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.

𝙇𝙚𝙩 𝙈𝙚 𝘽𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚 – 𝙀𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙮, 𝙈𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙚𝙪𝙧 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚

Charles realises the importance of length…

What a stupid week I’m having. Quite absurd, honestly. There is no crisis and nothing terrible has happened. For which I am most fortunate. I speak of home problems. Not “problems at home”, as people say, but problems with the home itself. The good thing about renting, is that you don’t have to fork out yet more money when something goes wrong. The bad thing about renting is everything else. At least this is how I had come to think about it. This week, however, has shown me that there is in fact nothing good about renting. It is, as we English say, “a mug’s game”. So! With this in mind, I will relay to you my stupid saga. Several weeks ago, my shower decided to drip profusely, to the point where I decided that many litres per hour was too much to ignore any longer. Within a couple of days a plumber arrived to fix it. He barely spoke any English – but of course. I tried to explain the problem by miming with sound effects, and at last he seemed to understand. Much noise and mess later, he uttered a noise. He proudly showed me how the thermostat knob was no longer stiff, and gestured for me to try it for myself (perhaps to prove that he didn’t have something up his sleeve). I declined the offer and took his word for it. Baffled by why he was showing me this, I then politely asked, “and the drip?”. His reply was a look, as if to say I had stripped in front of him and done a little dance. I repeated, complete with miming and sound effects. “Ah okay okay. Noh. Repless repless”. What he meant was, it couldn’t be done (he couldn’t do it) without replacing the whole shower mixer (I now learn this is what it is called, for it mixes hot and cold – clever). Days passed, and he arrived again. He did the job very swiftly and that was that. Weeks passed, but now the tap itself was dripping. I ignored it as it wasn’t that bad. However, by this point, my kitchen sink decided it was full, and refused to drink anymore. Oh what joy. They ask if I can do 8am the following day. I ask if 10am is possible. All is arranged for 10am.

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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.

𝙇𝙚𝙩’𝙨 𝙇𝙞𝙫𝙚 – 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙔𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙒𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙥𝙖𝙥𝙚𝙧

Charles celebrates life…

Last week, I spoke of standards. But this past week on the New Artist Spotlight has been anything but standard. You all know how volatile it has been lately, what with our petition, Spotify being bad and only getting worse, and the ongoing suspension of our founder’s Spotify curator account. The scammers continue to spam our inboxes and social media profiles, yet continue to get away with it. We are all quite used to this now. We take it in our stride, despite being constantly perturbed by it. As artists must, we go on. Last Tuesday I published my weekly review. Nothing out of the ordinary there. It had been a perfectly normal Tuesday – business as usual. As night fell in London, I checked my phone one last time before bed. At the top of my Instagram feed was a post from the familiar face of a known NAS artist. He was looking good, healthy, cool, and sharp in a suit. “I’m guessing he has a new release coming soon, then”, I thought. But as I stared at it, my mind started to curl like the red cellophane fortune teller fish we all had as a child. Under his image lay dates. Not release dates. Then an impossibility dawned on me as the colour drained from my face. It was unfathomable and inconceivable to actually realise and believe. But it was in fact true. Kyle M. Watson had died. He was my age.

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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.

𝙇𝙚𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙂𝙤 – 𝘽𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙇𝙤𝙬𝙧𝙮

Charles something something (for want of a better something)…

Another week, another review. Another plod through the same old words in a different order. Sorry to put you all through this ordeal every week. I suppose it could be worse. Death is worse. Yeah, my reviews/articles/musings are better than death. There we go! And who says I’m not a positive optimist?? As opposed to the negative variety… The Easter weekend left me with good vibes. It treated me to family I have not seen in over two years. It also treated me to something else I have not experienced in quite a while. A hangover. This ghastly, heavy, HEAVY feeling. I have tried the English cure of “Plink, plink, fizz”, and I have also tried the American cure of “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz”. Those who know, know. Those who don’t: accept your fortunate lack of pointless knowledge and move on. My brain, however is chock-full of pointless knowledge. Nothing useful whatsoever. I think to an extent, it is what makes me, me. I may have listened to a LOT of songs over the years, and I may ADORE music in general, but I am far from any kind of trained music theorist. There is probably a better term, but like I say – I know nothing useful. Who wants to read that kind of in-depth jargon anyway? It would bore the panties off me. And so I turn to imagination. Usually, anyway. Today, My imagination is snoozing. Deeply. Where it is normally a lithium-charged sparkler, right now it is little more than a twitching twig close to decomposition. I am useless to you now. Lobotomies are us!

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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.

