If you don't know who The Beatles were (*???*), let me briefly (=badly) explain: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison formed an immensely popular Rock/Pop band in 1960s-70s, known as The Beatles. They are widely believed, even to this day, to have revolutionised music of the time taking influence from Indian and Classical music (particularly on the album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band), and are perceived as the representation of the "counterculture" movement of the time (which is a fun explanation for another time...).
*devil's advocate time* Does a rock band really deserve a day of international recognition, though? I mean, they're just a rock band, right?
Whether you like The Beatles or not, it is impossible to deny that they and their team (namely, George Martin) did not reform the production of popular music, completely changing the sound of modern mainstream music to come. *gets off high horse*
Revolutionising "sound" may sound like a small thing to deserve a whole day of recognition incomparison to democracy or social justice, but anyone who has listened to any music ever should know that music can bring back memories, both happy and sad, of people and places, prompting your mind to recover feelings and thoughts that you may have buried away for a long time. Pretty powerful stuff, right?
By devoting a day to The Beatles, it means devoting a day to hope.
*cheesy, I know*
Hear me out. The "Fab Four" had *arguably* ordinary upbringings and went on to make extraordinary contributions to music and the world around them from John Lennon's Bed-In to George Harrison's UNICEF support programmes. They helped many people make unforgettable, happy memories after suffering the misery of the war and continue to help people to do so. I think that's something we'd all like to be able to do.
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Top 10 Tracks (inspired by Glastonbury - who's been your favourite act? leave comment - The Killers set has definitely been mine so far ;) ):
Hello again. It’s Friday so here’s this week’s music.
Imma shuffle it up and talk about the track of the week: Tear in My Heart by Twenty|One|Pilots, mainly because I can’t actually physically not. I must have been so boring this week because all I can talk about is this track. Firstly, that piano - I could go on all day about how much I love pianos but it just gives the whole song a facelift - it keeps it light and doesn’t let the bass drag it down. Secondly, those drum patterns - what’s not to love? Thirdly, Josh. Fourthly, Tyler. Fifthly, Jenna. Sixthly, that synth - adds variety to the song. Seventhly, that bass - gives it pace. Eighthly, those lyrics. Ninthly, *mind blown*. I have no idea what to say anymore - too much goodness in one song. The song is deadly serious, yet hilarious (I mean, my taste in music is your face...?) ; pure genius, yet pure insanity; and completely and utterly Twenty One Pilots. I literally can’t stop listening to it. Nothing bad to say about it, so short a review. It firmly finds its place in the 12/12 club ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Onto KINTSUGI. I said I’d review this album when it came out when Little Wanderer was track of the week (you can check that review out here), and this is the first post since its release so here it is. I have to admit, not all the tracks on KINTSUGI were as great as I expected them to be, but Binary Sea and Good Help (Is So Hard To Find) are just wonderful so I’m by no means disappointed. I love the variety on this album - no two tracks sound the same and the more I listen to tracks the more I begin to like different ones (for instance, I’m definitely more into The Ghosts of Beverly Drive now than No Room In Frame). It’s not an album I can listen to over and over, but I love the experimental nature and the imagination that went into creating this album - definitely one I’m proud to have in my collection. 11/12 ★★★★★★★★★★★
I’m not really sure why Marina and the Diamonds are artist of the week because FROOT was released ages ago, but y’know what’s life without whimsy? Marina and the Diamonds is/are a kinda pop group that kinda have this habit of being really popular all of a sudden then immediately disappearing. Anyway, I made them/her artist of the week because as well as having Tear in My Heart stuck in my head, I’ve been finding it really hard to get Savages out of my head. It’s a very odd combination… but that’s beside the point. Marina writes surprisingly catchy lyrics (perhaps not ones you want to shout out like We live, we die / We steal, we kill, we lie) that offer a very unique view on modern life (that sounds a little pretentious, but you’ll see what I mean). Her/their songs have a kinda electro pop/indie pop feel that will either leave you feeling like you want to dance or you want to cry. Either way, Marina’s powerful vocals will definitely bring you back to centre. Alright so some of the tracks on FROOT are very… pop… but I think that’s what makes them/her so clever. She/They has/have these very intelligent lyrics shrouded in these little pop tunes. Anyway, you should go give them/her a listen. 9/12 ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (the rating is based on Savages)
