Icon For Hire - Waste My Hate (Music Video Review)

On February 1st, 2021, Icon for Hire, Illinois based rock band released an official music video for the new single Waste my Hate off of their upcoming album Amorphous set to release February 19th, 2021. The American duo, comprised of singer-songwriter Ariel Bloomer and guitarist Shawn Jump.

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Known for their hard rock, alternative elements fans have already labeled one of the singles Curse or Cure as being their "heaviest" track so far to date. Curse or Cure and Waste My Hate are just two tracks off this 14 track album, with the third single being Last One Standing. All in their own rights, different from the last. Curse or Cure offers a heavy rock element for every dark inch of your soul, whilst Last One Standing is less on the heavier side overall, with more of an alternative feel to it. Both tracks were released shortly after one another, opening fans up to yet another uprooted sound change with Waste My Hate. This track is the most alternative one of the three whilst still utilising those heavy rock elements of the duets staple sounds. 

image; google

Waste My Hate 's official music video opens up with a distorted title scene, instantly giving a rock feel from the use of greys, blacks, and white. "Drag me through the dark. Oh, bless your little black heart" introduces the four contributors; Renee Pheonix, Mitch James, Marena Lucero and Nadia Owens. All four opening up the video lip-syncing to the song, after lead singer Ariel makes an appearancc. For the remainder of the first verse, this is repetitive. The audience sees both Bloomer and Jump periodically timed, along with close up shots of Renee, Mitch, Marena and Nadia.

The video then cuts to mid shots of the contributors, dancing and moving in time to the music, influencing the watcher to start dancing to the infectious hard rock beat. But the money shot comes shortly after in the chorus, where the scene changes to a full band set up, with the duo dressed up in party wear. It's all sparkles and darkness for this video, giving it that light-hearted airy feel. Are you looking for escapism and 3 minutes of fun? Then this video is one to watch. The beat drop coming in at 50 seconds, met with body sways, headbangs, and flashing lights, the essential components of every live rock gig.

Some final elements of the video, are the other group long shots; where Ariel is stood in front of a plain white sheet screen, with the contributors mainly grooving to the beat. In the last quatre of the video, the distorted filter makes a reappearance, almost adding a continuity element to the overall video aesthetics. Finally, the linked use of flowers goes back to the album cover art, a welcoming segment that links to the entire LP.

Best releases of 2020

It is no secret that 2020 has not been anyone's year, least of all for those in the music industry. But no matter the circumstances this year threw, artists were still releasing material. They just merely had to adapt for a while. With that being said, here are 10 memorable albums released in 2020.

Wake Up, Sunshine - All Time Low

Wake Up, Sunshine, All Time Low's eighth studio album, released April 3rd, 2020. The album is comprised of, Number 1 single for 12 weeks on the ALTPress Alternative Charts; Monsters, Some Kind of Disaster, Getaway Green and finally Sleeping In. It was the album, that welcomed the throwback sound back with open arms, leaving behind the experimental phases of the previous album Last Young Renegades. It has a little bit for every fan, sombre and mellow tracks like Summer Daze, to a random interlude track, Pretty Venom. Fancy that nostalgic feeling of who All Time Low were at the beginning, Basement Noise, does that for you.

CALM - 5 Seconds of Summer

CALM, amply named with the initials of each band member, is 5 Seconds of Summer's fourth studio LP and is an intimate, raw insight into their world. It was an album that shone a matured sound and that bridge between every teen girl's heart-throb to young men living their life in America. By no means whatsoever can this album be classed as perfect but, it can be remembered as the album that allowed them to express a new sound, one that refreshingly shows their mature outlook on their music and a growth; we may never have seen, if they hadn't taken a break to explore what life had to offer them. Tracks like teeth, easier and no shame, are the standout tracks on the album and have quirky memorabilia about them. 

