Hi my name is Matt, but my friends call me Matt. I’m on the wrong side of 29 (damn I hate it every time I have to update that number), definitely feeling my age, but never felt happier and more content than I do at this point in my life. I’ve been through some rocky patches (who hasn’t) and lived to tell the tale, and boy do I gots some stories.
When I’m not giving opinions absolutely nobody asked for, I’m doing a worldbuilding with my passion project, vivaellipsis. If you like offbeat nonsense delivered through immersive escapism, then go and get involved. Or don’t, I’m not telling you what to do. I’m not yer boss.
I’m a simple man with simple interests. I like Yorkshire tea, the sound of rain on the window, and a bloody good story.
In this second edition of the musicto artist newsletter, the focus is on identity.
We all know the pain of trying to come up with a name for our project that feels like it fits, only to find it’s been taken by a Metallica tribute act from Birmingham, or - as was the case with our video interview below - launching a project with the wrong name and deciding to pull your album from distribution in order to get it right.
But it’s not just about what we look like. Identity is about who we are as artists: what we believe in, what you sound like and what you choose to project with your music. If you don’t get your identity right, you don’t get your brand right, and in today’s saturated market - you’re going to be pretty hard to find.
As always, if you find this information helpful, be sure to let us know!
Artist Interview — First the Winter - Andrew McCluskey, musicto Founder
10 curated video clips from a brilliant interview that give true insight into what it's like to get the identity of your band and brand right.
Topics covered include:
On Naming Your Project (1:16)
On Sacrificing Playlistability (0:40)
On Using Spotify Data to Run Social Media Ads (1:48)
Artist Interview — Kristen Olsson - Matt Jenko, musicto Curator
Another artist who’s paid close attention to the significance of identity in the music world is Kristen Olsson. In this interview, we discuss stage names, balancing your identity with the other artist’s vision when collaborating, and gender in the music business. Kristen’s insights were fantastic and it was an absolute pleasure working with her to bring you this interview.
Playlist Spotlight - From Saving the World! to Escaping Reality
When I joined musicto in October 2017, I had a particular flavour of playlist in mind that was influenced heavily by where I was at at the particular point in my life. As time went by, I realised that I was finding it harder to write authentically in the way that I had been, that my voice was changing.
In short, I was going through an identity crisis. Ultimately, I had to decide whether to continue with Save the World!, or embrace a new direction. It’s a creative decision so many of us have to make at some point, as we realise that through growing and developing our craft, we’ve shifted fundamentally from where we were when we started, and in order to continue authentically, we have to confront the need to rebrand.
Looking back, I’m proud of what I achieved with Save the World! - but I don’t regret allowing myself the freedom to explore a new frontier with Escape Reality. Reading over my later entries on my first list, it’s clear to see a tendency towards more escapist, imaginative language, so much so that by the end the leap from one to the other was inevitable.
Hello, this isn't the first time we've spoken (if you're awake you may remember I sent you an email last month), but allow me to formally introduce myself: my name's Matt, but my friends call me Matt. I’m on the wrong side of 27 28, definitely feeling my age, but never felt happier and more content than I do at this point in my life. I’ve been through some rocky patches (who hasn’t) and lived to tell the tale, and boy do I gots some stories.
When I’m not putting my soul through existential hell in my day job, I’m making music, drawing pictures (and making them move in time to the groove, playa), and writing about everything from high-concept sci-fi rigamarole to my thoughts on the intricacies of the music industry.
I’ve been curating for musicto for bloody ages now, and am certainly one of the old guard; my fellow curators are like my family. I love belonging to this tribe of like-minded cats.
If you’re into music that paints vivid sonic landscapes, then we’re going to be the best of friends. And if you’re a Westerosi or from Rivia, hmu: I can talk about that all damn day.
Hello and welcome to the first musicto artist newsletter - a regular event featuring everything from digital marketing strats and playlist insights, to case studies and stories from artists just like you.
In this first edition, we’ll be concerning ourselves with Spotify playlists and with the pitfalls of starting out in the music industry - two topics I imagine we’re all very familiar with. We’ll also be turning the spotlight on our featured playlist, Music to Explore Everything. And if you find this information helpful, be sure to let us know!
Guest Interview — Tim D’Agostino Curator of Freestyle Beats & Instrumentals
When we interviewed Tim in August last year, his playlist was sitting pretty at 22,000 followers. As of today, that playlist now has 27,000. We’re not telling you this to flex. We’re telling you this because this is somebody who knows playlists, and more importantly, knows what makes a good submission.
Five Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started My Music Career - Matt Jenko, musicto Curator
Speaking of bad apples, last year I wrote an article about my experiences starting out in the music industry. I fell prey to pretty much every scam you can think of it, and felt like it was my duty to try and make others aware of some of these traps. Chances are you’ll be familiar with a lot of things on there, in which case let’s revel in our shared misfortune.
‘I present to you sounds that will tug at your nerves and create an undeniable shift in the body you lie in and everything around you. This is music to explore ourselves, love, earth, the universe beyond and everything in between. Please make yourself right at home.
If you are someone in need of a creative who knows a few things about digital marketing and audience growth - then I am your gal :) Reach out to me here!’
You can most often find Maria in her garden humming along to an eclectic playlist titled “Life’s a Garden, Dig It” and of course tending to her beloved plants. This garden is located on the island of Kaua’i at her childhood home surrounded by tropical fruit trees and flowers. Beautiful music has always gone hand in hand with the beauty of the island. Just as she nurtures her plants, she looks forward to nurturing this playlist and the community of music lovers that feel like stopping by and having a listen.
We live in a truly unique time to be musicians. The internet has so dramatically altered the landscape that those who dominated the horizon as recently as a decade ago barely recognise it anymore. I cut my teeth on the music scene back when the social utility of the internet was barely more than a few MySpace pages and MSN screen names, and it was common knowledge that the only way to ‘make it’ in this business was to land a major record deal. To put it simply, it was the kind of pursuit that was regarded as little more than an airy pipe dream, and to believe otherwise was to be very foolish indeed.
The internet exploded the myth that the only way to be successful in this world was through some ineffable brand of divine selection. It proved that actually, despite that pervasive miasma of common, patronising knowledge, you could achieve great things as a creative, and that like anything else in life, the way to do that was through that tried-and-true method of focused, dedicated work on proven strategies. Data doesn’t lie, but insecure people do.
The problem of course is that finding that winning strategy in this golden age of music marketing democracy isn’t easy, and it can take the burgeoning artist years to develop the craft – assuming they even stick it out long enough to get that far. Whereas before the path to greatness was one sprawling landscape that only the chosen few were guided across by that benevolent hand of the major label, the internet explosion has rendered it a treacherous wasteland, riddled with sinkholes, precipitous drops, and a wide selection of predators. These days anyone can cross, but they do so at their own peril.
Anyone who loves a good apocalypse knows that such environments breed the absolute worst kinds of people, and the internet is rife with total pieces of filth willing to unscrupulously trick the bright-eyed aspirant into, at best, buying their particular brand of snake oil, or else trying to lure them down into some dark cave for nefarious purposes best not spoken of.
Starting out on my own after years of enjoying the collective benefits (and enduring the constant compromise) of rolling with a pack, I of course fell prey to many of the pitfalls that scatter this desolate landscape. Looking back, I’ve made some pretty cringeworthy mistakes. Luckily, I’ve learnt from those mistakes, and now I’m here to help you avoid making them at all.
Here are the five things I wish I’d known when I started my music career. You’re welcome.
One of my favourite episodes of Peep Show involves Mark getting his book ‘published’ by a clearly disreputable agent, and despite insisting that this was all very legitimate, he’s eventually forced to accept that the books are just print-outs. Throughout the episode Jeremy tries to life-coach Mark into accepting that this whole enterprise is just one big vanity trip, and it’s clear from the outset that Mark knows this deep down and is simply refusing to admit it to himself.
