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.

𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙏𝙤 𝙎𝙖𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 – 𝙋𝙖𝙪𝙡 𝙈𝙘𝘾𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙘𝙠

Charles reviews Paul McC…

I’ve been thinking about niceness recently. Niceness, politeness and good will. Kindness and honesty. Selflessness. I’m quite nice, but I’m no saint. I will quite naturally be good, but I won’t be a pushover. I will put up a fight if I believe in something strongly enough. But then again, sometimes I will lose that battle either because I’m not strong enough, or because I don’t have the energy, or, because my opponent is simply stronger; or stronger willed. And this is how I came to thinking about niceness. Are nice people too nice? Are they too good for their own good? Can being too nice be unhealthy or even detrimental?

(more…)

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.

𝙃𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙈𝙚 𝙊𝙪𝙩 𝙏𝙤 𝘿𝙧𝙮 – 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧

Charles won’t leave you hanging…

Do you ever get that feeling when you’re so totally alone? I don’t mean being lonely. I don’t even mean some sort of fear of isolation. I just mean when you see and hear everything around you, but it feels like no one else is speaking the same language… Does that seem familiar to you? Or how about when nothing specific has happened, but you feel abandoned, or even spat upon? Do you ever get that feeling? It could be personal; it could be very distant, yet still affecting. Sometimes I think about my country and my government, and they don’t seem to mesh. Sometimes I think about my health service that doesn’t work. Sometimes I think about my work and how previously good clients have shown a darker side in more recent times. Sometimes I think about my landlord and my neighbours refusing to do the right thing. Sometimes I think about the artists I have reviewed, refusing to do the right thing. And sometimes, I just think.

(more…)

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.

𝙄’𝙙 𝙍𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝘽𝙚 𝘿𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙁𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙚 – 𝙮𝙖

Charles wonders if decrypting the enigma is a wise choice…

Life is a big old thing. Or moreover, the world is a big old thing. A world chock full of billions of beings and trillions of things. We’re not put here to understand every single one of them. Even if equipped with the best of brains, it would be quite literally impossible. Just not enough time, and not enough interest to do so – not to mention the diverse cognitive ability to undertake such a task. It would hardly be a doddle or a walk in the park. The simplest things can baffle me, but I simply and naturally learn to accept it. I urge you not to be a pedant or an irritating little blighter when reading and possibly commenting on this article. Chances are, you are cleverer than I, and that you should be proud of this knowledge. Quietly proud. Allow me to be simple and unknowledgeable. Permit me to be contentedly lost in a world of people and things.

(more…)

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.

𝙄 𝘿𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙚 – 𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙍𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙤

Charles can’t help but care…

Sometimes, being topical is unavoidable. This is one of those times. The world has not been a lucky place in the last couple of years. Back in 2019, everything seemed to be bumbling along oh-so averagely. #MeToo was still very much a thing. Trump was being Trump. Brexit was on people’s lips. Notre Dame was in people’s hearts. Theresa May stepped down, and Boris Johnson tripped up. Then a great big pandemic came along. George Floyd lost his life and rose to fame, as the world’s people proudly showed their masked faces and threw their fists to the air. Prince Philip passed away at the age of 99. So did Eddie Van Halen, admittedly not nearly so old. It has been a hard and bitter time. Era, you could call it. So unique and unprecedented were the times, that the collective feeling was that of being lost.

(more…)

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.

𝙃𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 – 𝙆𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙠𝙞

Charles finally has his Europe in the Summertime…

Who knew he’d talk about his holiday?? Quite impossible. Surely not! Well, surely. Predictability, with a twist.

(more…)

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.

𝙄𝙣 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙋𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 – 𝘽𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙎𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙧, 𝘼𝙞𝙢𝙚́𝙚 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙖

