Review: Coasts - Oceans

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

With their début single ‘Oceans’, Coasts grab your attention from the very first second of the song. Taken from their limited edition début EP Paradise, they give us a great mix of sad, melancholic and atmospheric music and lyrics, but manage to counteract that by making the song hopeful and happy at the same time – a rare ability that recalls the stylings of Mumford and Sons.

With the echoing chant style chorus the band demonstrates that they would be excellent live (and are currently on tour) and you could imagine thousands of people singing along to this at a festival – a good way to judge the merit of a single. Luckily this one passed the festival sound test.

The music itself lives up to the band and the singles names as they sound very water inspired, which is a nice touch. Although they do sound like a number of other indie bands around, the song is very catchy and sounds fresh and new.

This is a great single and an even better début single. Hopefully, off the back of big Grammy wins by bands such as Mumford and Sons, the British public will be looking for something new again, and they need look no further than Coasts.

Liza Minnelli's Latest Comeback

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

With an Oscar, an Emmy, multiple Tony Awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award under her belt and over 50 years in the business that is show, Liza Minnelli is the definition of the term ‘living legend’.

Not content with sitting out her later years on a vast yacht in the baking sun telling stories about all the other greats she’s known – such as her mother, her father, Frank Sinatra or Sammy Davies Jr. – Liza continues to keep busy, and this year is no exception as she brings her celebrated gifts to the London stage for a one-night-only performance on March 1^.

Minnelli will be performing at the Royal Festival Hall in London as part of the Southbank Centre’s ‘Berlin in the 20s and 30s’ weekend, where she will perform songs from the legendary Cabaret, jazz standards and Broadway tunes. However, as she mentioned in The Telegraph, she’s still re-writing the show, so who knows what could happen.

The performance at the Royal Festival Hall will be her first performance at the venue since 1973, when she performed her renowned Emmy Award winning show Liza with a Z there.

The weekend will also see a screening of Cabaret, which celebrates its 41^st birthday this year and marks the 40^th anniversary of Minnelli’s Oscar win for her performance of Sally Bowles.

Aside from her one night engagement in London, this year appears to mark another comeback in the life of the legendary performer. With scheduled performances at the New York City Town Hall alongside Alan Cumming, a performance at the State Theatre’s 25^th annual benefit gala in May, a return to acting with a guest appearance as herself in TV shows Smash and Arrested Development and even, according to an interview with The Huffington Post, a new album in the works, it looks like Liza may be doing a few more appearances this year. Well here’s hoping she does.

Review: Alicia Keys - Brand New Me

Origina.ly published on www.sosogay.co.uk

Musical powerhouse Alicia Keys returns with the second single from her top 20 album Girl On Fire and the follow up to the top five single of the same name.

‘Brand New Me’ is a piano-driven pop ballad about personal growth and becoming a whole new person, which Keys herself has described as her autobiography. Co-written by current golden girl of British pop Emeli Sandé, the song has all the ingredients of a sure fire hit, however it just missed the mark.

Starting with a slow piano opening that has become expected from the multiple Grammy Award winner, the song showcases the soulful and powerful voice of Keys but it fails to give us anything different and never really goes anywhere. With a sullen background of slow beats shrouded by piano, we endure a few minutes of Alicia Keys wallowing in misery.

Towards the end of the song the music does pick up with an almost rocky and angst-driven Keys belting out a powerful vocal, but just as this happens and the song begins to get going it fades back down to her peaceful yet depressing tones.

It feels as though this song was trying to be empowering, trying to give listeners some kind of strength, a bit like ‘The Voice Within’ by Christina Aguilera, but unlike Aguilera’s 2003 hit this song stalls at its opening.

Overall the song is fair, the vocals are beautiful and the key change really hits you, but the overall tone and theme to the song just fails to light you up. It leaves you wanting more, but not in a good way.

Review: Bjork - Bastards

Originally published on www.soundblab.com

The eccentric or, as some may put it, batshit crazy Icelandic singer Bjork returns to the music scene with the remix album of her seventh studio album Biophilia, the aptly-titled Bastards. Now credit where credit is due, anyone who names their album Bastards deserves a round of applause. Of course, Bjork has been doing that kind of thing for almost 30 years, first as part of the band The Sugarcubes and then solo.

She's done more than garner masses of applauses as well. After all, the unconventional singer has gained herself numerous Grammy Award nominations and has even been nominated for an Academy Award. However, I don't quite think that honour will be bestowed this album. I'm a big fan of Bjork's massive back-catalogue and I often find that some of her songs work extremely well as remixes. In fact, the remix of 'Army of Me' is probably better than the original version.

However, her eclectic mix of music and amazing vocals just aren't enough to save this remix record. Some tracks are OK, some are good, some are bad and some are a little hit-and-miss altogether and tend to just blend into the background, and Bjork is someone who should never blend into the background. The album does sound very worldly and mixes what sounds like Bollywood and African music into her rocky, electro sounds. While this is all well and good, many tracks sound too samey and just get lost while you're doing something else.

The best track on the album has to be 'Crystalline', which mixes Bjork's excellent vocals with an upbeat, haunting and Bollywood-inspired sound. It's not a combination you would initially put together but it works. The same thing works but not quite as well on the track 'Thunderbolt,' although there's just not enough of Bjork on it.

Other good tracks are 'Sacrifice' and 'Sacrifice Reprise' with their haunting vocals and almost minimal music, focusing on the voice, which is, as always, amazing. Both tracks are very atmospheric and melancholic, with the later making you feel as though Bjork herself has been engulfed in waves. Listen to it and you'll get what I mean. The worst track has to be 'Hollow', which is just seven long minutes of really boring music and boring vocals which don't grab your attention or make you feel anything other than bored. Basically, it's an awful track.

A special mention has to be given to 'Mutual Core', which has a number of excellent vocals. When it kicks in, it's extremely dark and heavy. However, only these parts are worth listening to - some are flat out yawn-inducing. It's a classic case of the hit-and-miss song.

Overall this album has some good mixes and some brilliant vocals. However, some parts completely miss the mark and leave you bored while only a few others pick you up. I think Bjork needs to go back to the drawing board and work on some new music, which is probably best for all of us.