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.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙮 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 – 𝘽𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙇𝙤𝙬𝙧𝙮

Charles talks about tomorrow…

There is something I have always found mildly fascinating, ever since I was young. I mean, even younger. It involves the passing of time, and the way we regiment said passing of time. A birthday, for example. It is a day for celebration. But we have decided this. It is not actually the actual day of one’s actual birth. It is to commemorate x-amount of years since one’s birth. But what is a year? We split life into years, yet this is a human invention. God did not place years on our table. Neither did God invent the table (but its simple perfection leads me to wonder). Sure, the seasons make the idea of years a little easier to digest and swallow, but what if we go further into months… Why 12? Why does January start in, well, January? And what about weeks and even days? Why is Sunday the so-called day of rest? I say “so-called” because on Sunday I had to do a full day’s work alongside constant power tools across the road that only stopped shortly before 7pm. Day of rest, my FOOT!! This fictional birthday I spoke of before, it is technically just another day. Just like New Year’s Day. It is technically just another day. With a “day” only being made official by the sun going up and down like a slow-motion yoyo.

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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.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙞𝙧𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙂𝙤𝙣𝙚 – 𝙎𝙪𝙣 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙙

Charles considers a live worth living…

Over the months and years I seem to have forgotten about a very important aspect of music… Yes, I am actually going to be talking about music. You see, every week I go on about technical terms that most of you wouldn’t be able to understand; like “punch”, “oomph” and “POW”. But I must learn to realise that we can’t all be muso audiophiles like me (oh please, it’s a yoke). I speak of melody and harmony and how things fit together (another technical term). I speak of technique and musical judgement. I speak of recording quality and mixing knowledge. I speak of panning and even occasionally specific frequencies. I speak of reverb and delays and all sorts of other magical wonders that make a good thing better. I speak of the way a guitarist digs in to the guitar. I speak of how a trumpet will portray the saddest of moods within the breaths between the notes. I even pick up on the “mistakes” that MAKE the song; the perfection in imperfection. I go into how the artist has honed their sound, delving and diving into the depths of each individual note and made it as good as it can possibly be. I speak of sparkle and clarity. I speak of bass that vibrates so ferociously it makes my nose tickle. But all in all, I am listening intently. I am in the process of analysis. I am rarely taking a step back. Maybe even several steps back. You see, each release is a static recording. I am able to go back to lines I didn’t quite catch, or mentally zoom in on that crash cymbal choke and marvel at its harmonics. I can play it again and again, getting to know each vocal flick (another technical term) and drumstick drop (more technical terms, of course – when the drummer drops his stick, for those not so wordily endowed). It is the familiarity and unchanged sound that is warming and close to our hearts. It is this that makes a classic, a classic.

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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.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘼 𝙋𝙡𝙪𝙨 – 𝘾𝙤𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙏𝙤𝙬𝙣

Charles leaves the city for a higher grade…

Cities are impressive. Cities are huge and buzzy. It can sometimes seem like a big city would be able to continue living without the presence of actual life! The buildings, the museums, the galleries, the parks, the clubs, the architecture (you’ve said that, you said buildings. Yes, all right, clever clogs). The heights and grandeur, the world famous stature. The hub of where it all happens. It’s all so compelling. Genuinely exciting! But sometimes it can feel a little overbearing. Would you like to eat a 7 course meal in a swanky restaurant every single day of your life? To me, this is what it can sometimes feel like. Oftentimes (utterly LOATHE this word) one just wants to live a smaller life. A simpler life. To eat a burger while ambling the littler side of the street. Where your thoughts are allowed to wander without getting distracted by awe-inspiring structures (same as buildings, same as architecture. Yes, all right, clever clogs). Say, by the sea? Imagine a little town where the atmosphere is not cloaked in pollution, but simply a sea breeze. A coastal town.

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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.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙄𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 – 𝙑𝙞𝙭 𝟐𝟎

Charles Connolly is unwell…

Let’s see how this goes. Like Jeffrey Bernard, I am currently not very well. Nothing terrible. I’m not dying, or anything, but it was all rather sudden. On Sunday, I was carrying on with a mix/production for a client. All was relatively normal throughout the day. Lunch was late but hearty. The music continued its journey through my mind with every bite. I was “in the zone”, and feeling perfectly normal. Or as close to normal as a thing like me can be. As you can probably tell from that last line, I’m not exactly feeling “wordy”. Words are NOT flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup. They are instead missing the cup entirely or occasionally sticking to the brim. It is more like constipated drizzle than endless rain. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, I was feeling normal whilst immersed in music. Noyce. In my element, one could say. But then towards the evening, I coughed. Now, coughing is not particularly a sign of anything, in fact we do it all the time. Particularly we asthmatics. The word asthma reminds me of Jack Lemmon in The Odd Couple when he is attempting to clear his sinuses. Thma. Thma thma thMAA! If you have no idea what in God’s name I’m talking about, do watch the film – it’s worth it. Ugh, I really am like a meandering tangent today. So, I coughed. It was different though. I felt it in the centre of my chest. It banged like a distorted timpani drum. Instantly I knew this was not normal and that I might be starting to get ill. Oh bugger. I am never ill. I am almost never anywhere I could catch anything (i.e. outside). Maybe it was just one isolated oomphy cough. A “man’s cough”. But no. It happened again. I continued with my mixing and arranging and whatever else I do most days. But over the following hour or so, I started to feel dirty. Dirty on the inside. You know those satisfying before and after cleaning videos? This was the before. Then as the early evening became later, my head started to get all stuffy and bunged up. You know that feeling all too well. We all do. I just so rarely GET this! The lower back started to ache and I became fragile. This must be what it’s like to be old. It gives us a glimpse of the wonderful days ahead. Bloody awful.

