KBPS
The music magazine
#2 September 2015
SAVAGE MAN HONEY RYDER
Josh Savage on music, bear costumes and playing in living rooms
Lindsay O’Mahony on award success
ELENA RAMONA On making music timeless /KBPSmag @KBPSmag
Music News Liam Walters on Kickstarter Alistair Proudman tackles the format wars Rob Beezley’s Top Forty and more!
WELCOME TO KBPS! Hello and welcome to the second edition of KBPS, back for more! We hope you enjoyed the first edition with its mixture of news, interviews and more, but are ready for another exciting collection of articles, stories and more.
Marina and the Diamonds. If I can get to see the Wombats and the Killers then I’ve pretty much ticked off my live wishlist.
And I think seeing bands live is still important. CDs, downloaded music and vinyl is all well and good but there’s still really something about seeing a band live, In this edition we bring you some interviews from their between song chats to mashwith some of our favourite up and coming ups, extended sections and the general raw musicians including Josh Savage, Elena energy. I am certainly looking forward to Ramona and Honey Ryder, plus the big news seeing some old favourites and new gems up stories that have got us excited. close and personal! We’ve also thrown in a couple of recent album reviews and expanded our section of the best music you should listen to or download.
And that’s before we even get to the latest columns from our regular contributors, and some new faces who have given us their favourite albums of all time and why they like them! In terms of music I’ve had a quiet month due to work commitments and have unfortunately had to miss some key music events locally such as the very popular Bingley Music Live. However I’m certainly making up for this in the autumn months by seeing many of my favourite groups live: Jess and the Bandits, Kacey Musgraves, The Lancashire Hotpots, Electric Six and, for the first time ever one of my all time favourites,
/KBPSmag @KBPSmag Cover photo courtesty of Josh Savage’s website
But without further ado let’s get into edition two and don’t forget to share the online magazine with friends and let us know what you like from KBPS or what you want more of! Philip Lickley Editor, KBPS
Coming edition three in October interviews with The Rising and Issimo plus two huge special interviews including one we can certainly reveal now through the power of imagery...
MUSIC NEWS
Makin’ Babies with Reverend and the Makers
One Direction Go In Separate Directions
As part of their ongoing trickle releases to support their new album, Reverend and the Makers have debuted a video for new song ‘Makin’ Babies’, animated by Chris Shepherd and Jocie Juritz
There was sad news after the last edition was published as it was revealed that One Direction will be taking a break. They will be performing gigs until their Hallowe’en date before releasing their fifth album and then taking a break. We don’t know yet if they will re-form or go their separate ways completely, but we do know there won’t be a tour for their upcoming release.
You can watch the video atyoutube.com/ watch?t=21&v=ARe6z3lmwf0 fb.com/ReverendAndTheMakers
Strictly Come Musicians As part of this year’s SCD, singers Peter Andre, Daniel O’Donnell, and Jamelia plus the Wanted’s Jay McGuiness will take part. fb.com/bbcstrictly
fb.com/onedirectionmusic
Changes at the Voice Not Unusual Changes to the line-up for this year’s The Voice, BBC’s talent show rival to the X Factor, has seen Tom Jones dropped after four series and replaced by Boy George, who will join newcomer Paloma Faith, Will.i.Am and Kaiser Chiefs’ Ricky Wilson. fb.com/bbcthevoiceuk
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MUSIC NEWS
Steps Member Richards Releases Acoustic Version of Big Hit Former member of Steps Claire Richards has released an acoustic cover of the band’s famous hit ‘Deeper Shade of Blue’.
The beautiful piano-led ballad can be heard on the link below. https://soundcloud.com/ clairerichardsmusic/a-deepershade-of-blue-piano-version
Sam Smith Records New James Bond Theme It has now been officially revealed that singer Sam Smith has recorded the new theme for the upcoming James Bond film Spectre. ‘Writing’s On The Wall’ was written in 20-minutes, according to the singer, and is due out on the 25th September. fb.com/samsmithworld
Duke Dumont: Festival Favourite An announcement by Google Play has said that Duke Dumont was the most listened to dance artist on their service over this summer’s festival period. fb.com/DukeDumont
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MUSIC NEWS
The Wombats Announce Next Single The Wombats have announced that the next single they’re due to release from their latest album is ‘Emoticons’.
You can hear it at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=OLzGV3R0kLw fb.com/thewombatsuk
Detroit’s Electric Six Reveal Tracklisting for their eleventh studio album Out on 2nd October, Electric Six have revealed the tracklisting for their upcoming LP ‘Bitch, Don’t Let Me Die!’ 01. Drone Strikes 02. Two Dollar Two 03. Kids Are Evil 04. Roulette! 05. A Variation Of Elaine 06. Slow Motion Man 07. Big Red Arthur 08. Dime, Dime, Penny, Dime 09. If U R Who U Say U R 10. When Cowboys File For Divorce 11. Take Another Shape 12. Electric Six!
The album will be supported by US and UK tours. fb.com/Electric-6-154062438761/ timeline/
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SWEET MUSIC
Honey Ryder’s Lindsay O’Mahony on their new album, Nashville, the British Country Music Awards and close encounters with flying sunbeds... Lindsay O’Mahony, Jason Huxley and Matt Bishop make up Honey Ryder, a pop band from London with strong flavours of country, rock and folk, with a wide range of influences from performers like Fleetwood Mac, James Taylor, Carole King and Dolly Parton, the harmonies showcased by these artists flowing through their band. Honey Ryder have so far released three incredible albums, with their latest ‘Born In A Bottle’ available now and taking radio by storm. Here at KBPS we managed to grab lead singer Lindsay fresh fresh from recording a new track as the band – which she teased us with information about but said more would be revealed soon – to ask her about their latest album, singles and much more!
“At the moment we’re deciding on our second single. ‘Drink With Me’ was our first single and we’re debating on what the second single will be and we’re hopefully going to go to Radio 2 with our second single so I’m not sure which one it is yet – we’re debating between a couple on the album.” Their latest album ‘Born In A Bottle’ is available to buy on their website and there are plans to release a deluxe edition with new tracks soon on iTunes. This latest release by the band was largely recorded in Nashville.
“ We did a trip there during our second album and our second trip involved a lot of writing and recording, and the recording is very organic out there. You have your band and any additional session players you want on the track. You have your basic song on a dictaphone with guitar and vocals and you record it – you press play and everyone plays it. You can get three or four tracks done in one day, so it’s very productive and the quality of musicmanship is amazing. We’ll hopefully make another trip out there!” Nashville, thanks to its musical history and talented musicians there, proved to be a big inspiration to the band. “[The] writing calibre is really special. They write in a different way to us. [In the UK] when we write with someone we don’t know [we] sit and chat, have a cup of tea and if you get a good hook that day you’ll be really pleased. You don’t have to finish the song, whereas there it’s a production line – they want the verse and chorus done by lunchtime, the middle eight and the outro done by four o’clock and recorded, so it’s a different way of writing. “What we love about the Nashville writers is the emphasis that they put on lyrics. They’re really good storytellers and some of the people you work with [are] almost like poets and they’re really, really fantastic at writing lyrics so we’ve learnt a lot from that side of things. I definitely hope we get to go back there and write some more with the guys back there. “We originally went out because we sent one of our tracks to Paul Worley who is the producer of Lady Antebellum and the Dixie Chicks and he heard one of our tracks and said we should be writing out there, and he set us up with A-list writers so we had an amazing experience both times we went out there.” Though primarily a pop band you cannot ignore the country influences on Honey Ryder. Over the past twelve months we’ve seen an incredible rise in the popularity and range of country music in
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Honey Ryder A Potted History • • • • • •
Formed in 2006 From London Their debut album was ‘Rising Up’ ‘Marley’s Chains’ was their second album, with the titular lead single ‘Drink With Me’ was the first single from their third album ‘Born In A Bottle’ Their first single was ‘Numb’
Honey Ryder Online • • • •
https://www.facebook.com/ HoneyRyderBand https://twitter.com/ honeyryderband http://www.last.fm/music/ Honey+Ryder http://www.honeyryder.com/
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the UK, with acts such as the Shires, Ward Thomas and Jess and the Bandits, who we interviewed in the previous edition of KBPS, just some of the many acts doing well both live and in the charts on these shores. I asked Lindsay why she thought country music was having such a comeback in the UK?
“[With] someone like Dolly Parton headlining Glastonbury last year, that’s bringing country music to the younger audience. The really big country stars have made it here as well as America. I think it’s the crossover country that’s helped. People like Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift have made it more accessible. “The purer country hasn’t gone down in the past amazingly well in this country. It’s to do with the culture, what they’re singing about, all sorts of reasons. I think some of the country artists who are doing well
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over here are about the beautiful melodies, male-female harmonies, and it’s more accessible. I think crossover country is why country music is accelerating in the UK.” As well as having released three excellent long players, Honey Ryder are a band that relish the live environment with some live gigs coming up in September and October. We chatted to Lindsay about their live experience and what their hopes are as a band when performing in venues.
“I don’t mind people hearing a completely different thing to what’s on the record. When we play as a full band we like people to recognise our songs, similar to what they hear on the record. But we also like to strip songs back, so in the middle of a full band set we’ll always do an acoustic part, so you just hear the songs stripped back bare and hear the guitar, and mandolin, and maybe an electric or acoustic guitar, so hopefully you’ll hear variety.
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“[It’s also] a chance for Jason and Matt, who are great guitarists, to shine on stage. We extend some of the instrumentals so that you can hear the musicianship, but essentially I like to play what people hear on the record as I like people to sing along and I don’t want to surprise them vocally as I like them to be able to sing along and know what’s coming up next.
“It’s [also] good to throw in our own versions of covers, because also if people haven’t heard you before they like to hear a couple of songs in your set they’ve heard before.” I quizzed Lindsay on some of the covers they enjoy as a band, and these include Cher’s ‘Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves’, Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Landside’ and ‘Annie Song’ by John Denver.
“I know that normally [bands would] want to steer away from classics, but it’s purely for the love of those songs. I love them so much that we decided to do them. We get asked if we will play those and we definitely like obliging!”
