KBPS
The music magazine
INSIDE The Ultimate
Hallowe’en Playlist
#3 October 2015
INTERVIEW
THE HOOSIERS
INTERVIEW
SPILLING THE SECRETS OF THE SECRET SERVICE
SCOUTING FOR GIRLS CASSETTES, CHRISTMAS AND CARDBOARD INSTRUMENTS Albums Reviewed: Chvrches The Hoosiers Scouting For Girls Electric Six Reverend and the Makers
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PLUS
THE RISING ISSIMO interviews
Music News Wrock and other fan-made music DIY IPOD FOR DAVE GILMOUR The Top Forty All the best songs of this year listed! and much more!
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WELCOME TO KBPS! Hello and welcome to the third edition of KBPS! It’s been a busy month assembling this edition of the magazine. I was excited to get the opportunity to interview two of my favourite bands of all time - The Hoosiers and Scouting For Girls - and the results of those interviews are held within these pages!
I also got to speak to Abi from the band Issimo, who are local to me, and who I’ve seen a few times, plus Chris from The Rising who are supporting Jess and the Bandits, who appeared in the previous edition.
Alongside these exclusive interviews our regular columnists have excelled themselves with more incredible columns whilst I’ve been busy listening and reviewing some brand new albums as well as working through over 500 tracks over the last month (!) to bring you an updated list at the back of the magazine of the best tracks from 2015, and the only ones you need worry about listening to, streaming and downloading! I hope you enjoy this bumper edition of KBPS as many, many hours of hard work have gone into it but it’s nothing without your thoughts and feedback, so if you have any comments on what you read in here or would like to contribute, please contact us via the social networking details at the bottom of this page.
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I’m now going to get ready to start planning edition four out in November with more interviews and a look forward to - gasp Christmas as I compile my favourite festive songs for you but also my top 100 songs of 2015 as an end of year retrospective.
But that’s enough of me blabbering on, I’ll let you get on with reading the magazine. Finally I’ll just say a big thank you to all the acts who have appeared in interviews within these pages but also to everyone who has read KBPS online and shared it - without you this magazine wouldn’t exist! Goodbye for now and see you again in November! Philip Lickley Editor, KBPS
Coming edition four in November we have an interview with the incredible Issimo and the Disappointments, but trust me, they won’t be!
MUSIC NEWS
Christmas is Coming with Janet Devlin
Mercury Prize Nominees Announced
Former X-Factor contestant and excellent singer-songwriter Janet Devlin is returning this Christmas with a new EP called ‘December Daze’. Featuring a song written earlier in the year, you can help pledge towards the record now.
This year’s shortlisted Mercury Prize albums have been announced, and they are:
Find out more and support it at http:// www.pledgemusic.com/projects/janetdevlin-december-daze
Lancashire For Me Comedy-folk band The Lancashire Hotpots, who are currently in the middle of a tour, are ucrrently writing new material, including a new track called ‘Lancashire’s For Me’. twitter.com/thehotpots
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Aphex Twin - Syro Benjamin Clementine - At Least For Now Gaz Coombes - Matador C Duncan - Architect Eska - Eska Florence + The Machine - How Big How Blue How Beautiful (pictured) Ghost Poet - Shedding Skin Jamie xx - In Colour Roisin Murphy - Hairless Toys Slaves - Are You Satisfied Soak - Before We Forgot How To Dream Wolf Alice - My Love Is Cool
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MUSIC NEWS
FFS! Franz Ferdinand Sparks Release A New Video FFS - the supergroup formed by Franz Ferdinand and Sparks - have debuted the next video from their debut album. You can view ‘Call Girl’, with its mobile phone swipe-style effect, online now. youtube.com/watch?v=645OkDIkKvg
Hannah Trigwell appears on ITV’s Lorraine
Singer-songwriter Trigwell has appeared on ITV’s Lorraine show to talk about her successes and music. .itv.com/lorraine/showbiz/youtubecatapults-uk-songwriter-hannahtrigwell-to-asian-stardom
Longfellow Preparing Choose CD
Kacey Musgraves Performs Mary Poppins Song
Band Longfellow have revealed through a Facebook post that the physical copies of their Choose CD will soon be ready. “Thank you to you all for bearing with us! To those of you who You can now hear Musgraves sing the famous song for a new ‘We Love Disney’ CD haven’t yet ordered a copy, you can right here: http://www.fiercepanda.co.uk/shop. collection featuring classic Disney tunes php?release=496” sung by contemporary artists. youtube.com/watch?v=8VmofJKMVJM
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facebook.com/LongfellowMusic
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SONGWRITING’S ON THE WALL
The Hoosiers are back with their fourth album ‘The Secret Service’ and they tell all about the new album, their fans and how they look great in speedos... The Hoosiers burst onto the music scene back in 2007 with a selection of huge popindie hits in the form of ‘Goodbye Mr. A’, ‘Worried About Ray’, ‘Cops and Robbers’ and ‘Worst Case Scenario’, all taken from their debut album ‘The Hoosiers and the Trick to Life’ which balanced their familiarly poppy chart hits with more downbeat, introspective numbers.
The trio of Irwin Sparkes (lead vocals and guitar), Alan Sharland (drums) and Martin Skarendah (bass) would later return with their follow-up ‘The Hoosiers and the Illusion of Safety’ which included singles such as ‘Choices’ and ‘Bumpy Ride’. After some issues with their record label this sophomore release was later re-packaged under the title of that second song.
The band returned last year with their fanfunded ‘The News From Nowhere’ which gave us lead single ‘Somewhere In The Distance’ and that album has been quickly followed up with their fourth LP, 2015’s ‘The Secret Service’.
[On a personal note, as a big fan of the band (I even got to meet them when I booked them as an act a couple of years ago!) I have supported both albums and really rate them as a band, both musically (“Unlikely Hero” should have been the song
of 2010) and as members with their fan interaction.]
With Skarendah now replaced in the band by Sam Swallow and their new fanfunded album fresh out in fan’s inboxes as we speak alongside a special live album recorded at London’s Islington Academy, I spoke to the band about their new work and began by catching up with them about a recent gig they did in Scarborough with Scouting For Girls. “[It was] a merry gig. We’ve known the Scouting For Girls boys for a while. They are lovely. Roy loves to cross dress, but that’s fine by us: Sam loves a man in a frock. [Before the gig] myself and Irwin watched the local brass band play all the classics on the floating bandstand: Cuppa tea in hand. Was most civilised.”
The Hoosiers have found their live appeal still going strong and had been performing at a series of festivals over the summer. I asked them about their time on the road and also if they had any funny stories from their time gigging recently. “It’s always good to be on the road. And we seem to be enjoying the live thang even more than ever. We have a new bass player and he seems to be setting higher standards.
“We did invite a troupe of circus performers up on to stage for one of our gigs... Not sure how funny that was, definitely fun. Although when they got on stage the juggler slipped on a banana skin and subsequently knocked Irwin over whose microphone lead then pulled taught, which tripped the stilt walker who fell over into the chuckle brothers who happen to have been carrying a ladder across stage which they then.... Well, a small bit of that was true. Sorry. Call it a one off ‘boring summer’.”
“Although when they got on stage the juggler slipped on a banana skin and subsequently knocked Irwin over whose microphone lead then pulled taught, which tripped the stilt walker who fell over into the chuckle brothers who happen to have been carrying a ladder across stage which they then....
“It’s a whole lot more live. We set about recording the album in less than the standard 20 months. The result is a bit more of a vibey flavour: less overdubs etc. I think the song writing is still good.
than usual. More riffage, less ruffage. ‘Up to No Good’ is about as sexy as we have ever got. It’s our ‘Right said Fred’ moment.
The band’s latest album ‘The Secret Service’ has just been released digitally with CD and vinyl versions on their way to backers now. I asked them to describe the new record.
“‘Wheels fell off’ is a pumper - a real compact little guitar track with less vocals
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“[The Secret Service title] is really a reflection of the lyrical content rather than a hint at the 70’s valve compression {sic} that is favoured across the piece.”
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But, with the title in mind, would the band make good spies? “Al’s 6ft 2” with a mane like beelzebub’s armpits, Sam can’t see past his nose and I faint at the sight of espionage. No. No, we would not. We do all, however, look incredible in speedo’s and/or a roll-neck.”
For fans who backed the new album, there were other goodies made available including clothing, wristbands and bonus audio. There were even hand printed posters created by designer John Mackay, which the band were really excited about: “Hand printed, guys! In this digital age it feels good to have some actual ‘stuff’.” They also preceded the album with a series of EPs. I asked them if that helped them build up a buzz for the album. “Yeah. We hope [it does]. It’s all a big long learning curve for us. We had thought we would just release EPs, but when we asked the fans to vote on whether to release EPs or albums they voted pretty emphatically in favour of the latter.
“Perhaps drip feeding songs over a longer period lessens the impact? These days people often like to binge on entire TV series’ in one go, rather than watching week by week. Maybe the same can be said of music? Speaking for myself, its albums every time.”
Just before the album was released the Hoosiers released a lyrics video for ‘The Wheels Fall Off’, a surprisingly dynamic accompaniment to the song. I asked them if a full video would be far behind. “We had a few ideas knocking around, but in the end the lyric video turned out so great it doesn’t seem necessary to follow
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Get Up To Speed with The Hoosiers Studio Albums The Trick to Life (2007) The Illusion of Safety (2010) The News From Nowhere (2014) The Secret Service (2015)
Ten Best Tracks by the Hoosiers (In Order) 1) Choices 2) Unlikely Hero 3) Goodbye Mr. A 4) Worried About Ray 5) To The Lions 6) Fidget Brain 7) The Wheels Call Off 8) Make Or Break (You Gotta Know) 9) Worst Case Scenario 10) Cops and Robbers Music Videos You Must Watch Worried About Ray Goodbye Mr. A Worst Case Scenario Cops and Robbers Choices Unlikely Hero (I Like Everybody) Other Releases The Wheels Fell Off (EP) Up To No Good (EP) Live and Let Live (Live)
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through. We’d love to make another video for a different song, so watch this space.”
As mentioned at the start of this piece, both of the band’s last two albums have been fan-supported, something that is becoming more common in the industry through Pledge Music, Kickstarter and other similar campaigns. I wanted to get the band’s thoughts on such developments and how this shift in producing music changes their creative freedoms.
