This month the alternative round-up will be the only round-up, and if I'm honest I think this will become the standard and only type of round-up. April's been a strange one. I haven't done loads this month but it seems to have just flown by. You'll find some things that did happen below along with the playlists for this month. Something I'd also like to keep from the old standard Round-Up posts is the top five songs of the month thing. I liked those.
I'm not a fan of Tyler, The Creator really. In fact, I can't say I really like more than one of his songs prior to dropping of Cherry Bomb. But here we are, April 2015 and everything's changed. To me, seemingly out of nowhere Tyler unleashes this new video for a new track called 'Fucking Perfect' with another track, 'Deathcamp', slapped on the end and it was an exciting time in my life. A week later, we had Cherry Bomb with us. Overall it wasn't what I'd hoped but every time I listen to it those two tracks make it worth it alone.
I'd thought about doing this for a while but the other weekend I created a little Donnie Darko playlist with the pop/rock tracks that feature in the Director's Cut edition of the film. This was such a great idea and has also just led to me listening to INXS' 'Never Tear Us Apart' an unhealthy amount. You can check out the playlist here.
I have never been to 2000 Trees but I have been tempted before a couple of times. 2015's line-up looks absolutely insane and "tempted" doesn't even cut how bad I would like to attend. Alkaline Trio and The Subways are the two that have really got me lusting as I haven't seen either of them before. I love the general vibe of smaller festivals like this as well.
I was longing for and at the same time dreading the day A Loss For Words announced their final UK shows. They'd been confirmed for Slam Dunk a couple of months ago but they've also announced a string of shows around the three festival dates. I'm super skeptical about the turnout for these shows but I'm so excited to see A Loss For Words headline in the UK for the first time since 2012.
Stop telling me that I won't be disappointed if I listen to your music. I'm me. I will be.
— WhatIfIHadAMusicBlog (@WIIHAMB) April 8, 2015
Oh Great Escape Great Escape Great Escape. It's so close! Breaking More Waves have done a preview featuring twenty artists you've probably never heard who they think you should see and it's basically the best preview you'll read.
The Great Escape also released their schedule last week which is pretty much entirely insane. I'm hoping to get a clashless guide to TGE up on the week of the festival so stay tuned!
PUT DOWN EVERYTHING. SUMMER HAS ARRIVED. We now finally have Madeon's album and it can be summer 24/7 365 days a year. I'm not a huge Madeon fan but I had no idea this album was going to sound this incredible. Grab a cocktail, put your sunglasses on, sit by the paddling pool and listen to Adventure.
I have seen PVRIS live three times in the space of a week, two headline shows and once opening for Lower Than Atlantis and I can confirm that they are an incredible live band. Even despite a couple of technical hitches during their London show overall their output was amazing. They're back over in the UK for Slam Dunk and Reading & Leeds and definitely worth checking out if you can. So many apologies for that horrific picture too.
It's taken a while but I am finally on board with Kanye West's 'All Day'. What started as a joke has turned into a mild obsession, especially with Allan Kingdom's few lines.
In case you missed it - You shouldn't have, but just in case you did.
At the time of posting I will (hopefully) have landed safely down under and everything from here on in has been written in the past. For the next two weeks I'll probably be fairly distant from anything going on here or on the daily Tumblr site. Everything will continue as normal as if you didn't even know I was gone until Friday. Friday will see the start of a week long series (lolz) of guest posts from some friends with some #sickcontent. This is also the last ICYMI for a couple of weeks. Everything should straighten itself out again before the WIIHAMB Great Escape Festival extravaganza begins!
Keep up to date with all of the daily goings-on over at WIIHAMB Daily.
Sunday
When I posted ‘Only Wanna Be With You’ a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea Samm Henshaw was only 20 years old. This is even more unbelievable after listening to his new song ‘Redemption’. Henshaw’s voice is reminiscent of so many classic soul singers, it’s mature and feels almost turmoiled, but in a good kind of honest and laid bare kind of way. 'Redemption' is taken from Henshaw’s upcoming debut EP, due for release in July but if you can't wait until then it's also a free download over on his Soundcloud page.