Mark’s experience is a perfect cautionary tale for the artist just starting out. You’re going to be tempted to dive right in and try and rack up those page likes, video views and song streams. You’re not going to feel like you’re a real artist until you have some social capital to wave in peoples’ faces. And, soon enough, you’ll realise that this really isn’t as easy as simply uploading your content and waiting for the magic to happen.
The frustration you feel at seemingly being unable to move the needle will no doubt send you into a frenzied fact-finding mission, and the fruits of those google searches will yield promises such as ‘Grow Your Follower Count Instantly!’ and ‘100% Real, Definitely Not Fake Fans For You!’
These claims contain as much substance as those that insist there are hot singles in your area just waiting to meet you, and yet you’ll blinker yourself to this obvious mischief as you find yourself getting honey-trapped by claims that basically admit that what they’re offering is fake likes from fake or pay-rolled accounts. They’ll make assertions like ‘you can’t get anywhere without appearing like you have a loyal fanbase, so use these fake likes to trick people into believing you’re somebody worth paying attention to.’ I’m paraphrasing of course, but this is basically the mythology that these cheeky little scamps are trying to sell to us.
The thing is, yes, you can buy Spotify streams and Insta followers and YouTube subs, but what are they if they don’t lead to meaningful audience interaction? ‘Vanity, all is vanity,’ as Mark would later lament about his botched attempt at becoming a published author. Vanity metrics might make you look the part, but anyone with half a brain will be able to scratch beneath the surface and see it’s all just smoke and mirrors. Buying social validation is the equivalent to kitting yourself out in that stupidly expensive gym gear everyone’s spending their money on now because one of the Kardashians said ‘this is alright innit’, paying for a membership at your local leisure centre, and then sitting in the cafe wondering when the pounds are going to start falling off. In the end, everyone will realise that it’s all just an act, and you’ll look like a buffoon.
The only thing you should ever be worried about (assuming you can produce solid content and are actually, y’know, talented) is cultivating meaningful connections with your audience. Just one paying customer is worth a thousand page likes, because at this stage in your career, that one customer is your sole investor.
“You need to seek ways to interact in meaningful ways with the people who take an interest in what you do, and in a way that seeks to add value to their lives instead of always screaming ‘ME ME ME!’ at people—which you’re doing any time you say ‘so excited to share this track with you all’, btw. People don’t care if you’re excited, they care about how the track will affect them on their personal journey of self-discovery. Just a little pro-tip for you there.”
Focus on your audience, and not on how many 1s and 0s are displaying on your particular little bit of html. The true metric of success is how many people would be willing to support you with meaningful actions that actually make your ambition possible, not the number of people dropping high fives and fire emojis all over the place.
A hard and fast rule of life is that nothing of value happens easily—if it was so easy, then everyone would do it, and then it wouldn’t be valuable anymore, would it? Nowhere is this more true than it is in the music industry. Anything meaningful that happens in this world is the product of dedication, hard work, and a slight twinge of insanity. We all know this, it’s fundamental, yet that doesn’t stop those sneaky snake oil merchants sidling up to us all the same, with offers that are blatantly too good to be true.
There’s a wide variety of nonsense wares being peddled out there, but one I find so ridiculous as to be laughable is the ‘pay us £20 and we’ll put you in our blog’ racket being run by more than a few nefarious folk. It certainly seems like a great deal for you, the artist; £20 is relatively little for most people in a position to be legitimately trying to build a music career, and as they say in showbiz, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
The thing is, you have to question the quality of a publication that will accept absolutely any music so long as it meets this criminally low threshold for acceptance. You can imagine what sort of awful cack gets smeared across the front pages of these blogs’ homepages. It’s the kind of stuff that makes Britain’s Got Talent or American Idol look like the benchmarks of high-brow artistry.
So what? you tell yourself. It still means more eyes on me and my music, even if it’s only a few.
But therein lies the pinch. No serious music fan reads these sorry excuses for music journalism. You’re essentially spending a solid week of advertising on shouting your name into a cacophony of others doing the exact same, with absolutely nobody being able to hear anything over the deafening sound of their own self-serving rhetoric. Because trust me, there’s nobody else there to hear the message. Imagine a market place where everyone sets up a stall and then desperately tries to sell their wares to a bunch of mannequins. And to top it off, the mannequins aren’t even particularly interested.
Think about it like this: would you appreciate a compliment if you paid somebody to say it? It’s the same feeling. You know you’re not being written about on merit, and most of the time these ‘reviewers’ just go in and copy and paste whatever you’ve written about your track in your submission email anyway. It’d take one seriously smug cat to pay to read their own words back to themselves and go ‘yeah, I wholeheartedly agree: this track IS both unique and familiar, couldn’t have said it better myself!’
The moral of this story? There are ways to spend money and get yourself out there, and you will have to employ some of these tactics if you want to take this pursuit seriously. But paying your way onto blogs with virtually no quality control and a sickeningly low barrier to entry is definitely not one of them. Avoid at all costs.
3/ Accelerators Are For Cars, Bots Are For The Lab
At some point or another, you’re going to roll into the mysterious world of internet advertising. The very thing that makes the internet age the game-changer for the independent musician, social media marketing is where employing those smart strategies and hard work is really going to make a difference to your career, and the better you get at it, the more results you’ll reap.
Of course, like with everything else we’ve discussed, you’re going to have to wade through some swamps to get to the promised land. And this is where you need to tread the most carefully, because some of the most cleverly concealed tomfoolery is being exuded in this arena, and it’s so insidious that sometimes even the ones perpetuating it don’t realise how they’ve been infected by it. Pay close attention here, because internet ads can be a double-edged sword, and if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can trap yourself in a money pit quicker than you can say ‘is $5 an acceptable cost per result?’
There’s a lot we could discuss here, but I’m just going to talk about one phenomena that I feel is emblematic of the general problem: ‘the social accelerator.’ The essential premise is that you’re a small channel, and you need to grow. But growing by advertising yourself to ‘big ticket’ countries is expensive, because there’s an immense number of people doing the exact same, some of them with budgets that would embarrass entire nations. You need to fish in less crowded waters, snap up some penny stocks, and build up that all important (read: drastically over-emphasised by those who stand to profit from this enterprise) social proof so that people will consider your channel legitimate.
This technique, though I use that term loosely, is considered an ‘accelerator’ because it can yield tens of thousands of page likes in as little as one week, sooner if you juice the ad budget even more. The idea is that you send your ad post to regions where the advertising competition isn’t so fierce, build up some momentum to ‘trick the algorithm’ (which we won’t go into, but just to be clear, you can’t trick it so don’t try), before switching over to those all-important consumerist nations. Armed with a post bristling with social approval, the people who are likely to stream your track, buy your stuff, and generally just, consume, whatever you stick in front of them, will now be primed to do so because apparently all they care about is the fact your content has been shared over 800 times.
The problem with this is that not all social proof is created equal, and while it’s good to have a healthy looking amount of likes, comments and shares on your material, the source of that validation is just as important as the quantity. Besides, most people aren’t idiots and will be able to decide for themselves whether they like a video or song or not, regardless of how many thumbs have been stuck up it prior to its arrival on their newsfeed.
What’s so bad about advertising to say, India, or Malaysia, hm? you might ask. Surely a diverse fanbase is a good thing, especially if I want cool places to go to on tour. Maybe the people who are advising against advertising here just don’t want people with names they can’t pronounce clogging up their posts. Maybe it’s just a racism thing. After all, I can look on these profiles, and they all look like real people to me! A fan is a fan, who cares where they’re from? Maybe if you just got YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR SMALL-MINDED, ENTITLED…
Woah there! I had these same thoughts too, and for good reason. A fan IS a fan, and there are certain places in the world that make perfect sense to want to have a fanbase. The problem is that in a lot of these cheap-to-advertise-to countries, you can’t guarantee a fanbase, because you can’t guarantee that your ad is reaching a potential fan at all. The practice of click-farming is rife in a number of regions in the world, which in a nutshell is essentially battery farming for internet marketing. It utilises huge swathes of underpaid workers who go hell-for-leather clicking on anything that moves, in a bid to artificially inflate the engagement levels of various ad posts. So caught up in the heat of it all, your content gets targeted too. The reason these accelerators are so effective is because there’s so much of this going on that all you have to do is dangle your content like a blood soaked rag in shark-infested waters, and wait for the carnage to ensue.