Film: The Wind Rises, [PG-13]
Studio Ghibli :) This is the new-er one. This film is loosely based on the life of the Japanese plane designer in the Second World War - but mainly centres on his love life. I love the animation in these films (not so much the plot). For those of you who have seen the films My Neighbour Totoro, or Howl’s Moving Castle, or any of the other of the Ghibli films then you’ll know what I mean when I say that they are just so beautiful. I wasn’t so taken by the plot - it was a little unfocused. At the beginning of the film, it talked a lot about planes, then suddenly it talked a lot about Nahako. I understand that it was meant to represent the change in his life, but perhaps it could have been done a little more smoothly for the purposes of the film. Twas a good film though, with beautiful graphics - 9/12 ★★★★★★★★★
Book: The Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Haruki Murakami [14+]
Murakami is widely considered one of the greatest writers of our time, yet I’ve rarely heard his name in conjunction with the topic. I’m not going to hazard a guess as to why this is but I will leave it as he is a great writer and although I read the translation of his novel, it was wonderfully written and I definitely could not have predicted the ending (which is what I always look for in a book). The plot is centered around a young man and how he some how manages to get cut off from his group of friends. He believes this is because he has always been an outcast (for instance, his name is the only one that doesn’t contain a colour - for example Kei Akamatsu, shortens to Aka meaning Red - hence the title). This leaves him feeling depressed and “colourless” - again, hence the title - until he meets Sara, which is essentially where the book begins. He finds himself telling Sara all about his friends and she helps him to solve the mystery of why he becomes the outcast, and why he’s the “Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki”. I really enjoyed it, despite the horrible ending, and the strange part in the middle. This book is aimed at adults, so it does have some strange content, but I skipped over those bits. Even if you just read if for Murakami’s descriptions it would be worth it. 8/12 ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
App: Stop Motion Studio [Free - 8+]
This app allows you to make those stop motion animation videos and it’s actually pretty easy to use - I mean, if I can use it, pretty much anyone can use it. My only issue with it is saving - it’s just a little too easy to delete everything you’ve done and then not be able to be redo it. Apart from that, it’s a great app to have to entertain pretty much anyone with. 11/12 ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Game: Disco Zoo [Free - 5+]
A surprisingly addictive game that will make you feel like a five year old again - the only way of summarising this game. When you see people playing it, you think “meh, how could that ever be fun” WALK AWAY NOW. I mean it has pandas. Pandas people. Sorry, anyway, this game essentially puts you in charge of your own zoo where you can collect animals. The twist is you can throw disco parties and buy them hats. The hard bit is solving the puzzles to get the animals (when you rescue animals, you’re faced with a grid, and you have to find the pattern to get the animal). It’s surprisingly fun. The best part is you’re not forced to buy anything (I mean you can buy more money and you can buy the ZooPedia which gives you all the answers, but where’s the fun in that?). I would say that it does get a little boring waiting for things to happen, but that’s the same with pretty much all games like this so you can’t really criticise it too heavily for that. 11/12 ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Happy Easter :) I took a quick break, but I’m back now with a quick summary of the month gone by. I was going to bits of this post a while ago, but didn’t get around to actually finishing it so I kinda crammed everything into this post.
As you may know, The Young Culture is on both Blogger and WordPress, and I’d thought do a quick summary of how that’s been going and which one I’m preferring at the moment. I should quickly say that they’re not exactly the same blog, there are some differences, but not really anything that makes this an unfair comparison. When I was starting out, Blogger was definitely in pole position. I liked the ability and freedom to design your blog how you wanted, without having to have a Premium account. Also, it was slightly easier to navigate. However, WordPress took over in the weeks to come. Blogger makes it very difficult to discover new blogs and share your blog with others, within the website. Although views are higher on Blogger, you’re very isolated from other bloggers and I think that’s its major drawback. You can play this kind of roulette game with the next blog button on Blogger but I think Google need to update it a bit. WordPress comes across as more of a community and I’ve definitely found myself using it more. At the moment, WordPress has the edge, but I’ll keep you posted about both.
