#fleetwood mac tribute band

[thedaveandkimmershow]

It's just a cool photograph, is all.

The kind you see in music magazines or the biography of a famous band.

That's Linzy across the stage to the right on keys, by the way. 😊

She had quite the weekend, did Linzy. One of the bands she's in, Midnight High, for which she handles keys and vocal harmonies, performed in Carnation Friday night for the official launch event in anticipation of Timberfest, the Pacific NW outdoor music festival that arrives in July and at which they'll also perform. 🌲🌲🌲

The next night, Saturday night, she performed with The Little Lies, the Fleetwood Mac tribute band for which she handles keys, acoustic guitar, and Christine McVie's vocals.

The band performed at The Spanish Ballroom in Tacoma, opening for Queen Mother, the Queen Tribute band, at an all-ages celebration, an absolute dream of a night for fans of Classic Rock.

And their kids, apparently. 🤔

There were girls down near the front of the stage by Linzy who really took a shine to everything Linzy was doing, being even more amazed as she set keys aside and whipped out her acoustic guitar.

Future musicians, perhaps?

That would be pretty cool if they took that kind of inspiration from one great show. ❤️

Now, The Little Lies have played for larger audiences than the one at the Spanish Ballroom. The maximum capacity of the venue is 700 people and it was a sold-out show that night.

There's a difference, though, between playing outdoor concerts to thousands and playing to that 700 packed from back to front right up to the lip of the stage.

Indoors.

The energy's crazy in a way you can't help but feel. 🤯🤯🤯

After the show, the headliner, Queen Mother, asked if the band would be down to open for them again.

Linzy asked her band leader if it was because Queen Mother liked their show.

Truth is, they liked how The Little Lies helped them sell out the venue.

Which is a very good reputation to have. 😁😁😁

So yeah. Linzy sent me a snap of The Little Lies in performing mode at The Spanish Ballroom Saturday night. I half forgot that's she and her bandmates up there. It's just a cool photograph, is all.

And when you're there the experience blows you away in exactly that way you get in big arena shows with major artists.

It really is a helluva thing.

🤔🤯😊😁☺️

[roastie]

drunk with my mum and my auntie (my dad's sister), my auntie is a sweetheart but she keeps bringing up my dad 😭

[our-soft-epilogue]

Maybe heaven isn’t a place. When I dance, I look to my right I see a old woman dancing barefoot in a long dress. Maybe to know her is to know heaven.

[besser-entertainment]

Groove to the tunes of the best Fleetwood Mac tribute band | Besser Entertainment Besser Entertainment offers the best Fleetwood Mac tribute bands who pay homage to the phenomenal British-American pop-rock group. They perform all the greatest Fleetwood Mac hits such as ‘Dreams’, ‘You make Lovin’ Fun’, ‘Don’t Stop’, ‘Gold Dust Woman’, ‘The Chain’, ‘Edge of 17’, and more. Our band creates a lasting impression on the minds of our audiences. Embark on an extraordinary musical journey that will transport you to the heart and soul of the legendary rock group of Fleetwood Mac. Prepare to be captivated by the enchanting melodies, intricate harmonies, and raw emotion as our exceptional ensemble brings Fleetwood Mac's iconic hits to life. Our band performs every song with unparalleled talent and dedication. https://www.besserentertainment.com/best-fleetwood-mac-tribute-band/

[seasurfacefullofclouds1]

Out of curiosity I read the Rob Sheffield 2015 1d Rolling Stones and, holy shit, how can people think the media/management wasn't setting up Harry's solo career and larrybaiting to do so. 

It's mostly an asinine Harry lovefest, but there's some very specific Louis/Larry call outs. The fact that he compares H and L to Stevie Knicks and Lindsey Buckingham, and all the emotional responses they have to each other while singing; also he says he could watch H and L do laundry (a domestic/intimate task). Niall gets one shout out for guitar playing, Liam is a footnote, Zayn (who isn't there anymore) gets shaded. He recounts the famous 1d/Ronnie Wood video. People site this as Louis being so wonderful and letting Harry take his place next to RW but honestly it looks more like Louis did his stage walk - which he still does - and Harry swooped in and stole his spot/the spotlight. Sheffield even mentions a dad wearing a Larry shirt without elaborating on the context. 

And anyone who thinks Sheffield/RS had some insider band knowledge should read his tribute to Liam. He refers to Liam as the "kid brother" of 1d. Anyone with a modicum of knowledge of the band knows that Liam was, from the beginning, the most ruthlessly ambitious/professional dad of the group, never the sweet kid brother.

