay’.

The band have just finished a North American tour, including massive festivals and the fun doesn’t stop there as they will be completing a UK headline tour with many venues already sold out in the next few weeks.

CVC on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4UVp2DRjYXq2ZWQwA5QLuD?si=ZouTa1KxRo6JIF8QeAXaUw

4 Jun

By 25782697 on Festivals tagged #Environment, #festival, #Greenfestivals, #Sustainable, #Top5, #TopTips, #UKfestival, #UKMusic- Leave a comment

Top 5 Tips to Help You be Sustainable this Festival Season!

With festival season now in full swing, I thought it would be helpful to offer some of my best Top Tips to help reduce waste and your festival carbon footprint! Music festivals not only harm the local environment, they also produce huge amounts of Carbon dioxide emissions. Whilst the problem heavily lies with the festival organisers themselves, these five straightforward suggestions will help you do your bit to minimize the amount of festival waste.

1. Do NOT Throw Away Your Tent

Every year we see the disappointing images of thousands of abandon tents after music festivals. The Association of Independent Festivals estimate that 250,000 so called ‘single use’ tents are left at UK music festivals every year. Some of the reasons people leave tents include: the annoyance of taking them back if they are travelling home on public transport, the fact that they get trashed/ dirty over the festival period or just pure laziness. But this should not be a reoccurring problem. Many people believe that undamaged tents that are left behind are collected and given to charities however this is wishful thinking! The majority of these tents will end up in landfill. many of these tents are non-biodegradable and the concentration of plastic in these landfills release toxic chemicals into the atmosphere risking contamination to soil and groundwater.
However, we are heading in the right direction, Glastonbury Festival organisers claim that 99% of
festival goers’ tents were picked up and taken home after last year’s festival. To put this into perspective Glastonbury is a festival of 200, 000 people so this is extremely promising. By spreading awareness, this can continue.

2. Reusable NOT Disposable

Reusable items are essential for keeping sustainable. The word ‘disposable’ means they are designed for one use and then they can be discarded; this often involves single use plastic – which do not biodegrade naturally. So, swap that disposable camera for a digital one, swap the disposable containers for reusable Tupperware and carry your things in a rucksack instead of a disposable plastic bag.

Simply by refilling your water bottle at water fountain points that will be located at all festivals, you will not only save money but also reduce the amount of single-used plastic that is getting thrown away, damaging our environment. Additionally, you could use reusable cutlery and plates – just make sure the group shares the washing up!

3. Pick up Litter

It really is that simple. Every little helps a lot, so do your best to recycle as much as possible and pick up any rubbish. This saves the selfless volunteers a massive clean-up job at the end of the festival. Also, Bin your butts! Cigarette butts are one of the biggest contributors to the litter problem at festivals. It is essential that you dispose of them properly and responsibly using the allocated bins.

4. Travel Eco-Consciously

Public transport is always a quick and easy method of getting there especially with the stress of parking permits and spaces often being limited. This is definitely the ideal method for a day festival with no belongings. However, the option of going by car sometimes is necessary when camping for just under a week. To be sustainable you should try to carpool, despite it maybe being a squeeze. Another option is a festival bus or shuttle bus that often go from major cities straight to the destination.

5. Support Charity Shops

Is it really worth it to buy an outfit for one day and then chucking
it out? When finding festival fashion, it is always a good idea
to look in charity shops. Not only are you supporting a good
cause, but it moves away from fast fashion, an industry that is
extremely harmful to our planet. Second hand clothes are often
cheaper and more durable than typical fast fashion. In the past
charities including Oxfam have partnered with big festivals,
such as Glastonbury, helping to keep them more sustainable.

14 Mar

By 25782697 on Concert review tagged #AltRap, #concertreview, #slowthai, #slowthaiugly, #UGLYtour, #UKMusic, #Underrated- Leave a comment

Slowthai’s Banquet Records concert Review: manic but unforgettable!

The Northampton-born alternative artist played two back-to-back Banquet Records gigs in Kingston (Greater London) last weekend. The concerts showcased the love him and his fans share for new album ‘UGLY’!

The shows followed his six-date run of £1 ticket small pub shows at the beginning of March and a week following the release of his newest project ‘UGLY’. The album that includes a fusion of both punk and grime perfectly illuminates Tyron’s talent with creative lyrics, raw vocals and stripped back production.

Ty’s transparency and vulnerability in his storytelling is what enables him to connect to Britain’s younger generation.

This set of dedicated fans mostly made up of patchwork tattoo and mullet owners did not disappoint and really brought the frantic high energy you would associate with the punk genre to the venue of just under 2000.

