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.

𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙙 (𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩. 𝙑𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙖’𝙚 𝙉𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚) – 𝙊𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙣 𝘾𝙧𝙭𝙨𝙨

Tentatively, Charles opens up.

My corner. My messy little corner strewn with toys, glitter, hats and sweets. I live it. YOU know it; you come here every week! But do you REALLY know it…? I mean, many of you may feel you know me quite well through my weekly musings and my odd appearance elsewhere, not to mention my own music. But is this it? Is there perhaps more to this singular chap than meets the eye? I am always more than happy to speak about what I have done, observed and created, but do I ever speak about the future? My future? What I am working on, for example? No. Never. I am a private soul who doesn’t like to show or tell until something is complete and ready for the general public (apologies for generalising – with a bit of luck, you all simultaneously took offence). You may be familiar with at least some of my music, but you are never to know what is coming next. I never divulge. Partly because I might not know myself, but also because I simply don’t want to. So! People may have decided they know my style of music, both in taste and in creation – there’s pop, indie, maybe a bit of orchestral thrown in. People seem to note the happy, upbeat style through my music. I have personally never seen it that way. People also know I am never going to come out with a hip-hop track in collaboration with another artist. People have maybe seen the lack of hip-hop and rap in my reviews – “he obviously just doesn’t like hip-hop and rap, and doesn’t do collaborations”. When examining this seemingly innocent little corner of mine, there seems to be a small hidden door. It says ‘PUSH’ – doesn’t open. Pulling, however seems to have done the trick (sneaky chap, this Connolly). Oh Christ, we’re in his mind. MY mind. The ‘TO DO’ pile is hitting the roof. The ‘DONE’ pile is thin and dusty. Ah, here we are: ‘WORK IN PROGRESS’. That’s pretty damned tall too! Bugger, and now it’s all over the floor. Wait, what’s this? A hip-hop track? Rap? Collaboration?? “But he… But it… No, but he can’t…” – Ah, but I CAN, you see, and so I will.

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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.

𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙚 – 𝘿𝙚𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙖

Charles hits the wall and bounces off…

YouTube is a thing. A thing we all use for one thing or another. Or maybe both one thing AND another. In fact, it is the second most viewed website in the world, with a figure that is slightly staggering. Utterly staggering, really: around 5 billion views… PER DAY!!! And that’s just me and Adele! Nah, just kidding. Adele doesn’t get those kinds of figures. So what are we all watching? What is it that glues us to that screen? Are you more of a “pot luck” kind of person? Do you just dip in occasionally to see what YouTube has pushed you this time? Maybe “pot luck” of a different sort. Maybe you like videos on decorating pots. Making pots? Collecting pots, perhaps? Rare Roman pots unearthed? Or maybe you like videos on different strains of pot and how best to grow it? Whatever you feel like viewing (within reason…), it is there. It has become the video version of Google. You will never find “Your search did not match any videos”. My personal YouTube obsession is using it for education. It schools me and helps me to find better ways of mixing. All for no pennies. Utterly free! Who’da thunk it?? So this is what I do. Whether I am looking for a specific technique when attempting to compress a bass guitar, or maybe more information on “different kinds of saturation”, there will always be many videos to help me along my journey to perfection. Sometimes I just browse and think “that looks interesting” – only to find it wasn’t. But I’m nevertheless eager to learn. Dedicated to the core, to my profession. Of course, REAL one-to-one tuition would be far superior and more helpful, but it comes at a price. A price I cannot afford right now.

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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.

𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙒𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 – 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙖𝙛𝙚𝙩𝙮 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙙

