Reading Festival 2014

The festival season slams reluctantly to a close once again leaving summer memories, fantastic displays of live music and a sea of discarded beer cans in its wake. Imminently, the white collar, early rising, bitterly cold 9 to 5 monotony of winter lounges itself out before us as far as the eye can see, drawing ever closer. While we trudge back into daily routines, festival companies must trawl through the battlefield where the previously unblemished rows of tents stood expectantly for the weekend ahead. Now, the only tents left behind are those too broken, too burnt or too stained by urine to be of any further use to anyone. The clean-up teams will find discarded beer crates, food packaging and a worrying amount of human excrement in their year-long voyage through hell so it can break loose once again next year. As depressing as it is that its over, I am running down a list of my personal favorite acts performing at the Reading main stage this year in this installment to enjoy a final brief moment of summer before the bastard Jack Frost yet again returns to kick my shins into winter once more. Let's whack out a stereotypical "Top 5" format shall we? I'll even do it in descending order to build tension.

5. Queens Of the Stone Age
    Headlining the renowned Reading festival for the first time in their illustrious 18-year career, the rock veterans put on an excellent 16-song spectacle to really kick start the weekend with a set featuring favorites such as 'No One Knows' alongside newer releases like 'I Sat By The Ocean'. The almost sickeningly cool Josh Homme lead a laser packed, guitar-solo-jammed performance for music fans of any age to enjoy.
4. You Me At 6
     While the main stage tended to be dominated by American bands on the Sunday, the Surrey quintet flew the flag as it were for British post-hardcore rock music... I'm sure there more obscure flags to fly. Nevertheless, You Me At 6 put on an engaging show and the energetic Josh Franceschi whizzed around the stage urgin crowd surfing and mosh pits. While the more elite fans in the audience were disappointed at the lack of older songs like No one does it better in a Cavalier Youth dominated set, a major highlight was the cameo appearance of All Time Low's Alex Gaskarth to perform the bridge and final chorus of Fresh Start Fever to an eruption of surprised excitement. A girl in front of me genuinely burst into tears of hysterical joy upon his arrival. She must have been lost in stereo (if you can find a more obscure pun than that I'll be impressed).
3. Arctic Monkeys
     It was the first time headlining main stage at Reading for the Sheffield based outfit, but that certainly didn't seem to faze the enigmatic Alex Turner as The Arctic Monkeys played an incredible 20-song, career- spanning set list. Now a national icon, the band indulged in their huge fan base, as the crowd effortlessly (and tunelessly for that matter) belted out every word of I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor and Arabella as casually as if they were consecutive tracks on an album.This by far generated the largest of the week end's crowds as over 40 thousand people strained anxiously on tip-toes, jostling to await the encore of R U Mine. 

2. Blink 182
     Now, huge waves of  bias cloud my actual judgement of the performance as one of my favourite all time bands took to the main stage in spectacular style on the jubilant Sunday evening. Not even a 6 hour- wait could deter me from getting to the front to watch the Californian trio smash their name of the long awaited list of bands I hadn't seen live. Not even a rib-crushing scrum of sweaty bodies packed so tightly it was nearly impossible to raise your arms. Nor  the destruction of my shoes and phone, victims to the maelstrom of people. When the intro to Feeling This lit up the stage, I was off my cramp-ridden feet. It was predominantly old songs from the veterans of punk rock and the forefathers of all modern hardcore and post-hardcore groups of today pleasing their huge British fan base. Songs like I Miss You and Always were met with raucous, high pitched screams from a worrying number of men, enough to cover up Tom Delonge's ropey vocals. This did not hinder their performance as Dammit (featuring an extended drum solo from Travis Barker) brought the weekend to a reluctant close. with the colossal "Flaming Fuck" casting a yellow light over the crowd. Its safe to say we all departed fondly.