You can tell if you’ve been farmed by measuring the quality of the engagement you receive from your new-found fans. Trying to engage and nurture beyond gathering superficial metrics like post likes and comments, you’ll quickly find you’re merely shouting into the void, as attempts to drive more meaningful actions like lead generation and conversions fall on totally deaf ears. Mannequins can’t hear, remember.
If you ever read that story about the dude who created a fake fanbase and then went on a fake tour, this is almost certainly how he did it. Don’t be like him, and don’t be like me either. I’d raised my page likes to an embarrassingly high number before I realised that it was the social media equivalent of the dudes running around with wheelbarrows filled with printed money in post-war Germany, because like that money, to be worth something, likes need to have some real-world value attached to them. It’s a real, engaged human being that needs to be on the other side of that like, or sub, or follow. It doesn’t matter who they are or where they’re from. They just need to be real.
Stay away from these get-rich-quick style schemes, and focus on playing the long game. A steady stream of page likes, even just one or two a month, is more representative of real growth, and it’s much easier to nurture fans if they come in 10s as opposed to 10 thousands. Stick to countries like the UK and the USA where click-farming isn’t nearly as endemic (although likely still happens, in some degree), and enjoy the peace of mind that those names popping up in your notifications belong to actual potential fans.
As a side note, autoliker bots (particularly on Insta) are basically the same thing. Yes, you may catch the attention of real profiles, and grow your followers into the thousands. But just see how many organic likes those thousands of profiles net you when you publish a new post. You don’t need me to tell you how to determine how engaged that audience is when 3000 followers = 3 organic post likes.
Simple maths really!
4/ The Best Talent Curators Don’t Want (Or Need) Your Money
This is essentially an expansion of the point earlier about buying your way onto blogs, but it’s such an important one I felt I really needed to double down on it.
Just take a second to examine the psychology of perceived demand here. A good curator of a playlist, with thousands of subscribers who listen religiously to everything that gets added to it, will receive an inordinate number of track submissions. The quality of these submissions will span the entire spectrum, from utter pap to the truly sublime. They won’t have trouble picking the cream of the crop, and they’ll never be short of new talent to feature. Their playlist got to such a high level of quality because it’s governed by quality. It’s like how when University was free, the only barrier to entry was your skill, so only the best got admitted. Introducing money into the equation muddies the water, compromises the quality, and introduces motivation other than simply making the best quality playlist, blog, course, whatever it is.
The playlisters who say they’ll add your song (regardless of how bad it is) for a nominal fee are bad curators. Full stop (or period, for my American reader). If you strolled into a museum and said to the curator, ‘hey, will you display this antique plastic bag I just sourced from the pavement outside?’, and the curator replied with ‘sure, just give me £20 and we’ll get it in that empty display case there’, you’d instantly call into question the reputation of the museum (unless it was a plastic bag museum of course). Just like payola in the radio days, money doesn’t equal quality, and any ‘talent curator’ willing to accept what is essentially a thinly veiled bribe to feature you on their platform, quite simply doesn’t have a platform worth being featured on.
Strive instead to create great content and forge connections with those curators whose only stipulation is that you meet their quality standard, because not only will it help you to hone your craft, but you’ll be shooting for placement in places where that placement will actually do something for your career other than merely massage your ego.
Just like before, don’t waste your money in pursuit of vanity. Substance will always beat the superficial.
5/ Now Is The Only Time In Your Career You Can Get Away With Being Awful
This last point is more a consideration about outlook than it is advice on things to look out for, but it might just be the most important item on this list.
The pressure for indie musicians to create highly polished, professional end-content is astronomical; after all, we have decided to fly in the face of common wisdom and decided that we don’t need no label because we’re strong, independent, err… that’s it. We’re strong and independent. So to compete as the underdog in this game, we need to show that we can bring everything to the table a major label artist can. That means amazing songs, stunning visuals, strong branding, excellent marketing, and a seemingly endless stream of polished content.
Except, this is the only time in your career where the spotlight couldn’t be any dimmer. At the start, you have the least amount of eyes on you, and even less ears listening to what you have to say. Putting pressure on yourself to be perfect here is to waste an opportunity to try out new directions, experiment with your sound and style, your brand image and voice. It’s the one time where messing up has the lowest risk, because there’s the fewest amount of people to witness it take place. As your career grows and the attention on your intensifies, so does that spotlight, and the need to get things right will increase exponentially. You may come to miss the time when making mistakes meant virtually nothing in terms of the social stakes, back when the only person who would notice anything was amiss was George, and you’re not even sure where George came from but you’re pretty certain he’s responsible for about two thirds of your 76 SoundCloud plays… Good old George.
Holding yourself to a professional standard when you are in fact still very much an amateur is the literal definition of running before you can walk, and it’s a mentality you need to crush in its infancy if you want to truly develop as an artist. A healthy acceptance of your current skill set allows an honest appraisal of how to improve, and it’s in this way that you WILL improve. Feeling like you need to be better than you actually are leads to needless anxiety, to feelings of inferiority and worthlessness, and isn’t conducive to creating the kind of stuff that’s worth experiencing. Things don’t need to be perfect to be enjoyable, and the sense of pride you’ll feel at witnessing your own gradual progression will be so much more rewarding than acting like you should have just been that good the whole time. Be kind to yourself, because where you’re headed, there’s more than enough people waiting to tear you down. You need to have your own back to be able to tough it out.
Use this time at the start wisely, to make your biggest mistakes early on. That way you can learn from them, and not have to suffer the consequences of royally screwing up at a more mission-critical phase in your music career. Finding out what works and what doesn’t is much simpler when the attention isn’t burning brightly down on you all the time.
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So there you have it. Just some of the things I wish someone had told me when I first started dabbling in this unpredictable and chaotic wild west of independent music marketing. If you just remember to go easy on yourself, trust your intuition, and place value where value actually matters, you’ll find you’re already leaps ahead of where the typical musician first starts out.
Now go forth and do great things!
Onwards!
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If you’d like more great information on how to build your career as an independent musician, I cannot recommend highly enough https://indepreneur.io. In a wasteland dominated by charlatans and scavengers, the indiepreneur team are the minute men, the paladins, the guys who genuinely have your best interests at heart. There’s no doubt in my mind that the training they provide is unparalleled by anybody else in the marketing training business, both in terms of value for money and quality of content. If you want to take action on the advice I’ve given you here, this is most assuredly the direction I advise you head in.
Hi my name is Matt, but my friends call me Matt. I’m on the wrong side of 29 (damn I hate it every time I have to update that number), definitely feeling my age, but never felt happier and more content than I do at this point in my life. I’ve been through some rocky patches (who hasn’t) and lived to tell the tale, and boy do I gots some stories.
When I’m not giving opinions absolutely nobody asked for, I’m doing a worldbuilding with my passion project, vivaellipsis. If you like offbeat nonsense delivered through immersive escapism, then go and get involved. Or don’t, I’m not telling you what to do. I’m not yer boss.
“The forest was dark, mysterious, but not foreboding. Ethereal lights strung across the branches above our heads danced in an effortless breeze, their glow bouncing primordial shapes across ancient oak. We followed the path as it etched through the dense undergrowth, twisted torches guiding our way by the light of their otherworldly fire. High in the dark canopy, the bridges of the forgotten village swayed silently, tiny eyes peering through the gaps.