I was just going to quickly mention that I finally worked out how to use HTML :) Be proud. So the format is actually pretty decent on Tumblr now. I still need to work out how to change the fonts but apart from that, I can almost use Tumblr now. Expect more on that in the coming month. If you have Tumblr, come say hello, and tell me how to use stuff because yh… I’m pretty useless when it comes to Tumblr.
Hi. Wow a lot happened/is happening this week: we had the Leibster Award on Wednesday, now you're getting the Friday post on Sunday and later in the week it's the first month review - so that's gonna be fun. Anyway, I have lots of stuff planned to make this more interesting in the month ahead, but for now here's this week's review:
Artist: Brandon Flowers. This week’s artist of the week is the Killers’ frontman Brandon Flowers. Earlier in the week, he released his new single “Can’t Deny My Love”, performed on the Tonight Show, and also managed to sell out his UK tour. I think doing all that in one week was pretty good going, so he earned the title of artist of the week. His new single’s actually pretty good: it has this kind of 80s feel to it which makes it pretty unique at the moment, so points for creativity. Also, it managed to avoid the trap of sounding like a Killers song which is pretty common when singers decide to go solo, not mentioning any names… I’m not sure it’s my favourite track by Flowers but it has some really good parts. The guitar riff is pretty cool - it has a Daft Punk/Nile Rodgers feel about it, but it’s kind of drowned out a little by the 80s effects. The harmonies are also very emotive - they have a HAIM kind of feel, and they work well in context with the 80s theme, but they also get a little overshadowed by the effects in the chorus. I’m not sure I’m so keen on the synthesised drums, but I guess that’s in keeping with the 80s motif, and I think that’s just personal taste... I did like the track, honestly! I love the vocals - they’re very polished and the song is very well written in itself - it’s very catchy. Perhaps it was just a little too trigger happy with the effects. Anyway, he’s not just artist of the week because he released a new song, he also performed it live on the Tonight Show, and you can’t deny (hehe… sorry) he did pretty well. Actually, can I just say that the backing singers were pretty amazing. Personally I preferred the live version, but y’know you can’t please everyone all the time. Anyway, give it a listen, and tell me what you think. Based on the live version imma give it a 9/12. It was a very strong live performance. However, if you asked me what I’d give the recorded version, perhaps a 7-8/12. I think it’s a bit of a shame because I really do like this track - it has so many good parts, but the effects kind of ruin it for me a bit. Tell me what you think. Was I too harsh?
Album: LOVETAP! - Smallpools. It’s all about the new music this week - this week’s album of the week is LOVETAP! by indie pop band Smallpools. If you’re thinking where did I hear that name before, if you’re a TDCC, |-/, Neon Trees or Walk The Moon fan, then you may know the Smallpools from their tours - they were the support act for all those bands. LOVETAP! is Smallpools first album, and was released just a few days ago. I already absolutely love it and couldn’t wait to tell you about it. There are loads of great tracks on this album that will get you dancing around and singing along so you should definitely give it a listen. My favourite tracks from the album are Killer Whales, Dreaming, Over & Over and No Story Time - I don’t really have a good reason, other than I liked these the best. They have a great sound that I can only describe as Walk The Moon meeting Vampire Weekend then going out for dinner with the Two Door Cinema Club. I’m not hesitating to say that it’s one of my favourite albums of the year, and for that it can sit alongside Kodaline in the 12/12 club.