Father of all motherfuckers - Green Day

Although not hardcore fans favourite album, Father of All Motherfuckers, Green Day's thirteenth album, is arguably the most fun of them yet. The band known for their politics, this time took the opposing route and in many ways left their political heads at home, and decided to go down to the club and party. This album has not got a single stench of politics on this album, which is a strong potential why people aren't lovers of this album...well fans anyway, as it seems critics loved it. With garage-rock anthem Fire, Ready, Aim to take the rebel-esque imagery and heightening it 1000 percent, before mixing up-tempos to slower and more mellow songs like Oh Yeah, and seemingly transporting us back decades to the 50s with classic diner vibes of Sugar Youth. This lighthearted, fun, and in many ways bold LP has created that sense of confusion between Green Day's most iconic album American Idiot to modern day, politics-free Father of All Motherfuckers. It is confusing, and a brain twister so instead of trying to understand it or rationalize with it, let's do a Billy Joe Armstrong and say 'fuck it', let's have fun. 

Ordinary Man - Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne's twelfth studio album, Ordinary Man, released February 21st, 2020. Osbourne's first solo album in a decade, and most likely his finest in at least two maybe even three. It dabbles with a little bit of it all, mighty metal riffs, dark and brooding sounds, even a hint of gospel here and there. It has enough doom and bleakness to go around everyone. Offering a vast amount of ultimatums in your mind, Under The Graveyard will have you torn between which road to travel, and is the pure shadow and classic sounds of Osbourne himself. Rich in spirit, and dark in sound. But refreshingly, unlike many albums this takes away from the life Ozzy lived, full of alcohol, sex, and drugs, and surprisingly takes away from his age like, he is not a man in his early 70s battling for his life, but a young man on his early trails. 

Use Me - PVRIS

Use Me, PVRIS' third album, released August 28th, 2020, and features 3 songs that were on the bands' previous EP Hallucinations. For the first time, we finally know who Lynn Gunn truly is, and unapologetically so. It was a brave leap from hiding behind her defenses to being solely responsible for it all, no longer can she hide her true self. Everything you hear on this album is hers, there is no hiding between the lines, or writing in a nostalgic sense, from start to finish the album is a testament to moving forward, never looking back, and using the name she has built over the years to still make it mean something. Lead single Dead Weight is the track that describes it all, coming out of a "band culture" sort of situation to a solo creator, there is no turning back.

Nothing is True, and Everything is Possible - Enter Shikari

Nothing is True & Everything is Possible is Enter Shikari's sixth LP, collectively brings everything they have done in the past, and collated it into a 15 track album of them all, essentially a greatest hits of all their sounds, and tricks from over the years; neatly wrapped up into an LP. The overall messiness of the albums is a depiction of a creator's mind. Trying to embody a multitude of ideas, in a wonderful and yet questionable way. From cinematic explosion to dystopian sound effects, like flooded streams of colour.  

Cannibal - Bury Tomorrow 

Cannibal, Bury Tomorrow's sixth studio album opens with single Choke, which hits hard straight from the get-go, for an opener; it set the course for the remaining parts of the LP. The rest of the album is a set of crispy dirty vocals by lead Daniel Winter-Bates, that graciously befriends the clean angelic vocals of James Cameron. It's like a vocal dance-off between Bates and Cameron, like usual but it feels as though there is less spotlight on Cameron through this album, mainly on tracks like Choke and Imposter, even on title track Cannibal. However, quite literally under a microscope, Bates does an outstanding job of talking about his relationship with mental health, and the battles he faces. His violent calls become increasingly visible on Imposter, which shows no sign of weakness or fragility. 

Post Human: Survival Horror - Bring Me The Horizon

Post Human: Survival Horror, Bring Me The Horizon is still up for debate on if it is an album or an EP. However, the band themselves have said it is the first part of four EPs to be released. Written amid a pandemic, it explores sounds we have heard from them before and sounds that have been less in the spotlight but influences for many years like EDM. Features from Yungblud and Amy Lee shine through as the tracks on the album that are in many ways different than we've heard before. You expect from the title of the album, it isn't going to be cheery and One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Your Death is no different. It is a mellow, balladesque song that lets Lee's vocals shine through.

Evermore - Taylor Swift

Evermore was the gift that keeps on giving. Taylor Swift secretly worked on her ninth album during lockdown, after confessing that she couldn't stop writing. With fingerpicked acoustic guitar and sombre piano throughout the album, this album is not a hitch-on-the-back of folklore but an album that merely accompanies it in a sister-like state and feels overall more experimental than Folklore. In true Swift fashion, Dorothea is the love ballad we all know the album would have. Champagne Problems is almost the opposing story to 2008 hit Love Story, which seemed to resonate with the fans a lot, now that along with Taylor, the audience has or is maturing.

