Bastille @ Alexandra Palace, London

I haven’t really posted much about the gigs I’ve gone to but recently I’ve been to quite a few and I figured I’d write about one of them here.

On Thursday March 6th I saw Bastille play in Alexandra Palace in north London. Now I’ve been a bog fan of Bastille for quite a while (in fact one of my first ever blog posts was about them) and really liked their album “Bad Blood”. While i think at first they weren’t getting the deserved recognition for the their music recently their popularity has soared and this gig epitomised that.

The crowd varied from young, preppy hipsters, even younger teens with their parents, couples of varying ages to groups of lads there on the beer. The place was rammed and by the time support acts rag and bone man and Angel Haze were done it was difficult to get a spot with a good view.

To be honest though I didn’t mind being a bit further back. From where we were you could take in the amazing space that Alexandra Palace offered Bastille and boy did they take the opportunity. On more than one occasion lead singer Dan Smith said how honored they were to be playing this iconic venue.

The set list was great as well, ebbing and flowing with a mix of new songs (including one called weapon featuring Angel Haze), slow songs as well as all the big hits. Its no surprise though that songs like Flaws, Of the Night and Pompeii were the crowd favorites and blew the roof off the place.

It was a great gig and a great performance. That having been said I missed the chance yo watch these guys play a much smaller venue about a year ago and looking back it would have been awesome to see them perform a room with a few hundred rather than a few thousand. Given their rise to fame and recent successes, I don’t see me getting an opportunity for that, but am delighted I did see them live because they really are a fantastic live act and well worth seeing on any stage if you get the chance.

Chase & Status – Alive ft. Jacob Banks

Now I am a big C&S fan. I’d say they are one of the main reasons I got into drum and bass and dubstep. I’ve listened to all of their albums and when I heard that they would be bringing out a new album this year I was genuinely excited! Thi minute it came out I was listening to it daily. While its a great album (probably as good as either of the two before it) there is one song which stands out above not only the rest of the songs on the album but above all Chase and Status’ earlier stuff as well.

Alive is such a genuinely brilliant drum and bass song with amazing vocals from the little known Jacob Banks. Its a song I would have no issue playing on repeat, that’s how instantly catchy and memorable it is. Chase and Status have created a true modern masterpiece. ‘Alive’ is an absolute tune! Enjoy and as always, cheers for listening.

D.A. – Glowing

Firstly, I know its been a while since my last blog post. Exams and Work have been busy but I’m hoping to get a good few more posts up in the next few weeks as everything calms down a bit coming up to Christmas and the new year.

This is a song (and video) that I’ve wanted to write about for quite some time now. Its not only a hauntingly beautiful song but also has is an accompanied by an amazing video. Directed by the critically acclaimed Tyler the Creator the video depicts a couple’s love through the ages who come out at the end of it all “holding hands and still glowing”. Its a very nice song but it is the video which truly makes this one and elevates it to another level. I’ll leave it there for this one and let you enjoy this beautiful song with an even better video. Cheers for watching 🙂

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Hozier – Take me to Church

Irish singer songwriters and bands have had a huge amount of success recently. The rise of artists like Kodaline, The Strypes and James Vincent McMorrow shows that there is serious talent around here. It is with this in mind that I came across Hozier. The reaosn I decided to have a look at his music was because I was supposed to be seeing him at an intimate, free gig. In the end he cancelled and I was devastated, despite only checking out this song a few days previously. Suddenly though Take me to Church was everywhere. I wasn’t just hearing it here on Irish radio but Zane Lowe was singing his praises on his BBC Radio 1 show. I think the reception this debut EP has gotten across the board shows the potential that this Wicklow based singer songwriter has. An Interview with the Irish Times also illustrates the mad hype around this artist at the moment. Take me to church may be a great start for Hozier but foresee big things in the future for this lad and am very much looking forward to what he can bring to the table in the coming years.

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James Blake – Life Round Here (feat. Chance The Rapper)

What a combination! James Blake brings what we have come to expect from him. Smooth, soulful vocals and a beautifully rhythmic and melodic sound. What Chance the Rapper adds is not only great lyrically but adds a huge amount to an already brilliant song. I love some his own stuff (especially his song Interlude) and he compliments this song so so well. In some ways in modern music the whole ‘featuring X’ has very much changed. That used to mean that the featuring artist might have one verse or add a rap or sing a few lines in the chorus. Nowadays though what we are seeing more and more are true collaborations between 2 artists leading to overlaps in genres and style and bringing about a real revolution of music. This song is a perfect example of that and with these two very much up and coming musicians working together like this they have created a modern masterpiece. Enjoy. Cheers for Listening 🙂