Monday
I’ll be first to admit that I was late to jump aboard the Aquilo hype train. Man, I wasn’t even late, I missed the train completely and had to wait for the next one. But aren’t we all glad I made it here in the end? ‘Better Off Without You’ is really great, a little more pop r’n’b than the previous EP but you can hear that for yourself just below. This track is taken from the duo’s forthcoming EP ‘Calling Me’, set for release at the end of May.
Tuesday
‘Forgiveness’ is the new off the wall track from LA based duo Made In Heights. Things seem to have changed quite a bit sound-wise since I last posted Made In Heights over a year ago, but the difference in general vibe makes for an exciting build up to the release of their second album next month.
Let it be known that I pay very little attention to what goes on with Panic! At The Disco these day, heck, I even had to check what the correct ‘!’ etiquette was now in 2015. This is their new track ‘Hallelujah’. The bottom line is that it’s a lot less Fall Out Boy than that Fall Out Boy track P!ATD did, but still a similar vibe and still very good. Brendon Urie’s vocals single-handedly keep this band/one-man-show afloat.
Wednesday
‘The Woods’ is the opening track from Huntar’s forthcoming ‘Love I Know’ EP which may explain the lengthy and staticy (now a word) introduction. What follows is an ambient track showcasing the 21 year old Londoner’s vocals that build and end up layered all over each other creating the ultimate vibe. I can’t find any evidence of a Huntar live show anywhere yet but I can’t help thinking that he’d slot in perfectly to this year’s The Great Escape lineup so it’s a shame not to see this name on the bill.
Throwback Thursday
Unbelievably I hadn’t yet posted N.E.R.D. for a Throwback Thursday, so God forbid we wait any longer! Tying things in and keeping everything relevant after Tyler The Creator’s ‘Death Camp’, it feels only right to pick ‘Rock Star’.
Friday
Stint just keeps cropping up since I posted his remix of Niia’s ‘Body’ at the start of the month. His collaboration with fellow Vancouver natives Dirty Radio is called ‘As Long As You’re With Me’ and it’s smooth and laidback and totally great. This track is available as a limited free download so don’t hang about because it’s a little known fact that everybody loves free stuff, especially when it’s as good as this.
Saturday
Don’t let anybody tell you have I haven’t enjoyed absolutely everything that Snakehips have ever done, because I have. I don’t get super excited about much “electronic music” but this London based duo give me every vibe under the sun. This week they’ve remixed LA based artist Kelhani’s ‘Til The Morning’, giving the track the token Snakehips touch.
In case you missed it - You shouldn't have, but just in case you did.
Everything is the hecticest at the moment. I generally just seem to have quite a lot on and in addition I'm attempting to prepare for my two weeks away which starts next Friday. It's going to be manic to get everything finished in time but hopefully there won't be a day with nothing going on either here on or #thedaily.
Keep up to date with all of the daily goings-on over at WIIHAMB Daily.
Sunday
‘Swarm’ is the final track on Moscow producer Andrew Bugrov’s new four song EP ‘Ostium’. Ostium features collaborations with Aluna, Ayer and this track with Russian group Mana Island. ‘Swarm’ is perfect soulful chillstep for this Sunday evening.
Monday
This track took me a little while to get into, there’s a lot going on in these three minutes and 43 seconds. I haven’t heard anything from Towkio before but this track feels like him and Chance The Rapper were made to collaborate on it. Eryn Allen Kane’s subtle additional vocals add a slightly more pop soulful feel to the song too. ‘Heaven Only Knows’ is taken from Towkio’s ‘.wav Theory’ set for release later this month.
Tuesday
‘1 2 3 4′ is the first offering we’ve heard from former Friends frontwoman Samantha Urbani and my God was it worth the wait. With a noticeable helping hand on the production side from her other half Dev Hynes (AKA Blood Orange), ‘1 2 3 4′ is a bongo-featuring pop extravaganza. Let’s hope for more tracks over the course of the rest of 2015.
Despite Rixton being from the UK, America had their debut album ‘Let the Road’ back in March, we’re not getting it over here until June. So naturally they need to keep churning out the singles and ‘We All Want the Same Thing’ happens to be the next one. Luckily for us it’s good enough to keep the anticipation rising for the album.
