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.

𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝘿𝙞𝙙 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙂𝙤? – 𝘾𝙃𝙑𝙍𝙇𝙄 𝘽𝙇𝙑𝘾𝙆

Charles is giving up…

A tree. A humble tree. There it stands in simple pride, to gaze around with much the same open pensive quality as when I gaze at the tree through my bedroom window. Or at least, this WAS the scene for many years until a couple of weeks ago, when I received a text. The text from my neighbour informing me that I should expect a lot of noise the following day. My heart leapt. This tall, healthy bay tree standing in a garden, a while away from the house, was to be “dismantled”. I put it this way so as not to trigger my sensitive heart once more. And maybe yours. It was crippling to me. Crushing and very lowering indeed. As promised, there was a lot of noise for a while, followed by an eerie silence. I could not even draw open the curtain for two days for fear of an expansive overload of daylight. Eventually I plucked up the courage. And in doing so, I sighed and felt like giving up. I had one question for the tree: Why did you go?

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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.

𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚 – 𝙇𝙚𝙠𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙞

Charles spreads east…

Today I will be loose in my terms. I will speak of East and West. Please allow me this over-simplicity in order to make this coherent and enjoyable.

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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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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.

𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙃𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙔𝙤𝙪 (𝙃𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙮’𝙨 𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙜) – 𝙂𝙤 𝘽𝙞𝙧𝙘𝙝

Charles speaks of songs and daughters…

Children, eh? Kids! Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em. Or so I’m told. I personally can’t stand the blighters. Rotten little noisy things with snotty noses, always whining about this or about that. I mean, why would anyone WANT such a thing?? Actually CHOOSE to have one? Or even SEVERAL? I mean, are you people completely and utterly out of your mind?? Why would you DO that to yourself? To inflict such pain and misery on an otherwise relatively decent life… Speaking of life, you’ve spent oh so many years sorting out whatever life was supposed to be, and finally you’re on track. Things are clear. Things are good. You and partner. All working well, in both senses of the word. You’re comfortable, in terms of money, and , well, comfort. You feel good. You do not hate your job too much. There is a natural flow to the way of life. You’ve just got into the swing of things. Et voilà. Repeat until the cycle is complete. The thing is… There is no cycle. There is an end. Nothing to pass on. It all ends there. And THEN what have you got. A couple who spent their life doing life. Just their own life. Pah. What is that. “A discontented lazy rabble, instead of a thrifty working class…?” – sorry, I do like the occasional quote.

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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 𝙄 𝙏𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙈𝙮 𝘽𝙤𝙨𝙨 – 𝙅𝙪𝙣𝙚 𝙃𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙

Charles is talking about quitting…

A job’s a job. How many times have we heard that? It’s both optimistic and pessimistic, but ultimately saying a whole load of nothing. A job. We all have one; or most of us anyway. Some of you un/lucky ones are retired. Some of you are still students. But the majority is kept busy most of the time in a means of making money, in order to live. Seems simple enough. Some are content in their work, or simply don’t mind it; a job’s a job. I am one of the lucky ones (I imagine a rarity) in being able to earn my living from doing what I am best at, and doing what I love. Producing and mixing music. This doesn’t mean I don’t work hard; I just don’t resent it. Each and every project is to me a worthwhile endeavour. Of course, I could do with a few more clients (preferably of the disgustingly rich variety), but things are fine, and my life is generally not a bad one. Still though: “Come to me, my pretties!” Go on. I’ll make you shine. And no, I am not also a part-time window cleaner. And you – to be fair – are not a window. But I feel I can still see through most of you. You’re unhappy in your work, aren’t you. You can tell me. I won’t let on. Pour yourself into Uncle Charlie’s ears. Let it all out. Most of you accept it and get on with it. But given the chance you’d flee the scene if there weren’t a camera by the exit door and a great sense of guilt in doing so. Your feeling of elation and freedom would last a matter of minutes before you come to your senses and realise that you still need to put food on the table. And your partner might not feel the same elation: “You’ve done WHAT?? That is the most selfish unthought-out thing you’ve ever done! Go back there right now and grovel to Mr. Potato Head for your job back, and pray that he lets you off lightly. If he has you back at all. I wouldn’t if I were him” – yes, these fictitious lovers fondly call the boss, Mr. Potato Head.

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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.

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 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.

𝙒𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙏𝙤 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠 – 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙠𝙤 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙠𝙚𝙨

Charles wishes to speak…

I used to be completely invisible. Not literally of course, as that would be impossible, not to mention quite cool. But there used to be very few people on this planet who had heard of me. In the old days, our goal was not the world. That was only for billionaire power junkies and Bond villains. We knew only a handful of people, and only a handful of people knew us. That was normal. But these days we are so naturally and casually connected with so many people all over the world. Just think about that for a sec. Weird, isn’t it. But also kinda neat. And unlike real life, you can cut them all off with the press of a button. No strings! Which is probably why the world is so beastly on the internet. In NOT being the type to cut people off and blank them (because it’s so darned easy), I instead use this international connection as a positive. So yes, I used to be invisible. Then I started to get a tiny little bit of attention with my music. Which was nice. Then that went a bit further. So what came next? Was I edging closer to billionaire-power-junkie? Nah. I’m not rich enough, and I don’t like the idea of having that much power. Sway sounds like a nice thing, but ultimate power? No thank you. So was I turning into a Bond villain, then? Nah. I’m allergic to cats and violence. So surely, I am going to take over the world musically? Hah!! I don’t think so. The thing is, I am now probably most known for my Corner. That and the producer/engineer stuff. While the fixey/mixey/producer side of me earns the pennies, the Corner gets a lot more attention. You see, people like stories, and I seem to be known these days as a storyteller.

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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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