5 Songs You Need To Hear – 18/11
It’s amazing how a four minute piece of music can provoke so much emotion.
Music is something that has always had the power to make people feel. Whether that is getting you excited for a night out on the town, something to chill out to after a long day at work or those desperate moments where you feel your world is collapsing all around you.
Sometimes there is no escape from a catchy, positive tune. Sometimes the lyrics of a sombre song give you a lump in your throat. There is a tune to go with every situation. It’s what makes music so important to people. It can be the perfect soundtrack to any scenario. In short, music gives the emotion a voice. It would be difficult to live without that.
Walking On Cars – Speeding Car
This is the brand new single from the Irish band. It is the first song to be officially released as a single off their debut album, titled Everything This Way. The music accompanies the vocals perfectly, just adding to the power of the song. It could perhaps be considered a little repetitive, which is something of a recurring theme with Walking On Cars’s music. A lot of lines in this track are repeated in both the verses and choruses. This song carries it well, however, as the repetition suggests the lead singer Patrick Sheehy is trying to convince himself of what he is saying in the lyrics.
Coasts – You
Coasts are a band that seemed to strike gold with their very first track. Like many others, they then faced a struggle to try and keep up with the popularity of their debut single, Oceans. It got played on BBC Radio for a while after it featured on the reality TV show Made In Chelsea. Although every song they’ve released since hasn’t had the same level of attention, the music itself has given the band an identity. Listening to some of their recent releases ahead of their self-titled debut album, you’d suspect that the band will be breaking the mainstream within the next year or two.
Zebrahead – Walk The Plank
The title track off their latest album, Walk The Plank sums up Zebrahead well. They’re a band which mashes up pop, punk, rap-rock and ska. They’ve never quite broken the mainstream but they have toured for nearly 20 years now and that has taken them around the world many times. They were so popular in Japan at the turn of the century that they were asked to create the theme song for the reboot of Sonic The Hedgehog. Yet, to most, they remain almost anonymous. The latest album is a much better showing of what makes them popular to their fans and casual listeners – they are “fun”.
Nothing But Thieves – Six Billion
The final song on Nothing But Thieves self-titled debut album is a haunting, ambient track. The song is much quieter and sombre than many of the tracks that were released prior to the album coming out, but this one was a stand-out once the album was released. Lead singer Conor Mason has such a unique and emotive voice in the modern era that just adds to the ambience. He has been compared to Jeff Buckley and when you listen to his voice you can understand the comparisons. The band, at this stage, look like they can only go from strength to strength. It won’t be surprising to hear them more and more often in the mainstream over the next couple of years.
VANT – PARKING LOT
Mattie Vant orginally started the band as a solo project, hence why the name is simply his surname. Now the London four-piece are a fully-fleshed band, playing a poppy take on post-grunge music. This track is equally as catchy as it is a headbanger, which is what is so appealing about them. With only one EP and a few tracks released, having only been conceived as a solo project around two years ago, VANT are very much a new and fresh British band. It’s unlikely they’ll fade away anytime soon though with the quality of the music they’re producing.
As I said last time, there’s a lot of new stuff out every Friday that I try to catch up on before this Thursday post, so I’m trying to include as much brand new material as possible. I’m not always going to find five new songs from different artists every week though, and I want to include an array of genres, so there may be a song or two thrown in on some weeks which won’t be as current. This blog is all about introducing tracks that haven’t gathered much attention but in my opinion deserve it.