Wednesday
I knew Samsaya’s name was familiar, I actually posted her single ‘Stereotype’ way back in September 2013. This is the first song of hers that I’ve stumbled across since then and I’m so glad I did. There seems to be a plethora of amazing female pop stars falling out of Scandinavia, and Norway’s Samsaya is no exception. The heartfelt ‘Beginning at the End’ is taken from her second album ‘Bombay Calling’ which was released on Monday in Norway followed by the UK in a couple of weeks time.
Throwback Thursday
On a lonely Saturday night I decided to curate my own little six song playlist of tracks included on the Donnie Darko director’s cut soundtrack. INXS’ ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ soundtracks the opening scenes of the film which see Donnie wake up in the middle of nowhere and then follows his bike ride home on a sunny Autumn morning.
Friday
The other day I said that Honne haven’t put out anything that hasn’t been great and I firmly stand by this statement stronger than anything else right now. I listened to the original 1973 soul song for the first time whilst writing this and I can’t say I prefer it. Some extra trivia too, Jack Penate also covered ‘Didn’t I’ back in 2007 for his ‘Spit At Stars’ EP.
Saturday
Erik Hassle produces such consistently good songs and has done for so many years and ‘No Words’ is no exception. The upbeat track is accompanied by this simple but very clever video which finds Hassle dancing and throwing various breakfast ingredients around a kitchen.
Since the video has been unleashed on the internet for those who don’t have the “luxury” of Tidal, I’ve had ‘American Oxygen’ on repeat on multiple occasions. The thing about ‘American Oxygen’ is that it’s an all round great song. The melody, the lyrics, the chorus, the whole sound is very 2015. The problem with ‘American Oxygen’ is the fact that it’s Rihanna’s single. The writers include Rihanna herself, maker of hit songs Alex da Kid and X Ambassadors (which is huge for them right?); I just wish that they’d given it to someone else rather than Rihanna release it herself. The message the lyrics and even the video are trying to portray just doesn’t really sink in when there’s a millionaire fronting its campaign. Alas, this is how things have worked out. It’s a shame but I do still hope this is the global hit it deserves to be.
In case you missed it - You shouldn't have, but just in case you did.
As usual I was supposed to spend loads of time this weekend working on various blog things, including for the two weeks I'm out of the country. As usual I've pretty much achieved next to nothing. I am however super super looking forward to hearing the new Tyler The Creator album tomorrow; see below for an excerpt on just how excited I am.
Keep up to date with all of the daily goings-on over at WIIHAMB Daily.
Sunday
Although I really enjoyed Oh Wonder being super secretive their music seems to have a lot more character now that we know more about the London based duo. ‘Midnight Moon’ is the April instalment of their year long twelve track journey. This song sounds a bit more “pop” to me than previous songs but it’s undeniable that their debut album is shaping up to be absolutely outstanding.
Monday
I think I’m in love with Kloë a bit. ‘Feel’ is only her second ever release and it just gets so much better with every single listen. The eighteen year old Glaswegian is a pop star in the making and it’s only a matter of time before she’s all over the radio airwaves and plastered across multiple festival bills.
Tuesday
Only recently I was asking myself when it was okay to start demanding new MS MR material. No need because here it is. I absolutely love the intro, the New York based duo don’t bother easing you in, instead just going straight for the jugular. Beyond excited for a new album from Lizzy Plapinger and Max Hershenow.
Wednesday
Nineteen year old Sabella along with her (debut?) track ‘Loving Like This’ is so exciting. In my head I’m not sure what sets this apart from other British pop/R’n’B tracks and singers doing the rounds at the moment but something does, making this track beautiful and flawless. It’s times like this when I wish I was actually able to write about music with a little more sincerity so everybody would believe how good this is.
Throwback Thursday
I often forget about MGMT, and when I say “often”, I mean “frequently”, which is mindblowing because I forget they have insane hits like ‘Electric Feel’. This track was so perfect for a time when off-the-wall synth indie pop was dominating pretty much every walk of life.
