Charles Connolly

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.

𝙀𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙮 𝘽𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨 – 𝙇𝙪𝙭 𝘿𝙪𝙟𝙤𝙪𝙧

Charles remembers it well…

Memories. We all have them. Well, except for those with Alzheimer’s. But even then, some memories will remain. Usually earlier ones, as they tend to be cast in stone. And it’s those earlier memories on which I would like to dwell. Not the memories of a few months or years ago, but the memories of another era. An era when those who have now passed were still among us. An era when things were done differently. An altogether simpler time, when all generations were – to an extent – in sync with one another. When older people taught the young, as opposed to the other way around. A time when experience actually meant something. When one could spend decades building upon one’s skill without fear of said skill being surplus to requirements. When the word “entertainment” meant a board game at home with the family, or a few bottles of ale with the lads in the smoky local, as old Joanna played the old Joanna in the corner. Not THIS Corner; another corner. A time when going to work meant physically going to work, and when work was not optional. A tie was not only for job interviews and weddings. Footwear was either leather or a gym shoe. Smoking was seen simply as an alternative form of air, and buildings looked like buildings. They also smoked.

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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.

𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙎𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 – 𝙑𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙮 𝙍𝙖𝙞

Charles talks pop, pop and more pop.

Last week we were in Ancient Rome. It’s time to go back to the future. Great Scott (!), I converted too many watts into the flux capacitor! I meant, the present – with a hint of things to come. Within the last week, Coldplay released a new album. It has been pretty much universally panned by the press, but will inevitably reach number one and be massively successful. Being a huge fan of the band however, after only a couple of listens I personally found it rather special. I love upbeat pop and I love their darker more classical side. This is predominantly a “pop” album with an emphasis on the future, space, aliens and all things cosmic. And of course, that vital source of energy for the days not yet lived: Love. The first single from the album was released around 4 months ago. Its futuristic video was full of Chris Martin (their singer: for those of you who have been unconscious for 20 years) with his blue eyes, the most incredible graphics money can buy, and of course, dancing aliens. All quite silly and absurd, but utterly fun! The 80s have lately had the biggest comeback since, well, the 80s. Coldplay has gone heavy on this, but in a tasteful yet blatant way. More importantly though, it is space and the future that has made the biggest comeback of all. In the 90s it was all thought to be rather naff and old hat – we had delivered a man to the moon (for some reason) some thirty years previous. And we were kind enough to bring him back too! This “new” obsession with space travel (by people even richer than I), paranormal activity and general thoughts (and worries) about the future have made many artists fascinated by it all. Some are using it as a tool to raise awareness about climate change or to make us remember that our “world” is just one of many. But some just like to stick with our old favourite theme: love – with a beautiful dusting of modernity. A backdrop of scenery, if you will.

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Welcome all to 𝗣𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗺’𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝘆𝗴𝗼𝗻, the multi-faceted feature where Pancham_b reviews our usual reviewer’s own music releases. Here, Pancham delves into Charles’ latest single, featured on the 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.

𝙀𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 – 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙮

Charles Connolly emerges from behind the curtain, wearing a fedora the colour of his soul, a megaphone in one hand, and a drumstick whittled into the shape of an emaciated femur in the other. He puts the megaphone down after yelling “Jet” into the void, and plays a one-handed Toccata and Fugue on a calliope, while marking time on an old tin can of Campbell’s Soup with his femur drumstick. He wears clothes the colour of falling evening, and the music is glorious, and otherworldly.

