See how I was scared about 2017 because most of my favourite bands had released new albums in 2016 and I didn't know who would be here for me this year? Be still, my little heart. There's plenty of new music for me to dig my teeth in.
ALBUMS & EPs
After finishing the Asymmetry era on a high, we all knew Mallory Knox had the ability to make a big, ambitious rock record to match their big plans. Well, they’ve just gone and done it, and at the same time, they topped every expectation I could have possibly had. Wired might just be the Cambridge boys' best record, and I have no doubt that it’ll become my favourite anytime soon. It’s got everything I love about Mallory Knox’s music. It’s got ginormous choruses I cannot wait to lose my voice to in festival fields and packed venues. It’s got the perfect harmony of Mikey Chapman’s and Sam Douglas’ voices. It’s got a pure, unfaltering energy, from start to finish. It’s also got so much more than that. It’s got riffs all over the place, and let me tell you, Giving It Up into California into Wired is one hell of a way to start a record. Wired is urgent and fast paced, it’s all killer and absolutely no filler - and it’s not just your average big sounding rock record either. It’s got groovier vibes (For You, Come Back Around) that remind me of Oasis at times. The lyrics are more sensitive, more personal, even. Better Off Without You (Citalopram), dealing with bassist Sam Douglas’ anxiety, has to be one of Mallory Knox’s best songs while being one of the most truthful and honest. Wired is the record I wanted Mallory Knox to make without even knowing it.
Today, they’ve been announced as Thursday headliners for 2000 Trees, and recently, they have been added to two major tours (Simple Plan’s fifteenth anniversary tour for No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls and Enter Shikari’s European stint for the ten year anniversary of Take to the Skies), and I can just feel that Wired is the record that’s going to take these boys to the next level.
Before this, I had just heard of Can’t Swim - mostly because they will be touring Europe alongside Real Friends in April, and only in good terms. The release of their first full length, Fail You Again, in March, seemed like a good reason to finally give a listen to their music. From the get go, I find Fail You Again catchy and energetic, and Christ, I absolutely adore Chris LoPorto’s voice. At times soft and at others gritty, it is unique and stunning. Fail You Again feels like the calm and the storm all at once, with songs that are explosive (All the Moves We Make Are in the Dark, We Won’t Sleep) and others softer and more delicate (Quitting), but it’s Stranger that wins it all and embodies that feeling all at once, starting off slowly only to hit you hard in the chorus. The lyrics deal with the loss of someone (Friend, Molly’s Desk), of oneself and are a journey to find yourself, it seems. Fail You Again is a wonderful début album, and on this one, I’m glad I trusted everyone around me.
Another début album has been given to the world in 2017, courtesy of London based Counterfeit. The band has been making waves recently, and it’s safe to say their first full length, Together We Are Stronger, had been long awaited. It’s one record that does not disappoint. From start to finish, there is no dull time, and every song is energetic, catchy, very in your face and yet, it’s more than that. The best explanation for that is the stunning Lost Everything, grand and soaring all throughout… and rendered unique by the mix of strings and vocalist Jamie Campbell-Bower’s screams. Together We Are Stronger is a record full of urgency, the songs are short and fast paced and it feels like a bomb exploding in your face with every track, every beat of the drums, every riff, every word. It’s an album that manages to surprise you one last time by closing with its slowest, most delicate song, the beautiful Letters to the Lost. Let me tell you, Together We Are Stronger is one great album and most importantly, one I want to hear performed live.
One of the albums I was most excited to hear this year was Sorority Noise's You're Not As ____ As You Think, and I have not been disappointed. Songs about death, guilt, mental health and a friend's suicide. On paper, it sounds very bleak, doesn't it? And yet it's a record that is infinitely comforting, and full of light. It's the way I have always felt about Sorority Noise. Every time I've seen them live, it's how I felt - like something had exploded all around me and for a short amount of time, I wasn't alone, and someone got it. This is how You're Not As ____ As You Think feels, too. It's beautiful and sensitive, positive and honest, and I am extremely grateful we have a band like them to deal with mental health issues in such an honest way. Depression isn't pretty, anxiety isn't just being awkward. Mental health issues are ugly and uncomfortable, and a song like Disappeared depicts it in such a truthful way it hurts and yet, it makes you feel less alone. You're Not As _____ As You Think is an open window into frontman Cameron Boucher's mind, and it's one we desperately needed if we intend on breaking that stigma and make mental health issues valid.
On the 24th of March, I woke up to Northlane pulling a Beyoncé and dropping their fourth full length, Mesmer, as a surprise. And what a brilliant surprise it is indeed. It's catchy all the way through and yet it is technical. It is very atmospheric and yet heavy at times. Vocalist Marcus Bridge has one of the most wonderful voices I've ever heard and his cleans are heaven to my ears. It seems Northlane have found the perfect balance between all the elements I love in metal, blended them together and made the one hell of an album with it all. The lyrics, whether they are about the way we relate to our planet (Solar) or the loss of a loved one are clever and beautiful, and the more personal songs (Heartmachine, Fade, Veridian) are written in a way that can speak to everyone, they're made relatable without being a cliché. It's no secret that Northlane's history has heavily been influenced by Architects, and it's no surprise they would write the late Tom Searle a tribute, and it comes in the form of closer Paragon, an absolutely stunning piece of music that absolutely broke my heart. Overall, there's a positive energy in that record, a sense of wanting to change things but in a very peaceful way. There's something so organic and pure about Northlane that I am loving more and more every day.