The song ‘Drink With Me’ was the first cut from the group’s latest album and it’s been a real success for the band, and has gone down really positively both on the radio and at festivals, and they even played it live on the Stephen Nolan show on BBC Radio Ulster back in June. I asked Lindsay what the secret was behind the track’s success. “It’s a fun and light-hearted party song so at festivals and live gigs it goes down really well.” As well as their music, Honey Ryder are also keen to engage with their fans online, and we couldn’t help noticing on their
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Facebook page a list of ‘Honey Ryder Facts’, and we took the opportunity to verify the trivia with Lindsay. Firstly, a fact claimed that she knows all the lyrics to ‘The Message’ by classic rapper ‘Grandmaster Flash’... “Yes, I do! I’m not sure if that’s impressive or not! From when I was growing up my uncle had a huge collection of funk, soul and old school rap from the seventies and eighties. He used to play me lots of that all the time, and I’ve always been massively into lyrics, and when I hear a song I tune into the lyrics straight away and I remember them quite easily, so I know lots of rap. That’s probably for after a few drinks! “We did a cover version [of it too]. I basically wrote the melody for the verse and then we did it on mandolin and on acoustic guitar.”
The next fact claimed she was once hit by a flying sun-bed during a hurricane... “I was only little, about eight or something, and we were in Tenerife on holiday and I was in the swimming pool and literally within seconds, [without warning from staff about the hurricane], there were sunbeds flying off twenty-thirty floors up of this huge hotel and one fell right next to me in the swimming pool. “I remember my mum and dad thinking it was going to hit me, and my dad diving in with his clothes on and scooping me out and legging it into the hotel. That was my close call!”
Other facts you can discover on Facebook, using the hashtag #HoneyRyderFacts, include Lindsay having a bit of lead pencil
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stuck in her head since she was eight years old; that Matt loves watching Desperate Housewives and Come Dine With Me (Don’t we all – Ed); and that Jason was once bitten by a horse in the tummy as a child. I asked Lindsay how much social networking was helping them as a band.
“It’s amazing. I was a bit slow on the uptake with social networking. I wasn’t the biggest fan. You do get some good feedback. I got a message the other day [from Jill] who works in Wilkinson and who heard a lot of tracks from Marley’s Chains, our second album, but she didn’t know who they were by and found them on Spotify. “Now she tells people who it is when people ask. She’d bothered to let me know that she loves the songs which is a massive deal for us. The only reason why you do it is for people to enjoy it. I know I love it but I don’t want to do it if I’m not getting the positive feedback so that’s an amazing thing, that someone sitting wherever she is at work can let me know that she’s enjoying my music and that it brightens up her day. That means a lot, so it’s a very positive tool!
“Music is so accessible [now]. Sometimes you don’t notice it. But if you do walk in a shop as music’s playing you’re just using your eyes to look around and your ears are free to listen out to stuff. I love it when we get played in shops as we definitely gain fans from that.” Before wrapping up the interview I asked Lindsay about the band’s plans for the next year, which hopefully include a fourth album.
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“I really want to do a UK tour, with us headlining in a capacity of theatres, where you get nice intimate venues. I’d love to be in a position to do that. Hopefully in 2016 we’ll endeavour to do a UK tour. I just want to be able to keep on keeping on. I just hope people keep enjoying our music so we can keep writing and keep performing. “It’s a really tough industry. It can be hard to keep your head above water, so you’ve got to just keep pushing, keep fighting and keep loving it, which we do, so we love the journey and that’s the biggest ambition! A nice headline UK tour would be lovely!”
But before that Honey Ryder have got one big date for 2015 which will hopefully showcase them to an even wider audience, as they’ll be attending the British Country Music awards with three nominations under their belts – ‘Group of the Year’, ‘UK Song of the Year’ and ‘UK Album of the Year’. Lindsay was over the moon about such recognition. “It’s absolutely brilliant. It’s quite surreal and we’re really excited. I don’t know how many songs we’ll get to do, but I can’t wait to perform at night. You know that the audience listening are into country music so it’s great to have a niche award ceremony that people are going to watch if they love country, and it’s great to be part of it and be involved!” Find out more about the band at facebook. com/HoneyRyderBand, honeyryder.com and twitter.com/honeyryderband.
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READERS’ LIVES
Our readers’ favourite albums
Roy Phillips
The Wombats - This Modern Glitch The first album I ever bought with my own money. All the songs on that album are solid too. Hozier - Hozier A lot of people know it for ‘Take Me To Church’ but having listened to every song on repeat 10x can safely say it’s one of my favourites, just because EVERY song is great.
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever people say I am, that’s what I’m not The Arctic Monkeys are one of my favourite bands of all time and this is the album that first introduced me to them and nothing can beat it. Coldplay - Parachutes This one’s fairly simple, it contains my favourite song of all time on it, Yellow. I bought it for only that reason and it was amazing
Taylor Swift - Red Well I mean, come on, it’s T-Swizzle. Why wouldn’t this be one of your favourite all time albums?
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Nicola Ashworth
Niki and the Dove - Instinct Niki and the dove are a Swedish indietronica duo from Stockholm and released the Album ‘Instinct’ in May 2012 which features 12 fantastic tracks that flow easily into one another but each being so catchy and unique. If you love artists such as Charli XCX, Icona Pop & La Roux then this band will be up your street. A personal favourite of mine from the album is ‘Last Night’ and always one that I would never skip on a playlist.
Of Monsters and Men - My Head is an Animal Breaking through in 2012 ‘My Head is An Animal’ was released and stormed the world. First hearing the song ‘Little talks’ on the radio I was hooked and needed to hear more from this band and I was so glad I bought this album. Listening to it on long car trips makes the journey seem so short. If you like Mumford & Sons then you will love Of Monsters and Men.
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Grimes - Visions The first song I heard from this artist was called ‘Realiti’ and I was hooked into listening to Grimes right from the start. Unfortunately ‘Realiti’ didn’t make it on to the album but fortunately there is other great songs on this album such as ‘Genesis’ and ‘Oblivion’ Grimes easily make it into my top five albums with its quirky charm and oriental vibes. MS MR- ‘Secondhand Rapture’ I first heard this band on the season three trailer for Game of Thrones which I personally feel was a great song choice and certainly got my attention. Featuring songs such as Bones and BTSK which is a personal favourite. The music is dark and enthralling and unique and is certainly worth giving a listen.
Lights- ‘The Listening’ I discovered this artist completely by accident. Lights supported a band called ‘Owl City’ and in my opinion I found her to be better and i just had to buy her album. Her music is very pop-esk and produced very well. All of her music is quite chilled out and entrancing. Money well spent in my opinion, I would personally suggest to listen to ‘Face Up’ first before any other song and make your opinion from there.
Dan Mayers Metropolis Pt II, Scenes from a Memory, Dream Theater Easily one of the best progressive rock albums ever made. The album is broken down into chapters, rather than songs, and tells the story of a man going through hypnotherapy for past life regression and murder solving. Chillingly good!
The Final Experiment, Aryeon It’s the future. The Earth is at the brink of destruction, and an experiment known as ‘time telepathy’ is used to send visions and warning to the eyes of a blind minstrel back in the dark ages. Rock music, science fiction and Avalonian times; what’s not to like? Smpte, Transatlantic Talented people from different successful bands came together, including Mike Portnoy from the mighty Dream Theater to form this megaband! This album features some utterly superb song-writing; with a relaxed, nostalgia inducing, feel-good style to it.
The Metal Opera, Avantasia Exactly as it sounds. This collaborative album splices these two unusual genres together and it works exceptionally well. “Epic” seems a far too grandiose term to describe a bit of music, but that is kind of the overall feel to it. Baby One More Time, Britney Spears, …… I like it! Leave me alone.
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Guilty pleasure? Or is this just a pretty good album? I don’t really care to be honest; it was the first album I ever bought, and for what it is, which is a pop music album, I think it does a pretty good job.
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Alistair Proudman Clayman – In Flames Good as the Jester Race was at pioneering the melodeath movement, this remains In Flames zenith. From the crackling vinyl of the intro of Bullet Ride, this follows a route of wall of noise riffs and an excellent juxtaposition of growls and dark brooding spoken sections
The Gallery – Dark Tranquillity From the initial punch of Punish My Heaven, this is one of the albums that hooks me the most and introduced me to metal – regarded as one of the seminal works in the melodeath genre, alongside Slaughter of the Soul (At The Gates) and Jester Race (In Flame) and with good reason; pioneering and downright superb.
Heaven and Hell – Black Sabbath A tough choice between this and Paranoid, but Dios superb vocals just swung it for me – one of my favourite vocalists of all time and some excellent songs in here (Neon Knights, Heaven and Hell) tipped the edge, although Paranoid, complete with Iron Man and War Pigs is spectacular
Inflammable Material – Stiff Little Fingers A spectacular debut album by one of my favourite bands, it’s a brilliant example of what punk was – massively politically charged (no surprise given the band grew up in the troubles in Northern Ireland) and short, punchy and catchy while quite aggressive.
Crack the Skye – Mastodon I laboured long and hard over this one, but this was the album that showed prog and high-brow concepts could work in metal, with the Atlantan sludge-metallers breaking out a 7-song, fifty minute opus tying together astral projection, the art aesthetics of Tsarist Russia along with the death of Rasputin, and Stephen Hawking’s theory of wormholes – truly an incredible album. Whart are your favourite albums? E-mail us on philiplickley@gmail.com for future editions!
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JE SUIS JOSH SAVAGE Josh Savage on University bands, interrupting dogs and being blacklisted from a supermarket – dressed as a bear.
Singer-songwriter Josh Savage specialises in folk-rock with a tinge of classical. Born in London but raised in Winchester and Paris, his influences are mostly English but with some French inspiration. With the music scene in France not being as dynamic as in the UK, the English focus is stronger in his songs, but Savage has written material about both places and he performs in both English and French.
“I tend to write in English as that comes more naturally,” he told us. “In French I have to plan it much more.”
When he’s not making music he enjoys playing chess – once squeezing a draw against some very good players in New York – as well as playing football.