We were as far into the forest as far could be when we saw her. A gap in the trees gave breath to a pool of shimmering moonlight, and there she stood, bathed in celestial beauty. The elders had said she was a fantasy, a fragment of mythology birthed in the tales of our ancestors. They had told us it was foolish to go chasing dreams. Yet here she was, the Wilderness Girl of fayth and fable, tremulous before us, ephemeral; a mirage.
Perhaps the elders were right to warn us against chasing this particular dream ...”
If you find my work valuable, or you just really like my taste in music, then you can pay what you feel to support me on this journey. That's really all there is to it! Your support means I can focus more energy in this space, and continue the psychodynamic odyssey. All support is appreciated equally & emphatically
Hi my name is Matt, but my friends call me Matt. I’m on the wrong side of 29 (damn I hate it every time I have to update that number), definitely feeling my age, but never felt happier and more content than I do at this point in my life. I’ve been through some rocky patches (who hasn’t) and lived to tell the tale, and boy do I gots some stories.
When I’m not giving opinions absolutely nobody asked for, I’m doing a worldbuilding with my passion project, vivaellipsis. If you like offbeat nonsense delivered through immersive escapism, then go and get involved. Or don’t, I’m not telling you what to do. I’m not yer boss.
I’m a simple man with simple interests. I like Yorkshire tea, the sound of rain on the window, and a bloody good story.
Sometimes situations call for a total reassessment. Sometimes, 'having faith' and 'staying the course' become synonymous with getting yourself stuck in a big ol' rut. Even when your gut is screaming 'yo bro this ain't RIGHT my dude', you just dig your heels in and plough on. You know best, after all.
What really takes stones is being able to have a full and frank discussion with yourself, and admit that things just aren't working out. It's not you, it's you. Laying everything out on the table like this leaves you with a choice - do you shake hands (with yourself) and walk away, shrug it off and say 'oh well, at least we (I) tried?' Or, do you take a step back, tilting your head as though deep in thought like in the films, and take another look at the drawing board you were oh so sure you'd never be going back to?
True greatness doesn't come from pigheadedly assuming that your first choice was the best choice, but from constantly holding yourself accountable, challenging your own decisions, testing, questioning, experimenting. This isn't second-guessing yourself - you're purposely moving forward and making clear, measured decisions. But you're doing so in a way that is fluid, adaptive, responsive. Decisive skepticism. The kind of flexible thinking that allows you to crash and burn, only to emerge again, Rising from the Ashes. Ooh, swish with the segway there.
Sublab's ethereal trap masterpiece will no doubt remind you of the hard-hitting 'Loyal' featured last year, with the thwonking (new word) brass and pulsating 808, but there's an element of eeriness to this track that makes it stand out for me. The vocal slices are ever changing, adapting, evolving throughout the course of its lifespan, never settling on one idea and constantly exploring what the cinematic landscape has to offer.
It's a fresh element of composition in a world of copy+paste drops, requiring a calculated degree of consideration for melodic intricacy, and it sets itself apart because of it. It's a musical representation of this idea of being flexible in your thinking and your approach to the world, of never settling on just one concept and always moving forward to see what else might be discovered. Take your cues from music, that most primal of communication channels, and use that momentum to move yourself toward your goals. It'll be fine, don't worry.
If you've felt like you've been moving along a dead-end path, take this time to stop, take in your surroundings, and recalibrate. The direction you should be moving in might require you to go back the way you came, but that's not undoing your hard work. It's finding a way to make that work less hard to do in the first place.
So what are you waiting for my dudes? Make like a phoenix, and RISE! (not in a dirty way though, get your mind out the gutter you animals)
A Journey Like No Other: Himalaya by Ellipsis
The Music to Save The World playlist is sponsored this month by Himalaya from Ellipsis.
The journey begins; fresh Chillstep from Ellipsis to help you conquer your own mountain. Stream it now:
Matt Jenko is a university postgraduate and music producer with an unhealthy obsession with Rick & Morty and all things Game of Thrones. When he’s not in the studio (a rare occurrence these days), he’s fueling his passion for music either on the net or out in the real world. He likes being out in the nature (in the least strenuous capacity though, let’s be real here) and chilling with his cat, and he’s also pretty proud of his mammoth collection of books that he’s never read.
The thing about works borne of pure creative passion is that they tend to take a lot to complete. This doesn't just mean they take a lot of time (although time certainly accounts for a lot of the taking), they also take a lot of focused mental energy. This is the real sacrifice we have to make for our art. It requires immense mental resilience to be able to channel your focus for a sustained period of time, a period of time that often reaches into months rather than weeks - years, sometimes - and the toll this takes can be significant.
The larger the scope, the more protracted the endeavour, and the more distal the completion horizon. The more space you place between yourself and the finished piece, the greater the number of obstacles you go up against. Unfortunately that's just part of the creative landscape. Along the way you'll find yourself questioning whether you're going in the right direction, if you'll ever reach your destination - whether anyone will even care when you finally do.
You have to just be patient and have faith in yourself that the value of what you're doing is more than just the finality of it. It's about fulfilling something that's fundamental to the core of your being, about nurturing an aspect of yourself that if left untended, would leave you feeling incomplete. Whether the culmination of your efforts is a scene of countless voices of praise and adulation or one of quiet, solitary satisfaction, the greater meaning behind your accomplishment is more important than whether or not you receive the 'appropriate' admiration for your trouble.
Although me and Flume are magnitudes apart in terms of the places we inhabit on these great plains of expectation, both of us have recently committed ourselves to vast projects, at the expense of a great many other things, and have both emerged on the other side with works that are imbued with so much of ourselves that to come to the end can feel a little surreal - and sad. Whether your final result is received with bated breath or is barely received at all, what's important is that you've left an important imprint of yourself that will endure long after you're gone.
The landscape you face may be Himalayan in scale, but there will always be a Jewel to be found amidst the treacherous peaks of doubt and uncertainty.
I do write a damn fine metaphor don't I!
A Journey Like No Other: Himalaya by Ellipsis
The Music to Save The World playlist is sponsored this month by Himalaya from Ellipsis.
The journey begins; fresh Chillstep from Ellipsis to help you conquer your own mountain. Stream it now:
Matt Jenko is a university postgraduate and music producer with an unhealthy obsession with Rick & Morty and all things Game of Thrones. When he’s not in the studio (a rare occurrence these days), he’s fueling his passion for music either on the net or out in the real world. He likes being out in the nature (in the least strenuous capacity though, let’s be real here) and chilling with his cat, and he’s also pretty proud of his mammoth collection of books that he’s never read.
I've mentioned a few times now that DnB really isn't my thing, and that I tend to stay away from the genre as a rule. I don't know what it is that's put me off it for song; maybe I just associate it with being 17 and thinking you're edgy and interesting, who knows. In any case, this week's track certainly ear-wormed its way onto my playlist, starting out as a background track that I kept hearing on the radio at work before morphing into one that I now listen to daily without fail.
I don't know if this track is a one off, or if I'll fully embrace a genre I've been actively avoiding for years - only time will tell in that regard. One thing I can say for sure though is that Sub Focus has always been a producer I've held great admiration for, and if it any point you'd asked me 'hey Matt, do you like DnB?', my answer would probably have been 'nah mate. Sub Focus is alright though,' which I can wholeheartedly say with absolute certainty is the accolade he's been waiting his whole life to hear (ur welcome Subby (that's the nickname I have planned for him for when we become absolute BFFs)).