“It certainly makes sense for us, given that we are lucky enough to have a supportive fan base. It allows us to keep creative control, more so than working with major labels, and we can work quickly. For bands just starting out, getting ‘off the ground’ is a daunting task, and I can see the benefit of the support of a team of passionate people with access to a budget to help. “The music business may be changing, but where there is money to be made, there will always be business men to jump on board and make it!
“The second album was particularly complicated to make, as each song needed to be ‘green lit’ by so many different people. Also, there was a lot of pressure, and it took for ever to get it ‘right’. Being independent has allowed us to get back to making music the way we want to, and quickly too. That being said, we had enough internal disputes whilst recording The News From Nowhere to slow down the beast, so it’s really only with The Secret Service that we’ve found a great working practice.” In terms of fan service I’ve always found the Hoosiers great in interacting online,
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and their ‘The News From Somewhere’ on their website (thehoosiers.com/ hoosnews/) is testament to this. I asked them how well that has served them.
“Like a lot of bands on major labels we were releasing an album every three years. These days people are inundated with musical options (thanks to the Internet and Simon Cowell) so there’s a tendency to forget acts very quickly so if we weren’t able to remind people that we’re still here and what we’re eating for lunch then even the most avid supporter might suppose you’ve evaporated (or starved).
“This is the swiftest, “live-est” album we’ve recorded - out only a year after our third album - and being online has been crucial in keeping up any sort of relationship with fans. And ours are pretty special and not to mention loyal!” The biggest change between the band’s third and most recent album was the departure of original member Martin. I asked whether that has changed the dynamics of the band.
“There were cracks for a while. Ultimately we wanted the reality of what the band was to be two different things. Martin is perhaps the most pragmatic person I’ve met and it was a head decision more than a heart decision for him/us. I think it’s a far healthier situation than it was. “The toxic air has been cleared and Al, Sam and I are in agreement and so able to make quicker decisions (business-wise with the running of our Crab Race label and musically) which is important to us having the momentum to carry on.”
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The Wheels Fell Off. But not for the Hoosiers whose new album and tour is being well received
With the album fresh out now the band are also in the early days of a new tour. With my tickets booked and their live bonus CD listened to four times already in two days, I asked what I will expect from their current live show.
“I think if you can surprise your bandmates it makes for an engaging night for an audience. No-one wants to watch a band go through the motions. For this reason I try and throw in my mistakes in different places. Keep the chaps on their toes. “It feels like we’re going through a renaissance of late; all of us are bitten by the bug to play better and out-perform what we’ve previously accomplished. We’re very driven to show the good folks coming down a good night. Or we’ll die trying. Or at least endure some mild peril.” One of the issues bands can face with so many albums under their belt is how to pick tracks. I asked if this was difficult for the Hoosiers?
“Yes. And that’s a situation Al and I dreamed about when we started playing together twenty years ago.”
As the interview drew to a close I asked them a few other quick-fire questions including about recent online confusion between themselves and Hozier (“I thought we were Hozier, weren’t we?”) before I asked them about plans for 2016. “[We’ll have] a nap. Just a little one. Then start on album five. The ideas are starting to form already. We’ve never enjoyed it so much so why stop? That’s what we’d do if we’re not enjoying it.” The Secret Service by the Hoosiers is available to download from the 23rd October, and we loved it!
Live dates and more information can be found at www.thehoosiers.com.
LIAM WALTERS 3 Fan-created Music Genres We Can Listen to (Thanks to the Internet) When we think about music and the internet our brains are flooded with a series of different memes and examples of poorly written songs about the joys of Friday, but these aren’t the areas we will be exploring today. On this list, you won’t see Fridays, Chocolate Rain, Foxes (And What The Say), or the Gangnam Style, because all these songs already exist in genres which lived before the Internet. Whilst The Internet may not be what brought these genres into being, it’s certainly responsible for these new genres gaining the worldwide audience of fans. Whilst many ‘Fan’ creations result in works like Art and Fiction, those with a bit more talent in other areas may try something a bit more abstract, because did we really need... A Musical Genre based off Harry Potter. It’s fair enough to say if you don’t know who Harry Potter is, then you’ve probably been living as a hermit for the past two decades. As an abridged history to remind those reading, Harry Potter is a series of young adult novels created by J.K. Rowling about a young boy who lives under the stairs, learns he’s a wizard, and goes to a magical school in Scotland. There are also
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films based off the books, which received a fair amount of success (Understatement? Ed)
And again, I can see how Harry Potter could inspire works of fan art, and even fan fiction, but music? What did people see in Harry Potter that made them think “I can write music to this!”
And don’t get me wrong, it’s not like all this is instrumental music create to read the books to, to create a sense of atmosphere like the films would implement. These are actual songs. With lyrics. And Singers. And Groupies! This genre of music, based of Harry Potter, is named “Wrock” or “Wizard Rock”. And let it not be said I am anything other than a professional, because I’m not just writing this whilst looking at stuff on some Wiki. No, I have a playlist of Wrock songs playing, so I can get a sense of what this music genre is all about. There’s a good number of these Wrock bands about, but I’ll just be going over just two of them. “Ministry of Magic” was formed in 2006 by 3 friends, before expanding and adding more people to the band. From 2007 to 2011, they released 5 albums. A selection
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of the tracks I listened to include “The Hero”, “Don’t Leave”, “The Hero Pt 2”, “I Heart Weasleys”, “Meet Me on Diagon Alley”, among others.
you, because this is a written article and not a conversation (sorry to disappoint).
“Harry and the Potters” seem to be the first of the Wrock bands that emerged, and are reported to be the ones who coined the term and kickstarted the genre back in 2002. Made up of two brothers, songs I listened to included “Save Ginny Weasley”, “Song for Death Eaters”, “I am a Wizard” and “Wizard Chess”, among others.
It seems most of Chameleon Circuit takes influence from genres such as EDM, Electronica, Synth with some Industrial and Rock elements. It’s worth noting that, whilst it feels slightly off for Harry Potter based music, these styles actually mesh better with the Science Fiction elements of Doctor Who that come across within the lyrics and music.
Despite the named ‘Wizard Rock’, Ministry of Magic seem to take their inspiration from European Synth Pop and Eletronica. Whilst some of their lyrics are heavily laced in Harry Potter Lore, it seems others are more from the camp of generic love songs, with a few words substituted for their Harry Potter equivalents.
Harry and the Potters sound like a typical indie acoustic band, with their music being a bit rougher than some other examples in the genre. Lyric wise, they’re similar to Ministry of Magic, although seem to lean more towards the lore and references to Harry Potter. It’s worth mentioning that some bands in the genre take real songs and spoof them with Harry Potter lyrics, and whilst I listened to a few, I found them only worth mentioning as a quick detail, as these songs do lie more in the spoof category than the Wrock genre. There’s Also music about Doctor Who Interestingly enough, I’ve been aware of this genre since it was first birthed, mostly because I (vaguely) followed the members of the first band which started the genre. So if Harry Potter is called Wrock for Wizard Rock, can you guess what the Doctor Who genre is called? Well, if you can, I can’t hear
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“Trock” is the name given to this genre of music, which stands for Timelord Rock, and was started by 5 YouTubers, 4 of which were UK based, whilst the American based member signed on as a Producer. This band was named ‘Chameleon Circuit’, and was active from 2008 to 2014, with two albums being released. Songs I listened to include “The Doctor is Dying”, “Still Got Legs”, “An Awful Lot of Running” and “Blink”, among others.
Lyric-wise, it’s heavily steeped in the lore and story of Doctor Who, taking plot points, character motivations and story elements and bringing them into new life with a musical twist. Whilst there was a plethora of Wrock bands to test out, there didn’t seem to be as many Trock bands, most of the music are just one off songs. Video Games are also a music genre When most people think of video game music coming from fans, they’ll mostly think of remixes, like the online community Overclock Remix, but there are also bands out there which play video game specific music. “The Megas” are a Megaman inspired music group, who started in 2008 and are still currently touring at the time of writing this. Since starting, the band has released 3 albums and a collaborative EP. Each album is a musical take on a certain game in the
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Mega Man franchise, with songs based on levels and bosses within said game. Songs I listened to include “I Want to be The One”, “Man on Fire”, Promise of Redemption” and “Blue like You” among others. Whilst the songs are easily labelled and just arrangements of the music included in the games, it actually seems to be a lot more complex than that, although arrangements are present within the songs. The lyrics are made up from characteristics taken from the characters and stages in the games, generally taking the point of view of either Mega Man or one of the Robot Master enemies. The music seems to be influenced by chiptune with a heavier rock influence, with shades of Metal and electronica. However, it’s worth noting that they also released an acoustic album, which are acoustic covers of songs they’ve previously released, whilst still retaining the lyrics and themes of the Mega Man inspired music. Fan created content just keeps growing, from fiction, to art, to music. How long is it until we have fans of the bands we’ve talked about today creating their own fan-project? Well, no time at all, as there’s already a good amount of fan-art linked with these bands as it is. But then, where do we go from here? I’m not sure, but for now I’m off to start a band based off that old Sega Mega Drive game, Moonwalker. That game had some damn good music. Follow Liam at twitter.com/ ThatLiamAnthony.
To join Phil’s band celebrating the music of the Super Mario universe (“Yoshi and the Shy-Guys”) contact us (and we’ll laugh).
