Connolly’s Corner

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.

𝙈𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝘽𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙢’𝙨 𝙈𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙪𝙚 – 𝙆𝙚𝙡𝙚 𝙁𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜

Charles isn’t yet brave enough…

Hands Up who’s sick to death of Spotify…? Who is absolutely fed up with everything it has become in recent years? The way it is less a music listening platform, and more a social media platform…? Oh, but it goes so much deeper than that. It ain’t just an ugly interface. Sorry, you can all put your hands down now; I saw “y’all”. Spotify has become a fully-fledged greed machine. It has no scruples or morals of any kind. It does not care about a single artist. It does not care about the music industry. It does not care about music. It is (only recently) trying to look like it is doing something about HAL (A.I.) – but even that is all a ruse. It is widely known (though not officially proven) that Spotify is not only adding HAL music to its own editorial playlists, but actually making fully HAL playlists, to the extent that there isn’t a single human-made track on such playlists (again, not proven, but known). Spotify has been punishing innocent independent artists for quite a while now, having whole artist catalogues removed due to one song unknowingly having been placed on a rogue bot-playlist (a playlist that is streamed automatically by robots in order to accrue streaming royalties). The artist did nothing here. And Spotify gives no warning. Because Spotify too is run by robots. Everything is automatic, and humans have little or nothing to do with its running. This is art, baby! And what about royalties? What does the artist get in return for someone listening to their song once? Let’s just say it would take about 300 plays of that song to buy the artist a Mars bar. So, not very much.

(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.

𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨, 𝙇𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙑𝙞𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙤 – 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙧𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙨

Charles goes back in time to lose his mind once more…

There is a chunk of my life that none of you knows about. Not one. I used to a be a woman. No, no: with this beard, that would be most silly and quite unrealistic. Although I have always been quite proud of my eyelashes. I am going to tell you about that chunk. Cue dream-scene wavy lines – doodly doodly doo. And we’re here. The year is 2006. I am 22. My hair is quite long and naturally blonde. My beard is straggly and thin in parts, which makes me look somewhat like a terrorist stereotype. Nah, I can’t do this in the present tense – all too real and freaking me out. Let me tell you about the time anyway. Having recently obtained my music degree, I thought it best to have a lot of fun. And so I did. I was out every night of the week. Girls, parties, pubs, girls, drink, smoke, girls, drink, smoke, drink, smoke – ahem. I was YOUNG!! Leave me alone. So, there was all of that, as per usual. But as with today, there was one constant. Music. Always listening, always discovering, always playing, always going to gigs. But always PLAYING gigs. Good old giggity-gigs. I was in several bands through the years, but there was always one particular one that stays with me. We were really rather good – if you like that sort of thing. A simple four-piece consisting of guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Joe King was the incredible bassist. Yes, his real name was Joe King – his parents must have been having a laugh. Blah was the guitarist, and other blah was the singer. I say Blah because we didn’t particularly get on in the end, and the other blah was his girlfriend and so backed him up on everything he said or did. She also couldn’t sing and didn’t understand the concept of a melody. It was more of a drunk croon from someone occasionally walking on hot coals. You know these medic types (for that was what she was studying at the time)… This guitarist though – he was good, but his fingers were like spider legs. The simplest movement on the neck of the guitar made his hand look contorted like someone suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. Basically, his fingers weren’t as good as his brain. He came up with really good licks, but couldn’t quite play them well enough. And then there was me. I was on drums.

(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.

𝙈𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙊𝙛 𝙂𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙨 – 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙀𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚

Charles is not himself…

Ghosts do not exist. They just don’t. At least, I don’t think they do. No, they don’t. For the last hour I have been chatting with my twin brother about the idea, as I sit on my desk chair, and he sits most comfortably on my sofa. We have come to the conclusion that they don’t exist. Magic also, is not real. Only illusion and trickery. Wait a second. I don’t have a twin brother. I don’t even have a brother. Then who have I been talking to? And where the hell has he gone? Okay, he is not here anymore. Maybe he popped out for a bit of air. But no, wait. WHO is he? Who WAS he? And why is the sofa now facing the wall? Time for a cup of tea, to calm my nerves. Got to heave this sofa back to its former position first. JEEZ, it’s heavy. Right. Tea. Kettle on. Cup from cupboard, teabag from other cupboard. Where’s the cup?! Let’s try again. Right, CUP from cupboard. Ugh, forgot to plug in the kettle. Wait, I never unplug the kettle. Wait, it’s boiling! Where’s the damned CUP?? Okay, forget this. No tea. Back to the living room. Must turn that sofa. Wait, I turned the sofa! Oh thank God, my twin is back. That’s a relief. He turns the sofa, so I don’t have to. Now HE wants tea. Well HE can battle with the cup this time. He seems to be making a lot of noise in there; let’s have a look. Twin gone. Wait, I DON’T HAVE A TWIN!! Tea made, though. Well at least that’s something. Oh what a relief, my mother is here. Now I know SHE exists. She’ll calm me down. There’s something not quite right, though. She seems to be walking backwards, towards the window. I feel a little uncomfortable – her voice is much deeper than usual. The window falls from its frame. She is being sucked outwards into a chaotic hurricane. All she can say is “is this tea for me?”. The tea is really the last thing on my mind, right now… The whole flat (apartment, for you Americans) starts to disintegrate and rumble from below. I am alone. Flames start to grow from the cracks in the floor. Embers are shot upwards like mini fireworks. As I cower and curl up into a ball, wishing for my twin to comfort me – existing or not – a deep, dark and devilish music surrounds me. Enticing me with a fiery hand. I feel the urge to grab these boney fingers and succumb to my only chance, whatever that may be.

(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.

𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘, 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙚𝙨 – 𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙠 𝘼𝙝𝙡𝙢

Charles measures life…

My weekly musings often cover the wisest philosophy. Or rather, they ramble on about this or that for several paragraphs. Something that has happened to me recently. Something in the news. My general random observations. A sad thing. A happy thing. Ya know: stuff. Basically, something in the artist or song that will give me something to blether about for a little while. But this time, let’s go deeper. Let us philosophise about one the biggest conundrums known to man: the meaning of life. I will not be littering this with Monty Python quotes, just in case any of you got excited. This will be deadly serious. Well, as deadly serious as I can get anyway. Which isn’t very.

(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.

𝙈𝙮 𝙁𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙 – 𝙎𝙞𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙑𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙞

Charles favours one over the others…

So you’re single. Having the time of your life. Enjoying every day to the max. Utterly free and untethered. What joy it is! But you rarely realise it at the time. From time to time however, you do start to get a wittle bit wonewee. Just a wittle bit. You want to share these fun times with someone. But not in the way you would with your best friend. You want something closer. SomeONE closer. So you keep your eyes peeled and wear your lucky red t-shirt. Soon enough you spot the cutest little thing with the sweetest of moustaches, and a pretty little large beauty spot right in the middle of the forehead. Attraction can be a queer thing, and love can sway and skew all. Their name is Mel, and things go rather well. Ah hell, it’s better than that, can’t you tell? You fell to one knee, they said yes, and now it’s wedding bells! What fun, what larks, what japes! Nothing could spoil this beginning of forever. But like every business, expansion is the key. So they got fat. Well, one did. But before getting thin again, a thing arrived by stork. A little bloody blob of a person, no less!

(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.

𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙚 – 𝙃𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙙

Charles speaks honestly about the overrated and the underrated.

It’s out! Finally, the wait is over! We have all been longing for this for 6 years. The brand new album by Adele: “30”!!!

(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.

𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 – 𝙈𝙊𝘼𝙎

Charles by name, Charles by nature…

I am just back in London. Like, JUST. Right now, it is 3:30pm on Monday (time of writing). I got back home just before 2pm. So with just enough time for a quick bite to eat, here I am. Duty and all that. I can tell I am back in London because as soon as I left my nearest station, the air had a strong smell of weed. Then I was deafened by a helicopter and an angle grinder (which I morbidly call an angel grinder). And then I turned onto the cheap, filthy high street. Ah, home sweet home. So where have I been…? Well, I was at a wedding. Not my own. It was to be the wedding of a dear old friend of mine, who I have known since I was 14. I’m older now. And so is he. In recent years, he has moved to Canadia. Which is probably nice. His wife is Canadian. Who is probably nice – I met her for the first time at the wedding – seemed nice. There was most certainly a theme of niceness throughout the whole shindig, for my dear friend has always been known as the nicest man in town. Whichever town. So, they had a wedding in Canada, and then had a second wedding in England – quite a nice gesture, considering plane ticket prices… But this was not to be in London. No no, they wanted it to be somewhere actually… How shall I put it… Nice. So they picked somewhere in the middle of nowhere. A farm. A barn, to be more specific. The Barn, to be quite precise (for that was its name). What this meant for me, of course, was the possibility of a rather lovely weekend away with my girlfriend. A weekend in the English countryside, away from the horror of London (it’s truly getting to me these days).