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Lorde – Royals

This is a great song! I heard it first on Zane Lowe‘s BBC Radio 1 show and thought that this sound was really sophisticated and that the artist had a great grasp of what modern music is and what music fans want these days. Its got a great mix of genre’s which has become a key ingredient in new music. On top of that its really god damn catchy. Then I checked her out on Wikipedia. It turns out that Lorde (aka Ella Yelich-O’Connor) is 16 – born in November 1996! I couldn’t believe it. Then again I guess I should have expected it. Who would better understand the ins and out of modern music than someone who had grown up in it and been a part of this scene for over 3 years already (having been signed to Universal Records at 13). I can see really big things for Lorde as an artist. Her music should appeal to a wide array of music fans and I can see this song in particular being very popular and I for one look forward to seeing what she comes up with in the future. Enjoy this one and as always cheers for listening 🙂

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Jake Bugg – Broken

The main reason I’m writing about Bugg now (he’s been on my radar for a good while and he is absolutely class) is because I just caught the end of his set at Glastonbury and was reminded how talented this guys really is. He went from the BBC introducing to the main stage at the iconic festival in just 2 years! For anyone thats an amazing achievement but he’s definitely deserved it!
This is his newest, and one of my favorite of his songs. Its a really beautiful slow, country style song and distinctly different from some of his other songs like lightning bolt or two fingers. This song is much more stripped down and raw than his previous releases. Its basically just him and his guitar and the young Nottingham based artist relies on his voice and iconic sound to great effect. This is a seriously good tune and having seen his live performance on TV I definitely want to see him live very very soon!

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Klangkarussell – Sonnentanz

I first heard this song sitting in a popular burger restaurant and instantly loved it. I think I might have actually heard it sometime before that and then recognised it but what I realised that day was that I absolutely loved this song. I was kicking myself for weeks for not finding out at the time what it was called (I dont have a smart phone which would allow me to Shazam it so asking the waitress would have been my only option). I then spent a good amount of time trying to find the song online but this search proved rather difficult.

I then heard a version of Sonnentanz with Will Heard providing the lyrics and immediately recognised the distinctly brilliant and easy going background tune. Since then, I have listened to this song several times a day (I even kicked off the 10 hour YT loop at one point) . I would honestly say that this is quite comfortably, the best song I’ve heard in 2013. It is so easy to listen to and so simple, yet it is absolutely brilliant! I say now that I will never get sick of this song and honestly can listen to it over and over (hence the ten hour loop) without ever loosing interest. This is a brilliant brilliant piece of music. Enjoy it! Cheers for listening 🙂

Vampire Weekend – Diane Young

This song is only 2 minutes and 44 seconds long but I guarantee you’ll be listening to it over and over again to make up for its briefness. Sometimes you wish that a song was longer but in this case, the song is actually the perfect length. Often bands ate faced with the decision whether to add more to a song to make it the normal 4 mins a song usually lasts these days. In this case, Vampire Weekend made a great call in not conforming to this and just leaving the song as is and throwing it out there. It helps that the song is ridiculously catchy and I found myself whistling the tune along to myself after listening to it in work yesterday (even more embarrassing is when you catch yourself repeatedly singing “baby baby bbaby b-b-ba-b-by” to yourself). I hope you like it as much as I did. Its a great rocky indie tune and one of my favorite songs out there at the moment! Cheers for listening 🙂

Bastille – What Would You Do

Its been a while since I’ve done any reviews. There has though still been plenty of new songs and artists about so I’ve decided to start writing about them again. That having been said, I’ve decided to write about a band I’ve already written about. Fittingly enough, after a 4 month hiatus, I’ve come full circle to a band which I wrote my first review about – Bastille. Since writing my first opinion piece about Bastille’s Flaws, the band have taken off in a big way (that probably has nothing to do with my blog post). Their upcoming gig in Dublin is very sold out and their newest song Pompeii (as well as several covers) have gotten a lot of airplay on the radio both here, in the UK and in Europe. Pompeii is a classic tune and the tribal nature of the drums and steady beat of the “african” (for lack of a better word) chorus which continues throughout the song, but especially kicks it off, is exactly why this song has done so well for the band.

Despite me really liking Pompeii, I don’t want to write about that song. I mentioned earlier that Bastille have done some great covers. In my opinion their performance on Radio 1’s Live Lounge, covering Bruno Mars‘ Locked out of Heaven, mixed with Rihanna‘s Diamonds and the XX’s Angels, which has propelled them so quickly to the top of several charts. Their best cover though in my opinion is of City High’s What would you do. Now, I really like this song and I think plenty of people do as well. I don’t like the phrase guilty pleasure since there doesn’t need to be anything guilty about liking a song, but I guess many people would classify this song as exactly that. I really like the original of this song but I love what Bastille have done with this. Its a very cool version of an already very cool song. Bastille’s sound seems to mix really well with the lyrics and even though the original wasn’t sung by a male lead, this seems to work just as well. Enjoy and as always (and once again) cheers for listening 🙂

P.S. Its worth checking out their covers of Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams (with Gabrielle Aplin) and TLC’s No Scrubs (with Ella)