His new single ‘Bella’, inspired by a genuine person of a different name with the new title concealing her identity “because I didn’t want her to find out!” is out now which he describes as upbeat for him as an artist with “a lot more oomph to it than my other songs, which are a bit more melancholic and this one’s more fun. Not that the others aren’t fun, it’s the kind of stuff you can dance to!” Josh Savage has recently been performing a series of live gigs, including the Y Not Festival.
“That was definitely one of my favourite festivals; it had such a great atmosphere. The people were great especially considering I was playing an acoustic stage.” As well as more traditional gigs he has also worked with Sofar Sounds on a living room tour, literally performing in people’s front rooms.
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“Living room shows are a lot nicer as you actually get to meet the people who support your music whereas if you play pubs or venues you tend to stay in a hotel and then play your show and then head off, and you don’t tend to meet that many people. Living room shows are great as they’re really intimate and you can see the reaction of the audience and you can interact with them much more. I love them so much so I try to do them twice a year.” It’s also a place where the unusual can happen mid-set.
“I’ve had two dogs randomly start humping each other in front of me! You’ve just got to plough on and finish the song.” As Savage is a keen live artist, I was intrigued to find out more about his live performances.
“I have a backing band which I try to use as much as possible and I tend to involve some strings in there when I can so it tends to be drums, bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar and piano, and a stringed instrumental. It’s got more of a rocky feel to it, more of an oomph. It’s quite different; I tend to rock out a lot more in the band’s sets and acoustically tends to be more chilled. But they’re both equally good they just have a different vibe.” Savage actually began in a band when he studied at the University of York. ‘Taming the Savage’ was a great experience for him.
“I loved it. It was the first time I’d been in an actual band and we had a great time. It was mainly to get into University events. We took ourselves really seriously or I did anyway! We had a lot of fun playing festivals. I do miss playing in a band but we all graduated and went our separate ways.” Like a lot of breakthrough artists today,
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Savage is keen to manage a lot of his career, and has taken a big hand in promoting and funding his own music. I asked him whether that experience gets more stressful as his star rises. “It’s really tiring now. I’ve been doing [it] for three years and I’ve just come back from working at a special needs school. I enjoy it a lot but it’s quite exhausting. I think it’s great to do that when you start out, to find your feet and not have anyone guide you in direction, and finding just what you want to do yourself, [but] it’s come to a point with myself now that my music has picked up so much now that I’m struggling to fit everything together so I’m looking for management and a production agent. I just hope I can find someone!”
“Yes! It was the hottest I’ve ever been. It was on a summer’s day in July in Paris wandering around in a bear’s costume. I probably lost a third of my body weight in sweat but I was really happy with the video and I was quite glad I did!
“That was for a photography exhibition concert. I was actually out in Dubai for three months to get some work experience with my uncle who’s a sound engineer, and I was also booked to support Sting there at an Abu Dhabi arena, but they actually changed their mind and got a local band instead a week before. I was gutted!”
Josh Savage is now looking to gather some more funds together after his recent North American tour ahead of the living room sessions around Europe in October and November, with future plans to include a move down south.
Savage has had a really interesting career so far and his biography on his website proclaims some very intriguing facts, including the one that his great-granddad was one of the chief-designers of the Spitfire, being integral to the creation of the elliptical wing design. Another fact revealed that Savage once played in front of Dubai royalty.
Savage is also keen to get actively involved in the production of his videos. One such promotional clip I enjoyed watching online was for his song ‘Lost In Paris’ which sees a figure in a bear costume exploring the city. I was intrigued to know if that was Josh within the costume.
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“I also got blacklisted from a supermarket for trying to take honey in the bear costume for the video. They told me to never come back never again and it was a bit awkward as it was the supermarket down the road from my dad’s flat so I have to take an extra five minute walk every time to get supplies! I was so hot I had to take a few breathers so they saw my face. I’ve not tried going back there recently so I’m sure I could get away with it again, it’s been a year or so now!”
“I’m looking to move to London in the new year as I’d like to give London a try and see what happens!” Find out more about Josh Savage at facebook.com/joshdjsavage
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LIAM WALTERS
I’ve Got a Kickstarter Now Whilst magnifying glasses aren’t, by nature, a destructive force, in the hands of a small child on a hot summers day, they can be used to set fire to just about anything that exists in your back garden, be it a brother, a pet or a dry patch of grass. Kickstarter too, occupies this same space in the flowchart of things that can be, and are, grossly misused. So for those who don’t know what Kickstarter is, it’s a crowdfunding site which allows users to create projects outlining what they want to do, and request a certain amount of money for doing it. They can then set rewards offering prizes for people who donate so much money towards their project. Only if the project reaches its funding goal will it be allowed to go ahead. If it only raises, for example, £4500 out of £5000, then the money is returned to the investors instead of going to the project organisers. Your project on Kickstarter can be more or less anything, from products and technology, to web shows and films. Anything you can create, you can ask for funding for, which of course, includes music.
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Music is an interesting venture on Kickstarter, as it allows a lot of the smaller indie musicians to have a chance at getting out there and producing an album, especially those not tied to a label. From searching around Google, the minimum cost to professionally record an album seems to be about $10,000, and on top of that you also have manufacturing costs, if you want to sell it as a physical album. If you decide to go the digital route, although you won’t be putting any money upfront, iTunes does take about 30% of the profit taken in, meaning it takes more time to get your ROI (Return On investment). After actually releasing your album, you then have promotion and marketing costs, some of the most important bits which people tend to forget about, because why create an album if you don’t have the money to let people know about it? Overall, you’re looking at a lot of money being made. Of course, you could compensate on some of the quality and professionalism and reduce recording costs by a significant amount, but then that becomes creates a poorer quality product and one that’s less likely to succeed. With taking all this into account, it makes sense that these independent artists would turn
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towards crowd-funding, and there’s nothing wrong with this. If fans are willing to put money forward to hear more from an artist they like, then it makes complete sense to let them do so. The fans get more of the music they like and the artist gets to further their career… But what happens when already established artists try to get on the train. Should famous bands and artists be able to use Kickstarter to produce their own albums? It’s difficult to say, but it has happened, and there’s one band in particular I’m going to pick on, just because I know how much our dear editor Phil favour them, and that’s Electric Six. Electric Six had two big hits, both in 2003 with Danger! High Voltage and Gay Bar. Whilst I’m unable to find any figures on downloads and sales, Danger! peaked at #2 in the UK’s top 40, whilst Gay Bar peaked at #5, and it’s fair to say that neither has particularly faded from public knowledge in the past 12 years.
Electric Six obviously isn’t a massive band, just a good band, with a good following, who have had quite a couple big hits, but does this allow them to come to us in order to create a Live DVD, or a 2 Disk Album comprising of Cover Songs and Rare/Unreleased songs? Should we still go by the mantra that is fans are willing to pay, then there’s no harm in letting them, or is there a line in the sand that Electric Six has not crossed yet? If the likes of Jesse J, or Chris Martin or Calvin Harris we’re to create a Kickstarter, would this be okay just because they would have fans willing to empty their pockets?
Whilst most of you may brush this off as insignificant, I leave you with this final thought. If the big names in music do begin to reach out with Kickstarter, then how are the lesser-known indie artists (for whom the platform was made for) meant to survive? Whilst the indie artists will always have their fans, if even some of the money that would go to them, is instead used to help Chris Brown create his presidential album release, then the indie artists just might not make it, and with less new talent coming in, could the industry begin to stagnate?
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MY PLAYLIST
What am I listening to
A brief exploration of my current mobile phone playlist.
Andreya Triana - Playing With Fire Claire Richards - Deeper Shade of Blue Nerina Pallot - Rousseau Spector - Stay High HAIM - Falling
Rachel Platten - Fight Song
Kerri Watt - A Long Way Home Only The Young - I Do Sykes - Best Thing
Everything Everything Spring / Sun / Winter / Dread Paul Weller - Brand New Toy
The Wombats - Give Me A Try Mika - All She Wants
Florrie - Live A Little
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We discover what makes music timeless with Guildford singersongwriter Elena Ramona!
THE TIMELESS MUSICAN
Elena Ramona is a singer-songwriter based in Guildford who specialises in acoustic pop and writes songs that are meaningful to her with deep lyrics but are also timeless. With influences from the Beatles and Led Zeppelin, she hopes her brand of well-written songs will reach out to a wide range of audience. Here at KBPS we spoke to her about her music career so far and her plans for the future. Ramona didn’t grow up in a musical family but it was something she’d always wanted to do from a young age. She began writing little songs when she was five or six but these early works inspired her to flourish into a career in song-writing and music. Though her grandfather played the piano, the family otherwise was sporty. Ramona’s mother is English but her father is Greek, so I asked her what influence her background – she was born in Greece and was recently there on a holiday where she caught up with old friends – has had on her music. “Greek music is very vocal and quite passionate and some of that has come out in what I write. Verbally the Greek influence is there.”
Ramona started releasing music around two years ago with a song called ‘Rise’. I asked her what inspired that debut release. “I’d say the love and support of my family. That was the first song I put together seriously and I just wanted to thank them for being there and helping me through everything, [for] being my rock.” As well as her music, Ramona has been involved with several moody black and white promotional videos, for songs such as ‘Rise’ and ‘Blue Eyes’.
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“Part of me wants the black and white to be my trademark in videos so it could be anytime, sixties or seventies. I’d like to think that everyone can put their own spin on my music; anyone can think what they want about it in terms of the setting or the mood. With the meanings behind the song everyone can relate to having a family and having somebody there for them. I hope that everyone young and old can relate meaningfully to my songs!”
In 2014 Ramona released her ‘Hold On’ EP and this was the first part of her release strategy. She hopes to follow this first extended plan with two further ones called ‘To The Music’ and ‘Forever’ which will chart her progression musically, with the highlights of these forming a full length album called ‘The Evolution’. “I’ve got a couple of songs in the pipeline at the moment. Getting everyone together is quite time consuming as people are doing other things. Maybe in 2016-17 I’ll get [the] actual album together and get a couple of the older tracks in there as well to show me growing mentally from quite a young musician to someone who is actually going further and learning. I’m really enjoying the journey and I want the Evolution album to show this, that it’s a journey and I’m growing as a person. I am a completely different person musically since ‘Rise’. I’m more grounded than I used to be.” At the moment Elena Ramona is doing a mixture of other projects, including video editing and song-writing for other artists to expand her experiences and connections. This additional work and a conscious decision not to work to a deadline means she’s got a plan of where she’d like to go but no fixed and forced
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timeline to make it happen. Clearly as she’s a keen songwriter as well as singer, both for her own material and others, I was keen to discover her song-writing process.
