ÁTM-Music

 Midland dropped ' The Last Resort ' a few weeks ago. It's the second project from the band this year: In March, they released The   Sonic Ranch , an album made of their old and unreleased songs.  Now, The Last Resort is the first collection of new songs since their second album , Let it Roll in 2019. Despite the EP only includes five tracks, it's a pleasant listening.  The sound contains some rock and electric guitars that melt with Midland's classic country sound. The result is delicious.  The first piece is the post-break-up And Then Some , with mellow sadness. This start is much closer to their origins on The Sonic Ranch . There is a bittersweet feeling in every song (except from Two To Two Step , that will get you dancing), which is far from the debauchery and living to the max of the 21st Century Honky Tonk American Band... That's also shown in the first single and second track, Sunrise tells the story. It brings back cheating to the narrative, but it'

The purpose of music charts is to know the population's music preferences. The counting on these charts must be very transparent to know what are the most successful tracks in a country. The songs on the top of the charts are considered hits and will define the year in music in a certain country. The charts have also a less positive side :the consequences for an artist to be on top of the charts. Every artist wants to be successful and spread their own music, but, besides that, the effects of having a song on the top 10 are really big. Contrats for advertising brands succeed in a little period of time if your music is successful. You, as an artist, become the center of attention. At the same time, the pressure increases: If you haven't released an album yet, you will have to do it before people lose interest on you. At least, you must drop an EP or another single (so good as the successful one). The one-hit-wonder fobia put pressure on artists that desperately search another so

The phenomenon is not only European: The Italian group scores their first entry on the Billbard HOT 100 with Beggin' (#78).  Since they won the Eurovision Song Contest, back in May, the band has experienced a huge ascent in popularity. Let's analyse the keys to this phenomenon step by step: 1.SUCCESS IN ITALY   Maneskin did not win X Factor (Italy) in 2017, but they were so close, and throughout the whole contest, they showed they had something special. In fact, they did since the very beginning: Their first audition felt like a freestyle and was later a track ( Chosen ) in their first project. The message of that song was basically  'I was born to do this', to be an artist. Damiano's fluency while moving onstage and the message did the rest and convinced the judges. Throughout the contest, they showed their passion for rock, covering The Killers' Somebody told me . They also covered Beggin ', their biggest hit yet.  Moreover, they did not only had the rock

Last month Jorja Smith released ' Be Right Back' , a project with eight songs that follows up her debut album (' Lost & Found '). The collection forgets her 2019 hit ,  Be Honest,  and Come Over, both with a more Jamaican sound, with reggae and dancehall influences.  The visuals for this chapter, alongside with the cover, are always framed by the colour red, which is the star of the cover for the album.  Red is the usual colour for passion or love, but ,in this record, it seems  bittersweet  and incomplete . Be Right Back starts with Addicted , full of Jorja's  delicious bare vocals. It was the first single released from the mini-album and it focuses on the realization after a break-up, with Jorja singing frankly after giving all in a relationship 'The hardest thing / You are not addicted to me/ I'm the only thing you should need'. The track includes soul production and alt-rock guitars that reminded me of part of John Mayer's solo in Fran

 Last Wednesday The 2021 Brits were celebrated. Usually in February but delayed due to coronavirus restrictions, the Brits took the O2 Arena with the best ceremony of the year and the best Brits in years. Despite that, the ceremony lost 860,000 viewers since last year. The Dayly Mail points out that it's because viewers wanted to watch a show focused in music, not in politics (Dua Lipa seems to be the one to blame here for claiming better salaries for frontline workers). Anyway, awards ceremonies are losing more viewers each time: The Grammys had  historic low ratings and the same happened with ACM awards in country music or to the Oscars.  However,  this year's BRITS have been one of the best. Here's why: 1. Dynamism  : The set was a big room with the celebrities sat in tables, like in the past years, but due to social distance , there was more space between the tables, so when winners were announced the artists had to walk a longer distance. This showed the true emotions