Charles listens wherever egos…

Well, THAT was quite a week, wasn’t it! Phew. That big little article I wrote about Fair Play for Independent Artists garnered rather a lot of attention. Ya see, these things take time to put together. That article was not just cobbled together in half an hour with masking tape temporarily stopping it from falling to bits. It took me hours. And days in the planning. I say planning: it was mildly swimming around my mind for a bit beforehand. I needed to gather together all the information that might have been necessary, and then I knew it had to have some sort of structure. So I proceeded to ignore most of that information and just go by what I knew. This was pure laziness, but I wanted this to feel real. To be from the heart; not just a list of statistics and a rant. Tone was vital. It was all rather daunting if I’m honest. Which I am. Honest, not daunting. I mean, yes, I am used to writing weekly articles. But this was different. I am naturally silly. I like doing the humour thing. With humour. I like to pull facial expressions with words. I like to be light but not pointless. No, I like to think there is weight in what I write, but not deep, dark, depressing weight. No, no. Like Queen. I try to write like the music of Queen. Proper and unexpected, but fun and poppy on the surface. Yeah, that’ll do. This article last week was to be something new. Something different. Something to really stretch me. Lord knows, I need a stretch. It got to the point where I was having dreams about it. Not very healthy, but there you go. This is because it was and is important.

(more…)

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.

𝙄𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝘼𝙗𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 – 𝙅𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙃𝙖𝙬𝙠𝙚𝙣

Charles is filling a void…

There was a song released weeks ago. Let’s call it “wicked song”. I adored it, but I had already opted for a different song to review that week. Still though, this “wicked song” lingered in my head. I really needed to talk about it. The following week occurred in its usual weekly fashion, and I had not forgotten about said “wicked song”, but in my honest approach I still went ahead and listened to all that was new that week. Alas, another great song took its place and “wicked song” was once again put on hold. Another week passed and although I still listened to all the latest new releases, I was determined this time to finally tell the world about this “wicked song”. I went back to the New Artist Spotlight playlists to find it and refresh my memory. I scrolled up, I scrolled down. I could not find it. I even used the search function within the playlists. It was not there. Fortunately, I had written it down, so all was not lost. “Wicked song” had not let me down; it was still wicked. But I was wondering why it was not on the playlists… After delving through the New Artist Spotlight itself, I found to my horror that the artist had left the community!!! By now, you’re probably all wondering who I’m talking about, or perhaps you are sure you know. But let me throw my spanner in your works (I’m running out of spanners)… Before having heard this “wicked song”, I had never heard of this artist. NOW you’re dumbfounded. You have no idea. But the thing is, I very much doubt you had ever heard of the artist. I believe they were one of those “try it for a bit then opt out because they can’t be bothered” types. Which is a huge shame, because this song is just fabulous and so utterly unique. And get this: it’s rap! Well, sort of rap. Feels more like spoken word in rhythm. And you know what’s REALLY going to annoy you? I’m not going to tell you.

(more…)

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.

𝙄𝙣 𝘽𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 – 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝘿𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙨

Charles is neither here nor there…

Lately, I’ve been trying to work it all out. A new year brings much thought. Much pensing. Much consolidating of life in general. Where am I “at”? Where do I fit in? Who am I? What am I? And although I feel rather good right now, I also feel rather mediocre. Let me explain. Life gallops on like a panicked stallion. I am not a teenager anymore. I am not even in my roaring twenties anymore. So am I to be relegated to the “elderly” (we used to call this “old”) cupboard? Well of course not. I am nowhere near old. Or elderly. I am fighting fit! Well, I am healthy anyway. Not quite the Olympian, but I am not dying quietly in a corner. Or loudly. I may be in my corner when you see me, but this is out of choice, and not for health benefits. My teeth may not be falling out, but I am far from dazzling you with a pearly white Hollywood beam. You won’t see me sprinting a marathon, but if I were to do such a peculiar thing, I am sure I wouldn’t come in last place – if I lived to tell the tale, that is. Both legs are functioning pretty well without the need for a cane or a crutch. So that’s nice. My breathing may be a little tight from time to time, due to my asthma, but I am certainly not yet needing a ventilator. Of course, by the time the National Health Service were to have one available, I would be long dead; but that’s beside the point. What about money? Am I absolutely blooming loaded? Well, of course I am! Why else would I do these reviews every single week? How COULD I afford the time otherwise? Okay, you caught me. I lied. I am NOT absolutely blooming loaded. I fit in these reviews when I can, just like you all show your appreciation for other artists when you can. And if you don’t have time, you make time – simples! So am I stony broke? Well luckily, due to my mixing career taking off, I am not. Thank Christ. I am neither rich nor poor. I am not in the gutter with plastic bags wrapped around my naked feet, trying to stay warm under a bush. And I am not watching someone polish the golden finials atop my vast lavish mansion. These days both situations would probably get me arrested – the latter for “slave labour”, and the former for “wasting plastic”. But it at least looks like I won’t be needing “benefits”, or what I have decided to call the National Wealth Service.

