Fickle Friends are an indie pop band from Brighton, UK, who formed in 2013. To date, the band have released a string of singles, EPs, their debut album, You Are Someone Else, and now 2021 sees the release of their latest EP, Weird Years (Season 1).
‘IRL’ is one of the songs taken from their latest EP and sees the band return to the sound of their debut album with their brand of catchy indie pop. From shimmering synths and funk-driven bass to the rhythmic guitars and catchy, powerful vocals, this is the perfect Feel-Good Friday track to end the week.
As the vocals aptly state, the track looks at the theme of speaking to someone in real life rather than through electronic communication, as is so often the way these days. Lyrically, it’s a really cleverly written song and manages to remain upbeat and fun throughout.
The music video is really cool too, with its clever cuts between shots and the use of flashing images in the latter half – well worth a watch (below)!
What are your thoughts of this indie-pop band? Do you like their new vibe? Do you have a #FeelGoodFriday track to recommend us? Please leave your thoughts or song suggestions in a comment or via social media.
On Friday 10th May 2019, the massive Japanese band – ONE OK ROCK – arrived in London. It was only the second date on their EU leg, of the Eye Of The Storm World Tour and they performed at none other than London’s renowned Roundhouse. The band put on a night to remember, supported by British pop outfit, Anteros.
Anteros
The band took to the stage with their vibrant personas and glitzy 80s synths, further reinforced by lead singer, Laura Hayden’s sparkly red dress. This band are a wonderful blend of indie, pop and new wave – think Blondie meets modern-day contemporary pop; along a similar vein to Fickle Friends. There are certain punk-like trends to Hayden’s stage presence, with her almost “don’t-give-a-damn” flounces around the stage, equally met with gusto – it’s quite mesmerising. The music is good and their energy was captivating to watch.
Highlight: The high-energy end to the band’s set made for a chaotic last impression, certain to leave people wanting more.
ONE OK ROCK
The band have only played in the UK a couple of handfuls of times but it was clear from their loyal fan base, just how much their performances are looked forward too, with a queue that lined up all round the streets, prior to the show.
As ONE OK ROCK took to the stage, the crowd whipped themselves up into a frenzy as the Japanese band launched into their opening track, ‘Push Back’. This was a set that despite the relatively small stage in comparison, felt just like an arena show…complete with pyros!
The set was teeming with a few older hits, plus a whole bunch of songs from their latest record, Eye Of The Storm (<— review here) – all of which had the crowd singing at the top of their lungs! Their energy was truly infectious from start to finish.
I was particularly impressed by Taka’s live vocals – so often you can hear little flaws in a singer’s voice when they’re performing live, but the power and effort he put into his performance was virtually flawless…even if he did keep fiddling with his in-ear throughout the show.
The quartet know just how to put on a show though; from Taka’s ability to capture the crowd by holding a particular stance and Toru’s rocking out with his guitar to Ryota’s powerful bass moves and Tomoya’s face poking up over the drums, as he beats away at them effortlessly – this is a band that you need to see live. It’s clear that they have spent a long time practising and perfecting their set – there isn’t too much between-song banter, but instead just packing in the songs, to give the audience a great time.
It was my first time seeing the band live and I had an amazing time – it’s so often that the UK send great bands and artists over to Japan to perform but it’s great to see a Japanese band coming over to the UK for a change! I strongly recommend catching this band live, the next time they make a rare appearance in the UK – you won’t be sorry, I promise!
Highlights:
Taka’s effortless vocals and stage presence alone, made the show thrilling to watch.
Having not heard too much of the band’s back catalogue, it was great to hear a lot of tracks from their most recent album, Eye Of The Storm.
There was an instrumental break during which Taka left the rest of the band to rock out on stage, demonstrating just how talented these musicians are – it was nice to see him let some of the other’s in the band have some of the limelight for a while, particularly a little drum solo from Tomoya.
The sheer polished-precision with which the band delivered their set, showed just how much rehearsing must have gone in to perfecting their live shows.
The loyalty of the crowd, singing back every word of every song, showed just how far-reaching their fan-base is.
PYROS! Pyrotechnics just make a show even better! It was great because they weren’t overused, just boosted a couple of songs when you least expected it.
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Setlist
Push Back
We Are
Taking Off
Unforgettable
Clock Strikes
Head High
Take What You Want
Stand Out Fit In*
(Instrumental)
Giants
I Was King
Change*
The Beginning
Jaded
Mighty Long Fall
Encore Wasted Nights
* These songs can be viewed in the YouTube playlist, below.
Finally, I want to say an absolutely HUGE thanks to Robbie Peacock for enabling this review to happen and to both ONE OK ROCK and Anteros for putting on a fantastic show.
Enjoyed this? Check out some of our other live reviews here:
Siamese are an award-winning, Danish, Pop-Metal band and following their previous album, Shameless, gained more than 8 million streams, catapulting them to recognition outside of Denmark, and enabling them to play sold out shows in Japan, UK and Germany.
Singer, Mirza Radonjica-Bang, said, “B.A.N.A.N.A.S, the album opener was actually written for the Shameless album. At least the starting riff was. But ultimately we were never satisfied with anything but the riff. We left it alone for two years before absolutely nailing it. One of my favourite tracks on the album for sure.”
This track showcases just how epic this band are – huge synth use, grungy guitars and metal drum patterns, all topped off with the wonderful sample of Gwen Stefani‘s ‘Hollaback Girl’ make this truly stand out! It’s a real genre-bending song that will appeal to people of all tastes from pop to metal.
Their next release, Super Human (out Friday 24th May), continues to showcase their trademark big choruses and well-written instrumental compositions; what’s more, it’s all self-produced!
Watch out for this band as they continue to go from strength to strength!