1. A Day To Remeber
     Perhaps an unlikely favorite in comparison to the wealth of unbelievable artists at the festival let alone the list preceding it here: a moderately famous hard-core punk band from Ocala; Florida playing at one of the UK's oldest and most prestigious music festivals in a grey afternoon slot. Doesn't sound much to get excited for. Fortunately I knew beforehand that it would certainly be no bland encounter. Among the more loyal fan base at the front, a huge surge of bodies hurled themselves into one another in all directions as the set was kicked off with The Downfall Of Us All and the deterioration of my ribs began. They were bruised in Right Back At It Again, cracked  after All Signs Point To Lauderdale and virtually disintegrated by the time Sometimes You're The Hammer, Sometimes You're The Nail drew to a crashing crescendo. Nobody seems to pause and think "Why are we doing this? Just running into each other in a circle, elbows flying, teeth bared. I came here to watch my favourite band and now I've lost my shoes, I'm covered in sweat and dust and I'm just gonna stand here at the side and watch the rest.". Even if anyone'd had that thought, they couldn't have exercised it as some idiot aggressively shoves you back into the chaos. It all forms part of the experience. Despite this, ADTR played a perfect set from my perspective, with songs spanning every album and causing further chaos as Jeremy Mckinnon clambered into a "Zorb ball" tumbling around the heads of the crowd all the while performing Homesick. As the performance slammed to a finale, I had just enough energy to produce one final cheer. We'd survived, stinky, but in roughly one piece and just witnessed one of the best live punk bands around.

So now while you return to another tedious week of school or work, you should remember that weekend. No more public urination (or consumption, but that's another story), no more vodka in water bottles, and no more staple diets of biscuits and chips. Not at least until next year...

To hear these songs, albums from the other posts and other music which I find, follow my blog on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/user/w-avery/playlist/4CAps4jqmlBK7LPOPFgi3T

No.11 Charlie Simpson: Wait Isn't He That Guy From...

A successful musician may argue that the fame attached to a piece of work is a hindrance to their career ('my gift is my curse' and all that) for the rest of us to scoff at into our luke-warm tea. If we're being honest that's the best curse you could possibly wish for, to produce something which makes you a household name and gives you enough money to buy a mansion in a tropical country and stay constantly high for the best part of a decade. That's just a hypothetical... Anyway, the problem lies for any aspiring artist, to consistently produce music of the same standard and popularity, thus avoiding one-hit wonder status. Only the most influential bands or artists are able to achieve this and remain in memory for a longer amount of time. By contrast, the music industry is littered with the corpses of those acts who cannot sustain the pace and intensity required for lasting stardom and producers simply consign them to an eternal madness of hearing that one song on a loop; whoever falls behind is left behind. Actually that might be from Pirates Of The Caribbean but the message is still there. Just ask Iyaz, Daniel Merriweather and those blokes who did Who Let The Dogs Out.

I'm sure that this is a title Charlie Simpson has been keen to avoid and has been running away from for nearly 10 years since the breakup of Busted in 2005. Most of you reading this will have been thinking 'Charlie who' followed by a prolonged 'Oh yeah' after the Busted reference. While we will not dwell on the band, they were certainly no one hit wonder delivering 5 chart topping singles at their peak. Since the fission of the band, Simpson was the front man of post-hardcore rock band Fightstar before the release of his solo albums, Young Pilgrim and Long Road Home, the latter of which was released just last week. Young Pilgrim peaked at 4 on the UK charts and, while it may not be as famous or highly regarded than he was used to, it is certainly an album deserving of praise.

Long Road Home, I feel, surpasses this even in terms of its songwriting flair and overall, more quality sound. That said, for me there is perhaps the lack of that standout song, the rank of which lay with Cemetery in the previous record. Haunted and Blood are my personal favorites, with the impeccable harmonies and easy listening quality. Thus, this record especially is much more genuine and heartfelt than the synthetic, electronic nature which rocketed Busted to stardom. I feel that through Haunted, Simpson clearly expresses a far greater integrity and subtle creative musical skill shown by his ex-band members. While McBusted (which sounds like if McDonald's answer to a crime drama and is in fact a heap of fading pop stars shouting over each other clutching at the straws of past successes) Simpson is making his own way as a musician at the cost of much popularity and abuse on twitter. You're doing just fine mate.

To hear these songs, albums from the other posts and other music which I find, follow my blog on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/user/w-avery/playlist/4CAps4jqmlBK7LPOPFgi3T

No.10: A Band To Remeber

Versatility is a key feature for any musician, sportsman or in any other kind of skilled occupation. No one wants to see a one trick pony since, while it may be a fair spectacle, I doubt it would play guitar with any degree of competence... no fingers you see. The most successful artists to date are able to perform with high versatility while remaining true to a specific genre throughout a career. Unless you're One Direction or 50 Seconds Of Summer that is, in which case you can churn out the same old bollocks again and again while your prepubescent female fan base let out high pitched squeals of almost orgasmic yet naive joy. But then again Harry Styles sits on a pile of money basking in his destruction of the music industry while I often have to sacrifice my lunch money to afford a return bus ticket from town...but you don't here me complaining. 