I fear the Larries will be insufferable once Harry and/or Louis return from their (unrelated) breaks. Us Weekly put out a nonsense article today about how the 1d members are reevaluating their bond since Liam's death. Considering how insane they got over H and L being in the same stadium at the Euros and again at the funeral (gross), we're in for a bunch of delusional content in the near future. 

Rolling Stone’s covers of Harry Styles are a really telling way of tracking his marketing, actually.

For HS1, they got Cameron Crowe to do Harry’s write up, ersatz old school rock journalist, director of nostalgic groupie flick Almost Famous, the original journalist of the big touring bands of the 70’s and 80’s that Harry wanted to copy. The first single Harry released was a nudge to Prince’s Signs of the Times (Prince’s album after he broke up his band), and the critics compared Harry to Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Bowie, even Townes Van Zandt.

But the image didn’t appeal to the 1D fandom. The album sales disappointed Sony.

Next up, Rob Sheffield, veteran of purple prose at Rolling Stone, for Fine Line. Harry wasn’t that interested in old timey rock anymore. Off came the clothes for the Rolling Stone cover, first single is a music video featuring a boy girl orgy. Harry was still singing about being above everyone else, but who’s listening to the lyrics when he’s all oiled up?

Sheffield wrote a post script to the 2015 Larrybait, by the way.

When the band stopped, did he take those friendships with him? “Yeah, I think so,” he says. “Definitely. Because above all else, we’re the people who went through that. We’re always going to have that, even if we’re not the closest. And the fact is, just because you’re in a band with someone doesn’t mean you have to be best friends. That’s not always how it works. Just because Fleetwood Mac fight, that doesn’t mean they’re not amazing. I think even in the disagreements, there’s always a mutual respect for each other.

Midway through the show, Harry’s demeanor suddenly changes. He gets uncharacteristically solemn and quiet, sitting down by himself and focusing intently on the stage. It’s the first time all night he’s taken a seat. He’s in a different zone than he was in a few minutes ago. But he’s seen many Fleetwood Mac shows, and he knows where they are in the set. It’s time for “Landslide.” He sits with his chin in hand, his eyes zeroing in on Stevie Nicks. As usual, she introduces her most famous song with the story of how she wrote it when she was just a lass of 27.

As Stevie starts to sing “Landslide” — “I’ve been afraid of changing, because I built my life around youuuu” — Anne walks over to where Harry sits. She crouches down behind him, reaches her arms around him tightly. Neither of them says a word. They listen together and hold each other close to the very end of the song. Everybody in Wembley is singing along with Stevie, but these two are in a world of their own.

Larries won’t understand the reference and in any case, they live in a fantasyland of their own.

I do feel very sad for Liam, who believed that musical talent rather than marketing would engage the fandom, who counted on nonexistent fandom loyalty in the face of industry’s propaganda.

1D fandom lives a parasocial life, but propaganda only goes one way. Some of 1D’s most beloved and popular “fandom figures” are apologists for capitalism, and capitalism is about to have a wild year.

[luxurychristmaspudding]

ON CALL! my fav frankie fic eva

maddieeeee!!!! hello my love!!!!!! thank you SO MUCH ily ily ily.

i've had the idea for on call for aaaaages, taken from the kings of leon song with the same name. it's such a simple sentiment - of being there for someone at any time, no matter what it is. at first it really was just babysitting, but the more i wrote in the very early days, the more they became people with a real fondness for each other.

which is how we got to a mini series! they were very natural characters to develop, and the loss bug has experienced is something frankie knows very well. it was so interesting and comforting for both characters to have things they struggled with that the other understood implicitly, which felt very special and sweet. it felt like a very gentle way to explore grief, if that makes sense?

as for the other chapter names - arizona was more for the vibe. just a slow, cosy night where they might look at one another and think - oh. i think i kind of like you. like a whisp of feeling that they'd look back on and laugh about, especially with the lyrics that taste/all i ever needed/all i ever wanted/too dumb to surrender.

mi amigo is a tribute to their friendship and how they lift each other up in so many ways. i have a headcanon that frankie is a big kings of leon fan, and i think he'd think of bug anytime he listened to that song, at any point in their relationship. it's very her, and it's cute to think of him wishing she had been around when he was younger, wishing they'd met sooner in some way, just because of the peace they bring each other. and also to imagine him a little flushed at the 'big old dick' bit before anything happens between them, and then how he'd laugh when bug hollers it at the top of her lungs in the car afterwards.