Slowthai welcomed fans with a smile asking “how are we feeling? do you feel good? Do you feel great? Do you feel alive?” before joking “I heard a lot of you have been in spoons, so hopefully you’re a lively bunch tonight!”

Setlist:

Selfish
Sooner
Feel Good
HAPPY
Sorrymum
Wotz funny
25% Club
adhd
feel away
falling
Tourniquet
Deal Wiv it
Doorman
Yum (encore)

Slowthai began the setlist with 7 songs from the new album including upbeat singles ‘Feel Good’ and ‘HAPPY’. As soon as the music started the crowd instantly began pushing, jumping, drink throwing and opening up the mosh pit in true punk fashion.

The live band played flawlessly adding so much more to the performance and overall atmosphere. The small venue allowed everyone to have a great view of the stage and the option of being a part of the intense pushing or watching safely from the side-lines.

Tyron himself seemed overwhelmed with joy and contentment as he performed, taking complete ownership of the stage. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from a loving fan he went on to express his gratitude for the people in the room as well as his friends and family.

Slowthai then calmed it down, playing a collection of slower ballads. This includes two slower more emotional songs off his last album ‘TYRON’ (that reached number 1 in the Official Charts) called ‘adhd’ and ‘feel away’. Whilst watching his faultless performance I noticed a handful of listeners in the crowd being reduced to tears highlighting just how meaningful his tracks can be. Although, to ruin the wholesome moment between Slowthai and his admirers the mosh-pits (rather embarrassingly) continued.

To end the incredible show, Slowthai performed two older songs from 2019, fan-favourites ‘Deal Wiv it’ and ‘Doorman’. The crowd’s jumping had the whole room shaking at one point. And to be honest being at the edge of the mosh pit for a whole 10 seconds was enough for me, although it felt like a near death experience – it was completely worth it.

The encore was the opening track to the new album ‘Yum’ and was the ideal ending to what was a lively and euphoric show, Ty left the stage thanking fans and telling them he will be back again soon.

Slowthai took to twitter after the show, saying “tonight was banging” and retweeted a video from the show captioning it “beautiful”.

Overall, I was seriously impressed by Slowthai’s vocals and overall performance. As a frequent Banquet Record’s show attender, I would say this has been my favourite of all, topping huge mainstream artists such as Stormzy. This is simply due to the enormous amount of energy and emotion that Tyron radiates that he feeds straight back into the crowd.

19 Feb

By 25782697 on Album Reviews, EDM, Other tagged #albumreview, #EDM, #Fredagain, #international, #Newalbum, #Newmusic, #Skrillex, #SkrillexQuestForFire- Leave a comment

‘Quest for Fire’ by Skrillex – Flawless mixing, versatility and UK scene influences

The dubstep king, Skrillex, has returned with his first solo album since 2014 with ‘Quest For Fire’, an album that really embodies the versatility of the EDM genre!

Perhaps Sonny’s newly formed friendship with the two Brits, Fred Gibson (Fred Again..) and Kieran (Four Tet) has not only effected his popularity but his music too. The first of 2 albums to be released in 2023 feels heavily influenced by UK garage culture as well as drum and bass. This is emphasised by the choice of features for example grime rapper Flowdan on both ‘Rumble‘ and ‘Hydrate‘. Similarly, third track ‘Tears‘ features the underground British grime and dubstep producer Joker, an odd but fitting choice that highlights the array of different sub-genre influences Skrillex wanted on the album.

The 15 song album is very well-curated and the mix of genres keeps the listener guessing. The majority of songs are either 2 or 3 minutes and in such a short time they all manage to pack a punch.

Despite ‘Quest For Fire‘ being extremely energetic and almost hectic, the tracks themselves are not overproduced. In an interview with Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, Skrillex said that when first producing fan favourite ‘Rumble‘ with Fred Again.. he nearly did too much and overproduced it. The pair joked about kicking fellow producer and friend Kieran (Four Tet) off the track and him being an honorary producer, “his biggest role in ‘Rumble‘ was the most important role, which was to make sure we didn’t overproduce it and fuck it up”. I think it is clear that Skrillex has carried this advice when finishing the production of the album.

Personally, I very much enjoyed the lack of major pop star features on this project in comparison to some of his previous work that featured the likes of Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran. This adds to the authenticity as each feature seems specially chosen, which brings something unique to the song.

Standout Tracks

‘RATATA‘ is one of the more commercial and mainstream tracks that definitely belongs to the dance pop category. It features the iconic Hip Hop artist Missy Elliott‘s great vocals that mix perfectly alongside the sample of ‘Positif‘ by Mr Oizo to create a high-energy feel-good tune.