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MY PLAYLIST
What am I listening to Here are the songs that are dominating my personal playlist at the moment - all tracks well worth downloading! • • • • • • • • • •
Ryan Adams - Bad Blood ELO - When I Was A Boy Sam Smith - Writing’s On The Wall A-ha - The Wake Electric Six - Take Another Shape Andreya Triana - Playing with Fire Spector - Stay Hire Scouting For Girls - Life’s Too Short Chvrches - Make Them Gold The Hoosiers - Choices (Live)
Ungettables
The songs we want to download but can’t get them... yet. Have you found them? Let us know! Allen Stone - Freedom Ashley Clark - Greyhound Bea Miller - Fire N Gold Chase Rice - Gonna Wanna Tonight Chloe Howl – Disappointed (TTT) Clock Machine – Wonderland (TTT) Foxes - Don’t Stop Me Now (TT) Kavana - Deja Vu Lucia Nicole - Feels Like Love LunchMoney Lewis - Mama Magalie - Love Is Cruel Marc Scibilia - How Bad We Need Each Other Marlon Roudette ft K Stewart - Everybody Feeling Something (LEEX Remix) Michael Franti & Spearhead - Once A Day Mickey Guyton - Better Than You Left Me Plantains - I Feel Love R5 - All Day, All Night: Let’s Not Be Alone Tonight Teemid - Crazy feat. Joie Tan The Karma Killers - Domino Queen and VonLichten - We Will Rock You Robin Thicke - Back Together Sam Way - Goliath The Cat Empire - Qué Será Ahora The Monster Mash - Only The Young
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STILL THINKING ABOUT YOU
I speak to Scouting For Girl’s lead singer Roy Stride about Christmas singles, who their new album title refers to and whether he wants to go flying soon... Scouting For Girls are Roy Stride (Vocals / Piano / Guitar), Greg Churchouse (Bass) and Pete Ellard (Drums) who broke through in 2007 with their self-titled debut that not only topped the charts but also spawned many incredible singles including ‘She’s So Lovely’, ‘Elvis Ain’t Dead’ and ‘Heartbeat’. It was followed three years later by ‘Everybody Wants To Be On TV’ which included ‘This Ain’t A Love Song’ and ‘Famous’, plus cult favourites ‘Little Miss Naughty’ and ‘Posh Girls’, whilst 2012’s ‘The Light Between Us’ saw singles of ‘Love How It Hurts’ and ‘Summertime in the City’.
Named after the famous book ‘Scouting For Boys’ and with Brit Awards and a number one single under their belts, the London-based group have dominated the indie-pop scene and radio stations for years, and are firm favourites on BBC Radio 2 among other networks. Many of those songs will be very familiar to you from radio airplay over the last eight years, as well as from their 2013 greatest hits collection (don’t mention Dave Gorman!). Now the trio are back with a brand new album, 2015’s ‘Still Thinking About You’, out now, including lead single ‘Life’s Too Short’. Ahead of this release I spoke to lead singer Roy Stride as he travelled with the rest of the band
back from a special live show (“We had a festival last night, like a corporate show, so we’re all a bit worse for wear!”), to ask him about their music, and I began by getting a summary from him of their new LP.
“It’s kind of a slightly more grown up version of album #1. We went back to that album and kind of looked at what made people like it, and sort of went to that place to write the fourth album. It’s very acoustic, very musical [though] not like Gilbert and Sullivan! We’ve got some really beautiful string arrangements on there. We got in some other amazing musicians so it’s probably our most accomplished album yet, but it’s still the son of Scouting For Girls. “We just wanted to make an album that sounds like an album, made with the same drum kit in the same room over the space of two months, so it feels like a time and a place which is what I like about an album. The songs were written over the course of two or three years, but when they’re recorded together it becomes an album, it becomes a body of work, so that was what we were trying to do, create a moment in time and create an album where it really ebbs and flows.
“We worked really hard. Once we had the singles we kind of wrote the rest of the album around it, so it feels like an album. I think some of our records have tried to be ten singles, whereas here we’ve got moments where the album chills out a bit. It takes you on a journey.” Many bands have found the public going more for songs they can download individually rather than an album as a whole. I asked Roy what he felt about album releases.
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“I don’t think you can fight the internet or streaming or downloading. The public love to just pick off tracks so we’ve tried to make three or four obvious singles on the record which people will love, but at the same time we wanted to provide an album for people who want to listen to an album.” ‘Still Thinking About You’ follows on from the band’s Greatest Hits album and tour. I asked if it was difficult getting back into writing after the time concentrating on the best-of the band.
“I kind of just write every day anyway, whether it’s for me or other people. I always think of Scouting For Girls as the best part time job in the world. Most of the time I’m working with other artists – Monday to Friday I’m in the studio. If I’m not doing anything with Scouting For Girls I’m in the studio working with other people, so that’s like my real job, and this is the best part time job in the world! Focussing on the new album, I asked if the ‘You’ of the album and song title was a particular person.
“That is the second song on the record which we really love. It’s almost like a 1990s Britpoppy anthem and STAY was just a title I came up with, and it’s like a throwaway mark but in a song – ten years on I’m still thinking about you. “Even when I’m 72 I’ll still be thinking about you. It felt like a good album title, especially for a band coming back – this is our first proper album in three years. Still Thinking About You is a message to the band, what we feel about the band, what we feel about music, it just felt like a really great title.”
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Revealed over the space of a few days, the artwork for the new album is very vintage looking with a retro cassette on the front cover. I asked if this was a particular style they were looking for.
“The artwork runs through all the singles. I think Scouting For Girls has always felt like a bit of a throwback. When we started it, we were referencing Britpop and back to the Kinks and the Beach Boys; we were always looking in the past to find where we were. We’re in our thirties now; when we first started listening to music it was on blank cassettes which we taped.
“Hilariously, when we were doing it, the designer had never seen a cassette in real life before, she was like twenties year old. “Like you do a mixtape?” “I don’t know what you really mean.”
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The lead single from the band’s latest album is ‘Life’s Too Short’. I asked them about how that came to be a single but also its distinctive video. “[Life’s Too Short has] been around for nearly three-or-four years and a couple; of other big artists have cut it, but I only wanted to give it away if it was a single. Everyone was like ‘that’s a stand-out single’, you should definitely release that. We did a version and it sort of stuck and I think it’s a testament that it’s been round for such a long time, that it shows it’s a good song.
“We were kind of stumped with the video; we had lots of different ideas. The director we worked with in Liverpool, we went down to Liverpool and filmed it, came up with the idea of almost filming it in one shot using perspective. It felt really fun.”
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In the music video the band also play on cardboard instruments (“We had a few comments. We’d fallen on hard times! It was fun.”) but they have a new tour coming up in November and December where they will be back on proper ones, and I was intrigued to see how their live shows had changed over the years. “Our first album was 33 minutes long, to do a live show was quite a stretch. [We] had to make all of the songs much longer. Now we’ve got so many songs to choose from – like three hours – we always do all the hits, and stick in a couple of cheeky covers. We’re going to have a section in the middle which we’re going to throw out to the audience and ask what they want to listen to – a bit of a jukebox, because there’s just not enough time to play all the songs people want to hear.” “We’ve never done that on a tour. Usually on most tours it’s synched up with the lights, and you do a set list for the tour, whereas this one we’re finally going to move things around.” But which song does Roy most like the play live? “‘Home’ is my favourite song on the new album. I just love playing it. We played it last night – we did a festival, a corporate show, was a bit weird, and the last thing they wanted to hear was a new song, but we played it, and by the end everyone was singing along.”
Though Scouting For Girls have been away for a while, they continue to get support from big names, such as performing recently on Chris Evans’ show on BBC Radio 2. “Chris has supported us right from the start and it’s always really fun to go and hang out with him. It was an absolutely mental day,
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all for Children In Need, Carfest, a amazing hotel – Clifton Hotel – it was just a mental day. We were having dinner with Chris and all these people who’d paid to drive his cars for the week, then doing the session in the morning, then Carfest in the evening, it was a really great 24-hours.”
As well as initiatives like Children In Need, Scouting For Girls have been big supporters of charities. “It’s always important to give something back. We’re very, very lucky to get to do this for a living and anything we can do to support some of the charities we support is great.” They are also very big believers in interacting with their fans, and are very active on social networks as well as supporting other individuals such as on a Kickstarter for a video for their song ‘Rains in LA’.
“We’ve always been [supportive of our fans] from the very start. Nobody wanted to sign up when we started so we just built up our fan-base, person by person. They’re the reason why eight years on we’re still able to do this, and there are very few bands still going on eight years after their first record, and I think generally the people who are fans of our music are very similar to ourselves, people who don’t take life too seriously and having a good time. I love meeting our fans, as they’re all such lovely people!” One of the surprises on the album is the inclusion of a Christmas song called “Christmas in the Air (Tonight)”. I asked if that would be appearing as a single.
“Absolutely – we’re going for Christmas number one! Every Christmas I write a load of Christmas songs and never get round to finishing them because by the time you’ve
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The band also feature in a new video called ‘Getting To Know You’ featuring the Huli Wigmen tribe (youtube.com/watch?v=zPJ0765GRYo) written a song and then recording it, that whole process can take months, so with a Christmas song the moment has passed.
“I remember having the chorus for a while and I played it to my kids and my wife and people going that’s actually a good chorus, you should a bit like a cockney singing it, you’ve got to change how you deliver it, but it’s actually quite a good chorus and the kids were singing it all the time. “It’s actually about a night that happened around 20 years ago when the three of us were kids. It was in Ruislip where we all grew up so I think it’s an honest, real song. There’s no cynicism in it as a Christmas song, but I don’t think it’s cheesy. I think it’s one of my favourite song on the record.”
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And so my time speaking to Roy came to a close, but there was just enough time, with my thoughts on the single ‘Life’s Too Short’, if there was one ambition he had that he’d love to fulfil.
“I would like to learn to fly. I’m always too scared at the moment. I have one friend, the guy who produced our first record and lots of records that I write with, he flies planes all the time. When you have young kids – I’m much more hesitant to do something dangerous, as I want to look after them. If there’s one thing I haven’t done yet it’s flying!”
The new album ‘Still Thinking About You’ is available to buy or download now (and it’s great, so grab a copy!)
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ALISTAIR PROUDMAN
Channeling The Classics On the first weekend of October my long standing companion of 6 years, my 160gb iPod Classic, started to pack in, with the headphone jack starting to suffer channel loss in the right hand channel. Originally I did suspect that my other dear old friend, a set of Sennheiser CX250 earbuds, were the ones at fault, but a new pair of HD201s proved to see the same problem, while my phone, laptop and indeed a radio stations studio desk remained crystal clear in both sets.