There's just so much energy in this track, but in a way that never feels like it's out of control or going a little bit OTT. Like a wild animal under a harness, there's a great deal of raw power here that can still be enjoyed without feeling like you're about to have your face ripped off, and that's always conducive to a pleasurable listening experience I find. I feel like a lot of tracks that fall short of really hitting me in the feels are ones that have so much potential in the earlier segments, boasting tempestuous build-ups that then culminate in a sorry fart of a drop. If you're not sure what kind of song I'm on about, just listen to that god-awful Bastille track that warbles on about stumbling around or something equally asinine (although this particular example is fairly consistent in that it's cack all the way through, so I guess the saving grace there is that you're already disappointed by the time you get the drop anyway).
Take this week's track as a cue to perhaps explore a genre that you don't usually listen to, yet doesn't necessarily deviate too much from your usual listening habits - you might just find yourself a brand new anthem!
Matt Jenko is a university postgraduate and music producer with an unhealthy obsession with Rick & Morty and all things Game of Thrones. When he’s not in the studio (a rare occurrence these days), he’s fueling his passion for music either on the net or out in the real world. He likes being out in the nature (in the least strenuous capacity though, let’s be real here) and chilling with his cat, and he’s also pretty proud of his mammoth collection of books that he’s never read.
This week I'm going to do something a little bit different (a theme which will be running heavily throughout, as you'll soon see), and go right on ahead and do my first ever album review. And boy, what an album it is to be making my debut with.
I've been a fan of Bring Me The Horizon since 2010, when they were still very much what you might call an 'extreme metal' band. Since then, I've watched them grow and develop, through the Sempiternal era (which many still believe to be their creative zenith), into the band they defined themselves as with That's The Spirit, and now here we are with album number six: the ambitious, explorative, and frankly brave endeavour that is amo.
BMTH deserve a mountain of praise for even having the balls to do this album, never mind to have pulled it off with such finesse. It must be an incredibly fine line to walk between staying true to your own creative goals, and not alienating the people who allowed you to be in that position in the first place. It's certainly something frontman Oli Sykes has been wrestling with since they made the decision (consciously or otherwise) to depart from their roots, as is abundantly clear from the lyrical themes on several of the tracks off the new album. But ultimately, you can't please everyone, so you should aim to please yourself. So many bands that came up with BMTH have been lost to the tides of obscurity because they were riding in the slipstream of the true pioneers of the era, which I truly believe is one of the main reasons that BMTH have not only managed to stay relevant, but to push themselves further than anyone ever could have thought possible when Count Your Blessings first assaulted our eardrums all those years ago (call me what you want, but I can't stand anything that came before Suicide Season, with the exception of course being the beautiful Fifteen Fathoms, Counting).
Anyway, let's do this!
i apologise if you feel something - not so much a track as a palette cleanser to make us completely forget everything we thought we knew about BMTH, this opening epic was described by Oli & Jordan as more of a 'hymn' than a true track, which sonically feels like an apt way to describe it. You'd be forgiven for thinking this was a Flume or ODESZA track with those opening vocal slices, but when those rapid 16ths and dark synths enter the mix, it becomes undeniably BMTH territory, especially if you've religiously watched the House of Wolves - Live from Wembley arena vid like I have.
Although it seems unfair to judge this track as a full song, because it was never intended to be, my only criticism is that it wasn't treated as such. I feel like they missed a trick here by not having it properly kick in, and let it instead serve as a front door for MANTRA, because despite their claims that that's why this piece even existed in the first place, I think a stronger introduction to the album would have been a fully ramped up version of this track instead.
MANTRA - we were all already fully aware of what the new era of BMTH might sound like when MANTRA first arrived, but true to the band's intentions, it's not really a track that defines amo as a whole. It's certainly radio friendly, but I don't think that makes it cut any less, with blistering guitars and Matt's signature artillery-like drum grooves, and honestly it probably wouldn't have felt out of place on Sempiternal next to tracks like Sleepwalking or Go To Hell. I've loved this song since I first heard it, and amidst cries of 'why did you chaaaaange' from the hrdcxrrrrre fans, I'm actually taking a bit of smug pleasure in being able to enjoy this band growing and developing into ever-more sophisticated artists with each new iteration. The video is definitely worth a watch, with it's heavily Tarantino-inspired commentary on the designer wish-fulfilment that feels rampant in modern society.
nihilist blues (feat. Grimes) - where MANTRA didn't feel entirely removed from earlier outings, nihilist blues is wholly unrecognisable. I think this is where those who can't decide if they like the new sound will finally make their minds up. For someone like me, who's developed a much stronger preference for electronic rather than heavy music seemingly in tandem with BMTH doing the same thing, it's an absolute dream come true. I was definitely expecting this to be a more grime-based track before I heard it (I didn't know Grimes wasn't a grime artist, which looking back would probably be a little bit too on-the-nose for an artist with any self-respect), so I was quite worried because I wholeheartedly believe that grime is the worst genre of them all (sorry not sorry), but I was pleasantly surprised when it was far more Faithless than Stormzy.
The wall-of-sound drop, ethereal vocals and booming 808s are just everything I look for in a track, and it was such a pleasant surprise to have BMTH deliver exactly the sort of music I listen to these days without me having to ask them. It's definitely something I'll be dropping in DJ sets for a long time to come. If you're a fan of the usual sounds on this playlist, and you're not sure whether you want to dip a toe in the sonic world of BMTH, then nihilist blues should be your first port-of-call for making that decision.
in the dark - I think this track is probably the weakest on the album. The opening vocal hook is pretty pedestrian for a band who are usually a lot more melodically sophisticated than that, but it does pick up into the pre-chorus with some characteristically clever word-play. The chorus carries a classic Lee Malia drilling guitar riff, which without this track might very well have fallen flat on it's arse. The true magic of this track happens in the harp-laden interlude, which honestly is a moment of musical purity, and it's just the perfect duration to feel fleeting and magical. Overall it's a fairly robust yet forgettable pop song, with a few redeeming qualities that keep it (just about) in line with the rest of the album.
wonderful life (feat. Dani Filth) - this is another track we've already had for quite a while, and while it's not Pray For Plagues heavy, it definitely would have sat pretty on There Is A Hell next to the likes of Blacklist or Alligator Blood. What makes this track so special is that, despite getting closer to their old sound than any other track since Sempiternal, it's not just an over-indulgent heavy-fest, taking some unpredictable directions both in terms of raw melody (mainly with the chorus chord selection and progression) and sonically - you'd never have gotten a full brass section in the outro to Chelsea Smile now would you?
I'm still not sure about the inclusion of Cradle of Filth frontman Dani Filth though. I'm glad he didn't participate in full-form, which would definitely have been way too OTT, but he still feels a bit like a wasted opportunity to me. I'm just not sure his inclusion was something the song really needed to be honest. Glad to see he's doing well though, having not really listened to Cradle since Damnation And A Day back when I were a little goff kid.
ouch - ouch is a very interesting little half-song/interlude thingy, and feels very much like Jordan completely unbridled. I don't like DNB as a rule, but there's no denying that this track is very pretty, and I think the idea that the drum machine behind this particular groove is Matt Nicholls is actually quite reassuring. It's probably not something you'll be adding to your playlist, but it's definitely enjoyable to listen to while it's on.
medicine - I very much didn't like this song when I first heard it, but that's only because the teaser they'd released a few days earlier had primed me for a very different type of track. Now that I've forgotten what I, in my INFINITE WISDOM, thought this track should have been, I can honestly say I'm in love with it. It's such a rush when it comes on on the radio in work, and I turn into such a little fanboi, telling everyone in the office that I liked this band before they were kewl (usually to a round of 'so what?' shrugs from anyone who's listening), but I guess that's just pride at having seen my boys come so far from where they were. Plus it wouldn't be a true BMTH album if it didn't have a Blacklist/Go To Hell For Heaven's Sake/True Friends-style betrayal anthem, albeit a much more positive iteration this time around.
sugar honey ice & tea - with SHI&T, we're entering the stronger half of the album, as the musical motifs become more pronounced and it truly begins to find its voice - it's like with each passing track, amo gets more confident, and takes bolder strides toward its destination. sugar honey has a very Avalanche/What You Need vibe, with dirty fuzz bass from our boy Matty K, plucky little keys and an absolute juggernaut of an opening groove. I can't help but feel like we haven't really heard Matt Nicholls on this album until this track, and despite not hitting us with the same frenetic kind of displays as with the likes of It Never Ends, this is where he shows us he's still an absolute powerhouse of a drummer. I've actually come to much prefer his more understated, subtle drum-work, which is clearly a byproduct of the general progression the band have made, and respect to him for adapting - anyone who's ever been in a band with me will know that sometimes drummers have a hard time holding back...
why you gotta kick me when i'm down? - if you liked Loyal by ODESZA when it was added to the list last year, then you'll be very much at home with why you gotta kick me. It's very much a trap track, with the heavy guitars being swapped out for dirty, apocalyptic brass, and those rapid-fire hats that are a staple of the genre coming to the fore. The chorus motif is incredibly emotive; melodic and dark, with the full extent to which Oli's vocal range has expanded finally being truly showcased. The brass definitely makes this track what it is, and I think there's a lot of visual space here for another cool af music video.