you and i is a tribute to their mutual love of fleetwood mac, and also because i couldn't decide on a kol song that fit the chapter. @jolapeno was a massive help with this one, so it's her i have to thank hehe. it's very simple, and feels like it really is just the two of them existing, which is the vibe i wanted to have.

as for the extras, they're also songs. super graphic is because bug would serve a fearful amount of cunt screaming 'fugly jeans' in the club, which frankie would find hilarious. weightless is by one of my favourite bands, and is actually written by a dad, talking to his son about his own dad. perfect - i had this sad idea that bug remembers the weightlessness of her dad at the end and then how she feels weightless to frankie, like he's losing her amidst the grief. and the immortals felt very much frankie and the boys. the open road, the path of greatness/it's at your fingers/go be the one that keeps on fighting/go be the stranger. just them finding who they are together, then hitting this older point where these lines feel pertinent: once you've had enough/carry on/don't forget to love/before you're gone.

the playlist for their whiskey night was also lovely to make. a lot of my stuff is music based, so it felt extra special to have so many people involved in what would be playing the night everything changes!

anyway. i've yapped way too much. if you want to know about the epilogue, let me know! ❤️

[campbyler]

when i was making summer driving (will's version) i was telling simply anyone who would listen about how i think a lot of will's music taste, just like so much else about him, is a culmination of and tribute to the people around him. if there's one thing about will byers in any universe, he is going to be influenced by the people he loves 🤍

no one asked for this, but here's a breakdown of who inspired each song on his summer driving playlist:

perfect day - hoku -> el friday i'm in love - the cure -> himself cruel to be kind - letters to cleo -> max/el rock the casbah - the clash -> jonathan manic monday - the bangles -> el good vibrations - the beach boys -> hopper american girl - tom petty and the heartbreakers -> joyce swoon - beach weather -> max/lucas smooth (feat. rob thomas) - santana -> steve canyon moon - harry styles -> el wake me up before you go-go - wham! -> dustin waffle house - jonas brothers -> max/el don't stop - fleetwood mac -> el/joyce/hopper tongue tied - GROUPLOVE -> party come on eileen - dexys midnight runners -> mike what i like about you - the romantics -> dustin/mike centerfold - the j. geils band -> dustin brown eyed girl - van morrison -> joyce new romantics - taylor swift -> party

[goldduststevie]

Mick Fleetwood performed a Christine tribute at last nights Grammy Awards. He, Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt did "Songbird" together, you can watch a video here. Christine actually won posthumous a Grammy for the orchestral version of the song "Songbird" from her 2022 album.

On the red carpet Mick said that Fleetwood Mac was over: Fleetwood said he plans to still perform, but “not as Fleetwood Mac.” “I think right now, I truly think the line in the sand has been drawn with the loss of Chris,” Fleetwood said, referring to McVie. “I’d say we’re done, but then we’ve all said that before. It’s sort of unthinkable right now.” Fleetwood said he plans to still perform, but “not as Fleetwood Mac.” Fleetwood said surviving members of the band, past and present, are busy with other touring and performing duties, mentioning current members Stevie Nicks, Mike Campbell, Neil Finn and former member Lindsey Buckingham. “They all get out and play, so I’m gonna be doing the same thing, finding people to play with,” Fleetwood said.

I was expecting it but hearing him say it makes it very real and very definitive :(

[camcorderrevival]

yeah the fleetwood mac tribute band were great but more importantly there was a tiny hole in the floor and if you stood at the right angle you could see straight through to the floor below. thrilling.

[pand1on]

the city theatre is making it really hard to get into the local arts scene by hosting about a thousand fleetwood mac tribute bands and nothing else

[nonebinary-leftbeef]

Gilf hunting at the Fleetwood Mac tribute band concert

[curlyhaircripplegf]

Jesus is a woman in a flowy white dress singing in a Fleetwood Mac tribute band

[lemonbalmgirl]

I went to this tonight with my friend Lobelia from Eugene - "A Massive Seance Holiday Extravaganza for the Living & the Dead", presented by the You're Wrong About and American Hysteria podcasts.

I'd never been to the Aladdin Theater before, but luckily the seats were less uncomfortable than I'd been led to believe.

Sarah Marshall & Chelsey Weber-Smith (the podcast hosts) were great to see live and the inclusion of the Fleetwood Mac tribute band, the Little Lies, was a pleasant surprise.

Lobelia & I laughed a bunch and had a great time. The first half of the show was sort of a history of seances & spiritualism, while the second was a "seance", featuring many tricks used back in the day. And a number of musical interludes.

If they bring back the show next year, we'll definitely go again!