While admittedly I should have seen this coming, having bought the classic second hand to start with, I can’t help but feel a little bit empty, for man should not have to live with their portable music in mono rather than stereo, to either feel that imbalance that comes from only one active channel or to face the noise of other people stopping them from enjoying David Gilmour’s latest Spirograph solos. Now, the problem lies in the discontinuation of the iPod classic in September 2014, having cornered the market for a high capacity portable player, according to Tim Cook, Apple CEO, due to the cease in manufacture of the small 1.8” hard disks used to provide that capacity (although some are dubious as to that claim). While there used to be a huge market for no frills media players with a strong capacity (I myself jumped around a few different brands), the iPod outlasted them all, and now all that really remains in the mainstream is the new touch screen,
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internet enabled low capacity players built for the streaming age – but at a rough crisp packet estimate (£10 for a CD, £20 for an LP, seemingly standard retailing prices) I’ve paid somewhere between £2.5k & £3k for my music collection in CDs and LPs (I’ve got a fair few reimbursed digital downloads and free albums from my time as head of music in student radio, but they’ll go down as £0.00 for this estimate), and I’m not prepared to now pay another £10/month for the privilege of listening to them on the go. (I miss by 60Gb portable Creative Zen. Sigh. Ed) Now, there’s a couple of solutions at hand fortunately – the headphone jack is functionally identical to that in the modern touch and phones, it’s only the hard drives that can’t be sourced, so a repair is theoretically feasible, although the build quality makes it only a challenge for those adept with the repair of small electronics. Alternatively, for what tends to be the price for a night out for one (sub £30), I’ve obtained a small external amp that has a headphone jack and goes through the 30-pin connector. Generally prized by audiophiles for their improved sound output against the prebuilt jacks, this is an inelegant if quite nice solution – while I’ve had to tie the amp to the iPod due to the length of the 30 pin connector cable (if I could go through the headphone jack it comes with a belt clip), the sound quality is actually much improved from the inbuilt jack and the equaliser settings are a nice touch.
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Alternatively there’s a move to the microSD enabled players provided by the likes of Cowan and Fiio, and while that will inevitably come (and if you’ve got any recommendations please tweet me @al_proudman), for now all that’s left is to put the classic onto life support and mourn the oncoming loss of a musical stalwart for the best part of my adult life.
VIDE-OH
SAM SMITH WRITING’S ON THE WALL
Out and About
Discovering music around the UK
Concept: Sam Smith attempts to look spy-like in this promo video for the song from the latest Bond film.
What have we learnt? • Singing in front of coffins is a little bit creepy unless it’s a hymn at a funeral • Bond appears to be wearing Peter Capaldi’s new sonic sunglasses • No one should zoom up that close to a singing mouth • They wouldn’t let Sam Smith shoot at any of the Bond locations. Only where there are stairs • The gap in the sea wall looks like the Queen’s head on a stamp • Not lip-syching the last line of the song makes you cry
NOT NEWS News stories that might not be entirely genuine...
Faheem Ashraf Ahead of a couple of months when I’ll be seeing lots of acts live it’s been a quieter month for me seeing live music, but I did manage to catch Faheem Ashraf at the local restaurant Forster’s Bistro for a great set of covers, insired by his recent open mic win.
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Public In Mercury Prize Shock The public today expressed shock that they hadn’t heard the albums of most of the Mercury Prize nominees. “Usually I’ve heard all of them having picked them up as a 2-for-1 offer at my local supermarket,” said one perplexed music listener.
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Following on from their new EP launch party we interview Yorkshire’s Issimo...
KICKSTARTING THE COLDEST QUEEN
Issimo are a theatrical pop ensemble from Yorkshire, headed up by Marc and Abi. Joined for many gigs by the Issimites, a self-titled rogue bunch of unruly jazz musicians, I recently saw them perform at the launch party of their ‘The Coldest Queen’ EP at Forster’s Bistro in Bradford.
Issimo describe themselves as a pop band but one influenced by a lot of genres. “Reggae, latin, ska, gypsy, Greek and disco with some funk [and] jazz in there [but] it’s always difficult to describe our sound in just one genre. People always ask what genre we are, and we struggle to define it.”
I spoke to Abi after the event to chat to her about the new EP, their plans for the future and, of course, that launch party, about which I began. “We were really, really happy with it. We were obviously really nervous just before because we’ve put a lot of time and effort into the video and to organising the night, and I was worried – what if no one comes? But it was really good, everyone came. There was sense of relief obviously, because it rained as well, and it being an outside showing I was thinking oh no, no one would come, but everyone came. I felt really proud and happy.” Issimo had worked on a fan-supported video for single ‘The Coldest Queen’ and I was interested on how it had come about.
“It happened over a 9-10 month period. I had an idea for one of our songs and we’d previously made a music video with Connor Butler, who’s a local Bradford cinematographer, who’s just a genius behind a camera!, and I called him up and said I’ve got an idea for a new project and when I told him about it he was really keen. We had a Skype chat for about an hour
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talking about different ideas, and different films that would inspire the idea, like the Hunger Games, Game of Thrones, and one of Connor’s inspirations was Twelve Years A Slave for the whole look and feel of the piece. And then we decided, because we’re skint, and as creative people, the way we could raise the budget through crowdfunding website Kickstarter.
“It was pretty straightforward. It was scary [though] as it’s all or nothing. We originally set out to raise £3300 as our target, and when we got to about £2,500 the pressure was on then, because if we didn’t make the full amount we would just lose all of it, but we made all of our amount well within the time limit and that was amazing!” “We had quite a few rewards on offer, one being they could pledge to be in the film as an extra, as a guard or a slave, that was quite a popular reward. All of our fans were really supportive and were coming forward to help, whether it was money or resources.”
With this video now completed and watchable online, I was keen to ask if they wanted to do another video for a future release.
“We’re not sure what we’re going to do now, as Connor is moving to London, but we’re wishing him all the best obviously, so we’re looking for new talent for the new video. “I’ve… had a couple of messages today – saying when are we doing the next one, now is the time to do a new Kickstarter, but I’m still trying to get my head around The interview continues after our Hallowe’en playlist >>>
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The Ultimate
Hallowe’en Playlist
The Classics Bobby “Boris” Pickett & The Crypt Kickers An oldie but a goldie, you only have to hear ‘I was working in the lab, late one night’ to start singing... Frankie Laine - Ghost Riders In The Sky Another very old number, bringing back memories of the Blues Brothers... Michael Jackson - Thriller Probably the definitive hallowe’en tune, it comes complete with Vincent Price and its own dance...
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells As heard in the Exorcist, this instrumental is probably the scariest, creepiest sounding one on here.
Ray Parker Jnr - Ghostbusters Who you gonna call? The police possibly as Mr Parker Jnr is quite creepy in the video.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show -The Time Warp It could easily fit in the cheesy category, but it’s a classic now right?
The Indie
Professor Green feat. Example Monster Incredibly catchy, two great talents meeting up
Here at KBPS we love a good hallowe’en party, so here’s our pick of the best, and worst, songs to get the party started!
(Find it also on YouTube - bit.ly/1GiQsbv)
The Automatic - Monster An incredible indie rocker with a great guitar riff and catchy chorus. *High score*
deadmau5 feat. Rob Swire - Ghosts N Stuff A great beat, and one of deadmau5’s best hits.
The Cheesy
Madness - (Waiting For The) Ghost Train Not particularly spooky, but if you run out of songs...
The Specials - Ghost Town The spookiest opening and riff to a song ever we think... Aqua - Hallowe’en Taken from their second album, this atmospheric movie-style song is surprisingly catchy and dramatic Cartoons - Witch Doctor A modern recording of the 1950s classic it’s scary, but not in the way you’d probably imagine.
Glee Cast - Thriller / Heads Will Roll This mash up of two songs is actually really well achieved! The Nightmare Before Christmas - This Is Hallowe’en From Tim Burton’s film, for the movie buffs at your party...
The Club Night
BeatFreakz - Somebody’s Watching Me This dance version of the classic Rockwell song is short, sweet but catchy
The Filler
Nina Simone - I Put A Spell On You Covered by many, I feel this is still the definitive version. (See also Sonique) R Dean Taylor - There’s A Ghost In My House Because it’s got ghost in the title, OK?
Rockwell - Somebody’s Watching Me Because the original is sometimes the best. Warren Zevon - Werewolves Of London Come on, it’s Sweet Home Alabama right?
Plus, search your music collection for the word ‘Ghost’ - it’ll keep you going all night...
The Let’s Not Talk About Them Jedward - Ghostbusters It didn’t need covering. By them. Like this.
promoting the new video and obviously the tour, as we’ve just released an EP and we’re in the middle of touring. We’ve just got back from London; we’ve got some ideas lined up for a couple of songs. Our next EP – which is being released in February – we definitely need a video for that, and from experience it does take many months from beginning to end.” At the launch party Marc and Abi were accompanied by the full band. I asked how the structure of the group worked when it came to recreating their music live.
“Marc and myself are the main members of the band, we write all the music and we do arrange it for a bigger band, for a bigger sound, but we do gig quite a lot as an acoustic duo, all the songs start with an acoustic duo, and they
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all start around a theme, a story, lyrics, melodies and hook-lines and choruses, and then we build the sounds around that, so we can strip it down and perform it just with an acoustic guitar, and we can do that, and do it each work.
“People do enjoy our songs acoustic but we do really enjoy getting the band together and do a massive sounding show on stage, and we do work with really incredible and very talented musicians.” Issimo have recently performed across Bradford at the recent festival and pride events (“At Pride we all felt really proud to be from Bradford, and to be part of such a special event, and we loved it”) but have also had recognition further afield. “We’re always really excited whenever our music
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is played on BBC Introducing. Alan Raw and Darren Williams over at BBC Leeds have always been really, really supportive of us and our music and they even push it out to other radio DJs across the UK. We love that.” Issimo are now heading off on a tour, having recently performed down in London.
“[We’ve just done done] a stripped back band sound with acoustic guitars but with bass and drums but without horns just because it’s quite expensive in London logistically. But we have a show coming up at the Wardrobe in Leeds, support Eli Paperboy Reed – he’s really, really good and he’s coming over from the US, for some shows in the UK and we’re going to be opening for him.
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“We’re really excited, I’ve been holding my fingers crossed for ages hoping we would get picked for that slot and we did yesterday and we’ll be announcing that tonight.”
With the EP now out and the video gaining in popularity online, I asked Abi what the band’s plans for 2016 are.
“We’re still touring the Coldest Queen EP. The preview night was the pre-order launch night. [In] February we’re going to be releasing our second EP – “Walking on the Sky” – and then we’re hoping to release ‘Bitten’ as a single before we release the album in the summer next year – The Adventures of Issimo – so, yes, we’ve got quite a lot planned!” The Coldest Queen is available for download now and you can find out more about the band at issimomusic. net.