(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.

¿𝙋𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙖𝙧 𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙖 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙧? – 𝘼𝙙𝙖́𝙣 𝙍𝙖𝙢𝙞́𝙧𝙚𝙯

Charles is tuned to perfection…

The humble piano has been around even longer than I. More than 300 years, to be roughly precise. It is an instrument with which we are ALL most familiar. We know its sound intimately. Even if YOU have never tinkled a single ivory in your life, YOU will know that sound. Which is more than most can say about the oboe – an instrument not much older. The period of an instrument’s existence has little to do with its popularity. The Ondioline was invented as recently as 1939, and have you heard of it? Is it in countless records you know and love? It is not. And yet, our ancient humble piano continues to attract just about every genre – even electronic. Why is this? Well, I still stand strong in my belief that it is the greatest instrument because of one factor. Its versatility. Would you prefer to impersonate Debussy or Rachmaninov, or would you rather don the silly glasses and do an impersonation of Elton John? Either way, you will need a piano. I call it humble, but have you ever actually SEEN what goes on inside a piano? It is so complicated that it’s quite amazing they ever bothered with its completion. Why would such a heavy, immovable, complex and expensive thing attract such a wide audience? Let us travel to Camden Town in London to find out…

(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.

𝙋𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙁𝙤𝙞𝙡 – 𝙇𝙞𝙡𝙖 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙛

Charles sculpts another…

Freshness is everything. In all ways. No one likes stale. No one likes a mundane song, or a sandwich that curls at the edges. That’s right, I’m not just talking about music, I’m talking about food, just like I did briefly last week. And why not? We eat it every few hours… All of us. It’s one of the few things we all have in common. Lately I have found it increasingly difficult to keep food fresh. It could be the warming of the weather right now in London. It could be that I am simply eating less and therefore allowing the food to go off. It could be that my fridge is dying. It could be that my cling film has been moth-eaten, though probably unlikely. If you don’t know what cling film is, you will probably know what Saran wrap is. I never liked using cling film, though I must admit it works, and works well. Foil is just SO much more satisfying, and frankly easier. The problem is, it doesn’t work in the same way as cling film. It just doesn’t cling.

(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.

𝙎𝙝𝙚’𝙨 𝘾𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚 – 𝙈𝙖𝙩𝙨 𝘿𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖́𝙣𝙙

Charles introduces with an introduction that is completely unnecessary.

You know that feeling when you find out that your favourite artist is playing in your hometown? The excitement and anticipation that you will soon be in the same room. That personal touch, where they will be playing for YOU. So much more than streaming on Spotify. It just means so much. The thrill of it all. You rush to buy tickets. You sweat slightly as they are running out fast. Seats or standing? Doesn’t matter. You will be there, if you manage to get tickets of ANY kind. You succeed! You have spent rather a lot of money but you don’t care. Then comes the day. You get there early, because that’s what people do. Far too early because you’re so eager. You buy overpriced lager in a plastic cup. You buy a hot dog that you don’t really want. You take your seat (or stand). It is all about YOU. After a while, the support act comes on stage. This is what I am getting at – the support act. You tap your foot and nod your head a bit, while still chatting with your guest about the act you came to see. You also chat impatiently and pointlessly about the size of the vast venue and how many people there are. You wonder if now is a good time to go to the loo – ‘John’ is a man’s name, a ‘bathroom’ contains a bath, I am not exhausted enough for a ‘restroom’, and ‘toilet’ is simply a vile word. And so, what is this ‘support act’ actually for? A time to ponder on the capacity of one’s bladder? An introduction to the real reason you arrived? Something to put you in the mood? “And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for: a man who needs no introduction” – why do they always introduce the act by saying they need no introduction? The lights are low, and it is time for everything you ever wanted. I am the support act. My time is up. Please welcome Mats Dernánd.

(more…)