Listening to the introductory bars of Charles’ new single ‘Europe in the Summertime’, I think, for a brief brilliant second, that it is opening with a calliope. An elegant Black Plague waltz. This could only mean that Charles has finally taken up his pre-destined role as carny barker and bone machine musician, singing not to the faceless tasteless crowds, but to the many many faces of the dark, some with teeth and some without. It is, instead, an accordion, but it is still quite lovely, evoking a war-torn Vienna and Matt Elliott’s beautiful ode to drowning to death. The song bursts into life at the twentieth second. A small fading part of my soul wishes that it had instead tumbled deep into a well, where if you fall deep enough, and you fall some more, and then you keep falling, eventually you will see the universe, replete with exploding supernovae, reflected in the brackish water. But this feeling is short-lived, as the the rest of the song kicks into gear, and as with all of Charles Connolly’s music, this has the appearance of what the kids these days call a ‘banger’, but as with all of Charles Connolly’s music, there is always something deeper to discover if one delves deep enough. On a first listen, to me, the song evokes loneliness, spiritually empty fun, Brexit, and the deep-rooted modern incapacity to be alone, thereby seeking to experience fun almost aggressively once these pandemic restrictions have been leavened. It could also, theoretically, be a vacuous pop track, danced to and forgotten after a couple of cocktails, but this is Charles, a masterly subtle craftsman and I would argue, a great obfuscator of meaning and as I get more and more inebriated while listening to this tune, the layers do become somewhat more apparent.

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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.

𝙀𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 – 𝘽𝙪𝙮𝙚𝙧 𝘽𝙚𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙚

Charles is lost for words…

You know when you’re speaking and you suddenly pause because you’ve either forgotten what you were going to say, or you’re not quite sure how to say what it was you were going to say? You know when you’re struggling to find that specific word you mean, but can’t get the word? When you come up with a list of words it’s not, leaving out the only one it is? Isn’t this annoying? It happens to me all the time. In fact, it’s one of the reasons these “reviews” take me so damned long. I will suddenly freeze and search my brain for that word. It’s not that. It’s not this. It’s not that either. Great! Well, that’s whittled it down a bit. Not very helpful knowing what it isn’t. For a small man, my head is sometimes quite cavernous. That is to say, it echoes like an empty aircraft hangar, as I wonder if that wiggly thinking machine has gone on holiday without even letting me know… These words though, how do we manage to catalogue them all in some sort of order? How do we remember them all? How and why do we summon one particular word over another? And why do we so often fail to do this?

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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.

𝙀𝙥𝙤𝙘𝙝 2140 – 𝙈𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙮 𝙏𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙥 (𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩. 𝙍𝙤𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙚 𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙖)

The plot thickens as Charles moves forward…

Each and every week, I not only have to pick a song to review, but I have to work out what in God’s name I’m going to talk about. The good thing is, I can talk about absolutely anything. The bad thing is, I can talk about absolutely anything. There are no real limits. Only that it somehow has to tie in with the song (or the artist). There have been many songs that I have been close to writing about, but the song itself has given me no obvious lead or plot. You know how I write these things – not a standard review, really. And so, it got me thinking about writing in general. I write things about things that artists have written. Writing about writing. It made me think about THEIR writing. Or more specifically, their lyrical plot or even title. This could frame the feel of the music, and it could also have nothing to do with the music – a certain contentious style of juxtaposition. Happy music, sad lyrics. Happy title, moody music. But usually things just fit together to complete and compliment one another.

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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.

𝙀𝙉𝙄𝘿 (𝘼 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧) – 𝙆𝙮𝙡𝙚 𝙈 𝙒𝙖𝙩𝙨𝙤𝙣

Charles goes back two generations…

Parents. We can’t avoid them. We can’t ignore them. They are always an important and major part of everyone’s life. For some, they are very much around whether you want it or not. For others, they are a memory. Some of us will love or have loved our parents. Some will love one and resent the other. It is rare to not be close to at least one of them. But the one thing none of you will feel for them is nothing. There is a connection. We all have this in common. Grandparents on the other hand, well, this is where correlations are hard to draw. Many of you will be (or have been) very fond of your grandparents. Very close indeed. But others of you will have barely known them. This is the biggest genetic problem with them: they are usually so bloody old! Bit of a shame, not to mention a bugger. They’re usually the nice ones. The lenient ones. The ones who let you get away with things that your parents wouldn’t allow. Why? Because they want to be loved, and they want to see the love in the child’s eyes. And because they never have to deal with the aftermath of little Tommy eating too many sweets:

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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.

𝙀𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 – 𝙀𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙮

Charles is in mourning…

I very nearly did not and could not write this. But if I did not write this, there would not have been a “review” this week. Small though it may be, this is my duty.