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RISING FROM THE ASHES
i spoke to Chris Logan from the Rising as they prepared for a joint tour with Jess and the Bandits about changing genres, film scores and their brand new album Rising from the ashes of band EXIT, The Rising have just released their debut album ‘Coming Home’ and I grabbed Chris Logan from the band to describe the new LP. “[In terms of music] we [have] totally changed our direction, in terms of the type of music we were doing. So we set about basically changing direction and making the sort of songs we wanted to write. So that’s the reason for the title of the album – Coming Home - we basically came home to the sort of music we wanted to do. The whole album is a reflection of the songs
we were writing and the sound we were searching for at that time. It’s coming home in terms of direction. It’s a snapshot of where we were at the time as a band.
“Originally we were mostly a rock band. We were getting interviews and reviews in the likes of Kerrang magazine. None of us were listening to that style of music, none of us liked that style of music, but the problem was we were all listening to Bruce Springsteen, I was listening to country music, they were listening to country music.
“The problem was we were mainly based in Ireland at the time and the problem with that was, the scene was based around very heavy rock and in order to fit in we thought we have to sort of do it to get a band off the ground, so we had to fit in. We were writing songs that were, for all intents and purposes, that were pop-rock-country songs, in that country-style of writing, that very lyrically driven, which didn’t really fit in with the rock market, but we were sort of getting headway with it, but eventually it felt like to ourselves we were lying and it eventually got to the point where we physically couldn’t lie anymore, and had to shut up shop and re-brand in terms of, let’s forget about trying to fit somewhere. “Let’s do what we want to do. That was the theory and why the album was called that. We’re country-rock, pop sort of band, so we fit within a realm of things.” Like many country bands starting out they headed to Nashville, with ‘Coming Home’ recorded between there and Nashville. I asked them how this helped shape the album’s sound.
“We had different producers working with us in Nashville so they were giving us the heads up about what should work. Some of the songs are quite heavier than others but that’s mainly due to it being a snapshot of the band at that time, but they felt that it was right, because it was a first album, to pay homage a little bit to the sonic spectrum of things. We were this, but we’re moving away, so the second album will be full on in terms of a country album. “That’s why you’ve got ten tracks on this, and out of those ten there are six or seven tracks that really state the direction – they were moving towards that. It’s interesting that some reviews have picked up on the fact that it’s really the last three or so tracks on the album, you can sort off tell they were
memories of the old, so that’s what we were thinking with the album split into two, where it’s going and where it’s been.”
Alongside the album The Rising have filmed a video for single ‘Still Coming Home To You’. I asked them to describe the shoot.
“That was a fun one, [though] not fun getting up at 5am. I do a lot of film stuff on the side, like film soundtracks, with the company in Ireland that I work for. They were looking to get into music videos so it sort of worked out perfectly. And I said we’re about to release our debut album and release a couple of videos. “We talked about it for a lot of months and gradually fleshed out an idea of what we were wanting to do, and ending up coming up with this. It was nice to shoot, plus all the aerial stuff, it was good to see how that was done. We’d never actually done a proper extended video shoot, our others were all played live. “With this one, the song itself is very storydriven, so let’s not try give it a way to a point, as you always like to have a little bit of mystery around the song as a songwriter, so the listener can decide what the song is about, but at the same time if you’re making
a music video you want to suggest what it’s roughly about, but make your own mind out, so that’s how that idea came, the singer being the character and coming home to someone he was missing.” Intrigued by Chris talking about his work with film scores, I quizzed him more on his other work.
“Basically I won UK Musician of the year a lot of years back and that was judged by a guy called Patrick Doyle, he’s a composer, a famous recent one would be Harry Potter [and the Goblet of Fire]. He’s done hundreds of film; he was nominated for Oscars for a few things. He judged the award and then took me under his wing and got on the film soundtrack, recording sessions with them and how he recorded the things. After that I started to do it, it was a bit of extra cash. Being in a band is expensive! You sort of have to get involved with other revenue streams where you can. “It also helps as a songwriter; if you’re writing for film, you’re writing to a story and your music has to fit the story or tell a story, so that sort of helps a writer. How can you make the music sound cinematic to effect the feel? And you can also bring that into more lyrically driven songs: what’s the best way to bring that in? I’m doing a lot of indie films, student films, gradually building my way up to it, and advertising. It all helps the actual song-writing, and it’s really interesting!” With country music regularly climbing up the charts, I asked Chris why he felt it was suddenly so popular in the UK.
“For me, coming from Ireland, country music has certainly been big here, especially Garth Brooks. He was basically a God-like figure and he was a thing of legends! Certainly in Ireland it’s been popular but in the UK Country-to-Country and has had a lot to do
in bringing it to the mainstream. I’m sure in the UK there was a lot of people who listen to country music – well I know there is as a lot of people go to Country-to-Country – so I think the demand was there but it was being catered for and that’s what Countryto-Country has done – is there a market for this?
“[Country-to-Country] was amazing. Obviously there was a bit of story to that with me in general. It was in London and Dublin too and I’d bought early tickets for the Dublin shows so when it was announced we were playing I never got to see the actual full show, which was a shame, but it was great to see so many independent artists showcasing their wares. The reception you get from people: a lot would come up to you saying they’ve seen us on social media, or seen the videos, but the best thing is the people who don’t follow independent bands, and they just come to see the music and it’s great for people who don’t know you and coming up and saying they like what we’re doing and appreciate it, and that grows the scene. “You’ve got bands like the Shires or Ward Thomas who are leading the way, especially the Shires on Decca Records, opening things up a bit and slipstreams the rest of us. It has really, really grown and this is the start of it, and over the next few years it will reach a peak, especially with more US sounds coming over.”
Following on from my interview with Jess and the Bandits (see KBPS #2) I was keen to find out how preparation for the joint tour were going with the Rising. “We’re very excited about that one. We’re rehearsing flat out for that one! It’s great to be asked, and we’re obviously very proud of Jess and her music and it’s great to be going along with that. For us touring the UK was a major goal, but for us coming over to the UK
REVIEWS Electric Six - Bitch, Don’t Let Me Die!
on our own is a financial thing, it’s an outlay, because although it’s great that we can get on a tour with Jess and say this is who we are, and introduce ourselves, and could help us coming over to the UK on our own. I’m sure there will be a lot of audiences we can open up to. It’s a great thing!” As well as looking ahead to the tour the Rising are also up for an award at this year’s British Country Awards.
“It’s just great to be recognised. Some people are sort of anti-awards whatever, but the awards show, what you’re doing, is breaking through, it’s reaching people. The awards are a recognition of that, and it’s great to get that, and it means something is working, and especially for us, as that’s the music we always listen to, so you suddenly feel like – yeah – we’re part of this so it’s great to get that recognition, and it’ll be great to meet everyone over at the awards.” With a lot of great things happening for the band over the next few months I was keen to see what Chris’ hopes were for 2016. “After the tour our goal is to come over to the UK and further afield on our own. We would hopefully like to play C2C next year and we’re hoping to release an EP just to tie it all in, and eventually another album!”
The Rising’s debut album ‘Coming Home’ is available to download now.
Detroit rockers Electric Six return with their eleventh studio album, ‘Bitch, Don’t Let Me Die!’, an album title that will surely keep them away from too much radio exposure, not that that necessarily has been a concern yet but for the band that continue to release a solid album each year thanks to their keen fan base who support their releases, tours and Kickstarter campaigns but who don’t really trouble the charts. Their eleventh EP battles their breakthrough debut ‘Fire’ for the accolade of their shortest album, coming in at just a little over 39 minutes with 12 tracks. Lead singer Dick Valentine has certainly been busy over the last year releasing additional music under his own name and as duo ‘Evil Cowards’, alongside a handful of extra releases with ‘Electric Six’ including the aforementioned Kickstarter campaigns and the strain shows a little in this release, the annual release of an album meaning the last couple of releases have lacked the
overall consistency of the first two-thirds. That’s not to say I’m not enjoying ‘Bitch, Don’t Let Me Die!’ – it’s better overall than last year’s ‘Human Zoo’ and has some classics on it – it’s just that it doesn’t quite grab me as much as their big hitters such as ‘Señor Smoke’, ‘Heartbeats and Brainwaves’ and ‘KILL’, among others have.
Opened ‘Drone Strikes’ has echoes of Valentine’s solo material, its gritty rock style and repetitive guitar riff, a dark but quite catchy short opener to the album. But it’s the next two tracks that prove the best pairing of the album. ‘Two Dollar Two’ with its driving drum pattern and fast-paced chorus feels like a potential live favourite. It’s followed by the second best song of the album, the Mika-like surprisingly electro-pop number ‘Kids Are Evil’ mixing namechecks to Instagram and Barack Obama with a very catchy synth-hook and whistle riff alongside the most memorable chorus on the record, all the individual elements coming together in the building conclusion to end the track with energy. ‘Roulette’, recently heard as the soundtrack to their Kickstarter video, is the nearest number on the album to the likes of ‘Dance Epidemic’ or ‘(Who The Hell Just) Call My Phone?’, the mix of casino sounds and catchy pop licks winning me over even if it does feel a little too derivative at times. At this point the album takes a little bit of a detour to a few numbers I’d quite happily escape. ‘A Variation of Elaine’ is the weakest number on the record and has very little to recommend it, lacking any true hooks or appeal to me. ‘Slow Motion Man’ starts off promisingly with its eighties-style electronic opening and verse with bridge, but it doesn’t quite do enough for me. ‘Big Red Arthur’, the nearest the
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band will probably get to a Christmas song many years after their instrumental Xmas song and their Grinch cover, picks up the pace more, its scratchy opening riff building up into a mid-tempo story number that mixes up the pace and after a few listens proves to be a surprising gem.
Two thirds in and things get better. The very-fast-paced Elvis Presley-sounding ‘Dime Dime Penny Dime’ is the black sheep of the record but unlike last year’s ‘Gun Rights’, the unusual number of ‘Human Zoo’, this stands out for all the good reasons, the rock-a-billy fast-pace a real surprise and a real treat, and should be a style the band should do more of. ‘If U R Who U Say U R’ is another fun number on the record, though much slower than its predecessor. The falsettochorus with its repeated lead-out really make the song and this feels like classic Electric Six from many years ago, though with echoes of songs like ‘Steal Your Bones’. ‘When Cowboys File For Divorce’ is another eccentric number on an album that is quite happy to have a dozen songs that are entirely different from each other. The pop-rock, recognisable riff, and singable chorus should make this a fan favourite and keeps the energy going.