My only quibble is that the last 28s make absolutely no sense; it doesn't work in terms of the context of what's just come before it, nor does it link the previous track with the next to give it some kind of purpose in the broader sense of the composition. It just feels disjointed, like they'd forgotten about an audio clip that'd been pushed to the end of the project file. If you're going to do something like that, at least give it a point. It just felt like a bit of an oversight.
fresh bruises - sonically, fresh bruises is probably my favourite piece on the entire album. Those opening pads actually made me question for a second whether I'd accidentally hit shuffle play on an ODESZA or RÜFÜS track, which is no criticism! This track has everything I love, all in one place. Dirty processed bass over a streamlined, grooving drum run that feels lighter than air, which all collides into a beautifully ethereal main hook? Pure brilliance. It reminded me instantly of Haunted, the Beyoncé track I added to the list early last year, carrying many of the same musical elements and that overall ghost-like quality that gives both tracks such incredible atmosphere. It was hard to decide between this and nihilist blues for a track to actually add to the list, but in the end I think that this one is most in line with the sound I'm building for the list, although there are a few tracks on this album that will probably get a run over the next few months. If you only listen to one piece from this new album, make sure it's this one.
mother tongue - this track is a pure, unashamed-of-itself love song, and honestly? It'll hit you right in the feels (Cormac, I think you're gonna want to take note of this one!). The chorus is a thing of pure beauty, with soaring strings and the strongest vocal performance from Oli on the entire album. It'll hit you in the heart and then stay there, and there's no doubt you'll be singing it over and over long after the final note rings out. So what if in places it gets a little Justin Bieber? Diplo made Justin cool anyway. Lyrically, it's a lot more sophisticated than your average homage to the romantic, and he even makes sure to get a bit of naughty wordplay in there (when you hear it, you won't unhear it, and I can't wait til that's getting played all over the radio). Honestly? Fuck anybody who cries about this track, because it's genuinely just a brilliantly-written, uplifting and wholesome piece of music.
heavy metal (feat. Rahzel) - say want you want about this band, but there's no denying they possess an acute level of self-awareness. Oli has spoken a lot about feeling like no matter what they do, they're doing it wrong, which is definitely something I can relate to, and it's so refreshing to see them just confront the issue head on and say 'yeah, we hear you, things change and you need to deal with it.' Honestly, BMTH are objectively a better band now than when they were a pure deathcore outfit, and I just don't agree with these people who really get so bitter over the fact they've expanded their musical vision so perfectly. I think it'd be a different story if they'd done so for the wrong reasons, but you can't listen to this music and not just feel that it's coming from a really honest place, a place where there's a true desire to create something that's worthy of feeling proud of. If there's a song that defines what BMTH are these days, it's this one, and if nothing else, the last five seconds will make you laugh out loud. This band got bollocks, man.
i don't know what to say - amo is most certainly a concept album, like That's The Spirit before it, and I think it does an incredible job of dealing with its subject matter, love, in a way that looks at all of its aspects in an honest and unflinching way. It certainly makes sense to end on such a bittersweet note with this last track, which addresses the final and most painful aspect of love, the loss of it. I think this is a track that really illustrates the experience of grief without holding back, and captures that feeling of speechlessness that so many of us are familiar with. Andrew, I think this is definitely one for the Grieve To list, as it's such a potent snapshot of that raw feeling of loss that very few of us know how to properly process within the limits of language. It's a very beautiful, touching, and emotional end to an absolute rollercoaster of an album, which in itself is the perfect metaphor to describe the journey.
Overall, I'm so happy this album exists. I don't use the phrase masterpiece sparingly, but this just feels like such an achievement that any other description wouldn't do it justice. These boys have worked some serious musical magic here, and if this is the direction their musical odyssey will continue to progress in, I think we've got a lot to look forward to on the horizon... d'you get it, because of horizon? Fuck off, I managed this entire review without one bad pun, I think I've achieved nearly as much in that feat alone as these guys have! No? Fine then...
You can learn more about Bring Me The Horizon here:
About the curator - Matt Jenko
Matt Jenko is a university postgraduate and music producer with an unhealthy obsession with Rick & Morty and all things Game of Thrones. When he’s not in the studio (a rare occurrence these days), he’s fueling his passion for music either on the net or out in the real world. He likes being out in the nature (in the least strenuous capacity though, let’s be real here) and chilling with his cat, and he’s also pretty proud of his mammoth collection of books that he’s never read.
This week I'm going to do something a little bit different (a theme which will be running heavily throughout, as you'll soon see), and go right on ahead and do my first ever album review. And boy, what an album it is to be making my debut with.
I've been a fan of Bring Me The Horizon since 2010, when they were still very much what you might call an 'extreme metal' band. Since then, I've watched them grow and develop, through the Sempiternal era (which many still believe to be their creative zenith), into the band they defined themselves as with That's The Spirit, and now here we are with album number six: the ambitious, explorative, and frankly brave endeavour that is amo.
BMTH deserve a mountain of praise for even having the balls to do this album, never mind to have pulled it off with such finesse. It must be an incredibly fine line to walk between staying true to your own creative goals, and not alienating the people who allowed you to be in that position in the first place. It's certainly something frontman Oli Sykes has been wrestling with since they made the decision (consciously or otherwise) to depart from their roots, as is abundantly clear from the lyrical themes on several of the tracks off the new album.
But ultimately, you can't please everyone, so you should aim to please yourself. So many bands that came up with BMTH have been lost to the tides of obscurity because they were riding in the slipstream of the true pioneers of the era, which I truly believe is one of the main reasons that BMTH have not only managed to stay relevant, but to push themselves further than anyone ever could have thought possible when Count Your Blessings first assaulted our eardrums all those years ago (call me what you want, but I can't stand anything that came before Suicide Season, with the exception of course being the beautiful Fifteen Fathoms, Counting).
Not so much a track as a palette cleanser to make us completely forget everything we thought we knew about BMTH, this opening epic was described by Oli & Jordan as more of a 'hymn' than a true track, which sonically feels like an apt way to describe it. You'd be forgiven for thinking this was a Flume or ODESZA track with those opening vocal slices, but when those rapid 16ths and dark synths enter the mix, it becomes undeniably BMTH territory, especially if you've religiously watched the House of Wolves - Live from Wembley arena vid like I have (edit 2021: seems like this has been booted off youtube. Damn).
Although it seems unfair to judge this track as a full song, because it was never intended to be, my only criticism is that it wasn't treated as such. I feel like they missed a trick here by not having it properly kick in, and let it instead serve as a front door for MANTRA, because despite their claims that that's why this piece even existed in the first place, I think a stronger introduction to the album would have been a fully ramped up version of this track instead.