“A lot of the time it’s the lyrics that come first. It depends on what mood I’m in. If I’m in a sad mood or a mood where I feel really stuck, quite a solemn song will come out, but if I’m feeling ‘yeah I can do this’… it completely depends on the mood. I’m sure everyone suffers from writer’s block. I’ll write some of the song, and then the next day I’ll feel in such a good mood that I can’t actually finish that song but I’ll have it there waiting until I’m not in a great mood again. “Sometimes the melody will come with the words; so it won’t be just words written on a piece of paper, it’ll actually be the song as I hear it in my head. It’ll also kind of merge in and I’ll think about what I want, and I’ve got friends at the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) who produce and we work together, so they understand me musically.” In the past Ramona has also done song-writing workshops for children aged 7-13 years, alongside another singer called Adam Wedd. She was extremely positive about this venture.
“It was really lovely to have all the kids there to show them how I’ve done it. I gave them a little talk about what I’ve been doing, and how I’m doing it. It was a two-day course and we had different groups and we had to write a song, and it was great to be part of that, and they all shared a huge passion with music. Even in the two days a lot of them grew in confidence and were happy to be part of it. It was lovely to see the next generation of music at work!” Looking back at her current material, Elena Ramona released a song called ‘Got It’ back in August, as a collaboration with Ryhmer and
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StartSomeFires. This song came about through Ramona’s keenness to work with other people and broaden her audience through a range of different genres and side-projects, working with her friends who are also in the music business.
“Having lots of friends who went to the ACM it’s lovely that I can collaborate and it’s so easy to do. That song again is about holding onto the dreams of music but in a different way.
“It’s very good exposure to actually get out there. It’s good to keep things fresh as it shows other people I’m versatile and [that] I can work and write with other people, and that’s important in the music industry today to be able to say that I can do this. It makes you more worth somebody’s time if you can write more material and get into character. “Sometimes you might have someone telling you to write a song [in a certain way] and if you can’t get out of your own zone and write for other people, you might get a little stuck. For me, as a singersongwriter, it’s good for me to branch out there and have other people producing my material.”
Through videos posted on her social networks Ramona is also keen on showcasing her live performances. Online you can hear many of her covers, including a beautiful rendition of the classic ‘Eagle Eye Cherry’ song ‘Save Tonight’, which she told me is one of her favourite songs of all time as, like her aim for her music, is timeless and she discovered the song just as she was at the age where she discovered music. Ramona also plays live regularly and has some London gigs planned for September.
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REVIEWS SPECTOR -
“It’s really good fun gigging. It makes me feel so happy that I’ve played my music in front of a live audience. It’s a totally different experience and way of looking at it, performing live to recording. There are open mic nights in the Guildford area that I’ll be playing live at soon. I did one recently with a couple of covers which was fun. Being London-based Spector return with their second around London is perfect as there’s so much album ‘Moth Boys’ after 2012’s ‘Enjoy It While It Lasts’ which spawned such great singles as going on!” ‘Celestine’, ‘Never Fade Away’ and ‘Friday Night, Don’t Ever Let It End’. Three years on and not It looks set to be an exciting time for Elena Ramona with some interesting new releases much has changed with follow-up ‘Moth Boys’ keeping their signature sound and running coming out for later this year. with more songs with a very similar sound. That’s not always a bad thing as I personally “I’m hoping to release a Christmas song. like their sound, but this is a second album It happened last year but I wasn’t very that’s certainly a continuation of what they did happy with it. I had it ready but for me it previously. Channelling the sound of the Killers wasn’t good enough so I decided I’ll wait. I wanted more of a live sound. So hopefully in with the quirkier lyrics of Franz Ferdinand, September or October I’ll be recording that Maximo Park and Sparks, this is a hefty, solid in a studio. It’s about not taking everything indie album that wins me over with its style on for granted because my family are in Greece, all but a couple of tracks.
MOTH BOYS
I work part-time in retail, so I don’t get to see them around Christmas, so it’s that whole thing about not throwing away what you’ve got because a lot of people around the world have nothing. It’s that kind of message at Christmas that people try to portray, that everyone is lucky for what they’ve got.” And then after this release it looks to be an even more exciting 2016 for the Guildfordbased singer-songwriter.
“I’m living for the moment right now, but my main dream or goal is working with as many people as I can, getting out there and becoming an established music artist!”
‘Moth Boys’ opens with a strong double-header. ‘All The Sad Young Men’ is a bass-heavy anthem for disaffected youth with several catchy hooks woven into each other, with the killer ‘I don’t want to make love / I don’t want to make plans’ surely an anthem for the introverts out there. ‘Stay High’ which follows ramps up the indie a little more, the drug-fuelled imagery, references to film vetoes, Back to the Future and the necessity of phone charging, and giving way to a quirky memorable pop-indie chorus, and with some great production decisions it feels like the closest song to a killer single.
‘Believe’ is a more electronic dance-focussed number with strong verses that give way to a more repetitive chorus but it’s the later You can find out more about her at https:// breakdown that works best on this strong third track. ‘Don’t Make Me Try’, which follows, www.facebook.com/pages/Elenais another highlight of the album once more Ramona/323928237668916 or twitter. mixing some real-life observational lyrics with a com/elenaramona90 surprising ability to continue to pull hooks out
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of the everyday and is still very listenable even without an obvious chorus.
‘Cocktail Party / Heads Up’ is a more instrumental-focussed number, mixing an ambient feel with casual delivery of lyrics. Not one of my favourites on the album it does feel like a necessary break after four very solid opening numbers. ‘Bad Boyfriend’, however, is an incredible track and my favourite on the album, the catchy and soaring chorus belying the sombreness of the lyrics. ‘Decade of Decay’ goes 80s-electronica mixed with the sound of Franz Ferdinand, and creates a very catchy number in the space of just over two minutes. ‘Kyoto Garden’ feels like a follow-up to track five, the slower pace not quite suiting the band as the speedier numbers. ‘West End’ lifts the mood back up again with another foottapping indie song.
‘Using’, the penultimate track on the album, is unusual for the LP in that it’s a slower number but works for the band with a solid chorus, though it lacks the punch of the earlier numbers. Things come to a head with a five-minute ending opus ‘Lately It’s You’ with its distinctive electronic riff which wraps things up well sonically with a speedier final half that keeps the energy going, music taking precedence over the lyrics. ‘Moth Boys’ will keep fans of the band’s first album – like me – happy. It’s still another forty-minute ode to the awkwardness of youth with down-to-earth and downbeat lyrics and delivery mixed with catchy indie beats, but it’s got the musical oomph to keep you coming back to it. It’s not quite got the power of their debut and is best when it keeps the tempo faster but it’s pretty close to their debut in terms of big hitters and well worth forty minutes of your time. (8/10)
PAUL SMITH AND THE IMITATIONS CONTRADICTIONS On the tenth anniversary of Maxïmo Park’s debut album ‘A Certain Trigger’, lead singer Paul Smith goes sortof-solo, teaming up with some new musicians for this release ‘Contradictions’. But, as you might expect, new faces don’t really bring anything fresh to the table and this could well be a new release from the main band, sharing as it does many of the sounds and styles of the previous album and the continuing feel that the albums suffer from diminishing returns with the high being 2007’s ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’.
Opener ‘The Deep End’ with its echo chambered vocals and album name-checking chorus is one of the best on the piece, Smith’s voice as listenable as ever, the lyrics mixed in well with the smoothness of the music. ‘Break Me Down’ continues the theme – well-written lyrics, gentle sound and quirky choruses, but it sounds too much like Park’s older material. ‘Reintroducing the Red Kite’ is as quirky as you’d expect from the title, the short sharp chorus of the title sitting at odds with the otherwise gentle soundscape, with ‘Before the Perspiration Falls’ feels more of the same, as do many of the tracks that follow. In fact it’s pretty pointless for me to start listing the tracks as it’s very hard to name them as individual pieces. The 44-seconds of the acoustic ‘The Golden Glint’ is at least
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something a little different, and it’s only on the drum-heavy closer ‘Fluid Identity’ that my attention peaks again.
‘Contradictions’ just feels like Maxïmo Park #6 in all but name, the lyrical titles, hefty lyrics and merging sounds all left over from the main band. Lacking any huge and distinct numbers, anything here merges into one 38-minute soundscape. It’s not a bad album – it’s laid back indie sound is very appealing – but it just doesn’t add anything new to what we’ve heard from the singer and his main band. It’s just too, well samey, to win me over and I’ve heard this all before, but better. (4/10)
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ALISTAIR PROUDMAN
The Format Wars Well, the format wars have reared their head again as Apple have launched their streaming service to some opposition from artists over royalties, while Tesco became the first UK supermarket to sell vinyl with the launch of the new Iron Maiden album ‘The Book of Souls’. But is any of this actually good for the bands?
Apple’s streaming service faced criticism over the lack of royalties in the first three months (something they’ve since changed), but it’s still pretty grim reading for the musicians – the royalties work out the same as other streaming services – a fraction of a cent per stream, with it working out around 0.3 cents per stream to the artist after all the deductions for production companies and labels; meaning you’d need 333 streams for a dollar – leaving all but the biggest artists making a minor pittance with streaming services; indeed the amount is so pitiful some music fans have likened it to piracy.