My favourite song on the album comes next. ‘Take Another Shape’, with its start that harks back a little to their ‘Rubberband Man’ cover, is the catchiest and most memorable number on the album, it’s album-title-referencing chorus coming in the wake of a building bridge the most hooky thing on the entire record, and it’s a song that delivers the goods in the end.
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The album ends with the self-referential ‘Electric Six!’, an explicit but catchy summary that wraps up the album nicely. Though trying not to sound like a prude, the radio-unfriendly nature of the lyrics and the dictionary-flipping non-sensical lyrics damage the song and it could be so much more, but it’s still one of the highlights of the album thanks to its use of rhyming and the riff and the catchy bandchants of the end. ‘Bitch, Don’t Let Me Die!’ is not the band’s best album and I think the strict annual release of an album, on top of the other releases we’ve had over the last five years, is having an impact on their quality control. Their latest album lacks the big hitters we’ve had on their best albums (though ‘The Kids Are Evil’ and ‘Take Another Shape” are up there) and it doesn’t have the same strong openings we get on a lot of the albums – there’s no ‘It’s Showtime!’, ‘Karate Lips’ or ‘Dance Commander’ here at the start – but it does have a far stronger ending than last year’s release. ‘Bitch, Don’t Let Me Die!’ is still a great album and mixes many styles and sounds, and is well worth picking up.
The Hoosiers The Secret Service One of my favourite bands of all time are back with their fourth album ‘The Secret Service’. With a slight line-up change since their previous release ‘The News From Nowhere’, the Hoosiers are back with a much poppier follow-up that feels like a great bridge between their more radio-friendly earlier material and more rewarding, indie-growers from their last LP.
First track ‘Pristine’, opening with some dramatic drums and vocal calls is a powerful kick-start to the album and its smooth flowing lyrics and very listenable guitar work start things off on a strong foot, successfully bridging the gap between the poppy and more introspective sides of the band, the chorus quickly settling in.
Track two and lead single ‘The Wheels Fell Off’ immediately feels like a classic Hoosiers track within the first ten seconds, the speedy tempo and quickly memorable vocals matching songs like ‘Goodbye Mr. A’ and ‘Choices’, and the gritty guitar riff immediately noticeable, balanced well with lead singer Sparkes’ vocal calls. The song builds into a powerful pop number, the final speeding up bridge really tying up the song well.
‘Up To No Good’ is a funky, Scissor Sistersesque number, the slick and vibrant music working well with the more grown up lyrics. Sounding like a modern off-shoot from some 1970s soundtrack like ‘Saturday Night Fever’ this is quite different from what we’ve had from the band in the past and it really works. The chorus is probably the catchiest on the album and very quickly proves to be one of my favourites.
‘I Will Be King’ continues the run of strong numbers with a Dire Straits-style feeling and a further pop-swagger and an extended, satisfying orchestral ending. ‘Dancers in the Dark’ slows the pace down considerably with a stripped-back almost lullaby-like number and is a nice change of pace and a beautiful listen.
The album wraps up with the sort-of title track. ‘(My) Secret Service’ is a smooth end to the piece, its acoustic low-production style tying up the themes nicely, the introspective lyrics welcome from the band.
‘Runs in the Family’ has a more retro sound to its production, the Hoosiers stepping back into the past for this one at least musically, with some anger and swearing present in the lyrics showcasing a different side of the band, set against the throbbing angry bass. Still with some catchy musical and vocal elements, this is a punchy slower tempo number with bite.
(Plus, if you pledged for this album you get an incredible Live in London CD featuring a near-perfect set-list of tracks from across their first three albums. If you don’t book yourself a live ticket after hearing it you have no soul)
Switching back up the pace, ‘The Most Peculiar Day Of Your Life’ is probably my favourite track on the album, the Squeezemeets-T-Rex-sound, jaunty backing and catchy chorus all coming together as part of a perfect musical recipe.
Name-checking their debut album ‘The Secret of Happiness’ is one of the less remarkable numbers on the album but its mixture of Sparkes’ vocals, layered music and trumpet solo keep the album ticking over. ‘(Don’t Make) Eye Contact’ is another slower number, the most ballad-like on the album. It’s a touching, slow number that’s not one of my favourites but is an earpleasing enough listen and at two-minutes is a really sweet, touching, well-written little interlude. ‘Wearing Down The Carpet’, the penultimate number on the album, is a catchy, bouncy little poppy number that lifts the pace up and is a grower, its rockier outro a welcome listen.
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As poppy and radio-friendly as their first two albums and more immediately accessible than their third (which I enjoyed but took longer to hit home but is now a favourite) this should be a fan-pleaser that brings in new fans for the band who deserve to get back to the heights of their debut album fame.
Chvrches Every Open Eye
Scottish synth-pop band Chvrches – yes, the band that is always tricky how to remember to spell – return with their sophomore follow-up to their 2013 debut. I loved their first album ‘The Bones of What You Believe’ so much that I saw them live and though they are a band that know their sound and stick to it, there was something magical about their breakthrough release. Jumping forward two years to their 2015 album and not much has changed. Fans of the first album will find the familiar sounds comfortable; those not keen on the band will have little to convince them here to pick up this follow-up. But for me this is the musical equivalent of a cosy night
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in in front of the fire with a rather tasty hot chocolate: Lauren Mayberry’s vocals continue to be incredibly listenable, her silky smooth voice flowing across each track.
Opener ‘Never Ending Circles’ doesn’t exactly rock the boat in terms of style – it could, like many of the other tracks, easily fit on the first album – but it’s a punchy opener to the album. First single ‘Leave A Trace’ follows, its catchy heartfelt chorus and synth sounds still very listenable even after many listens. ‘Keep You On My Side’ with its hooky ‘every human touch will be replaced’ and pulsating electro-rhythm make this an instant hit, whilst track four ‘Make Them Gold’ feels like the next single and the best track on the album, its 90s game show style opening jingle replaced by some very sing-able lyrics within its chorus, all tied together with Mayberry’s distinct vocals and the powerful electronic sound.
‘Clearest Blue’ is a faster number which namechecks the album title, its speedy pace keeping your heart beating. ‘High Enough To Carry You Over’ gives Mayberry a break from vocal duty, with Martin Doherty carrying the song well and making this another one of my favourites on the album with its riffs on giving up. ‘Empty Threat’ continues the themes and crisp electronic drum sounds and is one of the best choruses on the record, and feels like single number three. ‘Down Side Of Me’ is a little quirkier and slower in sound and though not one of the most recognisable songs on the album its offkilter production values work well.
‘Playing Dead’ lifts the mood up again, its eighties-style electronic sound and strong
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bridge and chorus, with its surprisingly downbeat lyrics contradicting the more positive sounding music. ‘Bury It’ keeps the theme going with a more industrialelectronic feeling at times and statements like ‘I never promised you anything I couldn’t do’ show the band’s skill of merging thoughtful lyrics with strong synth riffs. Their second album concludes with the slower, more insular ‘Afterglow’, a more orchestral, almost religious sound taking over, with quite a downbeat and sombre final few bars.
‘Every Open Eye’ is a compelling, strong listen. Coming in at a pleasing 42-minutes I actually enjoyed this album more than their debut. It’s in no way any sort of departure from their first album – it feels like a continuation rather than a revelation and each song does blur a little into each other – but it’s difficult to find fault when the combination of Mayberry’s silky vocals and the strong synth sounds work so well together. A delight.
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Scouting For Girls - Still Thinking About You Like Chvrches Roy Stride, Greg Churchouse and Pete Ellard of Scouting For Girls have found a winning formula and are happy to stick with it. Their fourth studio album is another quick and perky romp (it squeezes in 11 tracks over 35 minutes) harking back to an innocent time which probably never existed, where everyone seemed to fall in love over the space of sweet three-minute pop-indie songs. And, like my previous review, when the music sounds as good as this it’s difficult to not get swept up in the cute, quaintness of the music. Opener and first single ‘Life’s Too Short’ harks back to the positiveness of their first album, with the orchestral and piano themes running through the sweet love story. The titular track follows and is a more up-tempo affair with a simple and bouncy chorus and a pretty straight forward affair which ticks all the boxes of their familiar themes: love, romance and some slightly veiled innuendo, all wrapped up in perky pop vibes. ‘Castles’, which follows, drops the pace quite considerably with its castle-and-water metaphors coming across as quite heart-breaking at times, the multi-layered production mixed with the stark post-chorus drum moments adding to the appeal.
‘Home’ kicks up the pace again with a jaunty ode to falling in love (naturally) whilst ‘My Vow’ continues the alternating paces with a slower number, still on similar themes. ‘Black and Blue’ at least keeps
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the pace consistent, but is not the most exciting number on the album.
The best track on the album is ‘Three Words Eight Letters’, its three minutes filled with a range of lyrical and musical hooks and feels like the next single. It’s almost matched by the follow-up ‘Bad Superman’, which feels like a cut from their second album. Here Roy imagines himself as a dodgy – dare I say a bit pervy – superhero, misuing his powers. It’s cheesy but it works. ‘Best Laid Plans’ is a more introspective numbers, stripped back with Roy’s voice cracking. This short song bleeds into the final song (sort of) in the appropriately titled ‘Thank You and Goodnight’, a smooth and powerful conclusion to the album.
But, that’s not actually the end. We do get ‘Christmas In The Air (Tonight)’ tagged onto the end, a gentle festive song that mixes up the expected tropes of a Christmas song within the lyrics and music, and though it might feel a little unusual listening to it this early on in the year it captures the mood well, even if the lyrics are a little too sweet here and there. ‘Still Thinking About You’ isn’t a revelation: this is Scouting For Girls’ doing what they do best: eleven catchy, quaint, slightlycheesy pop-indie songs that will get your feet tapping and singing along. Some of the slower songs in the middle of the album let it down a little but there are some potential big singles here and for fans of their three previous albums and their greatest hits there’s much to enjoy here, and it’s a pleasant, life-affirming and joyful pop record, and what’s wrong with that?