‘Hydrate‘, the brother of viral track, ‘Rumble‘ is in my opinion just as good if not better. UK grime MC Flowdan appears for the second time on the album with an excellent verse that really catches the listeners attention. Flowdan himself sums up the clean production of this track: “it’s simple, not complicated”.

‘Supersonic (my existence)‘ was already a fan favourite when Skrillex released it in 2021. This is probably due to its nostalgic feel as it’s very old school Skrillex with a dubstep-led sound. The slow atmospheric intro paired with eery vocals really helps to build the song up to the hard and bassy beat drop.
Skrillex and Porter Robinson at Sky Fest (2019)
The final track ‘Still Here (with the ones that I came with)‘ is the perfect close to an emotional journey of an album. The title is pretty self explanatory with Sonny reaching out to those in the music industry he started out with, perhaps trying to reassure fans he has not changed despite over a decade of fame. This is illuminated by the collaboration with Porter Robinson a producer he has had many years of friendship with.

The album as a whole shows off Skrillex‘s flawless mixing and creativity with an unbelievable blend of tracks with a fitting list of guest features. Although I can see why people may find it too chaotic and lacking a clear narrative, personally I enjoyed the experimental element of the project. I think the multiple sub-genres included especially from the UK scene were used successfully and highlighted his innovativeness and versatility as an artist.

30 Jan

By 25782697 on Music awards tagged #BritAwards, #Britnominations, #Brits, #CentralCee, #CharliXCX, #Florenceandthemachine, #FlorenceWelch, #Fredagain, #GeorgeEzra, #Harrystyles, #LittleSimz, #Stormzy- Leave a comment

EVERYTHING wrong with the Brit award nominations!

With the Brit Awards soon approaching, let’s shine a light on this year’s controversial nominations…

Last year, the Brits swapped the gendered categories for more progressive (at least we thought) non-gendered categories to be more inclusive. Despite the attempted step forward, they ended up taking three steps as the coveted ‘Artist of the Year’ submissions are all in fact MALE.

The artists that are nominated include: Central Cee, Fred Again.., George Ezra, Harry Styles and Stormzy. Although each artist is great in their own right, I believe some are stronger than others. Harry Styles who has become a worldwide pop superstar is a justified pick and I predict he will win every award he is up for. And despite both being relatively new artists, both king of electronic music Fred again and rapper Central Cee have gone global finding huge success in the US.

Regardless of Stormzy’s incredible past projects, I don’t think he had an extremely standout year in 2022. His newest album, ‘This is what I mean’ although beautiful, for me fell a little flat especially in comparison to the work of Little Simz or Loyle Carner bringing a more refreshing sound. Lastly, George Ezra seems like an odd pick for a Top 5 artist of 2022 as his third album ‘Gold Rush Kid’ sounds extremely similar to the other two with no real excitement or change.

Due to the all-male list not representing the talent and diversity of the UK music industry, here are some of the women I believe deserve to be in this category and why:

Florence + The Machine: Her 2022 album ‘Dance Fever’ earnt her a fourth UK Number 1. Emotive lyrics collided with blissful choruses to create a powerful record. Singles such as ‘Free’ and ‘My Love’ standout with a new refreshingly euphoric sound. The combination of exciting new music, excellent singles, and Number 1 charting in 2022 surely should have earnt Florence and the machine a BRIT nomination.

Little Simz: At the very end of the year, she released a surprise album ‘NO THANK YOU’. A complex project where she airs her frustration with the music industry and choosing to become an independent artist. Her unique voice, flow and lyricism highlight that she is a force to be reckoned with and if not nominated for artist of the year she should have been considered for the Hip Hop/ Grime category

Charli XCX: It has been an exciting year for Charli, as she reached number 1 on the UK charts for the first time with her 5^th studio album ‘CRASH’. It is an incredibly fun, experimental, and well produced album that really embodies the genre of pop. Charli also released successful singles including ‘Hot In It’ and ‘Beg For You’ and collaborated with a variety of noteworthy artists such as Rina Sawayama, Tiesto and Caroline Polachek.

Brit award academy judges when deciding the best artist of 2022: (52) Name A Woman (Billy on the Street) – YouTube

Another extremely disappointing thing to see was the category of ‘Best pop/R&B Act’ being full of ONLY pop acts. Personally, I think it’s insulting to the genre itself as well as any British R&B act as they don’t even get a look in being paired with UK’s most POPular genre. The nominees were Cat Burns, Charli XCX, Dua Lipa, Harry Styles and Sam Smith, all exceptional pop artists, although I find it surprising that they couldn’t add a single R&B artist despite three out of five not releasing an album in 2022. British singer songwriter and producer MNEK took to Twitter to share his frustration on the matter. He said: “OK this is silly now. we get it. UK industry doesn’t know what to do with R&B but there’s enough R&B artists to have their own category at LEAST”.

