Connolly’s Corner

  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Hospital Anxiety & Depression Scale – Kaminski

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Hospital Anxiety & Depression Scale – Kaminski

    Welcome all to ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, 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 ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™Ž๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ playlists.


    ๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ก ๐˜ผ๐™ฃ๐™ญ๐™ž๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฎ & ๐˜ฟ๐™š๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™Ž๐™˜๐™–๐™ก๐™š – ๐™†๐™–๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ ๐™ž


    Charles is off the scaleโ€ฆ


    What is the ultimate test? A driving test? An IQ test? Joining Mensa? The Sunday Times Cryptic Crossword? That riddle you were once told by a schoolteacher whose only goal was to baffle and impress with wisdom from The Little Book of Brain? That very riddle that still haunts you throughout the months, years and decades to followโ€ฆ? Well, all these could be considered the ultimate test, depending on how high/far youโ€™re willing to go. If you think about it, weโ€™re tested all the time. With every choice you take, with every move you make (Iโ€™ll be watching you), you are always being tested. Despite not being remotely religious, I believe the ultimate test to be life itself. There is no manual, we are all different, and there is no right or wrong way of doing it. BUTโ€ฆ!! There is always a feeling of what is better or what is worse (if you arenโ€™t a complete psychopath). There is a general way of doing life, to which most of us adhere. It is tried and tested. But with every situation, each individual will act or react differently. Some love a gamble, while others fear even the idea of gambling. Some will stride into debt with the knowledge that they now have everything they want, while others will steer clear of that dreaded word, โ€œdebtโ€, making do with what they have. Some will think that half a second is long enough for a biscuit dunk in their beloved cup of tea, while others might not care if itโ€™s half a second or an entire minute; they will never dunk a biscuit and will only drink coffee. These are the things we must consider in life, and judge for ourselves.


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Scars To Armour – Bryan Cooper

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Scars To Armour – Bryan Cooper

    Welcome all to ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, 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 ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™Ž๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ playlists.


    ๐™Ž๐™˜๐™–๐™ง๐™จ ๐™๐™ค ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™ข๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง – ๐˜ฝ๐™ง๐™ฎ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง


    Charles heals from hurtโ€ฆ


    โ€˜Autotelicโ€™ is not a word that comes up much in the average casual conversation. Or at least mine. Yours might very well be regularly punctuated with such a word. But with my personal simplistic conversing, the word is rarely to enter. In fact, I might say it has NEVER even popped by with so much as a โ€œremember me?โ€โ€ฆ But I think itโ€™s about time we started talking about it. Firstly, its meaning. โ€˜Autotelicโ€™ is usually referred to from an artistic standpoint. It means to make something for oneโ€™s own satisfaction. We have Greece to thank for the word; autos meaning self, and telos meaning goal. But while one could argue that ANYthing we do is autotelic, this is not quite right. If one is doing something for money, then the money is the reason. The DOING should be the reason if it is to be autotelic. Sometimes it might be both, of course; but unfortunately this is rarely the case. This is because most donโ€™t have the privilege of having their dream job. A dream job is when someone spends their working life doing exactly what they love doing, with the bonus of being paid for it. I say โ€œbonusโ€, but of course money is an absolute necessity in order to survive, and therefore not to be frowned upon.


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Runaway – Shahiem

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Runaway – Shahiem

    Welcome all to ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, 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 ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™Ž๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ playlists.


