Welcome all to 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿, a series of weekly reviews by Charles Connolly – an artist in his own right. Here, Charles delves into the greatest brand new singles brought to you by the best unsigned artists on our electrifying and eclectic set of 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.
𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 – 𝘼𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙘
Charles makes matters more difficult…
In the words of the late, great Bowie, “It Ain’t Easy”. I mean, it REALLY ain’t. Oh, and by the way, yet another week passed with no message from the artist I reviewed. Just speechless. Unfortunately literally speechless, but I meant me. You remember a few weeks ago when I wrote a whole initial paragraph about how so many artists don’t thank me for having spent hours writing about them? Well, even that week, that artist said nothing. Not a single word. Good old Kele did, though. Or as some commenters decided to call her: Kyle(!!). Such a lovely lady she is. So yeah, Bowie was right. It ain’t easy. But we truck on. Don’t we? Well, we try to. Lord, we try. Of course, it doesn’t help that I’ve got a rotten, stinking cold right now, but I’m only writing that for context. Please don’t write any pity comments. It’s a cold; it will pass. Meh. Anyway. It really is hard to pick a blinder of a song while at the same time know that the artist is deserving of the praise, attention and effort. The thing is, I never know until it is already published. Automatically too late. So, a while ago, I decided to simply base it on the music. Not be biased about the artist in any way. I still have to have my HAL (A.I.) antenna on at all times, but aside from that, I just let the music itself be my guide. Otherwise it’s just too complicated.
I have to WANT to write these articles every week. You all know I’m not paid a penny for this. I live for music, more than artists. But I do hold artists in high regard. Good ones, that is. Well, of course I hold them in high regard; they’re the ones who wrote and created the music that I hold so dear! I just try not to let the artist’s personality affect me. Think of Oasis and the Gallaghers (arrogant bullies). Think of Gary Glitter and Gary Glitter (convicted child abuser). Think of Phil Spector and Phil Spector (convicted murderer). Think of U2 and Bono (cock). While I might not exactly warm to these people (to say the least), I love their music. Others might simply boycott their music because they don’t like the people behind the music. I want to keep that fabulous music in my life. And so I do. Job done? Job done. Well, sort of. As Facebook used to decree about your relationship (with your permission): “It’s Complicated”. You see, I am human (a stone cold fact of which you were probably aware). And the behaviour of another will intrinsically affect my own thoughts and feelings. So then there is bias? Well, I believe there is conscious and unconscious bias. One bias is forced because you feel it should be, and the other is simply inherent and unforeseen. My potential bias falls into the latter. While said music might still fill my life, I can’t ignore the fact that it is tainted. And it’s a damned shame. It makes me want to scream like Lennon and McCartney: “Don’t Let Me Down”! I need artists to make sure they don’t give me an unmusical reason to go off their music. I told you it was complicated…! In terms of my writing, I probably put FAR too much thought into all this. I definitely spend too much time and effort with these articles. But I always want these things to be far more than “Nice guitars and a wicked beat. Those vocals are sicker than I am. Go listen, fam” – which frankly, is probably all I need to do here. Pick a good song, and just write a few nice words about it. Done in 20 minutes. Besides, the artist’s song will still be strewn all over social media for a week. But as it is, I don’t do this, and I don’t see there’s much worth in such a thing.
So I do it my way (not Sinatra’s). I make it all (perhaps) unnecessarily complicated. I wouldn’t be surprised if I put more into these articles than many artists put into their music. And you’d be hard pushed to find an artist that releases every single week (unless it’s HAL, and therefore no effort at all). I want to make these articles mean something. I want the artist to be proud to show off such a thing. I want my readers to actually enjoy my words, and not feel like it’s a weekly chore. And yes, there is my own pride here, of course. I put my name to these things. It’s even in the title. It’s not ego, but self-satisfaction. And I cannot be satisfied if I know I could have done it better. This is something I wish more artists would adhere to in terms of their music. Do the very best you can, at all times. Otherwise, what’s the damned point?? This is how I treat everything. And that’s also why I don’t try my hand in too many things, otherwise I just KNOW I’d fail. I like to succeed, but not quite like a driven businessman. More like a cowardly businessman. I wouldn’t jump into ANYthing headfirst, but if I know I might be decent at something, I will put my EVERYthing into it. This goes for my own music, my productions and mixes for other artists, and of course, these very articles. But still, this subtle subconscious see-saw back and forth between great music and bad humen (humans) leaves me in a quandary. In the words of Avril Lavigne, “Why’d ya have to go and make things so complicated?”!
