I’m all for bands trying something different and not recording the same thing over and over again, but Coldplay’s ‘Midnight’ is an experiment gone too far. As a piece of ambient music it’s very involving and the mixture of Martin’s vocoder vocals and a mix of electronic instrumentation is actually quite listenable in a relaxing…
The third cut from Embrace’s fifth album, ‘Follow You Home’ is their best song, in my opinion, in ages. Poppier than their more recent fair, the simple but catchy chorus quickly grabs you, thanks in main to the delivery of lead singer Danny McNamara and the driving drum beat. Great, and deserves to bring them…
With a Calvin Harris vibe back from when he was good, ‘Free Falling’ is a catchy uptempo, electronic number with the sweet lead vocals of Florence Arnold pulling you into the record. With echoes of ‘Reverse Skydiving’ from Hot Natured, with the titles eerily reflecting each other, the use of rhyming and mixing up of…
Boyce Avenue’s seven-track EP is a downbeat but evocative collection of songs with a strong OneRepublic and The Script vibe flowing through the tracks. Though there’s not a huge amount to differentiate between the style of the tracks, there is a flowing connection between the individual songs. Opener ‘Speed Limit’ starts things off well with…
The first cut from their upcoming third album is brilliant. Having fallen out of love with the band after their first album – their second passed me by – ‘There Is No Other Time’ brings the relationship back into focus. Though different from the likes of ‘Golden Skans’ and ‘It’s Not Over Yet’, it’s a…
Here is a different song for me to cast my opinion on. On one hand this first cut from his fourth album is finally more different than what we’ve heard from Harris on his last few albums, after he decided the sound of his debut album was too multi-layered so should churn out the same…
‘Every Little Word’ from Uzoechi Osisioma Emenike, better known as MNEK, has guested on several other songs recently but here is his first major solo offering and it’s a mixed bag. I love the electronic vibes that have shades of classic Daft Punk, the Beastie Boys breakdown and the funky retro RnB styles, but I’m…
For a song that oscillates between slowed down versions of The Monkees’ ‘Daydream Believer’ and Womack and Womack’s ‘Teardrops’ it’s actually pretty good and his best solo offering so far. The mix of the two musical styles really suits the song and keeps your interest, and even though it’s as downbeat as you’d expect from…
If you’d ever wanted to know what Bruce Springsteen would sound like if he had four Jagerbombs, three pints and a half-bottle of wine and then went into a karaoke bar to record a song then fear no more because he’s helped you imagine it by recording ‘American Beauty’. It’s difficult to listen to one…
Borrowing a few tips from Avicii’s book of songwriting, ‘Ten Feet Tall’ is another example of stirring, lifting club music with lyrics designed to empower and resonate before the dance-friendly and overly familiar chorus kicks in. It’s far better than some of the more recent genre-mirroring songs but outside of the simpler, lyrically more notable…