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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! I’m Rob, An avid lover of all genres of music, however my forte is Top 40 and New Releases, I’ll be bringing to you the best in upcoming music... so lets get started:
The only place to start with regards to the top 40 is with Justin Bieber and his massive hit “What Do You Mean” which just refuses to leave the number 1 spot, its now been there for an amazing 4 weeks! Bieber may want to watch his back though as set for release this month are some huge hits that could well topple him: Set for release this week alone we have:
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Jamie Lawson (new signing on Ed Sheeran’s new record label and sounds very similar) and his new song “Wasn’t Expecting That” and that’s what a lot of people will be saying as we didn’t expect such a brilliant song from a [relative] newcomer, It really is very catchy.
Ellie Goulding and her new song “Something In The Way You Move” is extremely catchy and although different for Goulding as it’s a somewhat dancey track it actually works and is going to be big in the clubs and bars around the local area! And then later on this month we have Olly Murs and “Kiss Me”. It’s got a rustic sound to it, sounds like crackling to begin with but when its starts its plain to see what he’s doing, Very very good and has me and my friends singing along to every single word, I will be very surprised if this isn’t at least in the top 10.
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Taylor Swift “Wildest Dreams”. This is set for number 1, It’s out later this month but it’s already getting unbelievable airplay on the radio and the music channels, Once again it’s very very catchy!
Jason DeRulo’s “Cheyanne” is about a girl he’s hooked on but their problems have gone a bit too far and he’s wondering what he can do to get it back to what it was with “Cheyanne”! Yet again catchy, very catchy and will have you swinging your moves all over your living room or workplace!! Sam Smith and “Writing’s on the Wall”. This is the official Bond theme song for Spectre and it’s already been to number one and has hovered around the top 4 for the last few weeks, It’s very Bond themed and you can definitely tell it’s a Bond song but that isn’t a bad thing at all, It’s very authentic and different and isn’t Sam’s usual style.
Reverend and the Makers Mirrors Whereas the last couple of reviews have been about bands knowing what works well for them and sticking to the formula successfully ‘Mirrors’, the fifth LP by Sheffield’s Reverend and the Makers, is a shift in style. Out go the uptempo, politically-charged catchy songs and in are fourteen slower, darker and grittier numbers that blend into each other in what could only be described as a sort of concept album.
Short intro number ‘Amsterdam’ feels like an off-shoot of an eclectic Beatles number, McClure’s vocals blending into a tuning radio like an ethereal spirit. First
So that’s it for this month, Finally a month where I actually like all the songs in the article! That certainly makes for a refreshing change.
Thank you for reading and supporting KBPS we really do appreciate it and I appreciate you taking the time to read my article! I’m going to end with a little teaser of next month’s article! We need to look out for songs from Jess Glynne with “Take Me Home”, Robin Thicke and Nicki Minaj with their absolutely huge collaboration on “Back Together”, and finally last but not least Years and Years and their dance hit “Eyes Shut” .
Also if anybody would like to meet the face behind the words I now have a regular gig down at Queen’s Court In Leeds every Saturday from 11pm-4am so why not come down and say “hi!” Many Thanks, Rob track proper ‘Black Widow’ and follow-up ‘Makin’ Babies’, both blending into each other like most of the tracks do, feel quite T-Rex in their sound, McClure’s vocals continuing to be both heavily processed yet raw, his familiar sounding blurred into the dark, down and dirty, atmospheric music, surprisingly memorable in its gruffness. ‘Makin’ Babies’ is one of my favourite tracks on the piece, for all of its two minutes, injecting a poppier sound onto the album.
‘Stuck On You’, with its echoes of the Clash’s ‘London’s Calling’ continues the sixties, retro feeling with the more commercial side of the record before ‘The Beach and the Sea’ returns ‘Mirrors’ to the darker, more atmospherically sonic theme. ‘The Trip’ and ‘El Cabrera’ are two very short songs on the 38-minute piece, ‘The
Trip’ with its wolf-like calls is quickly memorable, whilst the second track is unsurprisingly more Western sounding like an extract from some spaghetti western soundtrack, eschewing lyrics in favour of sound.
‘Blue’ is a bouncier sounding number but still firmly planting the album in the sixties with a Kinks vibe, whilst ‘Something to Remember’ is a string-heavy, reminiscing piece with McClure taking a break from the vocals.
‘Mr Glassalfempty’ feels more like a natural single, its throbbing bass and perkier chorus dominating the record, leading into a series of songs more usual in length. ‘The Gun’ with its brass-swagger feels like a gloomier version of ‘Pink Elephants on Parade’ Honestly, I’ve not gone mad). ‘The Mirror’, with vocals from Jon’s wife Laura, is a more eclectic piece with a larger concentration on the sonic side of the piece, and ‘Last To Know’ is a more stripped back number with a simple vocal line and guitar, and offers a retro-sounding smooth throwback.
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Closer ‘Lay Me Down’ sees Jon McClure returning to the microphone for a building conclusion to the record. Fans sticking around then get radio edits of three songs on the album (removing the blends from tracks and weirdly making them longer than the originals!) and a 23-minute very weird dub mix up of many of the sounds from the album.
‘Mirrors’ is certainly not the album I was expecting from the Rev and band. It’s a much more accomplished, production heavy and ethereal piece, its merging tracks and focus on sonic sounds over lyrics and catchy choruses a surprise, but a pleasant one. Personally I prefer Jon McClure when he’s on louder, more political territory like on their debut album or in party mode like on tracks such as ‘Bassline’ or ‘The Wrestler’, but the soundscapes produced here are a wonder to listen to and it’s definitely a powerful piece of work with its democratic vocal duties, strings, brass bands and throwback sounds, but still with the ‘single’-style records to please the fans. A big change of direction and accomplished, though I’d hope for a more familiarly sounding follow-up.
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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 crop 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)
Mini Mansions - Mirror Mountain (23rd, DNC, T) 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) Jamie Lawson - Wasnt Expecting That (3rd, #40, TTT) 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) Chloe Howl - Bad Dream (17th, 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) BØRNS - Electric Love (29th, DNC, T) Everything Everything – Regret (29th, DNC, T)
May
Watch all the videos: http://bit.ly/1NWytKd Etienne de Crécy – You (3rd, DNC, T) Magalie - Love Criminal (4th, DNC, TTT) Oliver Heldens - Melody (Radio Edit) (4th, DNC, T) Sia - Big Girls Cry (4th, #77, TT) Mumford and Sons – Ditmas (4th, DNC, T) Zac Brown Band - Loving You Easy (4th, DNC, TT) Brandon Flowers - I Can Change (5th, #52, TTT) The Chemical Brothers – Go (5th, #46, TTT,) Walk The Moon - Different Colors (5th, DNC, TT) Charli XCX – Famous (10th, #176, TTT) Seinabo Sey – Younger (10th, DNC, TT) Walking On Cars - Catch Me If You Can (10th, DNC, T) Ed Sheeran – Photograph (11th, #15, TT) Hozier - Someone New (11th, #19, TTT) Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds – Riverman (11th, DNC, TT) Stereophonics - Cest La Vie (11th, DNC, TT) We Are The Ocean - Good For You (11th, DNC, T) Billy Idol - Save Me Now (12th, DNC, T) Sia - California Dreamin (12th, #92, T) Steven Tyler - Love Is Your Name (13th, DNC, TT) Zara Larsson - Uncover (Alt Version) (13th, DNC, T) Zedd - Beautiful Now (13th, DNC, TT)
Ella Eyre – Together (17th, #12, TT) Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar - Bad Blood (17th, #4, TT) Paul Weller - Saturns Pattern (17th, DNC, T) Thea Gilmore - Coming Back to You (17th, DNC, TT) A-Trak feat Andrew Wyatt – Push (18th, DNC, T) Hunter Hunted – Blindside (18th, DNC, TT) Muse – Mercy (18th, DNC, TT) Kelly Clarkson – Invincible (18th, #141, TTT) Romans - Uh Huh (18th, DNC, T) The Vaccines - Dream Lover (18th, #155, TTT) Terri Walker - Already Told Ya (18th, DNC, T) Gabrielle Aplin - Light Up The Dark (18th, DNC, T) Bean – Wildfire (19th, DNC, T) Omi - Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix Radio Edit) (19th, #1. TTT) Hunter Hayes – 21 (21st, DNC, TT) Avicii - Waiting For Love (22nd, #6, TT) Nell Bryden – Waves (24th, DNC, TTT) Port Isla - ALIVE (24th, DNC, T) Ivy Levan - Who Can You Trust (25th, DNC, T) Kids on Bridges feat. Shea Seger- When the Needle Drops (Radio Edit) (25th, DNC, T) Will Young - Thank You (25th, DNC, 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
Watch all the videos: http://bit.ly/1i6lpoW
Florence + The Machine - Queen of Peace & Long and Lost (1st, DNC, TT) HOLYCHILD - Money All Around (1st, DNC, TT) John Newman - Come And Get It (1st, #5, TTT) Sam Hunt - House Party (1st, DNC, T) Simply Red - The Ghost Of Love (1st, DNC, TT) Callaghan - We Don’t Have to Change the World (2nd, DNC, TT,) Clean Cut Kid - Vitamin C (2nd, DNC, T) Frankie Davies – Shivers (2nd, DNC, TT) Lucy May – Whirlwind (2nd, DNC, TTT) MKTO - Bad Girls (2nd, DNC, TT) Parade of Lights - Feeling Electric (2nd, DNC, Pop Evil – Footsteps (2nd, DNC, T) Sundara Karma – Flame (4th, DNC, T) Hermitage Green – Jenny (5th, DNC, TT) Leona Lewis - Fire Under My Feet (7th, #51, TTT) Misty Miller – Happy (7th, DNC, TT)