But, is physical actually any better? That £10 CD or £20 vinyl record may seem like a lot more money, but getting it on the shelves of your local HMV or supermarket requires them to have a distribution deal and a pressing deal – usually done through a label, which then sees them losing a fairly big fraction of the sales to the label, or if done without a label then that money first has to see the payment of the rent of the studio to record, the producer, mastering, promotion costs, merchandising and touring to promote – suddenly making that
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£10 look rather small; something Trivium showed in 2011 with their album In Waves, which charted at number 13 in America, selling 22,000 copies in its first week. £220,000 in the first week from album sales, so, when the frontman Matt Heafy tweeted his royalty check 3 months later, how much had he actually received for that album? $1.31. That’s not a misplaced decimal point – one dollar and 31 cents (accounting for inflation; that today would be $1.39, or 91 pence). So, from the moment he decided to have lunch while recording that album, he was making a loss. All of a sudden that £10 on a CD looks phenomenally bad for the artist – yes, there’s a slight profit margin, but what it means is rather than a couple of fractions of pennies, the artist has instead a couple of bits of copper to rub together. So, let’s scrap physical and get downloading right? Not so fast! Download from iTunes and the artist only gets about 16%, which then still has a lot of deductions to be made. Which is where a site like Bandcamp comes in, and the DIY route becomes far more desirable – Bandcamp charges a small fee to bands looking to sell their albums directly through the site, but it’s pennies in the pound rather than the other way around; all of this still takes money, and the physical products remain an antiquity provided with very little financial reward for the band once the production costs are accounted for, but it would seem that the formats aren’t the problem; the industry is.
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ROB BEEZLEY
The Top Forty Column Hello all, Hope you’re having a good day and welcome to my monthly column here at KBPS!
Also set for release in September and expected to be huge:
The only place to start with regards to the top 40 is with Jess Glynne and Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself and also Rachel Platten with Fight Song which have both been at number 1!
Nick Brewer feat. Bibi Bourelly - Talk to Me Expected to be huge on the RnB scene and sampling Crystal Waters with Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless) this song is expected to be like Marmite, You will either love it or hate it!
I’m Rob, An avid lover of all genres of music however my forte is Top 40 and New Releases and I’ll be bringing to you the best in upcoming music... so let’s get started:
James Bay - Scars James returns with his soulful voice after huge hits “Let It Go” and “Hold Back The River” and this one doesn’t dissapoint. It’s just as good and destined for big things!
Watch out though as set for release this week is Sigala and their HUGE club hit “Easy Love” which samples The Jacksons classic “ABC”. Sigala is expected to jump straight in at number one! Hopefully I won’t have to eat humble pie :p (You won’t, Ed)
R City feat. Adam Levine - Locked Away Rapper R City and Adam Levine of Maroon 5 team up for this meaningful ballad which in my eyes is destined for number 1 (see before about humble pie haha)
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George Ezra - Barcelona This boy must be going on a tour of Europe because hes been to “Budapest” and now his new single is called “Barcelona”. At the risk of making a pun, I hope his next single isn’t “Brussels”!!! Jokes aside though this is a lovely song and well worth a listen!
POP-CORN
MUSIC IN THE MOVIES
Years and Years - Eyes Shut Played this on my show the other week as Record of the Week and its a brilliant follow up to “Shine” and “King”. It’s a bit more mainstream and not quite as dancy as the other two but that takes nothing away from it and it’s a brilliant song.
Wilkinson feat. Shannon SaundersBreathe Waka... waka... waka Wilkinson return with a very similar style to their other songs and there is a reason Though the movie itself got some mixed reviews I’ve saved this till last, Sorry Wilkinson and it’s difficult to deny that Pixels had some great sorry Shannon but this... this is terrible in music in it. (We also loved the film by the way) my eyes, What do you think?!
Our recommendations are the lead song, ‘Game This month’s !Big Hit! goes to Robin Thicke On’ by Waka Flocka Flame and Good Charlotte, as and Nicki Minaj with “Back Together” well as the VonLichten remix of Queen’s ‘We Will which is a fantastic number that will make Rock You’. you dance and is destined for number one if it charts. (The lyrics of “beep” me back together may mean it doesn’t chart but I don’t see why it wouldn’t). The Reason I have this on “Big Hit! and not in future releases is I’m not sure if this is released this month or next as the record label is being pretty mysterious! So that’s us finished with this months article, Thanks for supporting myself and KBPS and keep it coming! We really do appreciate it and any feedback is welcome.. I’m on Twitter @djrobhd1 so why not let me know what you think?! Don’t forget to check out my show “The Sunday Mix” on www.HD1radio.co.uk every Sunday from 8pm to 10pm. See you again next month, Rob
A Much Needed Vacation Another song that hit the high notes during our summer movie visits was ‘Holiday Road’ by the Zac Brown Band, a cover of the Lindsey Buckingham song. It may only be about two minutes long but it’s a great song and again we loved the film!
Out and About
Discovering music around the UK
Becky Chilton Having won a singing competition at the venue earlier in the year, Chilton returned to Forsters Bistro in Bradford to perform an incredible double-set of songs, includng some amazing Sia covers and more. fb.com/beckychiltonperformer
Dave Pilla and Ellie Coast, Forsters Bistro, Bradford (14th August 2015) It wasn’t the greatest weather to entice people into Bradford City Centre so Forsters Bistro was uncharacteristically quiet on this friday night, but those who were there had the pleasure of two excellent acoustic guitarists on the night.
First up was Leeds’ Dave Pilla whose set mixed with a little of his own well written material with a lot of great covers and mashups. Sounding like David Gray but with the vocal waiver of James Blunt, his version of Pulp’s ‘Common People’ was a delight to hear whilst his mash-up of Nick Drake’s ‘Been Smoking Too Long’ into the classic ‘Hit The
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Road Jack’ was well transitioned, as was ‘No Diggity’ blended into Aloe Blacc’s ‘I Need A Dollar’. Other songs to get his magical touch included George Ezra’s ‘Budapest’. Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’ and Womack and Womack’s ‘Teardrops’. But he also showcased some of his own material taken from his EPs including ‘Take The Boat Back Home’. http://davepilla.com/
Dave Pilla was followed by Ellie Coast, also from Leeds, who having guested on a couple of Dave’s songs, took to the stage in her own right, delivering a more even mixture of original and cover material in her very soulful voice. Her version of ‘Dream A Little Dream’, which she said she was performing at a wedding, was beautiful as was her take on Adele’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’. Elsewhere we got versions of Christina Perri’s ‘A Thousand Years’, ‘I Wish You Love’ and a song from Eva Cassidy, all brilliantly sung and delivered. fb.com/elliecoastmusic
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VIDE-OH
TAYLOR SWIFT - WILDEST DREAMS
Concept: It’s the 1950s, it’s warm, it’s Africa. Taylor Swift is an actress on set of a film romancising a felow actor both on and off set. What have we learnt? • The best men are bad, tall and handsome as hell • The best women have red lips and rosey cheeks • It’s possible to sit very near a lion and not actually be mauled to death • You can see so many animals quite
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• • • •
easily in Africa, not sitting in a hot car for a long time Everyone in Africa is white When you kiss someone you have to put your leg up Giraffes love seeing long flowing yellow dresses Zebras don’t need security passes to get onto a film set
Watch the video at youtube.com/ watch?v=IdneKLhsWOQ and make up your own mind!
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NOT NEWS
News stories that might not be entirely genuine...
Sam Smith Opens A Chain of Pubs
Kanye West To Run For President
Fresh from his James Bond revelation, singer Sam Smith is lending his name to a chain of pubs in the hope of keeping his profile high.
Kanye West has announced his most audicious statement yet saying that he hopes to stand for president.
Cowell Shakes Up X-Factor As Strictly Competition Hots Up
Wait... you mean he genuinely did this? Scrap this idea...
Having poached Rita Ora from the Voice, Simon Cowell has now recruited former SCD presenter Bruce Forsyth as a judge on the talent show. When asked if it was good to have the legend on board, Cowell confessed “it was nice to see him nice” but it was also good to bring in some younger talent to replace Lous Walsh.
The public were in shock this week as a music story didn’t include Ed Sheeran, his romantic liasons, his tattoos, music career or any other information.
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Ed Sheeran Doesn’t Appear In A News Story
Many, assuming it to be a printing mistake, were happy to see his name appearing in following editions.