What are your thoughts of this singer-songwriter? Got a #WildCard Wednesday track to recommend us? Please leave your thoughts or song suggestions in a comment or via social media.
Ariana Grande is back with the first single to be taken from her upcoming fourth album, ‘No Tears Left to Cry’. Written by Grande herself, alongside Savan Kotecha and its producers Max Martin and Ilya, it is a rather different pop track to her normal style.
Don’t be mistaken, it’s still dance-pop at the core with a powerful vocal chorus, but it’s got some quite 90s pop and R&B influences to it and it’s certainly not an instant and obvious standout hit; this track is much more of a grower.
The video features Grande performing amongst a lot of disorientated scenery (which corresponds with the upside-down text of the single cover and leaks of Grande in a corresponding sweatshirt). It’s an interesting concept for the video, which was directed by Dave Meyers.
Emma Blackery is a singer-songwriter, YouTuber and author from Basildon in Essex, UK. To date she has 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube, with 148 million views and in 2016, she supported Bustedon their Pigs Can Fly Tour.
Now, in 2018, Emma Blackery is releasing her new single, ‘Dirt’. With a decidedly electro-pop foundation, this track is topped off with Blackery’s rather British-sounding voice (which is quite refreshing!) and some explicit vocals; making it edgier than your normal dance-pop songs.
The video is a bit of fun with it’s quirky dances and neon pink and blue colours throughout; it’s not breaking any boundaries but it’s light-hearted and funky.
This is a great track by a great up-and-coming artist on the pop scene!
Bexey Swan is currently an unsigned British rapper, who was born August 3rd 1996. Bexey‘s previous stage name was Zehtroid Vzn,before he changed it to his current cognomen.
The rapper posts the majority of his music on his SoundCloud account, where he is close to 20k followers.
Some of his most popular songs include ‘Suitcase’ as well as ‘MYTH KILLA’ and ‘YOUNG HEARTBREAKER.’ Before the tragic and unpredicted passing of rapper Lil Peep, the two were close friends and posted frequent collaborations as well as Bexey supporting Peepon his most recent European tour.
Source: Spotify.com
In the song ‘Suitcase’,Bexeypaints the picture of the struggles and challenges his fast-paced tour and music producing life can present to him. He also talks about how he has grown as a musician, when people doubted him.
“My boy’s ain’t slept in like two days, no way, it’s too late. Life feeling like a movie.” – ‘Suitcase’, Bexey
The sombre, slightly melancholy vibe of this song is emphasised by his somewhat robotic, synthesised voice. The deep, repetitive beat paired with the guitar gives the track a slow, steady pace which reflects the lyrics where Bexey sings about his lack of sleep, due to the rhythm of his schedule.
What do you think of this unsigned rapper’s honest tune? Have you got anything similar to recommend? Or do you have something of a different genre to recommend us? Use the hashtag, #WildCardWednesday or hit us up via our socials.
YONAKA are a fantastic Brighton-based band who consist of Theresa Jarvis (Vocals), George Edwards (Guitar), Alex Crosby (Bass/Keys) and Robert Mason (Drums). The band refer to themselves as ‘Dark Alt Pop with heavy riffs’ and I couldn’t agree more; their latest track, ‘Bubblegum’ fuses electro-pop vibes with grungy guitars and it’s all topped off with Theresa‘s vocals (which I find have similarities to Charli XCX).
The video has just been released and it really depicts just what YONAKA are all about – it’s visually intriguing and oddly artistic; what more can you expect from a Brighton-grown band eh?!
You must check out this wonderful song and accompanying video – it’s well worth it!
What are your thoughts of this up-and-coming band? Have you got a #WildCardWednesday track to recommend us? Please leave your thoughts or song suggestions in a comment or chat to us about it via social media, using the #WildCardWednesday hashtag.
Justin Bieber is back with his first new music since his 2015 album, Purpose, and his new single, ‘Friends’, (with BloodPop®) is one heck of a banger!
The track is everything you want from a summery, club banger and it is unashamedly so. The EDM-inspired tune has rocketed straight to Number 2 in the UK charts – just where it deserves to be!
No official music video has been released yet, but the rather cool lyric video can be seen below.
Rod Stewart has re-recorded his 1978 hit, ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?’ with Joe Jonas– fronted band, DNCE and it’s thrown it straight into the 21st Century, whilst still maintaining its funky feel.
It’s not changed too dramatically, which will keep Rod Stewart‘s fans happy and the addition of DNCE is sure to bring the track to a new audience – a great new rendition and a track I’m loving right now.
No official music video has been released as yet, but you can see the funky lyric video and live performance at 2017’s VMAs, below.
Elle King is an alternative pop/pop rock/alternative rock singer who burst onto the scene with her debut single, ‘Ex’s & Oh’s’back in September 2015.
Her song is about past relationships and the music video is rife with innuendo! The song itself received two nominations at the 58th Grammy Awards; Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song and it’s clear to see why! It’s a massive tune!
Also, Joe Ragosta (from Patent Pending) recently revealed that this is one of his favourite songs right now, in his Skype interview with us, for Muzik Speaks.
This song has been a sensation all over the world and it’s still making it’s mark on the chart today (28 weeks it’s spent there to date!)
Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars have been collaborating for a while (Ronson produced several of Mars‘ tracks) and this song blew up for the pair, scoring Ronson his first UK and US Number 1 single and album!
The song’s funk and disco vibe set it apart from a lot of other mainstream singles, with clear influences from bands such as Earth, Wind & Fire and Wham!
This song has deserved its success as it’s a quality produced, funk-loving, boogie-fuller marvel! The music video is the perfect visual companion to the song too! The pair must be revelling in their genius for this one!
I still can’t get enough of this song! Are you over this tune yet or still loving it? Please share this across your social media platforms. Share the love 🙂
Muzik Speaks 