𝙅𝙚𝙠𝙮𝙡𝙡 & 𝙃𝙮𝙙𝙚 – 𝙏𝙚𝙙𝙙𝙮 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙙

Charles is two in one…

Time for another lovely review of a pretty little ditty. For that is what CC likes to listen to. Perfect, pleasing pop. Rounded, retro relevance. Sombre, soothing strings. That’s my peach in a nutshell, no? Well, I do like all these things, it can’t be denied. But my musical tastes are rather more varied than you probably realise. The difficulty arises in quality and in mood. Some other genres I rarely talk about here are often not of the highest quality, when they simply NEED to be. But the main reason is mood. I am rarely in the mood for a lot of genres. Take electronic music, for example. These days it is very seldom that I feel the pang for electronic music. But when I get that craving, there is nothing like sticking on a bit of Disclosure to sate my needs. Nothing else wires my brain the way it wishes to be wired. I’d say it gets me moving, but it’s more of an embarrassing head jolt if someone’s around. And if no one’s around, it’s like my whole body is a mercury spasm. Floppy erraticism. Like David Byrne on opium. Probably. I have reviewed a few electronic pieces over the years, but it’s not that common because I’m rarely in the mood, or it’s not been made that well. The big shame about my musical taste is that I will probably never review hard rock or metal…

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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.

𝙇𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙊𝙪𝙩 – 𝘽𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙖

Charles switches off and on again…

The dreaded “spooky” edition. How rare is it that review day falls exactly on an international celebration day…? What a treat! Shame I don’t really celebrate it or care about it in the slightest. I mean, pumpkins? Really?? Buying a mahusive orange fruit (or vegetable, some would argue), then gutting its innards, to leave only the inedible part (as if the rest was edible). Pumpkin pie, indeed. Well I suppose it’s ONE way of using the remains of the botched operation. I would suggest the bin might be the best place for it however. But if you want to waste more time in making it look appetising, that’s your funeral. Funerals being a popular theme for the day. Weirdly. I mean, aside from ancient tribal times, when else would we celebrate death?? Graveyards go from eerie silence to eerie spectacles. The place to be!! The goths come out to play. The only time they feel comfortable in showing their faces. But one scary shock too many and they might be showing their faeces. You see, it’s SUPPOSED to be scary. And what’s more scary than a load of kids turning up at your front door, making demands of blackmail? Give us sweets now, or we’ll egg your entire house. So Haribo’s sales skyrocket. Especially the extra sour ones. Ever tried dousing them with vinegar? That’ll teach those pesky kids. But beware the backlash…

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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.

𝙄𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙩 – 𝘽𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙖

Charles sees the relevance in longevity…

The fun and games are over. Well, the games are over. The Olympics is done for another 4 years. The fun continues however, for we are still alive. Who were YOU rooting for? No doubt your own country. The only bit of the tournament I actually watched was the volleyball. Because Great Britain was playing? Nope. Because Poland was playing. My girlfriend is Polish and she wanted to see it. I suffered the ordeal for a minute or two, before realising that I was actually really enjoying it! Poland ended up with a shiny silver medal, by the way. Not bad at all! The pesky French got the gold. Huh! Zut. But you know what was missing in the Olympics? Cricket. Cricket, which hasn’t been part of the Olympics since 1900. In fact, 1900 was the only year it was ever included! Why? Apparently lack of participation… Bit weird, but okay. The good news is, it is due to make a grand comeback in the 2028 L.A. Olympics! Which is perfect timing because this week I scored a double century! The problem being, it’s just not cricket!

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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.

𝙄𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙂𝙞𝙧𝙡 – 𝙑𝙞𝙭 20

Charles goes wireless…

I am speaking to you through a website. I am not with you in person. Or AM I…? No. I am not – your paranoia can rest easy for now. My words are not printed in a newspaper or magazine. You cannot see me, you cannot hear me. If you’ve got this far, your literacy skills are probably beyond the average these days. If it were not for a humble internet connection, I could not be with you now. So I AM with you…? No, not in person. I saw you looking over your shoulder… The internet has brought us rather a lot of good things. It has also brought us a rather large chunk of bad things. But we won’t be going into those, because, well, why sully the tone? We always look back on “the good old days” with such fondness and many of us resent the newer eras that stomp their loud shoes with increasing frequency, but for the most part modernity has done a lot of good. It has mainly brought choice to the fore. We used to watch television. Many still do, but maybe as a sideline to the many YouTube videos and Netflix shows that see us through life. We can now choose what we want to watch, and when we want to watch it. In terms of YouTube, we can go into detail like never before. It almost feels tailored towards each of us, because various clever “algorithms” make it so. Before the internet we had newspapers and magazines. We had television. But what was before television? Well, something that truly brought the world together. In a way, the earliest version of the internet. Something that gave us news, “talk shows”, interviews, plays, music and more. Most of this was live, and if one’s reception was good enough, one could “tune in” to many different areas of the world. You’ve probably guessed by now: radio. SO simple compared to what we have these days, but in a way, very similar.