We were all already fully aware of what the new era of BMTH might sound like when MANTRA first arrived, but true to the band's intentions, it's not really a track that defines amo as a whole. It's certainly radio friendly, but I don't think that makes it cut any less, with blistering guitars and Matt's signature artillery-like drum grooves, and honestly it probably wouldn't have felt out of place on Sempiternal next to tracks like Sleepwalking or Go To Hell. I've loved this song since I first heard it, and amidst cries of 'why did you chaaaaange' from the hrdcxrrrrre fans, I'm actually taking a bit of smug pleasure in being able to enjoy this band growing and developing into ever-more sophisticated artists with each new iteration. The video is definitely worth a watch, with it's heavily Tarantino-inspired commentary on the designer wish-fulfilment that feels rampant in modern society.
Where MANTRA didn't feel entirely removed from earlier outings, nihilist blues is wholly unrecognisable. I think this is where those who can't decide if they like the new sound will finally make their minds up. For someone like me, who's developed a much stronger preference for electronic rather than heavy music seemingly in tandem with BMTH doing the same thing, it's an absolute dream come true. I was definitely expecting this to be a more grime-based track before I heard it (I didn't know Grimes wasn't a grime artist, which looking back would probably be a little bit too on-the-nose for an artist with any self-respect), so I was quite worried because I wholeheartedly believe that grime is the worst genre of them all (not sorry), but I was pleasantly surprised when it was far more Faithless than Stormzy.
The wall-of-sound drop, ethereal vocals and booming 808s are just everything I look for in a track, and it was such a pleasant surprise to have BMTH deliver exactly the sort of music I listen to these days without me having to ask them. It's definitely something I'll be dropping in DJ sets for a long time to come. If you're a fan of the usual sounds on this playlist, and you're not sure whether you want to dip a toe in the sonic world of BMTH, then nihilist blues should be your first port-of-call for making that decision.
I think this track is probably the weakest on the album. The opening vocal hook is pretty pedestrian for a band who are usually a lot more melodically sophisticated than that, but it does pick up into the pre-chorus with some characteristically clever word-play. The chorus carries a classic Lee Malia drilling guitar riff, without which this track might very well have fallen flat on it's arse. The true magic of this track happens in the harp-laden interlude, which honestly is a moment of musical purity, and it's just the perfect duration to feel fleeting and magical. Overall it's a fairly robust yet forgettable pop song, with a few redeeming qualities that keep it (just about) in line with the rest of the album.
This is another track we've already had for quite a while, and while it's not Pray For Plagues heavy, it definitely would have sat pretty on There Is A Hell next to the likes of Blacklist or Alligator Blood. What makes this track so special is that, despite getting closer to their old sound than any other track since Sempiternal, it's not just an over-indulgent heavy-fest, taking some unpredictable directions both in terms of raw melody (mainly with the chorus chord selection and progression) and sonically - you'd never have gotten a full brass section in the outro to Chelsea Smile now would you?
I'm still not sure about the inclusion of Cradle of Filth frontman Dani Filth though. I'm glad he didn't participate in full-form, which would definitely have been way too OTT, but he still feels a bit like a wasted opportunity to me. I'm just not sure his inclusion was something the song really needed to be honest. Glad to see he's doing well though, having not really listened to Cradle since Damnation And A Day back when I were a little goff kid.
ouch is a very interesting little half-song/interlude thingy (edit 2021: something that seems to be a recurring theme now we’ve also had POST HUMAN), and feels very much like Jordan completely unbridled. I don't like DNB as a rule (edit 2021: I do now), but there's no denying that this track is very pretty, and I think the idea that the drum machine behind this particular groove is Matt Nicholls is actually quite reassuring. It's probably not something you'll be adding to your playlist, but it's definitely enjoyable to listen to while it's on.
I very much didn't like this song when I first heard it, but that's only because the teaser they'd released a few days earlier had primed me for a very different type of track. Now that I've forgotten what I, in my INFINITE WISDOM, thought this track should have been, I can honestly say I'm in love with it. It's such a rush when it comes on on the radio in work, and I turn into such a little fanboi, telling everyone in the office that I liked this band before they were kewl (usually to a round of 'so what?' shrugs from anyone who's listening), but I guess that's just pride at having seen my boys come so far from where they were. Plus it wouldn't be a true BMTH album if it didn't have a Blacklist/Go To Hell For Heaven's Sake/True Friends-style betrayal anthem, albeit a much more positive iteration this time around.
With SHI&T, we're entering the stronger half of the album, as the musical motifs become more pronounced and it truly begins to find its voice - it's like with each passing track, amo gets more confident, and takes bolder strides toward its destination. sugar honey has a very Avalanche/What You Need vibe, with dirty fuzz bass from our boy Matty K, plucky little keys and an absolute juggernaut of an opening groove. I can't help but feel like we haven't really heard Matt Nicholls on this album until this track, and despite not hitting us with the same frenetic kind of displays as with the likes of It Never Ends, this is where he shows us he's still an absolute powerhouse of a drummer. I've actually come to much prefer his more understated, subtle drum-work, which is clearly a byproduct of the general progression the band have made, and respect to him for adapting - anyone who's ever been in a band with me will know that sometimes drummers have a hard time holding back...
If you liked Loyal by ODESZA when it was added to the list last year, then you'll be very much at home with why you gotta kick me. It's very much a trap track, with the heavy guitars being swapped out for dirty, apocalyptic brass, and those rapid-fire hats that are a staple of the genre coming to the fore. The chorus motif is incredibly emotive; melodic and dark, with the full extent to which Oli's vocal range has expanded finally being truly showcased. The brass definitely makes this track what it is, and I think there's a lot of visual space here for another cool af music video.
My only quibble is that the last 28s make absolutely no sense; it doesn't work in terms of the context of what's just come before it, nor does it link the previous track with the next to give it some kind of purpose in the broader sense of the composition. It just feels disjointed, like they'd forgotten about an audio clip that'd been pushed to the end of the project file. If you're going to do something like that, at least give it a point. It just felt like a bit of an oversight.
Sonically, fresh bruises is probably my favourite piece on the entire album. Those opening pads actually made me question for a second whether I'd accidentally hit shuffle on an ODESZA or RÜFÜS track, which is no criticism! This track has everything I love, all in one place. Dirty processed bass over a streamlined, grooving drum run that feels lighter than air, which all collides into a beautifully ethereal main hook? Pure brilliance. It reminded me instantly of Haunted, the Beyoncé track I added to the list early last year, carrying many of the same musical elements and that overall ghost-like quality that gives both tracks such incredible atmosphere. It was hard to decide between this and nihilist blues for a track to actually add to the list, but in the end I think that this one is most in line with the sound I'm building for the list, although there are a few tracks on this album that will probably get a run over the next few months. If you only listen to one piece from this new album, make sure it's this one.
This track is a pure, unashamed-of-itself love song, and honestly? It'll hit you right in the feels (edit 2021: right in the feels? Eugh). The chorus is a thing of pure beauty, with soaring strings and the strongest vocal performance from Oli on the entire album. It'll hit you in the heart and then stay there, and there's no doubt you'll be singing it over and over long after the final note rings out. So what if in places it gets a little Justin Bieber? Diplo made Justin cool anyway. Lyrically, it's a lot more sophisticated than your average homage to the romantic, and he even makes sure to get a bit of naughty wordplay in there (when you hear it, you won't unhear it, and I can't wait til that's getting played all over the radio). Honestly? Fuck anybody who cries about this track, because it's genuinely just a brilliantly-written, uplifting and wholesome piece of music.
Say want you want about this band, but there's no denying they possess an acute level of self-awareness. Oli has spoken a lot about feeling like no matter what they do, they're doing it wrong, which is definitely something I can relate to, and it's so refreshing to see them just confront the issue head on and say 'yeah, we hear you, things change and you need to deal with it.'
