What was going to lots of little posts rolled into one “big” one
April has been a good month for albums and music in general.
Jade Bird: Jade Bird
Was very much anticipating this album after hearing tracks last year and listening to it went something like this:
- Ruins. It’s ok, yeah…
- Lottery. Good, yeah, but heard it
- I Get No Joy. Same
- Side Effects…
- My Motto. Holy Shit. Goosebumps. Repeat. Turn up. Repeat, repeat, repeat again.
And that’s probably all you need to know about this album. But you need to listen to it properly: Headphones on in your own space (wherever that may be) or loud on the stereo. It’s so good. It feels like it should have been in A Star is Born.
My Motto, that is, which is now out as a single: It won’t be as massive as it should be.
As I write this I honestly can’t recall what Side Effects sounds like because my memory was overcome with My Motto
Loyle Carner: Not Waving, but Drowning
Woah. This is a proper album. I.e. makes sense as a whole, flows all the way through, should really be listened to altogether in one sitting. For that reason it’s hard to pick out favourites. Maybe Ottolenghi, You Don’t Know, Waving Not Drowning (ok then Loose Ends as long as it’s followed by Waving Not Drowning) and Dear Ben because there is just nothing not to love about that being the final track on an album.
Mammoth Penguins: There Is No Fight We Both Can’t Win
Top marks for the name. Standout track is I Wanna which I had heard before the album and I will hopefully randomly sing to myself at times for the rest of my life.
Radar
I have an idea for a little script that I have no time to write right now. Songkick is a pretty useful service, but in my mind it’s back to front: I don’t want it to tell me which bands I listen to in Spotify are playing near me, I want a playlist in Spotify of bands that are playing near me so I can hear if they are worth going to see. And so I’ve started doing that manually this month with some good results. Discovered these great bands/tracks:
- Dream State: White Lies. Epic. Marmozets-ish. Love this so much
- Dancing on Tables: Missing. Love this too. Reminds me of Two Door Cinema club.
- Connor Clark and the Matador Kings: Stand Alone. From Aberdeen. I’m not sold on the name, at all, but do like this song.
- Vukovi: La Di Da. Grrr.
- Spinn: Who You Are. From Liverpool so I guess hard for them to get things wrong.
- OK Button: The Message. Yes!!!!
Can’t go and see them all unfortunately so picked Spinn and OK Button. Really looking forward to them - don’t want to use our regained freedom just to revisit our “youth”: I want to see new bands too.