My last bone to pick (I know there’s been a few) is with the ‘Best Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act’ as in my opinion they have added Stormzy and Dave perhaps due to popularity reasons rather than purely being based off music completed in 2022. For example, Dave had a huge year in 2021 with an extraordinary album, winning him Best Hip Hop act as well as the most prestigious award – ‘Album of the year’ – which was completely well-earned. However, in 2022 Dave only released 2 singles with only ‘starlight’ gaining success, is this enough to take a spot in this category?

Personally, I would love to see Knucks being recognised for his incredible talent in this category and possibly even ‘Album of the Year’ as ‘ALPHA PLACE’ is such a strong album with great storytelling, and unique style.

9 Jan

By 25782697 on Concert review tagged #Fourtet, #Fredagain, #FredAgainRumble, #LondonMusic, #Skrillex- Leave a comment

Skrillex, Fred again.. and Four Tet – A look inside their last minute ‘Rumble’ release show in London

The trio of electronic magicians played a spectacular third secret set with tickets selling out in seconds, just hours before the show!

The spontaneous run of shows from the 5th to the 7th of January were each finalised on the day of the show. This comes after Skrillex and Fred Again.. were celebrating the drop of their much anticipated single ‘Rumble’ together on the 4^th. They reached out via Instagram story asking for a last-minute venue in Fred’s hometown of London. Then the chaos erupted as each artist randomly released a ticket link on their stories, only a few hours before the show, and within seconds, tickets were sold out.

Fellow DJ, Nia Archives, as well as worldwide popstar Dua Lipa were some of the huge stars spotted dancing in the crowd on Saturday night. The final show of 3 was at Troxy in East London with a capacity of just over 3,000 and it did not disappoint!

If getting tickets wasn’t lucky enough, after arriving just 45 minutes early, I managed to make my way to secure a spot about half a meter from the front barrier. As soon as the doors were open at 8pm the three DJ’s were ready at the decks, warming up the crowd, chatting to fans and setting up for what was going to be an incredible 4 hours.

The show got off to a flying start with every track hyping up the crowd more and more. I looked behind me and the venue was full of people flooding the sides and back of the decks. Fred looked up at the cheering crowd before taking the microphone, “We’re on a hattrick London and we are so gassed that you’re here with us tonight – thank you!”

They teased the crowd with a remix of ‘Rhythm N Gash‘ followed by Fred’s huge single ‘Turn On The Lights again..‘ which got the fans bouncing and that’s when the real lightshow started. Dubstep heavyweight Skrillex then took to the decks, playing his own remix of Kendrick Lamar‘s ‘HUMBLE’.

However, the show wasn’t without its flaws as 2 hours in the sound system started glitching and Four Tet was cut off more than once which left everybody confused. After an awkward few minutes of no music, three stressed DJ’s and Skrillex passing the blame to anyone but himself – of course it was fan favourite Fred Again.. who saved the day.

With a smile on his face, he took out his keyboard and plays the melody of his own song ‘Danielle‘ telling the crowd “we don’t know what’s going to happen, you don’t know what’s going to happen but we might as well give it our best.” At this point everyone (including myself) was just ecstatic that the show was carrying on despite sweat dripping from the ceiling.

The energy in the room then became electric as the trio welcomed special guest Flowdan and it was time to RUMBLE. The new single was remixed more than 5 times with Flowdan flawlessly rapping live to the crowds delight.

As the show was coming to a close, a roller-coaster of emotions were experienced. My night peaked when I heard a drum and bass remix of Harry Styles’ ‘As it Was’. Although this was short lived when the song was stopped after a careless crowd surfer dived off the decks and into the crowd, knocking out a girl on his way down.

After a short break and the girl getting to safety with help from none other than Sonny (Skrillex) himself – the show continued.

To end the remarkable evening, Fred Again.. played an emotional last tune from his first solo album called ‘Angie (i’ve been lost)’ telling the crowd to repeat the moving lyrics “Lost, I’ve been lost, but I’m really trying”.

The love and respect between the three talented producers was completely infectious. Throughout the night I could see strangers coming together to share moments that will last a lifetime.

Check out @chunesmp on TikTok for exclusive video content from the night.

To read more on Fred Again.. and his incredible rise to solo fame in the electronic scene, click this link: https://chunes-blogs-lincoln-ac-uk.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/2022/10/04/fred-again-from-lowkey-background-producer-to-king-of-electronic-music/