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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.

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘼𝙩? (𝘿𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙅. 𝙉𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙡 𝙍𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙭) – 𝘿𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣, 𝘿𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙅. 𝙉𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙡

Charles bangs his head for fun…

Antidisestablishmentarianism is a word that appears in few dictionaries these days, simply due to its rare usage. I cannot think why. Could it be because it takes half an hour to pronounce, and half a day to write? It is still arguably the longest word in the english language. Yes, arguably – don’t start up in the comments. So is it just its length that stops people including it in their day-to-day vocal spiel? Probably not. It is probably because it has a stupid meaning. One can be FOR the establishment. One can be AGAINST the establishment. But this word sums up being against being against the establishment. Not a typo. Meaning FOR the establishment. And we’re right back where we started. Take coffee, for example. There are people who like coffee (the correct ones), and there are people who don’t like coffee (the silly ones). And then there are the people who don’t NOT like coffee. Who in God’s name invented this irritating and confusing double negative?? Speaking of God, this lengthy pretentious word originally stems from the Church of England, being the establishment. But just as you were all starting to moan and groan about this being another piece about words, you are now moaning and groaning further in thinking it is another piece about religion. Well, I am here to put your mind at ease. It is about neither. The point is, anyone who uses “antidisestablishmentarianism” is evidently someone who is against things for the sake of being against things, while trying to look cool. Bringing us to punks. A modern take on the original renegades. But not the rather amusing punks of the 70s, or the bullies of the 60s disguised as Hell’s Angels, but in fact a different variety. The crazy mixed up kids of the early 90s. Anti-establishment? Antidisestablishment? They were anti everything! But also couldn’t really care enough to make a solid point about anything. Basically, it was an excuse to have a lot of fun. To enjoy being young and seemingly invincible – as all young people should feel. Though this had been going on underground since around 1988, it took a few years for the scene to become a known culture. I bring you, London 1992.

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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.

𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙏𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙈𝙚 – 𝙍𝙤𝙨𝙨 𝘾𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙡 & 𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙣 𝙈𝙘𝙂𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙣

Charles dons his mortarboard and begins the class. “Settle down, children”…

This week I have moistly – it has been raining in London – been listening Jacob Collier. Many of you may not even have heard of this chap. He is not quite yet 27 years old, and already has a total of 5 Grammys (Grammys, not Grannies – that would be even more unlikely), breaking all previous records of all kinds. Not to mention MAKING records of all kinds. To say he is a virtuoso is really actually putting him down. I believe him to be the most talented musical artist since possibly Stravinsky or even Beethoven, and he is very much a genius. I don’t mean genius in the sense of a footballer scoring a goal, for that is slightly less than what I would call genius. In fact, I very rarely use the word. Paul McCartney is another musical genius. But Mr. Collier goes beyond this. McCartney has a gift. Collier has an incredible mind. If an informed man/woman/person/thing were to have a brain the size of a house, Jacob’s brain would be the size of the street. Or even the entire borough. His musical talents are seemingly quite literally unlimited. It is almost like he has the answer before you have even posed the question! His music knows NO bounds. No bounds at ALL! There is one problem, however. We, the general public are not on his level, or even close to it. We are barely on his horizon. We NEED boundaries. We need something we can understand and grasp. There needs to be a certain amount of familiarity (for most), or even predictability. There is something so satisfying about knowing where “the one” is. There is something so gratifying about knowing that the big old chorus is going to come nnnNOW. Jacob does not however make horrible dissonant disjointed “music”. He makes stunning MUSIC – no quotation marks. But it will only be for certain people, hence despite all the countless awards, he has never entered the Top 40 charts for any single or album. So! Where on Earth is CC going with this? Well. We have learnt that in order to make music that will appeal to the masses, it has to be not TOO dissimilar to music we know and love. But there is no point whatsoever in regurgitating the same old stuff, year after year (although this is exactly what most “artists’ seem to do these days). The question is this: How does one make music more interesting?

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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.

𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙊𝙠 (𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩. 𝙍𝙮𝙖𝙣 𝙍𝙤𝙣𝙠𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙮) – 𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙇𝙖𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣

Charles is getting on with it…

What is comfort? Is it cushions and ice cream? Or how about an evening with the lads? Maybe it’s an idyllic day in the countryside? Could it be that you just like to sit secluded in your car, listening to the best of The Carpenters? Well, comfort can be all these things and more. But there is one thing these all have in common, They are short-lived. It’s not a way of life. You know when someone asks “How are you?”, “How’s it going?”, “How’s life?”, “How’s it hanging?”, “You all right?”, “What’s happening (man)?”, “You good?”, or “What a gwan?”? You habitually and automatically reply something along the lines of Fine, Good, Okay, All right, Alright, Can’t complain, Not too bad, Could be worse, Surviving, You know how it is, Muddling through, Mustn’t grumble, Getting on with it, and so forth. On the surface, these are all pretty positive replies. But the underlying feeling is stagnancy or worse. I’ve always wondered about the expression “Not too bad”. It’s meant to be positive, but if you think about it, it’s overwhelmingly negative. “Things are bad, but not TOO bad”…! Anyway. To be fair, one main reason for an answer like this, is to cut things short and be modest. After all, they only asked out of politeness. They didn’t want a genuine reply! The French have it perfectly: “Ça va?” – “Oui, ça va?” – “Alors”. That’s “How are you?” – “Yes, how are you?” – “So”. They don’t even bother to answer the question, It’s just a case of getting through the mandatory chit-chat as quickly and efficiently as possible.

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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.

𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙛 – 𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙠 𝘼𝙝𝙡𝙢

Charles dons his helmet…

Among episodes of Cheers, House and Malcolm in the Middle, I have recently been watching a BBC documentary series called Simon Reeve’s South America. In as few as 5 episodes, Reeve covers everything from the beauty to the chaos of the entire continent of South America. We started atop a tepui (pronounced correctly) in Guyana. Its footage was truly staggering, it barely looked real. It was a breathtaking experience even on the smallest of screens. But as with most things these days, the plot didn’t stay picturesque for long. We were taken slightly further East and South, where rainforests had been ripped apart due to the greed of man. The hunt for gold. Mining is both for the rich and for the poor. For the rich, to get richer. For the poor, out of sheer hope and desperation. But it was only after episode 3 (my journey thus far), that I realised the extent of the mess in South America, and more specifically, Bolivia. Cocaine is the problem. Well, really, corrupt embezzling government not governing, is the problem. It showed us an elderly female poverty-stricken farmer having to strip 28 kilos of coca leaves with her bare hands in the burning sun to make a total of around £3.50. I’m not going to bother translating into other currencies, because you know this is not much. In fact, it is around half the price of a pint in London. There is nothing more these farmers can do in the burning sun, and so they are forced to feed the ongoing worldwide drug problem. Cocaine and gold fund most of the continent – not the best national strategy. The worst point though was in the highest inhabited town in the world. So high that altitude sickness is common. Ungoverned La Rinconada has raw sewage spilling across mud “roads”. It has sprung up in recent decades with people’s desperate hope of finding golden nuggets. A truly inhospitable, extremely dangerous place, as it snows ferociously with strong winds, still people keep digging and breaking rocks. You can see in their eyes that they know they will never find anything. Or anything that will make a difference. It was as if watching a soul wither and die inside a wandering corpse, wasting energy on nothing but cold toil and hot tears. I was left quiet, sickened and saddened. Did I therefore start an immediate protest stream on Twitter? No, because that is not what I do. Because it has little point other than creating awareness. It does not help anything. It would only make others feel miserable. Besides, who would listen to ME? So what did I do? I thought. And I felt. And I realised how damned spoilt we all are in the modern western world.

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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.

𝙒𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙔𝙤𝙪 – 𝙁𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙅𝙤𝙨𝙝𝙪𝙖

Charles speaks frankly…

Throughout the noughties and early tens, I was obsessed with one particular producer. It seemed to me like he was capable of anything. Whatever he got his hands on, he would turn to greatness. He would make a good thing better. He would make it his own. I also wondered if the artists he worked with minded that each record he produced sounded very much like a “haven’t mentioned his name yet” album, rather than an album by that particular artist. His stamp. I don’t think they minded though, because if he was involved it was pretty much a guarantee that the record would be fabulous, popular and reviewed well. Praised to the skies, even! The artists he has worked with include Radiohead, Beck, Zero 7, Travis (never mind), Air and a slightly more obscure artist by the name of Paul McCartney. There are of course others, but this is enough to be getting on with for now. While these artists are hugely different from one another, there is something warm and cosy, yet grand and impressive about all of them. This is what this producer manages with everything he touches. His name? Nigel Godrich.

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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.

𝙒𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 – 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨

Charles knows what women are like…

Women. Let’s talk about women. “You sexist, chauvinist pig! How dare you-” WAIT!!! I haven’t said anything yet. Damned trigger people. You see a man talking about women, and instantly you’re on the alert, ready to pounce. “But you’re obviously going to be saying something negative, otherwise why would you-“ WHY am I OBVIOUSLY going to say something negative…? What makes you think that? Am I that pessimistic that I only speak negatively of things? “A woman is not a THING!!” Yes, yes, I know that. That’s not what I meant, and you know it. Simmer down, and let me speak. Good God, if I said I was going to talk about black people, is that instantly no-go territory because I’m white? What if I was going to praise Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Dr. Dre and John Legend? “Oh, well that’s okay then”. So let me say something first. THEN you can decide whether pouncing is the necessary action. So. Ahem. Let’s talk about women.

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