    ๐™๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฎ – ๐™Ž๐™๐™–๐™๐™ž๐™š๐™ข


    Charles loves to love loveโ€ฆ


    Letโ€™s face it, I canโ€™t hide the fact that Iโ€™ve been a tad down in the dumps lately. And because of this, it might have brought down the mood these articles over the past few weeks. I canโ€™t help that, and I donโ€™t think thatโ€™s necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it shows how honest and genuine these things are. Butโ€ฆ You (the reader) might be more in the mood for something to bring you out of a similar slump, rather than have something to agree with and nod to. And so, here it is. Love. Love is the solver of all. Love is the only drug worth bothering with. Love changes everything. Love is what changes your mind. Love is what keeps you going. Love isโ€ฆ Ach, I just thoughtโ€ฆ This is really going to bring down the mood for those of you who havenโ€™t found โ€œthe oneโ€โ€ฆ But not to worry. Firstly, itโ€™ll give you something to look forward to. Secondly, there is more to love than your significant other. Or as some of you might say: INsignificant other. There is the love of a parent or two. There is the love of oneโ€™s child. There is the love of a grandparent. A sister, perhaps? There is the love of a pet. There is the love of your work and your passions. There is the love of life itselfโ€ฆ I feel very sorry for those of you who might have none of those. Those who just bled tears on your lap, please donโ€™t; the label says dry-clean only. Besides, I canโ€™t make everybody happy with my writingโ€ฆ


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Polaroid Revolt – Amaury Laurent Bernier

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Polaroid Revolt – Amaury Laurent Bernier

    Welcome all to ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, 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 ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™Ž๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ playlists.


    ๐™‹๐™ค๐™ก๐™–๐™ง๐™ค๐™ž๐™™ ๐™๐™š๐™ซ๐™ค๐™ก๐™ฉ – ๐˜ผ๐™ข๐™–๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™‡๐™–๐™ช๐™ง๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐˜ฝ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™š๐™ง


    Charles snaps the bestโ€ฆ


    Those of you who never read my articles (which is fine) but for some reason pretend you do (which is not fine), make this one the one you actually read. But then again, those who don’t read them won’t read this, so that was pointless even to write. Moving on! Okay. So this review probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise to many of you. But I have a LOT to say. Before we get into the month of Christmas, it seems like a good time to look at the year that has little more than a twelfth left. Dwelling on gloom isn’t the best idea. Worldly speaking, it has certainly been an eventful year, what with one thing and another. There has of course been the usual tranche of celebrity deaths and ones closer to home too – but we said we wouldn’t be dwelling on the negative side of things. Let us look at the best of what has happened this year. Ummโ€ฆ Erโ€ฆ Okay, letโ€™s change that thought. Letโ€™s turn our attention to music. Yeah, that might be more uplifting. Howโ€™s about we look at the best albums of the yearโ€ฆ? Yes!! What a glorious feast of fun that will be! Ah, Iโ€™m already drooling over the prospect of such a musing.


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: WORK – Todd & Karen

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: WORK – Todd & Karen

    Welcome all to ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, 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 ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™Ž๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ playlists.


    ๐™’๐™Š๐™๐™† – ๐™๐™ค๐™™๐™™ & ๐™†๐™–๐™ง๐™š๐™ฃ


    Charles toilsโ€ฆ


    Iโ€™ve been listening to quite a lot of Motown records lately. That is, in between yet more plays of Amaury Laurent Bernierโ€™s masterpiece (I hope you have all been enjoying it too – air-guitaring to โ€˜Innit ?โ€™). All this Motown, though, and it always brings me back to the same song. โ€˜Workโ€™. โ€œWhat is it good for? Absolutely NOTHING!!โ€โ€ฆ Ah sorry, my mistake. That songโ€™s called โ€˜Warโ€™, not โ€˜Workโ€™. Oh, and while weโ€™re on the subject of getting the words wrong, that fabulous early Motown record, โ€˜My Girlโ€™ (you all know it); my girlfriend always sang that chorus as โ€˜Maggotsโ€™. โ€œTalkinโ€™ โ€˜bout maah-ggots. MAGGOTS! Ooh-ew-ew-ew!โ€โ€ฆ Itโ€™s enough to bring more than a smile to my face. But back to โ€˜Workโ€™. Sorry: โ€˜Warโ€™. The thing is, having been involved in few wars in my time, the switcheroo of war into work makes it more potent in a way. Because we all work. We all slave away at whatever it is that we do. And thereโ€™s that feeling of โ€œWhat are we DOING??โ€ – thank you, Lois from Malcolm in the Middle. What IS it good for? Absolutely nothing? Well, I believe it is good for two things (mainly). One (you guessed it): money. Two: a sense of purpose. It keeps us busy and gives us something to do. But more importantly it makes us feel like weโ€™ve earnt the good times. And I like that. There is however one vital flaw in this systemโ€ฆ In doing all this work all the time, we barely have any time for those โ€œgood timesโ€. It is indeed the law of the sod. But at least all that spondulicks is piling up in the account, right? Nah; the taxman will see to that. And so we go back to that sense of purpose. And that roof over our head. It pays the bills, and is therefore necessary.


