REVIEW: Blossoms- Cool Like You

Hello Everyone!

So, this Friday (27th April), Blossoms released their second album, Cool Like You, a follow up to their eponymous debut, Blossoms, which was released in 2016.

There is something we have to talk about before we get into the nitty gritty of the review...the odd promotion/teaser campaign, which saw the drummer, Joe Donovan get interviewed and insult his bandmate, lead singer, Tom Ogden. This was followed by a spoof "Where are they now?" video, which saw Joe set up a ice cream van business,  called Cone Rose, after Blown Rose, Charlie become a Stockport County FC mascot, Josh create a food and drink documentary and Myles creating a (fake) rap record. This all caused rumours of a split, complete with a hotline number for distressed fans. This was later revealed to be a voice message with a possible taster of new music in the background.

Thankfully, this was all a ruse, in preparation for the band announcing new single, I Can't Stand It, on the 1st March, followed by an announcement of Cool Like You the very next day, on the 2nd of March.  The other give away that this "rift" was fake was that they soon announced a string of festival dates in the run up of these two announcements, including TRNSMT festival in Scotland and Neighbourhood Weekender in Liverpool.




From the very first listen, it is clear that Blossoms want to stick to their 80s electronic sound and it is often good when music artists stick to their sound that everyone knows and loves. OK...it may be a little bit boring to some who may have wanted a change but at the same time, often, when bands do release songs that sound different to something they had done before, fans turn against them and ask why they didn't stick to their sound they are known for. This is why I think it was good that Blossoms stuck to what they know.

Their opening track, There Is a Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls) wouldn't sound out of place in a 70's/80's disco, with some fans on Twitter comparing it to ABBA's sound. In fact, fellow track, Giving Up the Ghost has a guitar sound in the background of Ogden's vocals that definitely sounds familiar...I'm thinking Voulez-Vous? Oh...and that stomping beat to Lying Again...I'm getting a Gimme Gimme Gimme vibe.



It's not just ABBA that Blossoms seem to be getting inspiration from...it seems they have used their previous album as a reference in order to build up that already epic electronic sound that they've got going on within their music...is it me or there is a hint of Blown Rose in the title track, Cool Like You? Unfaithful...yep it is clear they used At Most a Kiss as a starting point when coming up with the instrumentals to this song.  Considering that this album had a been a two year project, this source of inspiration is highly likely. In fact, Blossoms' frontman, Tom Ogden, even went as far as saying There's a Reason Why was a sequel to one of the previous album's songs, Getaway, during a Radio 1 interview.

Overall,  Blossoms have proved that sticking to your sound, along with taking inspiration from 70s/80s bands, works wonders when it comes to producing an album and proves that everyone should have a bit of Blossoms in their lives! Put it this way...it's not going to be, nor was it ever going to be a difficult second album...

****

Coachella? More like #Beychella

Hello!

So, the USA equivalent of Glastonbury happened recently...yep I'm talking about Coachella.

Coachella is considered the first big festival and I consider it as the unofficial opener of festival season. This year's festival saw loads of artists come to Los Angeles to play the famous desert festival site: Haim, Jamiroquai, Alt-J, Cardi B and more. We also had two headliners. One was The Weeknd, who got people talking after he got emotional during a performance of his latest song, which is thought to be about his relationship with Selena Gomez, and the other was Eminem.

However, none of these acts drew more attention than the third headliner of the weekend...in fact LAST YEAR was when she began to draw attention to her anticipated headline set...yep, I'm talking about queen Bey herself: Beyonce.

Originally, she was meant to be headlining Coachella 2017 but she then announced that she was pregnant with twins, causing her to cancel. Of course the worst kept secret was eventually confirmed: she was headlining Coachella 2018.

Some of you are probably thinking, "Why is everyone making a big deal about Beyonce headlining Coachella?" Well not only is she...erm...Beyonce but she also broke...oh...just a couple of records:

• She was the first black woman to headline Coachella. This is a big deal in a world where, unfortunately there is still some racial tension.
• She was the most tweeted about performance. 
• Destiny's Child are technically the first girl band to headline Coachella

Also, not only did she reach these milestones, she also, because she is Beyonce, managed to inadvertently create a hashtag dedicated to her performance: #Beychella.

Of course, there were a few surprises up Beyonce's sleeve. One of them happened on the first weekend of Coachella, even though people predicted it anyway, and this was the reunion of Destiny's Child. Yep, Michelle and Kelly Rowland joined their former band mate to perform a classic hits medley, consisting of Lose My Breath, Say My Name and Soldier.