Track: All In White - The Vaccines. I broke the chain - this isn’t a new song, but it’s a good one so it does have that in common. I suppose I could’ve talked about Handsome - their new single from their upcoming album “English Graffiti” - but I’ll talk about that when the new album comes out, deal? Anyway, I picked All In White this week because I think it makes a good contrast with Smallpools and Brandon Flowers. All In White is quite a heavy Vaccines track, unlike their more popular tracks: Norgaard and If You Wanna. It still has all the components needed to make a good Vaccines song: their traditional bassline and hints of their crazy drum beats (that always makes me think of Animal from the muppets), but it’s much calmer, and a lot more subdued compared to their other tracks. It’s not quite as depressing as Somebody Else’s Child, but it’s toned down a little compared to the rest of What Did You Expect From the Vaccines? Great Track. 11.5/12 - ‘Nuff Said.
I’ll be back again soon with the first end of month post so it’s a busy time :)
See you soon,
M x
PS: Another strange video warning for All In White… do yourself a favour and don’t watch it.
Hi, hello and welcome. It’s Friday, so here’s the post for this week.
If you came here, expecting this to be about housing, then I’m afraid you were mislead because my artist of the week are the Mini Mansions. I’d initially thought that they were fairly new but Spotify* proved me wrong - the Mini Mansions formed in 2009 and since then have released one album and several EPs. From their new-er tracks they’ve collaborated with best-selling artists including Brian Wilson (the guy from the Beach Boys - and everybody was surfin’ / surfin’ USA - yeah that guy) and Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys. Covering a Blondie track and successfully half-inching the bassist from Queens of the Stoneage - “we were on a break” springs to mind - can also be added to their list of achievements. Death is a Girl has to be my favourite track by them. I like the variety Death is a Girl; it kind of reminds me of a Two Door Cinema Club song (the earlier tracks, not changing of the seasons etc.) If you like your mod rock, then Freakout! is the track for you. Contrasting with the other two tracks, Freakout! is by far the most cheerful and definitely has the most catchy bass line. It kind of reminds me of Chelsea Dagger for some reason. Anyway, they have piles of other tracks for you to check out so if you're in the mood for something a bit different, go check them out. Overall they earned themselves a 7/12, which is pretty good. I couldn't give them any higher because they do such a variety that I loved some songs but really, really didn’t like others.
*Talking of Spotify, you can now follow theyoungculture on Spotify for an updated playlist every week which you can find the link to here (you can paste the link in the search bar in the spotify desktop version, idk about the app).
Next on the agenda is Death Cab For Cutie. I already used up my artist of the week, so this is track of the week, although I kinda may mention a few (but we won’t tell anyone about that bit). Death Cab for Cutie are a long running favourite band of mine, who you can expect to appear on this blog fairly regularly (along with Coldplay and the Arctic Monkeys). So, as you can probably guess, I’m pretty excited about they’re up and coming album KINTSUGI (which I can’t spell). Anyway, this week they released Little Wanderer from the album :D As if I wasn’t already excited enough for the new album, this has increased the emotion by about 100% if not more. Little Wanderer’s a sweet, quiet track, with a minimalistic guitar intro and a simple drum beat. It picks up a little towards the chorus and becomes a little more ballad-y but the guitar continues with it’s minimalistic style that’s always quite common in DCFC tracks. It has a very apparent influence from Neil Young, I think. I don’t know if that’s intentional, but you can hear traces of tracks like Old Man. I think it’s mainly the singing that does it - the guitar sound is definitely more modern if you wanted to compare the two in that way. It was really hard to rate this track, but after a few hours of deliberation, I decided on a 11.5/12. I couldn’t give it a 12/12 because it’s not perfect - they could have cut a minute off it by losing some of the repetition but it’s so unbelievably close that it really wasn’t worth knocking a full mark off for. You should definitely go listen to the other tracks they released from the album: Black Sun, No Room In Frame (which was the first track I listened to) and The Ghosts of Beverly Drive. Favourite track so far has to be No Room in Frame, closely followed by Little Wanderer, then we have The Ghosts of Beverly Drive and Black Sun trailing at the back - which is sadly the track they chose to lead the album, but it’s still a good track (more like an 8/12 though). I think it’s just the faux-electro-western style I’m not really liking. Anyway, that’s not deterred me: I’m still really excited about KINTSUGI (Idk why I keep using caps, sorry bout that).