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 25/11/2023 (Tate McRae, Drake)

Content warning: Holiday festivities (bah humbug)

For a second week, Jack Harlow - sadly - holds onto the #1 with “Lovin’ on Me” on the UK Singles Chart. Welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

As always, as this is very much a regular November-era episode, Hell, probably the real start of the Christmas music era, also known as the end-times, we start with our notable dropouts, which are songs exiting from the UK Top 75 - since that’s what I cover - after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. This week, we bid our farewells to an actually pretty considerable selection of big hits, those being “TOO MUCH” by The Kid LAROI, Jung Kook and Central Cee, “Can’t Play Myself (A Tribute to Amy)” by Skepta, “IDGAF” by Drake featuring Yeat - most likely making way for Drake’s debut this week and will be back the next - “3D” by Jung Kook and Jack Harlow (also potentially back next week thanks to the Justin Timberlake remix), “Say Yes to Heaven” by Lana Del Rey, “Party All the Time” by Hannah Laing and HVRR (Rest well, sweet prince), “It Goes Like (Nanana)” by Peggy Gou, “Everywhere” by Fleetwood Mac, “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls, “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus, “Escapism.” by RAYE featuring 070 Shake, “As it Was” by Harry Styles and finally, “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi. It’s likely that these end up back in the chart after Christmas, and really, there is no silver lining because we’re shoveling out old tracks for even older ones.

Now as always, I will never cover all of the Christmas songs but this is the week this year where we get the influx of the truly canonised classics, at least most of them, so for their first week in the top 75 this year, we have “Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it Snow” by the late Dean Martin at #69, “Snowman” by Sia at #67, “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” by Band Aid at #65 - wow, not off to a good start at all. Thankfully, we do clean up with “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by the late Andy Williams at #57, “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues featuring the late Kirsty MacColl at #53, “Merry Christmas Everyone” by Shakin’ Stevens at #51, “Underneath the Tree” by Kelly Clarkson at #49 and “Jingle Bell Rock” by the late Bobby Helms at #44. Wham! are at #14, Mariah’s at #16, Brenda Lee trails in third at #31. We do also see some non-holiday gains, namely “Lil Boo Thang” by Paul Russell at #36, “Angel Numbers / Ten Toes” by Chris Brown at #31 for whatever reason, “First Person Shooter” by Drake featuring J. Cole at #27 thanks to the video - more on Drake later - and “Can’t Catch Me Now” by Olivia Rodrigo at #13. We also see the bizarre re-entry for Ye’s 2010 track “Runaway” featuring Pusha T at a new peak of #34. Yeah, I assume there’s some TikTok virality here because I can’t figure out why otherwise, though it is a fan favourite - even if I think it’s pretty overrated, like the rest of that album. For the record, this is only its third week in the UK charts; it peaked at #56 for two consecutive weeks in 2010 and vanished thereafter.

And for THIS week in the UK Singles Chart, our top five starts with “Water” by Tyla at #5, in no doubt helped by remixes with Travis Scott and Marshmello of all people, and sadly not other Afrobeats artists as would have probably worked a lot better. Regardless, we then have “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan at #4, “greedy” by Tate McRae at #3, “Prada” by casso, RAYE and D-Block Europe at #2 and of course, Jack Harlow at the very top. Now to pick through our limited little bag of new entries.

NEW ARRIVALS

#75 - “Stay Another Day” - Jorja Smith

Produced by who cares?

Well, it’s that time of year again where we get the charts flooded with Amazon originals, tracks recorded for the Christmas season exclusively by artists working with Amazon Music that autoplay when you ask Alexa for holiday tracks. I think I would have loved to hear a Jorja Smith cover of “Stay Another Day”, personally, as her sultry voice would make the saccharine melodies of the boy-band original much easier to stomach. East 17’s 1994 original is barely even a Christmas song, it just happened to be released in late November and have a snowy video… well, they knew what they were doing with the sleigh bells at the tail-end. It’s not really a song I ever got, but it did spend five weeks at #1 and was the Christmas chart-topper for that year. So naturally, I’m going to talk about abstract hip hop. I made a Google form earlier this month asking for song suggestions to replace the Amazon originals, and got around 51 songs - all unique to be fair - sent to me, so I used a random number generator and selected two for this week. I probably won’t go into as much depth, and they won’t be covered in the conclusion out of fairness, and really for this suggestion, I don’t know where to start. “The Gods Must be Crazy” is a track from We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, the latest album from alternative rap duo Armand Hammer, consisting of rapper-producers billy woods and E L U C I D. With a beat from El-P, both rappers trade sarcastic, at times pretty funny, bars and some striking imagery regarding race, particularly the white misuse and misunderstanding of the black culture they use whilst also neglecting. E L U C I D goes for the abstract whilst woods is arguably more straightforward, but they both end up with some really poetic lyricism, often almost revolutionary and it definitely sounds like they’re leading a protest over some of the grooviest production I’ve ever heard from El-P, with the driving glitched-out vocals, with just enough fuzz to make it hit really hard, and a distanced, unpredictable set of drums. It’s a great track, but definitely one I feel will be much more effective in the context of the album, and I’d love to read a full analysis that puts some of what I simply don’t understand from E L U C I D’s brash delivery and woods’ as always effortless lyrical riffing into perspective.