Robin Schulz feat. Jasmine Thompson - Sun Goes Down (7th, #94, T) Young Guns – Daylight (8th, DNC, TTT) Young Guns - Rising Up (8th, DNC, TT) BØRNS - 10,000 Emerald Pools (9th, DNC, T) 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, DNC, TT) Beck – Dreams (17th, DNC, TTT) Nothing but Thieves - Trip Switch (18th, DNC, TTT) Alesha Dixon - The Way We Are (19th, DNC, TT) Sia - Fire Meet Gasoline (19th, #193, TTT) Tinie Tempah feat. Jess Glynne - Not Letting Go (19th, #1, TT) Don Broco – Automatic (21st, DNC, T) Stereo Kicks - Love Me So (21st, #31, T) Compny - Gently Let You Down (22nd, DNC, T) Everything Everything - Spring Sun Winter Dread (22nd, DNC, TTT) Hilary Duff – Tattoo (22nd, DNC, T) Mika - All She Wants (22nd, DNC, TTT) Mika - Talk About You (22nd, DNC, TTT) Selena Gomez - Good For You [feat. A$AP Rocky] (22nd, #23, T) Christian Burghardt & Cady Groves - Whiskey and Wine (23rd, DNC, T) Kacey Musgraves - High Time (23rd, DNC, TT) Kacey Musgraves - This Town (23rd, DNC, T) Rod Stewart - Love Is (23rd, DNC, TT) The Heydaze – Dumb (23rd, DNC, TTT) Sugar & The Hi Lows - High 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) Eliot Sumner - Firewood (17th, DNC, T) 5 Seconds of Summer - Shes Kinda Hot (17th, #18, TT) Carly Rae Jepen - Run Away With Me (17th, DNC, T) Don Henley - Take A Picture Of This (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) The View - Under the Rug (21st, DNC, T) Raleigh Ritchie - Bloodsport ‘15 (23rd, DNC, TT) Sunset Sons - She Wants (23rd, DNC, TT) Avril Lavigne – Fly (24th, DNC, T) Delta Goodrem - Wings (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) Stornoway - The Only Way Is Up (27th, DNC, TT) Ten Fé - Make Me Better (27th, DNC, T) Nerina Pallot – Rousseau (29th, DNC, TT) New Order – Restless (29th, DNC, T) The Blossoms - Blown Rose (31st, DNC, T) Bon Jovi - Saturday Night Gave Me Sunday Morning (31st, DNC, TTT) Duke Dumont - Ocean Drive (31st, #42, T) 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) Alex Adair - Heaven (7th, DNC, T) Charlie Puth - Marvin Gaye (feat Meghan Trainor) (7th, #1, TTT) Dan Owen – Fall Like A Feather (7th, DNC, TT) Frank Turner - Josephine (7th, DNC, T) 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) Vintage Trouble - Doin’ What You Were Doin’ (14th, DNC, T) Young Empires - Uncover Your Eyes (14th, DNC, T) Brian McFadden - Call On Me Brother (16th, DNC, T) Cliff Richard - Golden (16th, 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) Carrie Underwood - Smoke Break (21st, DNC, T) Ella Eyre - Good Times (21st, DNC, TT) Longfellow – Choose (21st, DNC, T) Madcon feat. Ray Dalton - Don’t Worry (21st, #54, TTT) Nimmo - Dilute This (21st, DNC, T) Pentatonix – Cheerleader (21st, DNC, TT) Rachel Platten - Fight Song (21st, #1, TTT)
Scouting For Girls - Life’s Too Short (21st, DNC, TTT) The Six - (Don’t Go) Running (21st, DNC, TTT) Flyte - Please Eloise (24th, DNC, T) 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) Jack Savoretti - Back Where I Belong (27th, DNC, TTT) Avicii - For A Better Day (28th, DNC, TT) Callaghan - We Don’t Have To Change The World (28th, DNC, TT) CAZZETTE – Genius (28th, DNC, T) DJ Cassidy feat. Chromeo - Future Is Mine (28th, DNC, TTT) Jason Derulo - Cheyenne (28th, DNC, T) Justin Bieber - What Do You Mean? (28th, #1, T) Katie Melua - Wonderful Life (28th, DNC, TT) Rae Morris - Don’t Go (28th, DNC, T) Taylor Swift - Wildest Dreams (31st. #42, TTT) Will Young - Joy (31st, DNC, TT)
September
October
Rod Stewart - Please (2nd, DNC, T) Clean Cut Kid - Runaway (3rd, DNC, T) A-ha - The Wake (4th, DNC, TTT) Claire Richards - A Deeper Shade of Blue (4th, DNC, TTT) FIDLAR - West Coast (4th, DNC, T) Oh Wonder - Body Gold (4th, DNC, T) Sage The Gemini - Good Thing ft. Nick Jonas (4th, Not Released, T) Sigala - Easy Love (4th, Not Released, TT) Angel - Leyla ft. Fuse ODG (10th, DNC, T) American Authors - Go Big Or Go Home (11th, DNC TT) BIRDY + RHODES - Let It All Go (11th, #58, TT) Nero - Two Minds (11th, #27, T) Tony Momrelle - Pick Me Up (11th, DNC, T) Machine Gun Kelly feat. Victoria Money - A Little More (17th, DNC, T) Gabrielle Aplin - Sweet Nothing (18th, DNC, T) Hayden James - Something About You (18th, DNC, TT) Hermitage Green - Quicksand (18th, DNC, T) Melissa Steel - You Love Me? feat. Wretch 32 (18th, DNC, TT) Syron - Talkin’ Crazy (18th, DNC, TT) Ryan Adams - Bad Blood (21st, DNC, TTT) Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott - The Austerity Of Love (22nd, DNC, TTT) Petite Meller - Barbaric (22nd, DNC, T) ELO - When I Was A Boy (23rd, DNC, TTT) Emin feat. Nile Rodgers - Boomerang (25th, DNC, TT) Paloma Faith - The Crazy Ones (25th, DNC, T) Sam Smith - Writings On The Wall (25th, #1, TTT) Shane Filan - Me And The Moon (25th, DNC, TT) Beau nyc. - C’mon Please (28th, DNC, T) Tor Miller - Carter & Cash (28th, DNC, T) Anastacia - Take This Chance (30th, DNC, T) Vant - Parking Lot (30th, DNC, T)
Bxnjamin & Chanele McGuinness (2nd, DNC, T) Klingande feat. Broken Back – RIVA (2nd, DNC, T) KStewart - Ain’t Nobody (2nd, #86, T) Natalie La Rose - Around The World (2nd, Not Released, T) Rudimental - Lay It All On Me feat. Ed Sheeran (2nd, DNC, T) Squeeze - Happy Days (2nd, DNC, TTT) Blossoms - Charlemagne (5th, DNC, T) Enya - Echoes In Rain (8th, DNC, T) Hurts - Lights (9th, DNC, T) Lemar - The Letter (9th, DNC, TT) Peter Andre - Mysterious Swing (9th, DNC, TT) Tom Jones and Imelda May - Honey, Honey (9th, DNC, T) The Vamps - Cheater (13th, DNC, TT) Tori Kelly - Should’ve Been Us (15th, DNC, TT) Alesha Dixon - Tallest Girl (16th, DNC, TT) Lady Lykez - Chat 2 Your Man (23rd, Not Released, TT)
Watch all the videos: http://bit.ly/1EL0vWn
Watch all the videos: http://bit.ly/1EL0z8N
November Watch all the videos: http://bit.ly/1MtpUBr Little Mix - Hair (6th, Not Yet Released, T) Oliver Heldens & Shaun Frank - Shades Of Grey (6th, Not Yet Released, T) Nigel Thomas - Fever (9th, Not Yet Released, T)
FLASHBACK 10. Robbie Williams – ‘Go Gentle’ (Released: November, No. 10) From his second swing album ‘Swings Both Ways’ this was a big change from last year’s big release ‘Candy’ and is a much gentler, slower track but is also more beautifully written, a song dedicated to his daughter. As well as the strong writing the production and performance is spot on and feels both modern and retro in the same breath.
09. Chvrches – ‘The Mother We Share’ (Released: September, No. 38) It was an excellent debut year for Chvrches and this is their best song from a strong album. Taking what was great about ‘Gun’ and ‘Recover’ and whipping them into one well produced and sexy song, led by the sultry vocals of Lauren Mayberry. The best song of this band who are my favourite new band of that year. 08. BΔstille – ‘Pompeii’ (Released: February, No. 2) In what has been a big year for Bastille, it was this breakthrough hit in the earlier part of the year that still sticks with me. With plenty of hooks in the record from the chanting to the great drum work.
07. Martin Solveig & The Cataracs feat. Kyle – ‘Hey Now’ (Released: July, didn’t chart) Though it has echoes of his big hit ‘Hello’ this is superior thanks to its summery synth riff and perky, happy lyrics. Throw in a fast-paced singable rap this just succeeds on all levels and how it didn’t chart in the UK is a mystery to me. 06. Jay Brown – ‘Keep Talking’ (Released: September, didn’t chart) Another incredibly underrated track from 2013, this short and sweet perky pop tune from Jay Brown is the perfect package: brilliantly sung with a production style that builds it up to an enjoyable crescendo.
KBPS
Let’s take a look back at 2013 and my ten favourite tracks from that year... 05. Ivy Levan – ‘Hot Damn’ (Released: June, didn’t chart) Another song that starts with a determined opening; this retro-inspired thumping pop number with swing stylings will immediately grab you. Led by the visually strong Levan if you don’t get this stuck in your head there’s something wrong with you. 04. Miley Cyrus – ‘Wrecking Ball’ (Released: September, No. 1) After the frankly awful ‘We Can’t Stop’ a reimagined Cyrus came back with this stonking pop-ballad. Forget about all the controversy and the unnecessary video, this song stands as a powerful ballad that grabs you. It’s a shame she felt she had to take her clothes off to achieve this. 03. MKTO – ‘Classic’ (Released: June, didn’t chart) Another song that brings retro-back, this midtempo swinging number deserves to get some big success in the UK in 2014 after some strong showings in Australia and New Zealand. Poppy, catchy and with a strong production style, it’s a great tune. 02. Chlöe Howl – ‘No Strings’ (Released: August, didn’t chart) Featured on the ‘Kick Ass 2’ soundtrack (probably the best thing about a disappointing film) s this breakthrough number that wins it for me, with enough balls and attitude and a distinctive enough voice to make her stand out.
01. Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams – ‘Get Lucky’ (Released: April, No. 1) There could only really be one song at number one. As a long-time fan of Daft Punk if someone said after ‘Human After All’ that they’d have a 2013 number one I would have laughed. But in tweaking their sound they came up with a modern-retro dance hit that appealed to both their established fan base and a whole new audience. Yes, it could be called a sell-out for the duo and it was over-heard in the summer, but it’s still a brilliant, funky, singable composition and deserves the top spot.
The music magazine
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Coming in the next edition of
KBPS
The music magazine
Interview with Irene and the Disappointments and more Available midNovember Continue the issue online: twitter.com/KBPSmag/lists/kbps3