GLUE - Boston Manor

Boston Manor's third album GLUE is dark, misanthropic yet creatively witty in its own way. As an album, it seemingly recognises that life in general can be testing and can be just as deceiving to the eye as songs can be. On the outside, songs on this album are talking about one thing, yet there is a constant deeper meaning within them, creating a never-ending dodecahedron, with more and more layers as it persists. On A High Ledge, is the melancholic tune, that resonates with the listeners that have been through traumatic experiences, many similar to those that lead singer Henry Cox did, whilst Terrible Love speaks to an audience who know how it feels to have themselves as their own worst enemy.  

Under the Tree - Sam Palladio

Sam Palladio, country music star and British actor, aptly known for his recurring role on NBC’s Nashville. The recent single Under the Tree is a classic festive track, written for the 2020 Netflix original, The Princess Switch: Switched Again. 

Photo from: Google

Co-written with country artist Cassadee Pope, the mellow tune is the essential rendition of everything that sums up Christmas. From “candy cane” kisses to “mistletoe calling” and “flour all over the kitchen”, the festive track explores it all; with an underlying beautiful story arc that makes the listener reminiscent of how the holidays are more than the material things, and is more about the blessings and gifts we already have. The soft, piano-led song is a heartfelt message to Christmas and celebrates spending the holiday season with the ones that you love; showing that the most important part of Christmas is not the food, presents nor the decorations but who you spend it with. After all, spending the festive season with the ones you love, is the most enjoyable part of the season, and the most warming.

If you’ve been looking for a new Christmas song to add to your playlists this year, this is it! It is a heartfelt, soft ballad, sure to get you singing along to it, like all the classic carols we hear, year by year.

18 underrated Christmas tracks every alternative playlist needs...

The end of the year is always a hit or miss, but why let it be a miss with a playlist that is just as grand as you are. We aren't interested in the carols that are played time and time again about 25 times a day on the radio stations...they are classics sure, but they get way too repetive after a while. Why not try these 18 tracks, to spice up that playlist and fall in love with the festive season again. 

1. Merry Christmas, Kiss My Ass - All Time Low

2. Ho Ho Hopefully - The Maine

3. Christmas Lights - Yellowcard

4. Fool's Holiday - All Time Low

5. Ex-Miss - New Found Glory

6. Nothing For Christmas - New Found Glory

7. Santa Stole My Girlfriend - The Maine

8. The Christmas - The Summer Set

9. Right Where You Want Me To Be - A Day To Remember

10. Christmastime - The Smashing Pumpkins

11. The Christmas Song - Weezer

12. Christmas Card - Jimmy Eat World

13. Feels Like Christmas - Panic at the Disco

14. The Christmas List - Simple Plan

15. Christmas By The Phone - Good Charlotte

16. Yule Shoot Your Eye Out - Fall Out Boy

17. I Won't Be Home For Christmas - Blink-182

18. Mistress For Christmas - AC/DC

That Won't Save Us - Against The Current

 A new era of Against the Current (ATC) is here.

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On Wednesday 28th October 2020, ATC released their first new piece of material since their 2018 album, ‘Past Lives’. Produced by Matt Squire, this fresh release is an energetic, guitar-driven track entitled ‘That Won’t Save Us’, which arrived simultaneously with a moody, dark and characteristically fiery music video. 

It’s no secret that the gem of ATC’s sound is the ever-so present roaring guitar riffs of Dan Gow, which felt somewhat lacking in their previous album, whilst they delved down the route of a different sound; so unsurprisingly this album has brought them right back as a foreground for the song. Whilst being heavily guitar led, the drums certainly don’t go a-miss, they are prevalent throughout the track and add the perfect amount of rock that ATC are renowned for. With a lot of the sound, feeling very much of their ‘In Our Bones’ era. The guitar may be the shining star of the show, but the powerful vocals of Chrissy’s voice, easily pin this single as staple Against The Current sound. The explosive instrumental and the beautifully interlinked vitality of the vocals, along with some of the tempo changes in the bridge and final chorus really foreshadows Costanza’s mindset behind the writing of the song. It is clear from certain elements of the song that she was frustrated and angry with whatever was going on in her personal life and her professional life, enough for her to write a killer rock track like this one. 