The other surprises was how subtle she was being during her performance, particularly with her main outfit at the start of her headline set on the first weekend: Black shorts with a yellow hoodie. Not only is this the colours of a bee (Bey...get it?), this is also the colour that represented the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, which was the first black inter-college fraternity, when it was established at Cornell University in 1906.

Overall, Beyonce is probably the only headline who grabbed attention before, during and after the performance. Now, the question is, will any other artist have as much focus on them when they headline Coachella? In fact, will they even have a hashtag dedicated to their Coachella performance, in the way that Beyonce had #Beychella? Answer: probably not.

Em x

Miles Kane is Back!

Hello!

I can already hear quite a few people thinking "He has been back since late 2015!" Yeah...erm...that was The Last Shadow Puppets guys. I'm saying he is back regarding his solo career, with his last album, Don't Forget Who You Are being released in 2013. Well, recently. he unveiled a new song, Loaded, which was Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac's Hottest Record on Monday (16th April).

I have to admit something: I had only really been a fan of Kane within The Last Shadow Puppets and before that, I had only heard of one song, which was Don't Forget Who You Are (thanks New Look!).  However, seeing as I like The Last Shadow Puppets, I thought I would listen to Annie Mac's show to hear Loaded and see what I think...and I thought it was quite good.




During his interview with Annie Mac, he gave an insight in the making of the single and his upcoming album Coup de Grace (named after a wrestling move), revealing that he had recorded with Jamie T and Lana Del Rey.  In fact from what I have heard from Jamie T, it is clear that he has had some influence when listening to Loaded and do I detect a bit of Last Shadow Puppets sound as well? Yep...I do.

Of course, the inevitable question came: is Alex Turner involved with Miles' new album? Well, surprisingly, Turner is not present on the album but he has been busy with something else... However, this will allow Miles to show that he is not just Alex Turner's best friend; he is a musician in his own right.

Overall, judging by Loaded, we can expect good things from Coup de Grace, and with Kane being announced to play various festivals and announcing a limited number of free 7" vinyl copies of the Coup de Grace single being available in various record stores across the UK, to celebrate Record Store Day, anticipation for the new album has already begun!

All I can say is bring on the new album!

Em x

Let's have a rant: Ticket Touts

Hello

So, I thought that I would use my next blog post to have a bit of a rant. In all honesty, I feel it's always good to have a rant, whether it's verbally to a friend or family member, or via a written piece, such as blog posts. Anyway, the thing that is most annoying is...ticket touts.

Ticket touts, for those who may not have heard the term, are those people who buy tickets and then sell them on at ridiculous prices, often nearing the £1,000 barrier. How is that fair to true fans who actually want tickets?

I have to admit, as a disabled music fan, I am lucky when it comes to buying tickets, as all I have to do is phone a dedicated ticket line and someone usually picks up between 45 minutes- 1 hour later. However, what about those who are not disabled?  The problem starts here.

I'll give you an example.  I was trying to get Muse tickets for my Mum and Dad (my Dad is a big fan) and I went to this ticket site to get tickets. Despite me getting on the website exactly on 9am when the tickets went on sale, and refreshing the page multiple times, I kept getting a message come up saying no tickets available and yet tickets were appearing on secondary ticketing sites within seconds of being released, selling at some ridiculous prices. Finally, after 3 hours and multiple dates being added, and me phoning up the O2 arena directly, I got some tickets but I was still annoyed that tickets that could have been given to real fans.

Thankfully, artists and their management are putting things in place to (try and) stop ticket touting. Recently, acts such as Ed Sheeran and Arctic Monkeys have ensured that the ticketing process is fair by putting strict instructions on what to do on their websites:

• the lead booker's surname will be printed on the ticket.
• the lead booker must arrive at the venue and present a photo ID.

Ed and his management also stated on his website to bring confirmation of the booking and teamed up with a website, Twickets, along with other artists such as, Little Mix, Adele, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and Lana Del Rey, where purchasers of tickets can sell them appropriately, so people can buy these tickets from this website at face value.

Despite this, and countless features on TV regarding problems with people ending up with dodgy tickets, ticket touting is still happening, meaning we are still a long way off from tackling the touts. However, with these special measures in place, hopefully we will less ticket touting in the future.

If you need/would like to sell your tickets, or buy some sold tickets at face value, visit https://www.twickets.live/

Em x