It ain’t easy. And this week was no different. But then I remembered what I had been listening to for the past couple of weeks. No, not The Last Dinner Party’s SPECTACULAR new album (probably my favourite album of the year). But in fact, something altogether a little less likely to win a Grammy. Aside from this brilliant album (I believe I have listened 12 times), I have also been listening to another album a lot (probably around 7 or 8 times). But while the aforementioned band hails from Britannia, this other band is from the other side of the world. Melbourne, Australia, to be precise. Before I mention the name of this band, let me just make one thing absolutely clear. Despite everything I have said up to this point, I have absolutely nothing against these boys. They seem like perfectly decent people to me. But it’s their music that really grabs me. Which is basically their raison d’être, and therefore my raison d’écouter. On that note, please welcome Alcotomic, with their (almost) brand new album, ‘8 Second Empire’! Before I go any further, I’d just like to briefly dwell on that title. What would you say is the meaning? I take it to mean “The world is your oyster, while stocks last. For a limited time only”. Basically, it’s their 15 minutes of fame, truncated into a bitesize chunk of modernity. Blink and you miss it! Wisdom right there. I’m almost certainly wrong. Consider that topic briefly dwelt. On to the LP itself. I say “almost” brand new, because it was released at the end of August; an altogether sunnier, brighter time when we were busy snatching moments in which to get burnt. Now fully into Autumn, those few leaves are hanging on for dear life. Alcotomic brings back that warm sunshine once more. In fact, track two is even called ’Sunshine’!
Don’t worry, I won’t be going into every track on the album, for that would take far too long (yes, even for me). And besides, that’s not how we do things around here. But I thought I’d just touch on the album as a whole. Although it comprises 10 tracks, it’s amazing how quickly it zips by (making me listen to it more). There’s a simple reason it zips by so quickly: it’s short. And no (you quippers), it is not 8 seconds. At only 29 minutes, this LP manages to give us all a strong shot of something we didn’t know we needed. But believe me, you need it. It will bring a big, fat smile to your face. It will make you nod your head. It will make you air guitar and air drum (I’m convinced that air drumming is an excellent exercise – but again, I’m probably wrong because of the tension one has to hold in order to stop the imaginary stick as it hits the imaginary drum). By the second chorus of each and every song, you will be singing along. These are truly infectious songs, designed to wheedle their way into your brain (but in a good way). There is something VERY classic about every track. There’s a lot of Oasis (especially their last album), there’s a lot of Dodgy (a thoroughly underrated band from the 90s), and there’s quite a bit of Foo Fighting. There are also plenty of 60s elements reminiscent of bands like The Who and The Beatles (the who? No, The Beatles). I also hear a bit of the Raconteurs too. Basically, there’s a lot of influence here, but it never sounds too much like a pastiche of any of them. It sounds like Alcotomic. A thoroughly modern rock band full of swagger and full of beans. The entire album was mixed at Station House Studio, Los Angeles by the one and only Grammy award-winning Mark Rains (the engineer for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club). Hell yes. And this does rather explain why the entire record sounds absolutely perfect from beginning to end.
Now. As always, I only pick one song. Tears. TEARS streaming down my face! Oh look, I really just wanted to name almost all of them, but there has to be just one. It really wasn’t an easy choice. In fact I still don’t know if I’ve picked “the right choice”, but the day isn’t getting any younger. I tried eeny-meeny-miny-moeing the heck out of it, but I ended up with the only track of theirs that I’ve reviewed before, almost exactly one year ago. Huh. Do you SEE how complicated this process is now?? Add to the matter that I have tissues just STREWN all over the room (sneezing with great gusto like a trooper)…! Anyway, eventually I settled on the one that gave me “the most feels”. I chose ‘Complicated’. It’s incredible how clean a distorted guitar is capable of sounding when it’s done right. But let’s start at the beginning. After a few seconds of appetite whetting from some very cool warbly sounds, we’re IN! Jay Pinfold’s drums pounding the pulse, Paul Inglis’ bass keeping the drums in check, and an ultimate guitar riff as the boss of it all (John Baxter); it’s an almighty setup for that first verse. And here we have those cleanest of distorted guitars. This can pretty much only be achieved with high-end gear and a great engineer on board. This riff is just SO TIGHT! Guitars, bass and drums, utterly locked in, with no escape possible unless you bribe the guard (but the guard’s on his tea break). Luckily, there is absolutely no reason to break out of character, because with this tightest of riffs comes a strong voice. The voice of John Baxter with one heck of a melody. It rocks one hell of a tune! Cue that chorus!! “It’s a little complicated”! Verse two brings in the OWgan, played by… someone… and it fills all the gaps with all but one note. A technique I use from time to time that I learnt from James Brown and the funk band Tower of Power. Ya just gotta pick the right note. But there’s one major thing I haven’t mentioned that is utterly integral to Alcotomic. Those glorious HARMONIES!!! Just as tight as that guitar riff, but so much more smile-inducing! Gotta work those smile muscles – it’s good for your health. But more to the point, they add just SO much energy to the song, and to the whole LP! I won’t bother taking you through the rest of the song or any more of the album. It works much better if you just listen and enjoy! I think the best word to describe this album is “enjoyable”.
‘8 Second Empire’ is one of my favourite rock albums of this year, and I think they’ve underestimated their time in the spotlight. Far more than 8 seconds. Way in excess of 15 minutes. I ask that you give them at least 29 minutes, but I suspect you will inadvertently give them hours. Call it an unconscious bias.
Much love to those who have spent the time reading this. That’s my conscious bias speaking. As for the rest of you, “it’s complicated”.
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