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DISC-OGRAPHY
Every song on these pages has been listened to, liked and rated so you can take our assurance that every song on here is worth buying. Each song gets a three-note rating, with the cream of the best given three notes. It also shows the date of release, chart position and a YouTube link. ‘DNC’ means ‘Did Not Chart’ and may mean that the data doesn’t exist or it’s not yet been released
January
Watch all the videos: http://bit.ly/1NcaBAN
Olly Murs feat. Demi Lovato – Up (4th, #4, TTT) Kid Rock - First Kiss (6th, DNC, T) Texas - Start A Family (6th, DNC, TT) Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do (7th, #1, TTT) Elina Born & Stig Rästa - Goodbye to Yesterday (8th, DNC, TTT) Sia - Elastic Heart (9th, #10, TTT) Gwen Stefani - Baby Don’t Lie (11th, DNC, T) Rae Morris - Under The Shadows (11th, #53, TTT) Gregory Porter feat. Laura Mvula - Water Under Bridges (12th, DNC, T) Kelly Clarkson - Heartbeat Song (12th, #7, TTT) Longfellow – Medic (12th, DNC, TTT) The Prodigy – Nasty (12th, #98, T) All Time Low - Something’s Gotta Give (13th, DNC, TT) Ivy Levan – Biscuit (13th, DNC, TTT) Maroon 5 – Sugar (13th, #7, TTT) Take That - Get Ready For It (12th, DNC, TTT) First Aid Kit - Master Pretender (12th, DNC, T) Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds - Ballad Of The Mighty I (13th, #54, TT) Lonely The Brave - Trick of the Light (14th, DNC, T) The Wombats – Greek Tragedy (14th, DNC, TT) The Shires - Friday Night (Jeremy Wheatley Single Mix) (16th, DNC, TTT) Hannah Jane Lewis - Run With Me (18th, DNC, T) Holly Johnson - Heaven’s Eyes (18th, DNC, TT) Meghan Trainor - Lips Are Movin’ (18th, #2, TTT) Anushka – Kisses (19th, DNC, TT) Blossoms, The - Cut Me and I’ll Bleed (19th, DNC, TT) The Waterboys - November Tale (19th, DNC, TTT)
The Hearts – Lips (19th, DNC, TT) Giorgio Moroder feat. Kylie Minogue - Right Here, Right Now (20th, #125, TT) Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Little Boys with Shiny Toys (20th, DNC, TT) Seafret – Oceans (21st, DNC, T) Gretchen Peters - When All You Got Is A Hammer (Radio Edit) (23rd, DNC, TT) Alle Farben feat. Graham Candy - She Moves (25th, DNC, TTT) Chris Lorenzo and Hannah Wants – Rhymes (25th, DNC, TT) Dreadzone - Fire in the Dark (25th, DNC, T) Fergie - L.A.Love (La La) (25th, #3, T) Karen Harding - Those Girls (25th, DNC, T) Selena Gomez - The Heart Wants What It Wants (25th, #15, T) Madeon feat. Kyan - You’re On (26th, DNC, T) Meghan Trainor feat. John Legend - Like I’m Gonna Lose You (26th, DNC, TT) MisterWives - Our Own House (26th, DNC, T) Sheppard - Let Me Down Easy (26th, DNC, TTT) Train - Bulletproof Picasso (26th, DNC, TTT) The Score - Oh My Love (27th, DNC, T) Kaiser Chiefs - Falling Awake (28th, DNC, TTT, http://bit.ly/1KSUKbo) Bryan Ferry – Driving Me Wild (30th, DNC, Thttp:// bit.ly/1FXK73E)
February
Watch all the videos: http://bit.ly/1KUL0vT
Kodaline – Honest (1st, #39, TT) Mike Mago & Dragonette - Outlines (Radio Edit) (1st, #8, T) Youth Club – Breathe (1st, DNC, T) Youth Club – People (1st, DNC, TTT) All We Are - Keep Me Alive (2nd, DNC, T) Gavin DeGraw – Fire (2nd, DNC, TTT) Sam and the Womp – Zeppelin (2nd, DNC, T) Shake Shake Go - England Skies (2nd. DNC. T) Hayley Kiyoko - Girls Like Girls (3rd, DNC, T) Lunchmoney Lewis – Bills (5th, #2, TTT) Charli XCX - Doing It (feat. Rita Ora) (6th, #8, TTT) Say Lou Lou - Nothing but a Heartbeat (6th, DNC,
T) Lady Antebellum - Long Stretch of Love (7th, DNC, TT) Ady Suleiman - So Lost (8th, DNC, T) Bakermat - Teach Me (8th, #22, T) Bipolar Sunshine – Daydreamer (8th, DNC, TTT) DJ Fresh feat. Ella Eyre – Gravity (8th, #4, TT) Jack Savoretti - Written In Scars (8th, DNC, TT) Ne-Yo - Coming With You (8th, #14, TT) JD McPherson - Let The Good Times Roll (9th, DNC, TT) Kodaline – Ready (9th, DNC, TTT) Taylor Swift – Style (9th, #21, TTT) Ariana Grande - One Last Time (10th, #24, TT) Soak - B a nobody (12th, DNC, T) Clean Bandit – Stronger (13th, #4, TT) Chic feat. Nile Rodgers - I’ll Be There (14th, DNC, TT) Imagine Dragons - I Bet My Life (16th, #27, T) Passion Pit - Lifted Up (1985) (16th, DNC, TTT) Texas - Are You Ready (16th, DNC, TT) Cris Cab – Fables (16th, DNC, T) Brian Wilson - The Right Time [feat. David Marks] (17th, DNC, TT)3R) Everything Everything - Distant Past (18th, DNC, TT) The Prides – Messiah (18th, DNC, TT) Sizarr – Timesick (19th, DNC, TTT) Krista Siegfrids - On & Off (20th, DNC, T) David Guetta - What I did for Love (feat. Emeli Sandé) (22nd, #6, TT)4S0) Black Star Riders - The Killer Instinct (23rd, DNC, TT) I Am Harlequin - Kill the Night (23rd, DNC, T) Longfellow - Where I Belong (23rd, DNC, TT) Public Service Broadcasting - Go! (23rd, DNC, TTT) Swiss Lips – Books (23rd, DNC, TTT) Charles Perry - Stranger To Love (24th, DNC, T) Iggy Azalea - Trouble [feat. Jennifer Hudson] (24th, #7, TTT) Connell Cruise - Into The Wild (25th,
DNC, T) Madonna - Living For Love (25th) Madyx - Some Kisses (25th, DNC, TTT) Take That - Let In The Sun (25th, DNC. TT) Sonus – Fascination (26th, DNC, T) Years & Years – King (27th, #1, TTT) Måns Zelmerlöw – Heroes (28th, #11, TT)
March
Watch all the videos: http://bit.ly/1OoFyjW Alex Adair - Make Me Feel Better (1st, #13, T) Marlon Roudette - When the Beat Drops Out (1st, #7, TT) The Veronicas - If You Love Someone (1st, #98, TTT) Carly Rae Jepsen - I Really Like You (2nd, #3, TTT) Major Lazer - Lean On (feat. MO & DJ Snake) (2nd, #2, TT) The Overtones - Something Good (2nd, DNC, TT,) Conrad Sewell - Hold Me Up (3rd, DNC, TT) Deorro x Chris Brown - Five More Hours (3rd, #4, T) Urban Cone - Come Back To Me [feat Tove Lo] (3rd, DNC, TT) Mumford & Sons – Ditmas (4th, DNC, 1) X Ambassadors – Renegades (3rd, DNC, TT) Nickelback – She Keeps Me Up (4th, DNC, TT) Conchita Wurst - You Are Unstoppable (5th, DNC, TTT) CHVRCHES and Eric Prydz - Tether (Eric Prydz Vs. Chvrches) (Radio Edit) (8th, DNC, T) Flo Rida feat. Sage the Gemini and Lookas – Gdfr (8th, #3, TT, http://bit.ly/1xKXkKe) Florrie - Too Young To Remember (8th, DNC, TTT) The Vaccines - Handsome (Single Edit) (8th, #74, T,) Sheppard – Geronimo (8th, #36, TTT) Blue - King of the World (9th, DNC, T) Cold War Kids – First (9th, DNC, TTT) Doda - Not Over You (9th, DNC, T) High Tyde - Feel It (9th, DNC, T) Jason Derulo - Want To Want Me (9th, #1, TT) Nova Rockafeller - Made In Gold (10th, DNC, T) Thea Gilmore - Live out Loud (11th, DNC, TTT) We Are The Ocean - Good For You (11th, DNC, T)
Madonna – Ghosttown (13th, #65, TT) Tough Love - So Freakin’ Tight (13th, #11, T) Young Kato - Children Of The Stars (13th, DNC, TTT) Becky G - Can’t Stop Dancin’ (15th, DNC, TT) The Script – Man On A Wire (15th, DNC, T) David Guetta - Hey Mama (feat Nicki Minaj & Afrojack) (16th, #9, T) Kacey Musgraves – Biscuits (16th, DNC, T) Mark Knopfler – Beryl (16th, DNC, Tf) Sykes - Best Thing (16th, DNC, TT) Van Morrison and Clare Teal - Carrying A Torch (16th, DNC, TT) Enrique Iglesias - Let Me Be Your Lover [feat Pitbull] (17th, DNC, T) Wiz Khalifa - See You Again (feat Charlie Puth) (17th, #1, T) Sage the Gemini - Good Thing (18th, DNC, T) Clairity - Sharks In The Swimming Pool (19th, DNC, T) Cheryl - Only Human (22nd, #70, T) Lost Frequencies feat. Janieck Devy - Reality (Radio Edit) (22nd, DNC, T) Marina & The Diamonds – Ruin (22nd, #164, TTT) James Bay - If You Ever Want To Be In Love (23rd, T) Krewella - Somewhere to Run (23rd, DNC, T) Kygo feat Parson James - Stole the Show (23rd, #24, TTT) Striking Matches - Missing You Tonight (23rd, DNC, TT) All Time Low – Runaways (24th, DNC, T) Brandon Flowers - Can’t Deny My Love (24th, #60, TT) Sheppard - Let Me Down Easy (25th, DNC, TT) Will Young - Love Revolution (27th, DNC, TTT) Mr. Probz - Nothing Really Matters (29th, #72, T) Circa Waves - T-Shirt Weather (30th, DNC, TTT) ElectroVelvet – Still in Love With You (30th, #63, TTT) Hoodie Allen – Dumb For You (30th, DNC, T) Joy Williams - Woman (Oh Mama) (30th, DNC, T) Cam - My Mistake (31st, DNC, TTT) Coasts - Modern Love (31st, DNC, T) Flo Rida - I Dont Like It, I Love It (feat Robin Thicke & Verdine White) (31st, #7, TT) Hollywood Undead - Usual Suspects (31st, DNC, T) Nathan Carter - Wagon Wheel (31st, DNC, T)
April
Watch all the videos: http://bit.ly/1ISezsf
FFS - Piss Off (2nd, DNC, TT) Whilk & Misky - Burn With Me (2nd, DNC, T) Robin Schulz feat. Ilsey - Headlights (3rd, #96, T) Bear’s Den – Agape (6th, DNC, T) Heymous Molly - Lifes A Beach (7th, DNC, TTT) Thomas Rhett - Crash And Burn (7th, DNC, T) Guy Sebastian - Tonight Again (7th, #178, TT) Florence + The Machine - Ship To Wreck (8th, #27, TTT) Blonde - All Cried Out (feat Alex Newell) (10th, #4, T) Freddie Dickson – Speculate (12th, DNC, TTT) Lucy Spraggan – Unsinkable (12th, DNC, T)