Honestly, BMTH are objectively a better band now than when they were a pure deathcore outfit, and I just don't agree with these people who really get so bitter over the fact they've expanded their musical vision so perfectly. I think it'd be a different story if they'd done so for the wrong reasons, but you can't listen to this music and not just feel that it's coming from a really honest place, a place where there's a true desire to create something that's worthy of feeling proud of. If there's a song that defines what BMTH are these days, it's this one, and if nothing else, the last five seconds will make you laugh out loud. This band got bollocks, man.
amo is most certainly a concept album, like That's The Spirit before it, and I think it does an incredible job of dealing with its subject matter, love, in a way that looks at all of its aspects in an honest and unflinching way. It certainly makes sense to end on such a bittersweet note with this last track, which addresses the final and most painful aspect of love, the loss of it. I think this is a track that really illustrates the experience of grief without holding back, and captures that feeling of speechlessness that so many of us are familiar with. Andrew, I think this is definitely one for the Grieve To list, as it's such a potent snapshot of that raw feeling of loss that very few of us know how to properly process within the limits of language. It's a very beautiful, touching, and emotional end to an absolute rollercoaster of an album, which in itself is the perfect metaphor to describe the journey.
Overall, I'm so happy this album exists. I don't use the phrase masterpiece sparingly, but this just feels like such an achievement that any other description wouldn't do it justice. These boys have worked some serious musical magic here, and if this is the direction their musical odyssey will continue to progress in, I think we've got a lot to look forward to on the horizon... d'you get it, because of horizon? Fuck off, I managed this entire review without one bad pun, I think I've achieved nearly as much in that feat alone as these guys have! No? Fine then...
If you find my work valuable, or you just really like my taste in music, then you can pay what you feel to support me on this journey. That's really all there is to it! Your support means I can focus more energy in this space, and continue the psychodynamic odyssey. All support is appreciated equally & emphatically
Hi my name is Matt, but my friends call me Matt. I’m on the wrong side of 29 (damn I hate it every time I have to update that number), definitely feeling my age, but never felt happier and more content than I do at this point in my life. I’ve been through some rocky patches (who hasn’t) and lived to tell the tale, and boy do I gots some stories.
When I’m not giving opinions absolutely nobody asked for, I’m doing a worldbuilding with my passion project, vivaellipsis. If you like offbeat nonsense delivered through immersive escapism, then go and get involved. Or don’t, I’m not telling you what to do. I’m not yer boss.
I’m a simple man with simple interests. I like Yorkshire tea, the sound of rain on the window, and a bloody good story.
I had such a bizarre experience recently. Unless you're incredibly fortunate, you've probably heard of this little old dating app known as Tinder. I've used it every so often throughout my tenure as a single dude, to varying degrees of 'success', but for the most part I've treated it as a casual novelty that whiles away the time before someone of substance shows up.
It's not that I mean to disparage the whole concept of matching with people who, on the face of, might seem compatible (or at the very least interested in testing out that compatibility), it's just that lately I've been finding the whole thing a little bit... icky.
Let's look at a recent example. I was talking to a lovely-seeming lady for a good couple of days; the conversation was interesting, the vibe was strong, and there seemed like there was a little bit of chemistry bubbling away under the hood. And then one night I decided I didn't really feel like replying, and let the conversation fizzle out and die. Just like that. She hadn't said anything particularly awkward or off-putting, she hadn't become suddenly boring or unappealing, my brain had just decided that it didn't agree with the premise anymore. How rude of it.
What's really sort of disturbing about this whole thing is that you can engage in this act of cold-shouldery without really feeling all that guilty. Cognitively, you're aware that there's a person with real feelings on the other side of the conversation, but there's no visceral connection, no flesh and blood, no true sense of connection - and, crucially, no sense of breakage of that connection.
I think this is really what put me off the whole ordeal - the soulless, faceless messaging of a person who really could be anybody, and yet we invest so much of our energy and even our self-worth into what are essentially just thumbnails and pixel data. There have been times where some kind of event or exchange on a dating app has made me feel a little bit worse about myself, whether that's swiping for ages without a match, or speaking first and getting ignored, or being on the other side of the earlier scenario, and having a seemingly good conversation go cold on you.
These interactions are artificial, orchestrated, manufactured. It's not an authentic way to connect with other human beings, which ironically, is a desire that drives many people (including myself in the past) to get involved in the first place. That's fine though, if you're happy with that transaction, and for a long time I felt I was, but it kind of just hit me the other night that this really isn't for me, and that I'd rather take my chances in the real world, where the real people live, and where real connections are forged.
This week's track resonates with this idea of flirting with risk when it comes to romance, although while my tale has been cautionary, Dangerous is more about revelling in the turbulence inherent in a new relationship, regardless of whether it was cultivated online or in the real world.
However you decide to go about finding that special connection with that special somebody, promise me you'll keep yourself safe, both mentally and physically. The world of love and dating can be a brutal one, let's not make the romantic wasteland any more unforgiving than it needs to be ey?
Matt Jenko is a university postgraduate and music producer with an unhealthy obsession with Rick & Morty and all things Game of Thrones. When he’s not in the studio (a rare occurrence these days), he’s fueling his passion for music either on the net or out in the real world. He likes being out in the nature (in the least strenuous capacity though, let’s be real here) and chilling with his cat, and he’s also pretty proud of his mammoth collection of books that he’s never read.
Remember the last track of 2018 when the theme was resurfacing? This week's entry is something of a thematic precursor to what we talked about then; if Back to Earth was about overcoming the drowning feeling, then Underwater is about the experience as it's happening.
There's a quality to this song that just captures me. The choral slices sing sadness while the brassy stabs punch back in frustration, playing out a familiar drama, and all the while Tyrone appeals to both forces to be freed from the torment of being at the centre of it all. It's a song that's raw in emotion, and anyone who's lived through any kind of illness of the mind will find that it cuts to the core of their being with such clarity that it'd be alarming if it wasn't so soothing.
Underwater is a haunting journey that anyone with a love of ambient, atmospheric music should embark upon. You might find it reveals things about your internal world you weren't even aware existed.
Matt Jenko is a university postgraduate and music producer with an unhealthy obsession with Rick & Morty and all things Game of Thrones. When he’s not in the studio (a rare occurrence these days), he’s fueling his passion for music either on the net or out in the real world. He likes being out in the nature (in the least strenuous capacity though, let’s be real here) and chilling with his cat, and he’s also pretty proud of his mammoth collection of books that he’s never read.
Hello hello, welcome back and happy new year, all that good tidings and thank God Christmas is finally over! I hope you’ve all been sticking to your New Years resolutions; I know I have, I had a to-do list the size of my arm coming into January and I’ve managed to whittle it down to one, albeit mighty, item left to tackle.
In the spirit of this, my focus needs to be elsewhere for the time being - close by, though, I’m still here don’t worry! It just means my posts aren’t likely to be the usual epic sagas that you’ve all come to know and love, more like friendly little verses to keep the fires burning. Hopefully this next little bit of time will see a long-laboured project finally come to fruition, but then again I’ve been promising this to Andrew since July and look how long ago that was (getting sunburn on my head feels like a distant memory now )
So, this week’s track isn’t obviously save the world music. But it is music! And you can definitely save the world to it. It’s been the cornerstone of my DJ sets since I started DJing (so many moons ago... the previously alluded to project actually predates my DJ career, which should really tell you a lot about the current state of both endeavours), so why not make it a staple of the playlist too ey?
Matt Jenko is a university postgraduate and music producer with an unhealthy obsession with Rick & Morty and all things Game of Thrones. When he’s not in the studio (a rare occurrence these days), he’s fueling his passion for music either on the net or out in the real world. He likes being out in the nature (in the least strenuous capacity though, let’s be real here) and chilling with his cat, and he’s also pretty proud of his mammoth collection of books that he’s never read.