On to album. I didn’t really know which album to choose this week, because there are no new albums that really stood out for me. So I decided to talk about an old favourite of mine: In a Perfect World by Kodaline. I suppose I could have talked about Coming Up for Air (their new album) but I don’t like it half as much as In A Perfect World; don’t get me wrong, there were some great tracks on Coming Up for Air - see last week’s Top Ten Tracks - it’s just I’d much rather write about In A Perfect World. Firstly the album art: that view. Personally, I love album art like that and I think it really suits the album so kudos points for that. Next, the tracks: favourites are Pray, Talk, Love Like This, Perfect World and High Hopes. They vary between cheerful and depressing which I think suits their acoustic sound on this album. Talk and High Hopes are both quite downbeat with uplifting highlights which is why they’re probably the most popular from the album - they can suit all occasions. Anyway, I absolutely love this album,if you hadn’t guessed, so it’s getting a perfect 12/12.
Okay one last thing; I’m contemplating about doing a Saturday post as well as the usual Friday post. I’m still thinking about what to put in this post but I’ll get back to you on that. The Something New though is each week in this Friday post, I’ll include a review of a remix and/or a cover of a song I found so I’m looking forward to that because I have lots of great covers and remixes lined up.
Anyway, if I don’t post tomorrow, see you Friday.
M x
PS: Sorry about the videos by the way, blogger decided not to play ball and put them randomly on the page then made them disappear.
Update: The new Mini Mansions' video contains a lot of explicit content (viewer discretion is advised) and I really don't recommend you watch it. It has been pointed out to me that I can't really blame the band for this because they don't really have a say on what happens in the video but all the same, I don't advise you to watch it - personally, I think it's unnecessary and quite frustrating to think that we still live in a day and age where management still think this is what is needed to sell songs - anyway rant over.
Hi, it’s Friday, so that means new post time. I don’t have so much to talk about this week, so hopefully the post won’t be so long. I just read through it and wow that was long but anyway I’ll try keep it brief this week.
Actually talking of last week’s post, I don’t know if you saw, but King has actually been at #1 in the UK charts all week (since Monday I think) so that was good and also, Bloodstream, which we also mentioned (the Rudimental version) has also been hanging around at #36. Thinking Out Loud is still at #14 which I think we mentioned in passing, in case you were interested. (These stats are from the Official Charts Company which is updated regularly here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles). Also, Coldplay released a new video! The video was for Ghost Story, from the Sky Full of Stars EP. I’m glad they released a video for this because it’s such a good song and I was so sad when they stuck it on a B side of an EP where no one would pay any attention to it, but now finally, it may actually get a little more attention :D . Anyway, this isn’t another Coldplay blog, so I should probably talk about a band other than Coldplay - as much as it pains me. Talk about topical though.