(more…)

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.

𝙄 𝙂𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙄 𝘿𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙪 – 𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙮𝙖𝙣 𝙍𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙣

Captivated, Charles stops staring at the screen, looks up and discovers a true shining star – in his most in-depth review yet.

The telephone. The humble ring-ring telephone. A simple, everyday tool we have used for many decades, well, every day. Of late, however, you might have noticed that they are somewhat different and more habitual these days than of those. In fact, rarely is the thing to leave one’s hands for more than a few moments, before being swiftly whipped up again. Or swiped to ground with the aim of a clumsy child – thank goodness for cases and carpets! What exactly are we staring at this entire time? What are we actually doing? Does that thumb of yours get tired? Do you ever wonder if in years to come, one thumb will be horrifically disfigured when compared to the other? Should we be frequently swapping hands to avoid this concern? Maybe using the little pinky from time to time…? Phones have in many cases taken the place of a laptop. Hell, in a lot of cases they have taken the place of LIFE! They are capable of just about anything you can think of. We have come a long way from texting. Keyboards have disappeared entirely (R.I.P. Blackberry). The blower has moved on from being a handy tool to being a way of life. It is all about consumption. Not meaning the phone will give you tuberculosis…! It forgoes conversation and closeness and replaces with content. One can also take beautiful (or inane) photos and videos in breathtaking resolution. One can use A.I. to pretend one has a puppy – I’m not that lonely yet. One can beam one’s location to another on the other side of the world – should one wish to. Even 3D graphics can be cast and rendered on these tiny little devices. They are how most people watch and listen to anything and everything all over the world. Tens of millions of songs at your fingertips. Hundreds of billions of videos to go blind to. And then there’s gaming – God help us. One of the most handy things for me is the Voice Memos app – what with coming up with some sort of musical idea every few hours… What is your most used app? What do you use your phone for the most? I’ll bet isn’t making a phone call… Let me know in the comments below!

(more…)

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.

𝙄𝙜𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙙 – 𝙊𝙜𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙩, 𝙃𝙖𝙣𝙤

Charles remembers that life is for living.

I rarely go into the topic of the virus. Very rarely. Many reasons. It can be boring. It IS pretty boring. It can be lowering. We are all sick to death of reading about it. Maybe “sick to death” is a poor choice of expressions, in the circumstance… I just wanted to get something off my chest, as it were. It’s about cycles. Neither of the bi- variety nor the menstrual kind, however to a certain extent it does involve the cycle of life – but not as we know it. When we speak of the cycle of life, we are really speaking of life and death; the being and the not being. I am not so interested in the not being, for there is nothing much to discuss there. The idea I had in mind is more in the way of cycles throughout our living. This time last year, things were very grim indeed. A vaccine had been approved, but it was not yet available to the general public. We waited with bated breath for the clock to tick past midnight, into a completely different year altogether. Good riddance to nasty 2020, and good morning fresh, golden ray of sunshine, 2021. To quote our festive friend: “Ho Ho Ho”. It did make me chuckle; the cynical, sadistic bastard that I am. The soiled cycle of the old year was complete, and the shiny, cling-film covered new one was just to be unwrapped. What joy! Santa is by this point joining me, rolling on the floor, laughing. ROFLing, I believe is the term these days. Well it wasn’t much of a change, was it. There was hope, however. We had a vaccine soon to keep us company. It can only be a good thing. But close to a year on, less than two thirds of London is vaccinated. Bravo! Variants came and went throughout the year. Many people became terrified and worried, regularly. Another variant means it is a journalist’s duty to terrify and worry. Spiffing! Every time we had a new variant, the press (and the people) would discuss whether it was particularly dangerous, and whether it would be immune to our sainted various vaccines. Immune to immunity! Who woulda thunk. We all so casually speak of science these days, not knowing the slightest thing about it. We are not scientists. Neither is the press. So we bring in the experts. They are very good at arguing with one another, and at being wrong. Eventually, even the journalists get bored of writing about the same stuff, and move on to something much more important. Like Prince Harry. Pahahaha! Santa’s having a grand old time now. So do we ever find out if various variants were able to beat the vaccine and win over our souls…? Nope. By this point, it is old news.

(more…)