 Dj Khaled dropped a new album almost two weeks ago ( Khaled Khaled ) , filled with famous collaborators (Justin Bieber, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Post Malone, Meghan Thee Stallion...). The third track on the project is We Going Crazy (ft. H.E.R. and Migos). It is the first release for the R&B singer since she received the Oscar for Best Original Song ( Fight For You from Judas and the Black Messiah ) and it consolidates the more urban direction H.E.R's career is taking.  H.E.R. gained popularity in 2017, with her single Focus, with smooth , soothing vocals and shimmering production. In 2017 she featured on Daniel Caesar's Best Part , which won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance and made both artists the face of a new trend of r&b, that was cleaner than the common contemporary and urban R&B , gave importance to soulful vocals and relied on more classic instrumentation.  In 2018, she received five nominations to the Grammys and ended up wining two (the one for Best Par

1.Redwood-Rewind: A ceremonious piano introduces Redwood's soulful vocals that are the star of the song. On the track, she finds peace and hope in the possibility of rewriting your steps and story. There is space for some tenderness too and sweetness ('do it all over again sweetheart '), like she has just found the solution to her problems. The song creates its whole and unique atmosphere of weird intense calm. 2. Emma Mae-Boys In Bands : There is something about this song that makes you feel you are listening to bbc Radio 1 or Capital fm suddenly. The topic of falling in love with boys in bands or the bad guys seems so proper for a pop song. The first minute of the song is soft and thoughtful, like you were thinking out loud because you know you shouldn't date those guys. Later the song gets more rock. There's something punk on Emma's voice that gets gets along with the electric guitars and drums so well. 

 The second chapter of Eric Church's seventh album was released last Friday. Soul is also made of nine songs, but the energy totally changes from one part to another. This is funnier to listen to and The Chief seems to be enjoying it too while singing and playing these songs. This album is all about energy , sound and performance. Eric Church carries a vivid, soulful and wild show, exhibiting a wide vocal range (falsetto and deeper voice) throughout the whole album . This time the lyrics aren't personal or even deep . They are funny, getting in the 'bad guy' character or the 'break it kind of guy' . The only exceptions may be Lynird Skynird Jones( that is about the tragic life of  a biracial man born after an affaire in a concert of the band Lynird Skynird ) and Hell of a View , the most chart successful song from the project (top 5 on the billboard hot country songs chart). This the best attempt for a love song. It's a love letter to his lover and to what

 Exploring 'alternative guitar spectrum', the Birmingham singer Oliver Beardmore will definitely bring you 2000s-bands nostalgia with the second single from his upcoming EP.  Warm vocals get you in the track. However, these turn into some coldness while delivering the message of the song, maybe as a result of vulnerability. The certainty of  saying  'It's you that I  always knew'  goes against the oneiric atmosphere that the track creates: It's similar to when you wake up in the middle of the night and everything seems a little blurry. The unexpected and proper guitar solo on minute 2:33 is a great element of surprise on the record and emphasizes the feeling of the song . The track gets wilder and more rock at this point, but it fits in the well-produced ensemble of guitar walls and textures , melted with the percussion.  In the first listen, the image of a cold and rainy night comes to mind and the rhythmic drums ,alongside the guitars ,suggest the scene of a m

 Eric Church finally drops the first part of his triple album 'Heart & Soul' . Heart consists of nine songs and some of them were singles previewed before the realease of the album:  Never Break Heart, Crazyland, Heart On Fire and  Stick that In Your Country Song  , the first single of the whole project, dropped last summer.  Stick That In Your Country Song is one of the most special moments in the album. It was written in 2015 by Jeffrey Steele and David Naish and finally given to Church to sing it himself. It has unavoidable social lyrics and social content, and it addresses young people problems, their options for life and the ease to get in contact with guns and violence. The song is almost combative and there's no better country act than Eric Church to sing it and , maybe, ask for change. There are brilliant songwriting moments, like the lines  ' Jails are full, the factories empty / Momma's crying, young boys dying / Under that red, white, and blue still