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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.

𝙁𝙖𝙞𝙡 𝘽𝙞𝙜 – 𝘽𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖 𝘾𝙖𝙮

Charles tries, tries again…

Big bucks. Big corporations. Fat cats. Think Amazon. Think Apple. Think Shell. Think Facebook. Think Elon Musk. Think Jeff Bezos. Think Mark Zuckerberg. Think Trump (simmer down). Think… Taylor Swift… “Wait, what does SHE have to do with these pigs??” – I didn’t say they were pigs; YOU said they were pigs. “Okay, but what is SHE doing there??” – This intrigues me. Barring the last name mentioned, these are the things and people we are all supposed to hate. Hate with a passion. This whole corporate attitude STINKS!! How DARE they be rich and successful! Okay, okay. Ethically, you’ve got a point. Politically, you’ve got a point. But what it tends to boil down to is entrepreneur minds turning into business people, turning into wealth. Big wealth. I find it interesting that we apparently all love Steve Jobs, yet all detest Tim Cook. Apparently the reason behind this is that “Steve Jobs was some sort of spiritual guru, and Tim Cook is just a money man” (not actually a quote). Wait a sec, you think Jobs was simply passionate about making our lives better…? He was an entrepreneur with unbelievable business skills! He wanted to make a tonne of money! Same as Cook. And both have done rather well.

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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.

𝙁𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙎𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚 – 𝘼𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙏𝙚𝙚𝙣

Charles lies, lies and lies again.

A couple of weeks ago I touched on the idea that people are nicer these days. A comforting thought, no? Well, yes! Anything positive these days can only be a good thing, right? People seem more caring. Everyone has the chance to open up and speak their most heartfelt thoughts, and receive nothing but beautiful heartfelt replies. So much love seems to flow around the internet. Discrimination is a thing of the past. Everyone is happy and the world is but a bubble of tranquil peace. So many decades of bitter, harsh coldness have passed. People bound in their own dark beliefs and views since birth have now seen the light and seen their wrongdoing. They have seen the error of their ways, gone to confession and had their sins washed away by a great tide of minty fresh goodness. What a relief it is to be alive at a time like this, where honesty is at the heart of it all. A time when resentment and judgement are long forgotten. And breathe.

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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.

𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙂𝙤𝙡𝙙 – 𝙍𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙆𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩

Charles questions the system…

The night before writing this, my girlfriend and I had a little chat after a delicious dinner with a glass of vino; just the two of us. It was a civilised chat. A mature chat. A really rather adulty chat, if you must know. I mean, you mustn’t know. That is, you need not know. You probably don’t care. But I will say anyway. I want to tell you. Because that’s the kind of bad boy I am. The kind of lad to force information down your throat, whether you want it or not. You only came here for a lighthearted music review…! Well, okay, I’m not really that bad, but I will nevertheless continue like the beastly bully that I am. So yes, between sips of the red stuff we chatted about theories, ideologies and the general way of the world. Vague enough for you? We spoke of early humans. Cavemen being not much more than intelligent animals, spending their days hunting, in order to eat. Just like an animal in the wild. Survival and procreation were literally all to be done. To keep things going, basically. Food, water, shelter and warmth. Nothing more. A traditional farmer was pretty much a more civilised modern version of cavemen (and please, “cavemen” encompasses women as well – let not this article be a chore nor a bore). We spoke of communities in villages, where instead of essentials being bought from a local shop, it was a game of swapsies. A thing for a thing. A skill for a skill. Money, as we know it, was little more than a notion. A concept. Currency had no meaning. No purpose. “More wine, my dear?”, I asked like a charming gentleman. Well actually, I pointed at the bottle and murmured “mm?”, but it has much the same meaning. It’s the thought that counts. Either way, the girl nodded and said “wouldn’t it be lovely if we could get back to those days?”. I filled her glass but had no reply. We then swiftly moved on to more recent times. Not too recent, but let’s say the last few hundred years, for the sake of debate. I need you to stick with me.

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