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – Bittersweet – Smoothsaylin, Elion Melody, Motion Sickness

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – Bittersweet – Smoothsaylin, Elion Melody, Motion Sickness

    Welcome all to ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, 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 ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™Ž๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ playlists.


    ๐˜ฝ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™ฌ๐™š๐™š๐™ฉ – ๐™Ž๐™ข๐™ค๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™จ๐™–๐™ฎ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฃ, ๐™€๐™ก๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ˆ๐™š๐™ก๐™ค๐™™๐™ฎ, ๐™ˆ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™Ž๐™ž๐™˜๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™จ๐™จ


    Charles struggles to drive home the pointโ€ฆ


    Getting around town is something that we do because we have to. Less so these days for obvious reasons, but inevitably weโ€™ll get back into the swing of movement. If we can remember how it goes. Almost my complete and utter life at the moment is conducted at home. I barely leave the house. Everything I need is here, and I have no major reasons to really go anywhere. At the moment. I must stress this lack of motion being temporary because I have very much not always been like this. I used to have a normal job and have to go there daily. Like normal people. But things are different now. I sit, and sit some more. Not exactly healthy, I grant you. But it has its benefits. Call it bittersweet.


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  • Connolly’s Cornered – Part Two: Hands Up! – Charles Connolly

    Connolly’s Cornered – Part Two: Hands Up! – Charles Connolly

    And the praise just keeps on pouring in for CCโ€™s Hands Up album!


    Tuesday brought us a fabulous review concocted and put together by around 18 artist fans. It showcased Charles Connollyโ€™s brand new album, Hands Up!, track by track, complete with video! It got people listening, and they couldnโ€™t help but speak up. In true CC style, hereโ€™s an unscheduled โ€œPart 2โ€ showing why – in NAS artist Shahiemโ€™s words – โ€œit deserves to win a Grammyโ€…




    Todd & Karen


    GET YOUR HANDS UP โ€“ AND YOUR EXPECTATIONS!!!


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  • Connolly’s Cornered – This Week: Hands Up! – Charles Connolly

    Connolly’s Cornered – This Week: Hands Up! – Charles Connolly

    Patrick ponders where to beginโ€ฆ


    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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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – Homemade Paris (feat. The Blindfold Experience) – Shayan Regan

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – Homemade Paris (feat. The Blindfold Experience) – Shayan Regan

    Welcome all to ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, 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 ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™Ž๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ playlists.


    ๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ข๐™š๐™ข๐™–๐™™๐™š ๐™‹๐™–๐™ง๐™ž๐™จ (๐™›๐™š๐™–๐™ฉ. ๐™๐™๐™š ๐˜ฝ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™๐™›๐™ค๐™ก๐™™ ๐™€๐™ญ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š) [๐™๐™–๐™ ๐™š ๐™๐™ฌ๐™ค] – ๐™Ž๐™๐™–๐™ฎ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™๐™š๐™œ๐™–๐™ฃ


    Charles leaves his onions at the doorโ€ฆ


    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 โ€œhumanโ€ 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 donโ€™t know.


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – It’s Christmas, Don’t Be Frightened – fรกbjรกni (Scruffy Saints)

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – It’s Christmas, Don’t Be Frightened – fรกbjรกni (Scruffy Saints)

    Welcome all to ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, 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 ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™Ž๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ playlists.


    ๐™„๐™ฉ’๐™จ ๐˜พ๐™๐™ง๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ข๐™–๐™จ, ๐˜ฟ๐™ค๐™ฃ’๐™ฉ ๐˜ฝ๐™š ๐™๐™ง๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™™ – ๐™›๐™–ฬ๐™—๐™Ÿ๐™–ฬ๐™ฃ๐™ž (๐™Ž๐™˜๐™ง๐™ช๐™›๐™›๐™ฎ ๐™Ž๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™จ)


    Traditionally, Charles is safe…


    Christmas comes but once a year,

    (more…)