Coast To Coast's The Length of a Smile is the best surprise I've had in 2017, in the way that I don't know what I was expecting, but everything has been blown out of the water. This is an incredible EP, full of nostalgia, and Coast To Coast are a band with a wonderful sound. You can hear the pop punk roots, sometimes, but to me, in sound, they're closer to a band like Deaf Havana and no, it's also not Deaf Havana meets pop punk either. It's something that I can't quite describe, that has taken me by surprise and that I have a lot of love and time for.
On the 24th of March, I woke up to Northlane pulling a Beyoncé and dropping their fourth full length, Mesmer, as a surprise. And what a brilliant surprise it is indeed. It's catchy all the way through and yet it is technical. It is very atmospheric and yet heavy at times. Vocalist Marcus Bridge has one of the most wonderful voices I've ever heard and his cleans are heaven to my ears. It seems Northlane have found the perfect balance between all the elements I love in metal, blended them together and made the one hell of an album with it all. The lyrics, whether they are about the way we relate to our planet (Solar) or the loss of a loved one are clever and beautiful, and the more personal songs (Heartmachine, Fade, Veridian) are written in a way that can speak to everyone, they're made relatable without being a cliché. It's no secret that Northlane's history has heavily been influenced by Architects, and it's no surprise they would write the late Tom Searle a tribute, and it comes in the form of closer Paragon, an absolutely stunning piece of music that absolutely broke my heart. Overall, there's a positive energy in that record, a sense of wanting to change things but in a very peaceful way. There's something so organic and pure about Northlane that I am loving more and more every day.
Coast To Coast's The Length of a Smile is the best surprise I've had in 2017, in the way that I don't know what I was expecting, but everything has been blown out of the water. This is an incredible EP, full of nostalgia, and Coast To Coast are a band with a wonderful sound. You can hear the pop punk roots, sometimes, but to me, in sound, they're closer to a band like Deaf Havana and no, it's also not Deaf Havana meets pop punk either. It's something that I can't quite describe, that has taken me by surprise and that I have a lot of love and time for.
I used to really, really like Ed Sheeran. I heard You Need Me, I Don’t Need You on the radio, once, before + was released, and I fell for it, hard and headfirst. I saw him live following this, I even met him. And then Don’t happened and I jumped off the bandwagon. Sheeran just released is long awaited third album, Divide, and it’s not the album that is going to make me jump back on the bandwagon. The singles are alright, and there are some good tunes here and there, but it doesn’t really do anything for me anymore. I’ve got to a point where I would probably singalong and not change the channel/station if he came on the radio/TV, but that’s about it. I can’t say Divide is a bad album, it’s alright, not album of the year but not bottom of the industrial sized bin either, but… some lyrics are downright embarrassing, though. In Shape of You, Ed and the girl he has his eye on (whom he probably met in the eighties seeing as a jukebox was involved) go to an all you can eat buffet and, well, they’re “thrifty” so she fills her handbag with food. And they say romance is dead.
So, I've listened to Creeper's Eternity, In Your Arms. And I can't say it's a bad album, because it clearly is not. It's dramatic and vivid, it's cleverly written and it's technically impeccable. You could totally make a musical out of it, complete with dance numbers, and knowing my love for musicals and dance numbers that is a compliment of the highest form coming from me. But apart from the objective, I think I just don't get it? I have no idea what just happened to me. Maybe I'll get it sometime.
So, I've listened to Creeper's Eternity, In Your Arms. And I can't say it's a bad album, because it clearly is not. It's dramatic and vivid, it's cleverly written and it's technically impeccable. You could totally make a musical out of it, complete with dance numbers, and knowing my love for musicals and dance numbers that is a compliment of the highest form coming from me. But apart from the objective, I think I just don't get it? I have no idea what just happened to me. Maybe I'll get it sometime.
MY NEW FAVOURITE ACTS
We'll start with something that is, indeed, all new. Sainte is born from the ashes of We Are The In Crowd, and it's basically WATIC's vocalist Tay Jardine's new musical project. It's absolutely everything I adore in pop music, it’s catchy and and it makes you want to dance in your living room. The music videos are brightly coloured and pop arty and they fill my heart with joy and cater to my love of colour block and brightly coloured make up. Sainte have only released two songs as we speak, Technicolor and, more recently, With or Without Me, and I cannot wait for more music.
The best thing about attending a lot of shows on the same tour can be support bands - outside of seeing your band of choice several times, that is. Going to five shows out of With Confidence's Better Weather tour brought Canadian outfit Safe To Say in my life. They quickly moved on from "the band I'd love to see in Brighton because they'd fit in so perfectly there" to "the band I cannot get enough of" - only me to go see a band for their sugary sweet tunes and to leave a fan of the emo, alt-rock, darker support. I cannot recommend Safe To Say enough if you're a fan of having your heart ripped out of your chest because feelings.
THE PLAYLIST
This month’s playlist includes :
- Lorde coming back. We should make it clear by now, I absolutely adore Lorde.
- More love for Little Mix, because in case we haven't figured that one out yet, I love Little Mix.
- A taste of albums to come : The Maine (my excitement levels were sky high the second I heard Bad Behaviour, but it became even worse since I saw them on Saturday), Gnarwolves, All Time Low, Linkin Park, blink-182, Mastodon.
- State Champs proving they can't really do anything wrong.
- A band that you should absolutely check out : The Winter Passing. If Paper Rabbit doesn’t make you want to drive around under the sun, I can’t really do anything for you.
- Bands that I’m starting to get into : Charly Bliss, Like Pacific, PWR BTTM, Tigers Jaw.
- Weezer. No one knows what they’re doing. I’m digging it.
- The usual taste of the albums and EPs that have come out this month.