Friday
Prize for most pleasantly surprising “comeback” of 2015 so far undoubtedly goes to Tyler, The Creator. ‘Fucking Young’ is sort of the first single from Tyler’s new album Cherry Bomb which is being released TOMORROW. The video is actually ‘Fucking Young’ followed by ‘Death Camp’ which is confusing because on the album it’s actually followed by ‘Perfect’. As songs go, ‘Fucking Young’ and ‘Death Camp’ are pretty much polar opposites so as an indication of what’s to appear on this imminent album there’s a whole lot to expect. I forgot to mention Charlie Wilson’s vocals on ‘Fucking Young’. It all works together in the most incredible way.
Saturday
‘Red Shortbread’ is the title track from 20 year old Jack Watts’ debut EP due for release on May 17th. The track’s accompanying video is unsettling to say the least, featuring the bloodied and tear-stained face of Watts and others healing backwards. As the song develops, so do Watts’ vocals, making ‘Red Shortbread’ such a powerful song for someone so young.
In January when I heard the first offerring from Hit The Light’s fourth album Summer Bones I loved it but was a little unsure whether they were still a “cool band” to like. After seeing them twice last month and listening to the album in full countless times, there’s no doubt the Ohio five piece are still incredible at what they do. The video for ‘Life on the Bottom’ follows New York boxer Ismael Villarreal training before getting in to the ring towards the end of the song.
In case you missed it - You shouldn't have, but just in case you did.
The Easter Bank Holiday weekend i.e. four days of me telling myself I'm going to actually sort out this blog, read emails, improve things... but in reality four days of me sitting around doing absolutely nothing useful whatsoever. I am going to Australia however, for just short of two weeks at the end of the month so someone's going to need to work out what's going to happen here for that period of time. (That someone is obviously and regrettably going to be me.)
Keep up to date with all of the daily goings-on over at WIIHAMB Daily.
Sunday
Last week London producer Tourist premiered his new track ‘Holding On’, featuring the vocal talents of WIIHAMB favourite Josef Salvat and New York based singer Niia. I wrote a sentence in the original post where I used the phrase "Twitter game" which sparked this response. Not sure whether to be 💁 or 🙍
Monday
Breaking More Waves posted this over the weekend and I thought it was absolutely great and then I heard it again last night and could not resist giving it a spot on WIIHAMB. So from what I gather ‘Only Wanna Be With You’ started as a freestyle, but you’d never know, it sounds as though it’s been worked on for hours. I guess a little like Leon Bridges, it’s really refreshing to hear a voice that sounds a little old school.
The first of two round ups this week, this one is the bog standard I do this every month and the formula is pretty much the same every time and I found it all really boring to write about. It was one of those "I've started so I'll finish" posts. I wrote a bit about the holy quadrinity of EPs released last month and also about the 10,000 gigs I went to in March.
Wednesday
After the release of Gallant’s debut EP ‘Zebra’ last year I’ve been eagerly anticipating new music from the LA based musician but the wait is now over. Gallant’s new track ‘Open Up’ showcases his stunning RnB vocals again accompanied by a huge chorus.
Throwback Thursday
Last Thursday Vevo had a Throwback Thursday suggestion for me and for once it wasn’t absolutely shocking. So lo and behold the banger above. Unfortunately today I’ve had no such luck so I can’t be certain what will happen this time next week. More Fire Crew’s ‘Oi’ has also been added to this lil playlist.
The idea for the sort of more blog like layout and style for this post came to me when I was writing the standard round up. I enjoyed this much more and I'm pretty sure that next month's post will be similar but a little more fleshed out. This is basically an illustrated list of things I did and read this month.
Saturday
I wasn’t familiar with Niia until her feature on Tourist’s new single (that one at the top), but now she’s popping up everywhere. ‘Body’ was originally released six months ago on Niia’s Generation Blue EP but has been given a new twist courtesy of up and coming producer Stint. Stint’s made ‘Body’ a lot more haunting than the original but also a little more stunning. Hey, I just read that Stint produced that new Gallant track too!
Another case of better late than never. I was getting less and less fussed about the new Modestep album, maybe thinking I’d “grown out of” what they do but ‘Machines’ has proved me wrong. The track overall to me is fairly typical Modestep but Josh Friend’s vocals take the whole song up a notch.
Whilst struggling my way through a round-up of the past month I came up with a better idea. Seeing as I was halfway through the "real" one at the time I thought I might as well finish and publish it, it's here if you wanted to read it, but I also thought I might as well give this one a go too.