You wouldn't necessarily expect such versatility from an emo, post-hardcore rock band like the band in question here: A Day To Remember or to use the cringey yet time-saving acronym ADTR used by their several million fans. This band are perhaps unique in their ability to blend hardcore screamo with calm acoustic guitar and, at times, soft vocals in one record. Common Courtesy, their most recent release is a prime example of this. The ability to hear the ear-splitting screams of 'The whole world is against me so I'm gonna shout down a microphone and punch your nan' sort of emotion in Violence followed by a calming acoustic love song in I'm already gone is testament to that word versatility again. In addition to this, Common Coutesy features more of the traditional elements of rock and punk within songs including City Of Ocala and Life @ 11 with a sound vaguely reminiscent of the band's 90's teenage influences of Nirvana, Blink 182 and No Use For A Name. This puts A Day To Remember above the other similar bands who they rose to fame alongside including We Came As Romans and Silverstein since there is genuine vocal talent as well as musical and lyrical skill/originality. While the screamo sections of their songs often sound very similar and often need sifting through, the band are still at the top of their game with this independently released album; a staggering feature in itself.

So there you have it, for those of you who are after more easy listening songs, or who prefer your nans unthreatened, this band may not be for you but I strongly urge you to give them a try, at least with an acoustic version of one of their songs: http://youtu.be/9cHIi3h8aAo. Playing at Reading festival this August, they will hopefully live up to this album on the stage.

To hear these songs, albums from the other posts and other music which I find, follow my blog on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/user/w-avery/playlist/4CAps4jqmlBK7LPOPFgi3T

No.9 B.O.B: OK Fine, I'll Do A Rap Album

The aim of this blog is to publish a list on the everlasting infinity of the internet featuring what I believe to be the essential artists, albums and songs for any respected music collection. Obviously, there are various criteria that require assessment before selection for this list, one of them being relatablity (which is clearly not a recognised word but it fits here so don't start). This is a factor, therefore, which has prevented me from focusing on a hip-hop and/or rap artist. The stereotypical ideas and slang relating to the ghetto, getting 'stacks' and more notably getting b*****s proves too much for my British faintly middle-class mind to comprehend. It seems to me that rap, the most patriarchal of genres, and its many artists seem to obsess over getting things. What do they do once they have all of them? I presume they lock them all away in a room somewhere and just look at them. Maybe that's where Dr. Dre has been all this time between endorsing products and smoking cannabis.

Perhaps, this is why I deemed B.O.B (a pseudonym by Bobby Ray)'s  Strange Clouds fit for my list since his lyrics and subject matter of the album deviate from the generic concepts of the rap genre. Overall, the album is not entirely meaningful let alone insightful with songs dedicated to sunglasses and holidays but he expresses his awareness of the stereotypical nature of many rap songs as well as the shallowness of the music industry in songs such as So Hard To Breathe; this is certainly admirable. These lyrics are delivered fantastically and I would even go as far as to say Ray has 'good flow' if I use that term correctly. Obviously there is plenty of reference to 'riding the beat'  (which I deduce after much research is the skill and confidence of delivery) and some such but it wouldn't be a true rap album without it.
     Potentially more impressive is the music itself with a range of different instruments and styles from calm piano and guitar to more traditional drum and bass employed to affect the tempo and atmosphere created by each song. To further this, Ray is accompanied by a range of artists from Taylor Swift and Ryan Tedder of One Republic to Lil' Wayne and TI. This allows a wide variation in styles commonly missing from rap albums which is commendable.

So there we have it, maybe not the best for easy listening but certainly the talent is obvious despite the generic comments of it being 'talking with music' from bigoted old English blokes. Listen to this excellent remix of Bombs Away among others, until next time.

To hear these songs, albums from the other posts and other music which I find, follow my blog on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/user/w-avery/playlist/4CAps4jqmlBK7LPOPFgi3T

No.8 Blink-182: Very 90s

Look I'm not going to pretend that I remember the 90s but I've seen American Pie and at least four series of Friends so give me a break. A lot of the people who claim that they do remember the decade are probably lying and let's be honest, it was basically the same as the last ten years just with slightly baggier T-shirts and lots of centre-parting hairstyles. Oh yeah, the music was quite a lot better as well.