Shayne Ward - My Heart Would Take You Back (12th, #166, T) Beth Hart - The Mood That I’m In (13th, DNC, T) FFS - Johnny Delusional (13th, DNC, TTT) The Wombats – Give Me A Try (13th, DNC, TTT) Fall Out Boy - Uma Thurman (14th, #71, TTT) Halsey – Ghost (14th, DNC, T) Purity Ring – bodyache (15th, DNC, TTT) Andreya Triana - Thats Alright With Me (16th, DNC, TT) Avril Lavigne – Fly (16th, DNC, T) Giorgio Moroder feat. Sia - Déjà vu (18th, #194, TTT) Conor Maynard - Talking About (19th, DNC, TT) Markus Feehily - Love Is a Drug (19th, DNC, TT) Michael Calfan - Treasured Soul (19th, DNC, T) Findlay – Wolfback (20th, DNC, TTT) FM - Shape Im In (20th, DNC, TT) Jessica Hernandez & the Deltas - Caught Up (20th, DNC, T) Lower Than Atlantis - Words Don’t Come So Easily (20th, DNC, T) Adam Lambert - Ghost Town (21st, #71, TT) Simply Red - Shine On (21st, DNC, TT) Jessie J – Flashlight (23rd, #13, TT) Blur - Lonesome Street (27th, DNC, T) Blur - Ong Ong (27th, DNC, TT) Caro Emerald – Quicksand (27th, DNC, TT) Kerri Watt – You (27th, DNC, TTT) Tori Kelly - Unbreakable Smile (27th, DNC, T) Asa – Eyo (28th, DNC, TT)
Seether - Nobody Praying For Me (28th, DNC, T) Tessa Rose Jackson - The Pretender (28th, DNC, TT) Everything Everything – Regret (29th, DNC, T)
T) Sia - California Dreamin (12th, #92, T) Steven Tyler - Love Is Your Name (13th, DNC, TT) Zara Larsson - Uncover (Alt Version) (13th, DNC, T) Ella Eyre – Together (17th, #12, TT) Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar - Bad Watch all the videos: Blood (17th, #4, TT) http://bit.ly/1NWytKd Paul Weller - Saturns Pattern (17th, Etienne de Crécy – You (3rd, DNC, T) DNC, T) Thea Gilmore - Coming Back to You Magalie - Love Criminal (4th, DNC, (17th, DNC, TT) TTT) A-Trak feat Andrew Wyatt – Push (18th, Oliver Heldens - Melody (Radio Edit) DNC, T) (4th, DNC, T) Hunter Hunted – Blindside (18th, DNC, Sia - Big Girls Cry (4th, #77, TT) Mumford and Sons – Ditmas (4th, DNC, TT) Muse – Mercy (18th, DNC, TT) T) Kelly Clarkson – Invincible (18th, #141, Brandon Flowers - I Can Change (5th, TTT) #52, TTT) Romans - Uh Huh (18th, DNC, T) The Chemical Brothers – Go (5th, #46, The Vaccines - Dream Lover (18th, #155, TTT,) Walk The Moon - Different Colors (5th, TTT) Terri Walker - Already Told Ya (18th, DNC, TT) DNC, T) Charli XCX – Famous (10th, #176, Gabrielle Aplin - Light Up The Dark TTT) (18th, DNC, T) Seinabo Sey – Younger (10th, DNC, Bean – Wildfire (19th, DNC, T) TT) Walking On Cars - Catch Me If You Can Omi - Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix Radio Edit) (19th, #1. TTT) (10th, DNC, T) Hunter Hayes – 21 (21st, DNC, TT) Ed Sheeran – Photograph (11th, #15, Avicii - Waiting For Love (22nd, #6, TT) TT) Hozier - Someone New (11th, #19, Nell Bryden – Waves (24th, DNC, TTT) TTT) Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds – Ivy Levan - Who Can You Trust (25th, Riverman (11th, DNC, TT) Stereophonics - Cest La Vie (11th, DNC, DNC, T) Kids on Bridges feat. Shea Seger- When TT) the Needle Drops (Radio Edit) (25th, We Are The Ocean - Good For You DNC, T) (11th, DNC, T) Will Young - Thank You (25th, DNC, Billy Idol - Save Me Now (12th, DNC,
May
Albums
Rae Morris – Unguarded TT The Shires - Brave TT Little Big Town - Painkiller T Jess and the Bandits - Here We Go Again T Lucy May - Whirlwind TT The LaFontaines - Class TT FFS - FFS TT The Darkness – Last of our Kind T
Lancashire Hotpots – A Fistful of Scratchcards T Brandon Flowers – The Desired Effect TTT Dick Valentine – Here Come The Bags! T Hudson Taylor – Singing For Strangers TTT The Wombats – Glitterbug TTT Marina and the Diamonds – Froot TTT
Waka Flocka Flame feat Good Charlotte - Game On (9th, DNC, TTT) Axwell and Ingrosso - Sun Is Shining (12th, DNC, TTT) Olly Murs - Beautiful to Me (14th, DNC, TT3) Sinead Harnett - She Aint Me (14th, DNC, TT) Laura Bell Bundy - I Am What I Am (15th, DNC, TTT) Taylor-Ann – Collide (15th, Watch all the videos: DNC, TT) Beck – Dreams (17th, DNC, http://bit.ly/1i6lpoW TTT) Florence + The Machine - Queen Nothing but Thieves - Trip Switch of Peace & Long and Lost (1st, (18th, DNC, TTT) DNC, T) Alesha Dixon - The Way We Are HOLYCHILD - Money All (19th, DNC, TT) Around (1st, DNC, TT) Sia - Fire Meet Gasoline (19th, John Newman - Come And Get It #193, TTT) (1st, #5, TTT) Tinie Tempah feat. Jess Glynne Simply Red - The Ghost Of Love Not Letting Go (19th, #1, TT) (1st, DNC, TT) Don Broco – Automatic (21st, Callaghan - We Don’t Have to DNC, T) Change the World (2nd, DNC, Stereo Kicks - Love Me So (21st, TT,) #31, T) Clean Cut Kid - Vitamin C (2nd, Compny - Gently Let You Down DNC, T) (22nd, DNC, T) Frankie Davies – Shivers (2nd, Everything Everything - Spring DNC, TT) Sun Winter Dread (22nd, DNC, Lucy May – Whirlwind (2nd, TTT) DNC, TTT) Hilary Duff – Tattoo (22nd, MKTO - Bad Girls (2nd, DNC, DNC, T) TT) Mika - All She Wants (22nd, Pop Evil – Footsteps (2nd, DNC, DNC, TTT) T) Mika - Talk About You (22nd, Sundara Karma – Flame (4th, DNC, TTT) DNC, T) Selena Gomez - Good For You Hermitage Green – Jenny (5th, [feat. A$AP Rocky] (22nd, #23, DNC, TT) T) Leona Lewis - Fire Under My Christian Burghardt & Cady Feet (7th, #51, TTT) Groves - Whiskey and Wine Misty Miller – Happy (7th, DNC, (23rd, DNC, T) TT) Kacey Musgraves - High Time Robin Schulz feat. Jasmine (23rd, DNC, TT) Thompson - Sun Goes Down Kacey Musgraves - This Town (7th, #94, T) (23rd, DNC, T) Young Guns – Daylight (8th, Rod Stewart - Love Is (23rd, DNC, TTT) DNC, TT) Young Guns - Rising Up (8th, The Heydaze – Dumb (23rd, DNC, TT) DNC, TTT) BØRNS - 10,000 Emerald Pools Sugar & The Hi Lows - High (9th, DNC, T)
TT) Charles Hamilton feat. Rita Ora – New York Raining (26th, DNC, T) Katharine McPhee - Lick My Lips (26th, DNC, TT) Lawson – Roads (31st, DNC, TTT) ZZ Ward - Love 3x (31st, DNC, TTT)
June
Roller (23rd, DNC, T) Nickelback – Satellite (25, DNC, TTT,) Bleachers - I Wanna Get Better (28th, DNC, TTT) Lauren Housley - Ghost Town Blues (29th, DNC, TT) Natalie Imbruglia - Instant Crush (Radio Edit) (29th, DNC, TTT) Zella Day – Hypnotic (29th, DNC, T) Bonnie McKee – Bombastic (30th, DNC, TTT) George Ezra - Barcelona (30th, DNC, T) Pharrell Williams – Freedom (30th, #36, T) Seafret - Be There (30th, DNC, TT)
July Watch all the videos: http://bit.ly/1Fu011I
Austin Mahone - Dirty Work (1st, DNC, T) Kwabs - Fight For Love (2nd, DNC, TT) Years & Years – Shine (3rd, #2, TT) Nathan Sykes - Kiss Me Quick (5th, DNC, T) Netsky feat. Digital Farm Animals – Rio (5th, DNC, T) Petite Meller - Baby Love (5th, DNC, T) Rhodes - Close Your Eyes (5th, DNC, T) Saint Raymond - Young Blood (5th, DNC, TT) Lucy Rose - Like an Arrow (6th, DNC, TTT) Lucy Rose - Our Eyes (6th, DNC, TTT) The Strypes - A Good Nights Sleep And A Cab Fare Home (6th, DNC, T) Rixton - We All Want The Same Thing (7th, #21, TTT) Walk The Moon - Shut Up and Dance (7th, #4, TTT) Jessica Ridley - One Of Those Days (8th, DNC, T) Conor Maynard – Royalty (10th,
DNC, TT) Fuse ODG – Only (10th, DNC, TT) Halsey - New Americana (10th, DNC, TTT) Ill Blu - Lonely People [feat James Morrison] (10th, DNC, TT) Jim Adkins - I Will Go (10th, DNC, T) Kerri Watt - Long Way Home (10th, DNC, T) Little Mix - Black Magic (10th, #1, TTT) Mikky Ekko - Watch Me Rise (10th, DNC, T) Owl City feat. Hanson Unbelievable (10th, DNC, T) The Prides - Little Danger (10th, DNC, T) Sam Feldt - Show Me Love [feat. Kimberly Anne] (10th, DNC, T T) Eminem feat. Gwen Stefani - Kings Never Die (11th, #82, T) Andy Grammer - Honey, I’m Good (13th, DNC, TTT) Duran Duran feat. Janelle Monáe and Nile Rodgers - Pressure Off (14th, DNC, TTT) Jungle – Julia (14th, DNC, T) Chvrches - Leave A Trace (16th, DNC, TT) Lethal Bizzle - Playground ft. Shakka (16th, DNC, T) Vitamin - Giving It Up (16th, DNC, T) Will Joseph Cook - A Minute of Your Time (16th, DNC,T) 5 Seconds of Summer - Shes Kinda Hot (17th, #18, TT) Carly Rae Jepen - Run Away With Me (17th, DNC, T) Emma Stevens - Never Gonna Change (17th, DNC, TT) Gin Wigmore - Written In The Water (17th, DNC, TT) Hey Violet - I Can Feel It (17th, DNC, TT) Hometown - Where I Belong (17th, DNC, TT) Magic! - #SundayFunday (17th, DNC, TT) Maverick Sabre - Walk Into The Sun
