Charles Connolly

And the praise just keeps on pouring in for CC’s Hands Up album!

Tuesday brought us a fabulous review concocted and put together by around 18 artist fans. It showcased Charles Connolly’s brand new album, Hands Up!, track by track, complete with video! It got people listening, and they couldn’t help but speak up. In true CC style, here’s an unscheduled “Part 2” showing why – in NAS artist Shahiem’s words – “it deserves to win a Grammy”…

Todd & Karen

GET YOUR HANDS UP – AND YOUR EXPECTATIONS!!!

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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.

𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙋𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙨 (𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙀𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚) [𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙏𝙬𝙤] – 𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙮𝙖𝙣 𝙍𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙣

Charles leaves his onions at the door…

And here we are again. Same place; different year. Right now, the papers are full of predictions for 2023. Not to mention ways to stay fit and healthy, and how to burn off the festive excess. We enjoyed the Christmas season and have the stomach to prove it. But the predictions thing is more interesting to me. The idea of guessing what is going to happen in the coming 12 months, is seemingly mandatory these days. And those days too. It is habitual for the press to predictably churn out the same unpredictable predictions, when each year they have one thing in common. They just don’t know. Did we guess a few years ago that a pandemic was going to change absolutely everything? Did we guess last year that the Queen was going to die? Did we guess that Ukraine would be thrown into war by the only living “human” we are all universally allowed to hate – without fear that we are committing a hate crime? Did we guess that Argentina would win the World Cup? Did we guess that England wouldn’t? Well, maybe that one. We always do well, but never quite well enough. But so you see, we just don’t know.

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Patrick ponders where to begin…

Firstly, is this an album? Absolutely! Is it the type of album full of colorful pictures of half dressed off-tempo musicians? Definitely not (and thank god for that)! Is it an audio album containing 14 “rad”, and “banging” pieces of musical art? Bingo, yes it is! “It is?” You might ask. “Oh yes, you can bet your sweet glazed ass it is!” 

Charles has been releasing an incredible song every 3 days for the past 6 years it seems. From “Experience” to “Hell Is Other People” to “Parakeet” to “Come The End”. The number of times those songs have been featured in the NAS Top 20 is incredible. And they kept coming out, besting the previous release every time, or at least making us think the new one was better, probably because of the inevitable “wow” factor his songs provide upon first listen. 

It’s an amazing album! I’ve said this in private, but I’ll say it again here. Charles is a rare gem in a world of full pebbles!

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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 𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙢𝙖𝙨, 𝘿𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝘽𝙚 𝙁𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 – 𝙛𝙖́𝙗𝙟𝙖́𝙣𝙞 (𝙎𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙮 𝙎𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙨)

Traditionally, Charles is safe…

Christmas comes but once a year,

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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.

𝙒𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘽𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨 – 𝙊𝙜𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙩, 𝘼𝙡𝙮𝙨𝙨𝙖 𝙍𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙃𝙪𝙣𝙩, 𝙎𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙨 & 𝙎𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙡𝙞𝙣

Charles blooms and realises flower power…

As the world gets increasingly machine-driven and automatic, one must occasionally “peace-out” and remind oneself of how it all started. In nature. Before a time when man realised that nature was a force to be reckoned with, and that – feeling the challenge – man would do its utmost to conquer and overthrow it. Luckily however, nature is unstoppable. The phrase “let nature take its course” conjures winding twine and vine grappling everything in its path, finding the shortest route to the finish line. Nothing will get in the way of this slender rope. I have recently finished watching the latest David Attenborough series: The Green Planet. Having adored almost everything he and his team have produced in the last 25 years, I was very much looking forward to this most recent wonder-series. For anyone unfamiliar with Attenborough (is there anyone?), he makes the natural world absolutely captivating and awe-inspiring to anyone who hasn’t the slightest inclination towards that kind of thing. Simply put, the target audience is everyone in the world. Attenborough really is Mother Nature’s Son. He has seemingly covered almost every existing living creature known to man – including some that he and his team have discovered for the first time. We have swum through seas and oceans. We have trekked through deserts and dunes. We have been scorched by the sun and drenched by the rain. We have travelled every corner of the globe (if the globe has corners). So what left was there to talk about…? Was there anything still uncovered…? Well it turned out there was. Plants.

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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.

𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 – 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙮

Charles writes about everything and nothing for an entire century…

It all started in a red Mercedes with Veronica. This was to be my legacy. Merhabalar (hello, how are you) seemed like a good way to start, as I didn’t want to seem blue over you – at least not so soon. Another week, another story. If I wrote about love, I’d hear you plead “don’t break my heart” – as if I would do such a thing. But hold on, if I were to see my lover again, my dreams of another summer of romance would come true. If Xaligha is the demon of dissonance then I am to be the arrow of love. Never mind the colour of my panties, or whatever I choose to write about that week, just hold me. Hold my hand as I walk deep into my very own dungeon – we’re like family now, no? Again and again, every week I write like a groundhog may or may not, as I attempt to create a capricho Árabe – an Arabic style of architectural fantasy. But as that’s something I don’t know about, I might not always succeed. Some weeks you may open up the pages and wish for me to stop, but I keep holding on to my position with pride and with blind ego. Maybe that’s a mistake on my part – cue the Boo-Boo song…! Or maybe I should get a little tipsy, forget all my troubles and play the Birthday song. Another year, another birthday. You can’t stop time, but time allows you to think. It makes me think about all the artists I have reviewed, met and known through the New Artist Spotlight. And truly, you’re in my blood, all of you.

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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 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝘼𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 (𝘼𝙩𝙡𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙀𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙍𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙭) – 𝙆𝙚𝙡𝙚 𝙁𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝘼𝙩𝙡𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙀𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙝

Charles pulls the plug in order to…

Progress, is a noun that has a sense of the positive. It suggests “onward and upward”. Progress, is a word that has been bandied about for decades. Maybe even centuries. It was a buzz word long before “diversity”, “pro-active”, “woke”, and indeed “buzz word”. In this sense, we progress, right? We get better, no? Well, I feel the word’s meaning is usually more legend than reality. An illusion. I feel that “progress” is more a synonym for “change”. Supposedly, progress is for the better, but so often it doesn’t quite feel like this. Change, makes it rather more difficult to compare the old with the new, because it is simply different. So our moral-driven minds assume that change must be a good thing and that therefore “change” must be progress, right? Well, sometimes. But more often than not, it is not.

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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.

𝘼.𝙄. 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙨 – 𝙆𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙠𝙞

Charles pretends to be intelligent…

I told myself I wouldn’t do this. I thought it would be unlikely that I ever write this piece. I have hinted at it in the past, I have mentioned it in passing in the odd article over the weeks and months, but I never thought I would cover it fully. However, as time goes on, I increasingly receive messages and comments strongly urging me to write about it. And my passion and emotion on the subject has become too strong to ignore. I will finally speak my thoughts on A.I. You asked for it! “A.I.” is very annoying to write. I don’t want to write A.I. without the dots, as it reminds me of Al Green, Al Di Meola and Al Jolson. Lowercase just makes it look like the sound you make when you stub your toe. Putting in the dots wreaks havoc on my obsession with punctuation. I need for a “full stop” to be a full stop, followed by a space, followed by a capital letter. Call it period pains. Because of this, from now on I will refer to A.I. as HAL. If you don’t know why, just go back 23 years.

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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.

𝘼 𝙇𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙊𝙙𝙙 – 𝘿𝙤𝙢 𝙋𝙞𝙥𝙚𝙧

Charles is feeling a little queer, as it were…

This may upset or offend some readers of faith. No particular faith. If you think you might be one of these people, it may be best to skip this one. Trigger warning over, now let’s commence.

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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 𝘼𝙧𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙚 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙚 – 𝙐𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙖 𝙁𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙖, 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝘼𝙣𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚, 𝙋𝙚𝙩𝙚 𝙍𝙖𝙬𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚

Charles goes to infinity and beyond…

Things are not working. The system is broken. What was once a perfectly planned, sculpted landscape with each piece linking into place like a Da Vinci sketch, it is now fraying fast, and falling apart like a moth-ravaged wool rug. People understood the way the world worked. People knew how to live life. Governments governed and industries boomed. This was progress. The world was beautiful and forward-thinking, whilst never ceasing to enjoy the current era. The sun now bakes the land and forces entire populations to migrate and bustle shoulder to shoulder in a more coveted, cooler land. Cooler, for now. There is no sign of an end to war, and money rules more than ever before. Money used to be power, but now money is ultimate power. Whole industries are withering before our very eyes, and the times they are a-changin’. But the change is far too fast. It is not thought out. It is not considered. It is flung through the lawyers’ checklists and banged out like cheap mass-produced Chinese technology. And like the cheap tech, it doesn’t work. To force change so rapidly is to cause chaos and confusion. Economies are as erratic as modern weather, and people are not happy and not comfortable. We are all hot and bothered. So what can we do…?

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