Charles makes it clear…

You remember when people used to use Facebook to document their entire life in public? Sorry: you remember when people used to use Facebook? It was rather ahead of its time. And believe it or not, it still exists today! I know, impossible but it’s true. Still sitting there with its dated blue and white F logo. This logo is regularly redesigned for millions of dollars, but as with most redesigns, no one notices. Because no one cares. Because people don’t use it anymore. But in the noughties, oh MY it was popular. Went on a bit of a bender last night? Stick the embarrassing photos up on Facebook in the morning, for the world to see! Or even direct from the drinking hole itself! I’ll tag myself with my exact location right now so that everyone can stalk me – a splendid idea and a wise use of technology. Playing “Words With Friends” (poor man’s Scrabble) on Facebook with someone on the other side of the world who you met once at a party – bafflingly brilliant. Status: “feelin groggy heres a pic of my puppy she looks so warm i wish i was that fluffy”. We actually wrote this guff, as if anyone would care. But hey, it was new! It was the beginning of the modern era. I believe some even still do this – God help them. The problems started arising when they introduced something called Relationship Status… What a dangerous little info box this was. In a relationship. Single. Engaged. Marred. Sorry, Married. And then there was the classic: “It’s complicated”. This screwed with everyone. It was so clever, yet so detrimental to so many. Lover’s tiff? “I’m changing my relationship status” – NOOOOOOO!!!! – said the partner. “It is NOT complicated, I beg you! It is oh so simple. I love you and you love me! How is that complicated??”… But the thing is, this little info box was a feast for the gossipmongers. “Ooh, did you see Lucy’s changed her status to It’s complicated. I know! I thought they were going to be together forever!”. Suddenly something so private was there for the world to see. Well, the mini world that cared at all. It only made things far more complicated than they already were (probably not complicated at all). A live real-life soap opera.

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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.

𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙙 – 𝙎𝙖𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙖 𝘽𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙤

Charles begs you to look back.

I’ve spoken about age once or twice quite recently. I can’t remember when exactly, for this is what happens with age. Not that I’m old… I spoke about how people over the age of 23 are made to feel middle-aged these days, or even past it by the age of 25. Well let’s go back way before that so you can REALLY feel old. Cast your mind back to a different era (or a not-so different era, depending how old you are). I ask you one question: What were you like when you were 13? What were you doing when you were 13? How did you feel when you were 13? Okay, so 3 questions. When I was 13, I had more hair, but it never did what I wanted it to do. I wanted it to look like Paul McCartney’s (circa 1965), but frankly it looked more like a blonde mushroom on my noggin. I was really into music, but only in the sense of listening to it. I was not remotely into sport – not a lot has changed there. Of course, I wanted to be a rock star – or pop star – but I had no real talents. Sure, I could play the drums and the guitar a little, and my voice was fine, but there were many others of my age – and of course, older – who could do the same. I was lazy and didn’t bother to push myself in music, but even if I had been a little more ”pro-active”, I wouldn’t have seen the point at such a young age. Who would have taken me seriously? Coming back to the point, though – I had no real talents to show. 13 is a funny age. It can be very unfunny too. Maybe I mean a peculiar age. Truly in limbo. Should one be playing with toys? Should one be hanging out with the older kids, coughing one’s first smoke? Toys are safer, but then again they “may contain small parts”. Should a 13 year old be interested in a member of the opposite sex? Should a 13 year old be interested in a member of the same sex? Should a 13 year old be interested in anything at all? These are just some of the questions you can feel free to answer in the comments below. My point is that one does not expect anything much from a 13 year old, except perhaps for them to turn 14.

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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.

𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 – 𝘼𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙘

Charles makes matters more difficult…

In the words of the late, great Bowie, “It Ain’t Easy”. I mean, it REALLY ain’t. Oh, and by the way, yet another week passed with no message from the artist I reviewed. Just speechless. Unfortunately literally speechless, but I meant me. You remember a few weeks ago when I wrote a whole initial paragraph about how so many artists don’t thank me for having spent hours writing about them? Well, even that week, that artist said nothing. Not a single word. Good old Kele did, though. Or as some commenters decided to call her: Kyle(!!). Such a lovely lady she is. So yeah, Bowie was right. It ain’t easy. But we truck on. Don’t we? Well, we try to. Lord, we try. Of course, it doesn’t help that I’ve got a rotten, stinking cold right now, but I’m only writing that for context. Please don’t write any pity comments. It’s a cold; it will pass. Meh. Anyway. It really is hard to pick a blinder of a song while at the same time know that the artist is deserving of the praise, attention and effort. The thing is, I never know until it is already published. Automatically too late. So, a while ago, I decided to simply base it on the music. Not be biased about the artist in any way. I still have to have my HAL (A.I.) antenna on at all times, but aside from that, I just let the music itself be my guide. Otherwise it’s just too complicated.

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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.

𝘾𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮 – 𝘽𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙎𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙧, 𝘼𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙡 𝙋𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚

Charles undresses the truth…

Dear costumer,

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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.

𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 – 𝙁𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙡𝙞𝙣 & 𝘽𝙚𝙡𝙡

Charles’ writing is 𝘰̶𝘷̶𝘦̶𝑹-𝑹𝑨𝑻𝑬𝑫…

What day is it? Well, it’s Tuesday, course. Is there anything special in that? I mean, yesterday was Monday. What’s your point? Was there anything special in it being Monday? It’s just a day. Ah, but you’re wrong! Would you say that December 25th was just a day? Oh, but that’s different! Why so? What about the people who don’t celebrate Christmas? Then it IS just a day. So we should have more celebration days! I mean the big ones are Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s, and various other big ones depending on your nation or religion (various Independence Days, Chinese New Year etc.). But don’t you think Valentine’s Day is a funny one? It’s not religious, it’s not to commemorate a certain day in history. It is simply an arbitrary day for Hallmark and Interflora to make a mint. The one day of the year we are supposed to show our affection for our loved ones – or seek one out (if allowed these days). Isn’t that a funny concept? Should we not love and show our love all year round? What about Mother’s Day? That’s also a very old tradition. Does your mother not matter the other 364 days of the year? I’ve always thought it a bit funny. Not haha funny. But there you go. It is what it is.

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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.

𝘾𝙧𝙖𝙯𝙮 𝙐 – 𝙍𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣

Charles quotes Nina Simone: “It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day…”

A couple of days ago, April predictably dropped its blossom and went into hibernation for the usual 11 months. Unpredictably however, it brought some rather beautiful weather, at least in London. Which was nice. As one month goes on sabbatical, another yawns, stretches and leaps out of bed. May Day was upon us. The day has many meanings in various places and eras. A bank holiday in general. Labour Day: a day for labourers to kick off their work boots and have a well deserved laze. In London it is known for the May Day Riots… Oh what joy. To some, May Day is the beginning of summer. Which of course, it isn’t. There are other things one can celebrate on this day, but for me personally, I just liked that this year it fell on a Sunday. The day of laze. The day we traditionally don’t get up until the crack of noon, when getting up is just about the most exertion of the day. Sunday is the end of the week. Day 7, not Day 1 – as we used to say, for some reason. No work, no rush, NO POWER TOOLS! Sorry, I have a thing about people using power tools on a Sunday – drives me up the wall. Why use a petrol-driven leaf blower, when man invented the humble, silent rake…? It’s a stick with a comb, and it works. Anyway…!

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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.

𝘿𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 (𝘼 𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝙀𝙢𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚) – 𝘼𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙯𝙯𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞

Uninvited, Charles quietly passes through a memorial service, to breathe in the emotion.

Death, is the one and only thing we can be sure of. Those who have been fortunate enough to join this Earth, will eventually leave it. Or at least move on to greener pastures, depending on your view. It is an inevitable fact of “life”, that it will cease. We only hope that it comes late enough to give us time to have a rich and fulfilling life beforehand. Our dear friend – the Gentleman of Rock – Charlie Watts, passed away very recently. This was very saddening, what with him being the rock of the Stones, but he certainly could be said to have lead a full life, and managed a whole 8 decades before removing his Savile Row suit, to sleep. This will be The Last Time.

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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.

𝘿𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙪𝙢 – 𝙁𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙝 𝙎𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙨

Charles takes to the waves of psychedelia.

Last week we discovered Sabrina’s Barreto’s magnificent ‘Colourblind’. This week I can see again in glorious Technicolor! It is time to ditch the comfort and normality of the grey 1950s and shoot forward at terrifying speed, through an era that encompasses the swirling beauty of the 60s, 70s and 80s. I have always had a retro side – many of you may know – but it has subsided a little in recent years for a more level-headed concentration of the sober, sterile modern day. White walls are dull, cold, boring and unimaginative, yet almost every household has them. Clothes are drab, dark and ill-fitting. A hoodie is little more than a thin duvet with sleeves and a string. We do what we do because that’s what we do. There is no thought. No care. No light! People are so self-conscious these days and afraid of not fitting in. Why should one fit in? I enjoy colour. I enjoy art. I love clothes that are different, without purposely being “different”. I admire natural style. I admire a different personality, unless they make me uncomfortable. I am not a sheep. I like people who are not sheep. To me, the opposite of standard normality is, well, the opposite. To be oneself. Let me take you down, ‘cos I’m going to……

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