𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿 - this week: We Need To Talk - Wilko Wilkes

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.

Some things come from nothing, but most things come from life. Experience - coincidentally the title of my current single (with a new one coming on Friday) - gives us almost everything (not my song). The rest is imagination. Amalgamate the two and sprinkle a good dose of observation, and you end up with what I do. I’m your clockwork storyteller. Wind me up and let me go! Too late - I’ve already written it down in my lyric book (©CC 2024). But you all have your own lyric book, don’t you. You all have stories to tell. Stories don’t just come in the way of articles and novels. They come in the form of songs. Of course, musically there can be a “story” (the musical journey), but really, it’s all about dem woyds. Innit. Some songs can be “It’s plain to see that I love you and you love me”, but they can also be, well, good. No, no, that’s too harsh. There has always been and will always be a place for simple love songs. For life thrives on simple love (©CC 2024). Other than good old love, though, there is bad old love, and the rest of everything. Stevie Wonder realised this perfectly with title of his classic album, Songs in the Key of Life. Isn’t that what it’s all about? Life?

We can write about anything we have experienced, and anything we haven’t. But even those things we haven’t experienced, someone will have. Hence our observation and imagination coming in handy. Most of you will call yourselves musicians rather than writers. But aren’t you all writers? We all tell a story through music. Sometimes the act of telling a story is more like an urge. A compulsion. We need to talk. You don’t have to have read books as child in order to write stories. Actually, did you read books as a child? Let me know in the comments. And do you NOW? Is this weekly dose of nonsense your sum total of literature? Quite possibly… But does that matter? I would say not entirely, but you must get your fair share of stories from somewhere, or you’ll find yourself stiflingly bored. It may surprise a lot of you to learn that I barely read these days. I blame the music. There are just too many facets of music to take up my life. It gives me everything I need. I won’t use the usual excuse of “time”. We can all make time; we just choose not to.

In music, I like plot. Be it musically or wordily, I like having something to follow. I enjoy the journey. For me, music has to be more than just a nice vibe. This week, I have moved up cosy with the woyds. With Wilko Wilkes’ woyds. There’s almost certainly no need for an introduction to Wilko Wilkes. But I’ll do it anyway. He’s an Englishman who spends his life being a good person. He helps people for a living! But in his spare time he turns into a savage beast of rapping wonder. Frankly, his only competition is Eminem himself. To me, no one else comes closer to the speed and humour of Eminem. Yet Wilko is not from Detroit or Missouri. He is from Yorkshire. You could not get a more different person. Wilko does not rap about murder or sadistic violence (beautiful topics!), but to an extent he does write about the "ghetto". The hardship of life in difficult places. That is until recently, where he has become more upbeat in his music, with songs such as his last single, Life. We now turn to a fresh chapter in the book of Wilko - relationships. Please will you warmly welcome Wilko Wilkes! We Need To Talk.

How unusual it is for me to write about rap. And equally unusual for me to choose a song that is over 6 minutes long. But I was got by the plot. You can have that lyric. To give you an idea of the way Wilko entices with his words, get this: I played it to my girlfriend and halfway through I paused it in between verses in order to say something. She hurried out the words “Don’t stop it, I want to know what happens next”! Now if that isn’t a letter of praise, I don’t know what is. And what have I learnt from this? Never stop a song midway through. Just don’t. Unless it’s awful - in which case, do.

Weirdly, I won’t be walking you through the wonderful words of Wilko Wilkes’ new wong. Song. Because that is for YOU to do. To read more about Wilko’s lyrics, his website (Wilko Wilkes Words) is WWW dot WWW dot- nah, that’s not the address or even the title, but his genuine website is nevertheless linked below. I will however be talking about his power. His energy. His enthusiasm. His grasp of language. His understanding of human beings and the way we think, feel and react. Right. Done that. Wilko, I saw that smirk. You see, I believe his greatest assets to be humour, intelligence and empathy. He just gets it all. Atop the big swaggering beat, the coolly crafted guitar licks (by James O’Connor) and the neatly funky (if handsomely vain) bassline, Wilko stands, tall and taller. He takes to the stage like a duck to water. Boring cliché. Like an Italian to pasta. Better. His rapping is a full performance, and his performance is more like a monodrama. He takes us through his sculpted plot, piece by piece, like a modern day Dickens. He is far from simply saying the words. He believes in each and every one of them. He is living them. This really comes across in his audible expressions throughout. He’s a natural public speaker. His vim and vigour are as clear as day. Boring cliché. As clear as my own previous invisibility. Not great, but you get the gist. And then there is of course, his crisp enunciation. Usually I would go on about his speed, but he has toned that down a tad in this release. It’s still impressive, but the point with this one is the words themselves and their metric rhythm. He never ruffles or squodges a single syllable. Everything is easily audible, clean, clear and precise. Yet always very natural and relaxed. I really don’t know how he does it. And then there are his fun little occasional inflections that sound almost like a hiccup. It really peps up the journey like an espresso or a shot of Red Bull.

But I almost forgot about the cleverity of Wilko’s insertions. “I think CC really has lost the plot this time” - ah, but wait! These sneaky little female insertions. Wait, I’m getting there! Just a couple of times during the song we get a more vivid sense of what is going on in the plot, with his choice of adding the odd female spoken vocal line. It really brings the song into Technicolor. More like hearing the live plot from the next room, rather than simply reading about it the next day. Add to this Wilko’s relentless energy, and it’s just all so real! Wilko Wilkes has created some truly unusual and wonderful scenes over the years in his songs, and this is definitely one of his best. To all you hard Northerners, we soft Southerners salute you! Aye.

I was going to tell you about the time I nearly became a Bond villain, but that’s another story. Basically, it was a bit of an odd job.

Listen to 𝙒𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙏𝙤 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠 on the 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿 Spotify playlist HERE!

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