The bridge is the biggest tempo change out of the two changes the song possesses, all of a sudden the liviness is somewhat held back and switched for a more mellow, balladesque feel and feels generally quieter than the rest of the track, because the guitar is no longer as vibrant as it was which pulls forward the angelic voice of Costanza but a few brief seconds, switching back to the all-so-powerful, heavily guitar-led pace. The final tempo change in this song is in the final chorus, where concomitantly it speeds up, which gives a sense of the tune coming to an end and the problem being resolved. It also adds to the lively, feel-happy beat.

If this release is anything to go by, ATC3 is going to be one hell of a rock album.

TWSU Music Video - YouTube

 

Skeletons - Bronnie

Over the years the ever growing pop-punk sensation that is Bronnie Hughes, has released some stand out tunes; becoming better as they go along. From her first EP, to her recent release, Bronnie has honed her sound. There’s a lot to be said for a musician that can release songs that are both raw and emotional to the core, whilst still being upbeat. It can be done by anyone, but whether it is done well is what’s in question. For Bronnie’s music, there is no doubt about it.

Her most recent single ‘Skeletons’ is the song that every die-hard Bronnie fan never knew they needed until it came. With a heart-warming opening melody to the raw rock vocals of the singer-songwriter, it cuts deep to the core with the overarching theme of mental health. The story behind the track is descriptively painting the picture of someone who is struggling in their life; with skeletons from the past that are still haunting them in the present day. In the past Bronnie has always been vocal about her strong stance on mental health awareness using her platform and her voice for something much more than just her career. It is so easy for artists these days to become too self-involved and in some ways forget their voice can impact more than just someone’s ears, but Bronnie is the fresh few amongst the younger generation of artists who really understand the power they have behind social media within their communities. 

The acoustically driven song, only sits at a very short 2:22 but does not stop Bronnie from putting her all in those 2 minutes. It explores a little bit of everything from a small and intimate feeling introduction to a much more powerful and loud bridge. However the most interesting part that draws you in is not actually the song itself, but the sound bite that closes the song. It was an interesting choice yet a cleverly placed sound bite of a recording that initially marries the ring out of the electric guitar with crackles. It doesn’t take away from the song but it does add a level of definition that most songs in the modern day rarely express. The poem that the listener hears was written by Mary Elizabeth Frye “Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep” is widely known for its symbolism of loss. More specifically the loss of a loved one. The poet wrote the iambic tetrameter poem in aid of a young Jewish girl, who was going through a terrible loss, one that Frye could relate to. Written in 1932, the poem still speaks volumes today, as the authoritative voice is almost demanding that there is no need to feel such sorrow, for they are still alive in spirit and soul. Physically they are gone but they are never truly gone. In relation to the song, the sonnet gives a whole new meaning to ‘Skeletons’ as it’s now no longer just based on someone who is trying to fight their demons, but it invokes a sense of what demons this person could be facing. Although not all of the sonnet is included in its entirety, its power is still very much shone, at arguably the pinochle point of the track. It was a creative decision that Bronnie should be proud of, as it makes the track stand out in its masses. 

Lines Included in the song:

Do not stand at my grave and weep, 

I am not there; I do not sleep,

I am a thousand winds that blow, 

I am the diamond glints on snow,

I am the sun on ripened grain, 

I am the gentle autumn rain.

Do not stand at my grave and cry, 

I am not there; I did not die.

One final note is the single cover, which is minimalist yet effective at not only drawing in the listener but not being the “shining star of the show”. It is designed in a welcoming and eye catching way but almost connotes the sound of the track. The well produced, graciously sung, acoustic track that is ‘Skeletons’. Does it deserve a listen? Definitely. In fact it deserves multiple. Not only will you get the classic rock undertones of Bronnie, and her sound but you also get a heart-tugging emotional song that is the perfect arsenal to any playlist.