Bands often go through dramatic changes throughout their career; some to satisfy the public or a particular record label, others just to test themselves... or because they've discovered Jesus. Blink 182 are perhaps unique then in that they have kept true to their 90s punk image and genre, more importantly however is that the style of the music they produce hasn't varied a great deal in 20 years. Although it is often disputed whether this is a good thing or not, I personally believe it is a nice thing to see in the music industry with so many big-name artists succumbing to the popularity of electronic based crap which all sounds roughly the same. Despite perhaps looking like a trio of convicts standing trial for armed robbery, they are an excellent group and one of the leading faces of the pop-punk era. Again, I won't bore you with their history other than that they were revolutionary in the 1990s pop-punk scene alongside acts such as Green day and Sum-41 combining two previously separate musical genres. As an example of this, the greatest hits album released in 2005 shows how little the style of their music has changed with the obvious favorites of What's my age again and I miss you alongside each other in terms of similarity despite a 5 year gap between their releases. There are many more racy images of the band available on the internet but I'll let you browse for them yourselves (just remember to turn safe search off). Headlining at Reading festival this year, this is the band performing I miss you, be sure to listen to Blink 182 and other suggested bands.

No.7 Owl City- All Very Twinkly

Layers. That's the most prominent feature obvious at a glance (although frankly it's pretty hard to glance with your ears) in the music of Owl City. The whole image created by Adam Young originated from the sleepless nights of an insomniac while living with his parents in 2007, the music used as a diversion to sleeping. Obviously these diversions were much better than Young ever realised as when he eventually uploaded the finished products to Myspace, they attracted an almost surprising amount of attention leading to a record deal with Universal bursting on to the Techno scene in the same year.

As is often the case, many people only ever know the most popular music and since Owl City have only broken into the Pop charts with Fireflies and Good Time, these are the songs always quoted by those unacquainted with the artist. For me, these are not representations of his work as a whole; I personally prefer his older work like Maybe I'm Dreaming. While more recent works are much more wide ranging (both vocally as well as instrumentally) and technical featuring collaborations with artists such as Mark Hoppus from Blink-182, this record is much more stripped back to the very twinkly basics. There is little variation in vocal range and the tranquil, whispering tones of Young stand as a stark contrast to his more modern work.
Some may see this as lack of imagination however I think it shows good diversity between this and newer albums such as The Midsummer Station with West Coast Friendship a particular highlight for me.

I urge you to delve deeper into the works of Owl City, beyond the likes of Fireflies and Good Time as these barely scratch the surface. Don't be that bigot who claims that "All that techno bollocks is the same, all they do is sit there at the computer tapping away". It's much more complicated than you may think.
                                                                     ---

     

No.6 English Idiot

I'm not really what you'd call a punk. I don't own a wardrobe full of black, my clothes are rarely adorned with chains and my hair is neither black nor completely shaved save a three-foot Mohawk which could easily be considered a safety hazard. Not for me or indeed anyone for around twenty years. Punk as a lifestyle as well as a musical genre has been subjected to gross stereotyping in the 21st century with the very word springing the images above into the minds of the public and music aficionados alike. This is wrong. The images set by bands like The Ramones in the 70s and 80s have long been faded out punk culture and all views likening modern day punk fans to those images are vastly outdated. Many groups in more recent years have diversified the punk genre with modern pop-rock and the result: Blink 182, Panic! At The Disco and the like. Oh and one other....

By some distance my favourite group of all time, Green day formed in Oakley; California in 1987 comprising of lead guitarist and vocalist Billie-Joe Armstrong, bassist Mark Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool. I won't bore you anymore with their history with the availability of Wikipedia etc. Instead let me get straight down to the most iconic punk-rock album of the 21st century: American Idiot.

The seventh studio album produced by the band, American Idiot saw Green day really rocket back into the Punk genre limelight since records such as Dookie in the early 1990s topping the charts in 19 countries worldwide and selling almost 5 million copies in the UK alone.
     The album, for me, is more than simply a collection of songs, but it tells the story of the past lives of the band members with "The Jesus of Suburbia" the alter ego to Armstrong mentioned throughout. The rock opera encompasses the adolescent views on society growing up in 70s California while expressing the anti-establishment views more commonly associated with punk groups. Each song has genuine feeling with massive world issues such as Iraq and corrupt governments condemned in every lyric. Believe me, if I was starting an anarchy enthused riot it would be done to "Holiday" or "Jesus of Suburbia" while "Wake me up when September ends" gives justice to Armstrong's father and all other Soldiers fighting to protect the livelihoods of their countrymen. I have seen firsthand their exceptional live performances and ability to create intimacy with stadium-filling crowds so I strongly suggest buying the album first or watch the powerful "Wake me up when September ends" music video.