What follows is entirely based on both my personal and blog twitter feeds throughout the last month. I've had to take out everything that wasn't music related because this ended up being super long.
Tove Lo's debut album now has a UK release date, it's not until 11th May but it's a release date nevertheless. I picked Queen Of The Clouds as my album of the year for 2014 so I can't quite put into words how frustrating it is that we're getting the album over here seven months after pretty much everywhere else on the planet. I also saw Tove Lo live for the first time at Koko on Monday night and she was so good. Her vocals were on point and her set had so much energy. They've added in quite a few extra instrumental sections as well for the live shows which add an extra bit of umph - perfect for the run up to festival season. The only downside, of course, was that so many members of the audience have never heard a fair share of her album tracks!
Conor Maynard's back with new single 'Talking About'. No one warned about how incredible it is or that Craig David is in the video.
Leon Bridges and his band brought the 50's to Islington's The Lexington. (A nice example of my dreadful live music photography here.)
I realised how much I don't care about Kanye West. At his Koko show this month he played 2/3 of the songs I thought he wouldn't play and I still don't care. The fake setlist on setlist.fm made everyone's banging on about the show worthwhile though.
I've been listening to A Loss For Words a lot recently in an attempt to come to terms with the fact that by the end of 2015 they will no longer be a band. Back when it was released in 2013 I dismissed their third album Before It Caves after about two listens. For whatever reason I thought I'd give it another go and I've absolutely fallen in love with it. Can't wait to see them again in May (and then hopefully on their reunion tour in two years time.) [Spotify / Deezer]
Years & Years played a disappointing set at Heaven but I was too drunk to notice at the time. Well this isn't strictly true. They were so much better than when I saw them at that MTV event in January but I think that had a lot to do with sound rather than anything else. They did put on a good show but when a headline set is only 45 minutes long including the encore I'm just left wanting more... and not in a particularly good way.
Alexisonfire announced those stupid festival appearances and I got really annoyed. When Alexisonfire announced their final string of shows back in 2012 I was unemployed and had next to no money but I used what I did have to get a ticket for one of the London dates to see the Canadian band for the first and last time. This whole thing had me ready to write a super angry thing on why bands who split up should stay split up but it's just not something I ever go around to doing. I'm still annoyed though, don't worry.
I'd written Modestep off a bit since the release of their debut album, you know, just became less fussed. But what they've done with this teaser trailer for their new album London Road looks really cool. Previews of each track throughout as well.
I like to think of this blog being as unorganised as when you put your headphones in a pocket and the lead comes out proper tangled n that.
— WhatIfIHadAMusicBlog (@WIIHAMB) March 9, 2015
Everybody's finally come to their senses about how incredible the new Nickelback album is.
The Slam Dunk lineup is now complete (bar possibly the acoustic stage?) and it looks incredible. I still can't believe that I doubted it after the first announcement.
The Hevy line-up is also now complete. Genuinely would really like to go just for Thrice and to see The Fall of Troy play F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X.
2015 is going to be my first year at The Great Escape not as a volunteer. This line-up is also now complete and it looks absolutely insane, no idea how we're going to have time for everything. There's also this Buzzfeed article of amazing places to eat in Brighton and I fear that this will overshadow TGE a fair amount.
Gutted to miss Sunset Sons' headline tour this month but on the same night as their London show at Dingwalls I was down the road at Roundhouse watching an insane show from Ella Eyre. There's that live video of her new single 'Together' from the show in question.
Light You Up have finally come to their senses and made 'All We've Ever Known' a single.
2015's four greatest EPs were all released in March and they all have four tracks on them and they're all really great in their own right. There's a Deezer playlist where you can listen to the four of them in succession right here.
It felt as if everybody on my Twitter feed was at SXSW this year apart from me which was the ultimate heartbreak but Jimmy Kimmel asking people about bands that don't exist made it all better.
Last week I picked up some CDs from Banquet Records in Kingston as well as visiting London's Indie Label Market for the first time. It was quite overwhelming but I did buy this lil Laura Welsh 7" for £5.
I enjoyed this. Expect a better version of this next month... maybe.