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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.

𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 – 𝙅.𝙃.𝙈

Charles quotes the Bard: “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears”.

Let’s think back to the time and place of Ancient Rome. I know this was a while ago, so your memory might be a little hazy. Let me therefore help you. I, of course, am the town jester – or balatrone, as it was called back then – (I would be, wouldn’t I…!). The great erections (no tittering, please) are high and mighty. Their magnificent columns support the ever-perfect balance of the Classical pediment. The sun blazes down on the scene, just as it does to this day. Statues line the streets and avenues – the Roman roads. A new democratic way of thinking is underway. The great Caesar is lauded and hailed as a mighty general. He eventually went power mad, became a dictator – never a good thing in a democratic republic – and was swiftly murdered “by his own people”. What a way to go! His good old friend, Mark Antony, tried to set Rome to rights and seek revenge on the culprits. He in turn, went slightly mad and fell into the hands of love, eventually murdering himself. What a way to go! In my eyes, I think anyone who ever does anything, is foolish. Best to stay out of trouble. These Romans were seemingly rather queer folk. However, we deify these unusual cats, much like we do in more modern times. Caesar is a heavyweight of his day, like Charlie Chaplin and The Beatles are of theirs. These “gods” are and will be immortalised for centuries and maybe even millennia. These are the great pillars supporting our perfectly imbalanced yet vital history.

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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.

𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙪𝙙𝙚 – 𝙎𝙞𝙭𝙩𝙝 𝙁𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙈𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨

Charles finds a nook in time, and rounds off the year in headphones.

I hope you all simply had a wonderful Christmas time. Now that Santa is back home in his bed for a well earned annus somno (year of kip), the rest of us are all wide eyed (or not so) and twiddling thumbs. But we are allowed to do so without even a smidge of guilt. Christmas has passed and the New Year has yet to come. We are in a unique time of year. In limbo, even. It is neither one thing nor the other. An interlude, if you will. But it is not to be frittered – although frittering can still be done, if that is what you choose to do. This time of year is sort of how everything resolves. Time to take stock and reflect on the year’s happenings, or non-happenings. Have you been a good child? Have you been honest? Have you remained innocent? This ongoing “bad air” has somewhat soured things (again, or still), but we mustn’t let it take over our lives. We must find a natural impetus and push through to the other side. Turning a negative into a positive, as they say.

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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.

𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙊𝙫𝙚𝙧 (𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙖 𝙈𝙞𝙖) – 𝙅𝙖𝙣𝙚 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙚

Charles waxes lyrical…

Tact is a funny one, isn’t it. It’s a tricky bugger. Some people have it, and some people don’t. It involves quick decision making. It involves empathy. A “put yourself in their shoes” moment. Say for example, if someone has gone through a traumatic experience (and continues to do so), what do you say? What words do you use? Do you say the usual politician/celebrity line: “My deepest condolences to the family and friends of…”? Do you ignore them all together, with the excuse of “I just wanted to give you space”, but in fact you were simply stuck for what to say? Do you speak to them as though nothing has happened, in the hope that this will cheer them up and take their mind off things? Do you stay deadly serious? Do you joke? I personally probably do a mixture of all of these things. But the one thing I definitely DON’T do, is imagine that everyone is the same, and that every saddening experience is carbon copy of the last one you heard about. Each instance needs to be addressed uniquely and personally. If you don’t really know the person well at all, it’s probably best to say nothing. Cold, empty sympathy from a relative stranger can do little for the person involved. But this is the thing. These days with half our world conducted over the internet, who is to say the true meaning of “friend” or “stranger”…? With the written word, one has to try harder in order to portray what one really means or feels. In real life, just one look of “I got you” (eurghh) and a hug can suffice. But in messages, things can look so cold and automatic. I think this must be why I write the way I write. Some might try to emulate who they are by the way they string words together in text. But because I write so much these days, I think I am becoming more like I write. Rather than the words portraying the personality, the personality is becoming the words! And I don’t mind a bit. I’ve become a better person for it. I think more. I am kinder. I am calmer. I give things a chance to sink in before blurting out an ill-judged response.

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