Artist: George Ezra. Seeing as it’s March and the sun is out where I am (lucky I know), I’ve decided that this week I’m gonna talk about George Ezra. His cheerful songs Budapest and Blame it On Me seemed just right for the weather right now, but if you're in a more rainy climate then he does have some more downbeat songs to suit your meteorological mood. You may like Did You Hear the Rain? (although that does get a little more upbeat towards the middle chorus) or Spectacular Rival. I did mention him in passing last week in connection with the Brit Awards - he was nominated for 4 awards and performed live - but seeing as this week had such nice weather it made me think of summer, so I decided that I’d talk a little more about him. His first album, Wanted on Voyage proved to be very popular last summer when it was released and has stayed in the charts for 36 weeks (it currently sits at #4 incase you were interested). Anyway, since it’s such a cheerful album I thought I’d remind those of you who put it away at the back of your mind for the winter months to get it out for spring and listen to it again. I love the variety of the songs on this album - some are quite lyrical (Did You Hear the Rain?) and some just quite happy-go-lucky if you see what I mean. Anyway, based on Wanted on Voyage I’m giving George Ezra a sunny 11/12 :) It would have been a 12/12 but I did have to consider the fact that some of the ohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohs do get a little tiring after a while. I will give a special mention to the track the Da Vinci Riot Police - prize for the most random track name must goes to...- this track is only available on the deluxe version of Wanted on Voyage but this is actually a great track. It sounds nothing like Budapest or Cassy ‘O (which is apparently about a clock - see you learn something new every day), so if you’re not really into the other tracks try the Da Vinci Riot Police (sorry I just like saying that) :)
Track: Junk of the Heart (Happy) - The Kooks. I was talking to some friends during the week and was kind of surprised to hear that a lot of them haven’t heard of the Kooks, which prompted me to talk about this track. The Kooks are an indie rock band from Brighton, England who are most famous for their songs Naive and Ooh La. Arctic Monkeys fans will probably know the lead singer, Luke Pritchard, as the man who supposedly kicked Alex Turner in the face although that was all a hullabaloo and a story for another time. The Kooks were quite popular a few years back, but they kinda ducked under the radar a bit recently so a lot of their new stuff was missed. Junk of the Heart is from their 2009 album of the same name and proved to be quite popular track then - I say quite in the loosest sense of the word, people liked it, reviewers didn’t. I could have talked about Listen, their latest album - released last September, but to be honest I don’t really have much to say about that - it was kind of a bit non descript. It was good, but there was nothing really outwardly amazing about it - I’m sure plenty of people will disagree with me though. Anyway, I love the upbeat feel of this track and the kind of vintage sound that they manage to achieve without making it sound corny, which always seems to be a problem for some of the retro indie bands that try and get that sort of feel. Also I’m pretty sure it’s impossible not to smile when it gets to the chorus of this song. This track’s getting 10/12. I knocked 2 off because I have to admit some of the rhymes are a little dodgy, “life is no race… I’m in disgrace”, and I do have to agree with some reviews that this song doesn’t really have the clarity or direction (the lyrics seem to change their mind from whatever they were talking about in the verse whenever they get to the words “are you mine?”) that perhaps it could have had - it was part of an album that was worked on for a whopping 3 years. Having said that, if you're looking for a pick-me-up this is your song :)
Album: Smoke and Mirrors - Imagine Dragons. Finally some relatively new music. When they released I Bet My Life, initially, I didn’t think I’d like this album as much as I do, but hearing songs like Release and Trouble made me fall in love with this album. It’s got that uplifting Imagine Dragons sound which is combined with depth and poetry in the lyrics. I think it’s quite a clever album which was missed by some of the critics who gave it a poor review: it manages to fall into both the pop and rock market without insulting either. It maintains a new sound yet could easily mix with the vintage indie rock crowd. There are both cheerful songs for those proud moments (I bet sooner or later one of these tracks will turn up on an advert somewhere) and sad songs that are just right for those rainy days. They went a little overboard on some of the effects on some of the songs, - some of that could have been stripped down, but overall this is a high quality album with lots of great tracks and for that I’m giving it a 9/12. BTW: the video is the album trailer, which is actually pretty cool – I don’t normally watch these, but it gives you a taste of some of their new tracks.
So that must bring us to top ten tracks:
Greek Tragedy - The Wombats (Also check out the Bastille remix because… Bastille :) )
These keep turning out really long, sorry about that. Should I post the Artist, Album, Track and ten tracks in different posts? I don’t know… Tell me what you think in the comments :) Ooh and I almost forgot you can now go check out the SoundCloud page for a playlist of all the top ten tracks and you never know, I might add a few extra from time to time :) If you listened to any of the tracks from last week, I'd love to hear what you thought of them. Leave a comment below and leave a +1 if you enjoyed.
That’s all for now,
See you in the next post,
M x
PS: Thank you to all my lovely new followers and visitors