(Radio Edit) (17th, DNC) Samantha Jade feat. Pitbull - Shake That (17th, DNC, TT) Ward Thomas – Guest List (17th, DNC, TTT) Stereophonics - I Wanna Get Lost With You (20th, DNC, T) Foals - Mountain At My Gates (21st, DNC, T) Raleigh Ritchie - Bloodsport ‘15 (23rd, DNC, TT) Sunset Sons - She Wants (23rd, DNC, TT) Avril Lavigne – Fly (24th, DNC, T) Hurts - Some Kind of Heaven (24th, DNC, TTT) Izzy Bizu - Give Me Love (24th, DNC, T) Jax Jones - Yeah Yeah Yeah (24th, DNC, T) Leona Lewis - I Am (24th, DNC, TTT) Mendoza - Love Druggie (Addict) (24th, DNC, TT) Foxes - Body Talk (24th, #25, TTT) R. City - Locked Away ft. Adam Levine (24th, DNC, TT) Sigma feat. Ella Henderson - Glitterball (24th, #4, TT) Zac Brown Band - Holiday Road (24th, DNC, TTT) Ten Fé - Make Me Better (27th, DNC, T) Nerina Pallot – Rousseau (29th, DNC, TT) New Order – Restless (29th, DNC, 1) The Blossoms - Blown Rose (31st, DNC, T) Bon Jovi - Saturday Night Gave Me Sunday Morning (31st, DNC, TTT) The Honey Ants - The Sound of You (31st, DNC, T) Level 3 feat. Martika LA - Feeling Your Love (LaaDeeDaa) (31st, DNC, T) The Maccabees - Something Like Happiness (31st, DNC, T)
August
Watch all the videos: http://bit.ly/1IUfZSW
Jupe - Rocket (3rd, DNC, TT) Lion Babe – Impossible (4th, DNC, T) Magic! - No Way No (4th, DNC, TT) Reverend and the Makers - Black Widow (5th, DNC, T) David Gilmour - Rattle That Lock (6th, DNC, TT) Charlie Puth - Marvin Gaye (feat Meghan Trainor) (7th, #1, TTT) Dan Owen – Fall Like A Feather (7th, DNC, TT) Gabrielle Aplin - Sweet Nothing (7th, DNC, TT) Kylie Minogue - Absolutely Anything and Anything At All (7th, DNC, TT) Lianne La Havas - What You Dont Do (7th, DNC, TTT) Only The Young - I Do (7th, DNC, TTT) Rita Ora feat. Chris Brown - Body on Me (7th, #23,
T) Sarah Harding – Threads (7th, DNC, T) SoulCircuit feat. Maverick Sabre - Rolling With Me (I Got Love) (7th, DNC, T) Becky Hill and TAI and Watermät - All My Love (10th, DNC, T) Abi Alton – Souvenirs (14th, DNC, T) Blonde - Feel Good (It’s Alright) [feat. Karen Harding] (14th, #76, T) Jess Glynne - Dont Be So Hard On Yourself (14th, #1, TTT) Ludovico Einaudi - Night (14th, DNC, T) Maroon 5 - This Summer (14th, #40, TT) Young Empires - Uncover Your Eyes (14th, DNC, T) Laura Mvula - You Work for Me (17th, DNC, TT) a-ha - Under The Makeup (21st, DNC, TTT) Andreya Triana - Playing With Fire (21st, DNC, TTT) Ella Eyre - Good Times (21st, DNC, TT) Longfellow – Choose (21st, DNC, TT) Madcon feat. Ray Dalton - Don’t Worry (21st, #54, TTT) Pentatonix – Cheerleader (21st, DNC, TT) Rachel Platten - Fight Song (21st, #1, TTT) Scouting For Girls - Life’s Too Short (21st, DNC, TT) Markus Feehily – Butterfly (24th, DNC, T) Reverend and the Makers - Makin’ Babies (Radio Edit) (24th, DNC, T) John Newman - Tiring Game ft. Charlie Wilson (26th, DNC, TT) Callaghan - We Don’t Have To Change The World (28th, DNC, TT) CAZZETTE – Genius (28th, DNC, T) Demi Lovato - Cool for the Summer (28th, DNC, T) DJ Cassidy feat. Chromeo - Future Is Mine (28th, DNC, TTT)
September
Ungettables
a-ha - The Wake (4th, Not Released, TT) Claire Richards - A Deeper Shade of Blue (4th, DNC, TTT) FIDLAR - West Coast (4th, Not Released, T) Oh Wonder - Body Gold (4th, Not Released, TT) Sage The Gemini - Good Thing ft. Nick Jonas (4th, Not Released, T) Sigala - Easy Love (4th, Not Released, TT) American Authors - Go Big Or Go Home (7th, Not Released, TTT) BIRDY + RHODES - Let It All Go (11th, Not Released, TT) Melissa Steel - You Love Me? feat. Wretch 32 (11th, Not Released, TT) Nero - Two Minds (11th, Not Released, T) Hayden James - Something About You (18th, Not Released, TT) Syron - Talkin’ Crazy (18th, Not Released, TT)
Allen Stone – Freedom Angel - Leyla ft. Fuse ODG Ashley Clark – Greyhound Bea Miller - Fire N Gold The Cat Empire - Qué Será Ahora Chase Rice - Gonna Wanna Tonight Chloe Howl – Disappointed (TTT) Clock Machine – Wonderland (TTT) Foxes - Don’t Stop Me Now (TT) Gravity - Against The Current LunchMoney Lewis – Mama Machine Gun Kelly Magalie - Love Is Cruel (TT) Marc Scibilia - How Bad We Need Each Other Michael Franti & Spearhead - Once A Day Mickey Guyton - Better Than You Left Me Parade of Lights - Feeling Electric Plantains - I Feel Love Port Isla - ALIVE Queen and VonLichten - We Will Rock You R5 - All Day, All Night: Let’s Not Be Alone Tonight Robin Thicke - Back Together Sam Hunt - House Party Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan Crossing Muddy Waters Sweet Suspense - Here We Go Again Teemid - Crazy feat. Joie Tan The Karma Killers – Domin
Watch all the videos: http://bit.ly/1EL0vWn
The songs we want to download but can’t get them... yet. Have you found them? Let us know!
October
Watch all the videos: http://bit.ly/1EL0z8N
Klingande feat. Broken Back – RIVA (2nd, Not Released, T) Natalie La Rose - Around The World (2nd, Not Released, T) Lemar - The Letter (9th, Not Released, TT) Tori Kelly - Should’ve Been Us (16th, Not Released, T) Lady Lykez - Chat 2 Your Man (23rd, Not Released, TT)
Continue the issue online: twitter.com/KBPSmag/lists/kbsp-2
FLASHBACK 10 – Picturehouse - Rules of Science It was a great year for Picturehouse, with a couple of strong singles, the best being this emotional ballad released halfway through the year. Beautifully sung and with a stripped-back, but no less good music track, this song still pulls at the heart strings six months on. 09 – Jamie T - Zombie Having had a string of great singles back in 2006 but limited success since then, Jamie T came back with one of his best songs yet. Maybe struggling because it’s video – which isn’t that explicit in truth – was cut down on television, the song itself is a riot, the slow-opening giving way to a bouncy, memorable set of verses and chorus.
08 – Amelia Lily - California A third placed artist from the 2011 X-Factor this autumnal single charted surprisingly low for a reality show artist, which is a real shame as this is miles better than, for instance, the winner of 2014’s series that topped the chart in December. Filled with attitude and with one of the catchiest choruses of the year this is pretty much pop perfection and deserved more success in the charts. 07 – A Great Big World - Already Home Though it was their 2013 #4 hit with Christina Aguilera (“Say Something”) that scored highly from them it’s this follow-up from this year that is a better track. Though simple in its structure and delivery, the emotion within the lyrics and the lead singer’s vocals is clear to hear and makes for a really touching number. 06 – Rita Ora - I Will Never Let You Down Deservedly topping the UK charts, the path onwards from this record might not have been particularly happy after her romantic split from writer Calvin Harris, but it’s still a brilliant pop-dance record and, ironically, far better than Harris has released himself recently. With a delicious electronic riff and a building guitaresque style to the chorus, this is a great song both musically and commercially.
KBPS
Let’s take a look back at 2014 and my ten favourite tracks from that year... 05 – Matt Cardle - Hit My Heart It’s often said that the best reality show artists only show their true abilities when freed from the shackles of the show, and that’s definitely the case with Cardle who has released a string of great hits post-X-Factor, including this bouncing pop number from earlier in the year. A brilliant pop number that should have done far better for him. 04 – Grouplove - Ways To Go With a video that would probably be banned now with all the hoo-ha over ‘The Interview’ it’s nonetheless hilarious an accompanies an indie song that uses its dual vocals, and its call and response-esque vibe, and electronic style to pull together a brilliant pop record. Very catchy! 03 – Vance Joy - Riptide One of the very first brilliant songs of the year – as well as one of the best and funniest videos – this still feels incredibly fresh one year on. A brilliant voice, witty lyrics and a catchy vibe all combine together with a joyful music accompaniment to form a genuinely genius song. 02 – Chromeo - Jealous (I Ain’t With It) Their album was great. Their single ‘Come Alive’ was brilliant, and this song is equally excellent. With a bouncing retro vibe picking up from where Daft Punk left off, this is a joy from start to finish and very much deserving of the runner up spot, and arguably the top spot as it oscillates with the song at the peak as my favourite. Brilliant.
01 – Kaiser Chiefs - & Arrows Released at the same time as the song in position #2, this is a well deserved number one. Though not being given an official video, this indie-rock number that builds to an incredibly singable chorus just extrudes quality and feels like an under-rated classic from the Leedsbased band. From an equally brilliant album, this is a great pre-album single.
The music magazine
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