#64 - “Surround Sound” - JID featuring 21 Savage and Baby Tate

Produced by Christo, DJ Scheme and Nuri

And bizarrely enough, we’re sticking with alternative rap though clearly, much less abstract. This was the lead single for JID’s great album The Forever Story last year, which peaked at #74 in the UK, and it was definitely one of the highlights for me, mostly because of the great use of Aretha Franklin’s 1965 track “One Step Ahead”, used similarly to how it was in Yasiin Bey’s 1995 track “Ms. Fat Booty” - which peaked at #85 in 2000, when Manic Street Preachers were at #1 - but instead layering it behind a killer trap beat. TikTok virality pushed this song back into mainstream popularity, but I’ve been bumping this one since release, with JID effortlessly rattling off flows as always, littered with breathy ad-libs and seamless rhyme schemes, so much so you almost forget most of this is just flexing. I love how the sample comes back in to act as an introductory jingle for 21 Savage, entering the ring with some of his coldest bars at that point, in a flow he hadn’t yet overused, and an overall brilliant if fleeting guest verse. Then Baby Tate strangely comes in, mostly moaning in a half-finished verse excerpt that blurts itself between the “banger” first half and a static noise that fills out the track before returning to a dark, fragmented beat that cuts in and out amidst JID’s grimier gangsta rap lyrics, with a menacing charisma honestly kind of reminiscent of Eminem, using flows and schemes that never seem to actually get a hold of the verse, it strays really far from the tightly-composed hit that makes up the first half and seems to show the grimmer reality of Atlanta that all three artists here are based in. Overall, I mean, it’s brilliant top-class hip hop, the kind you never expect to chart outside of the big-hitters like Kendrick and Cole, and I really hope it survives Christmas because it is fantastic.

#60 - “Lose Control” - Teddy Swims

Produced by Ammo and Julian Bunetta

I first heard Teddy Swims as a feature on a Meghan Trainor song, then discovered his real second name was Dimsdale so it really does not seem like a good first impression for Mr. Dimsdale or his pop-music Dimmadome but jokes aside, this has been his breakthrough hit in the US for a couple of weeks now, just hitting the top 40 on Billboard recently, and Mr. Dimsdale’s story is one we often see. He attracts a YouTube audience with cover songs and eventually sees industry attention. This is an original song and… well, wow, this guy can sing. That is probably the intended reaction to this, as content-wise, it’s not great, mostly because it feels a bit too obvious, but I mean, the whole song kind of toys on that boat of bombast, so it makes complete sense. The mix clips in the first verse with a slightly blocky-feeling bass and snaps that actually sound real and then that chorus comes in with the blasts of horns and the clanging percussion that despite the choir vocals, the clamouring of the production… it feels a bit empty, lacking in the actual composition, and I actually quite like that. It works for his raspy belt, the metallic attempt at recreating a big-band feel, it doesn’t feel “complete” or natural and this kind of breakup song where Dimsdale is rendered a broken man actually seems to warrant that sound. It even has a guitar solo that doesn’t deviate much from the chorus melody sadly but adds some needed grit before Mr. DImsdale really hits that note in the final chorus, and yet it doesn’t have a bombastic ending, or at least not as much as it needs. It just slips back out of existence, it’s kind of depressing in that aspect, I suppose. I guess, it’s not great, but I’ll take it.

#50 - “You’re Christmas to Me” - Sam Ryder

Produced by The Nocturns

The grip that Amazon has on the UK Christmas market is starting to be of concern. This is from the SEQUEL to an Amazon Prime-original Christmas film starring all British actors. There is a franchise at work, for God’s sake! At least this is an original song, and I will say this one is on YouTube but on principle, I will still refuse to review it and instead randomly select… “The Rose Song” by Olivia Rodrigo, which is also from a piece of visual media, that being the second season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. I have not watched that because, to put it bluntly, I’m not 12, but I’m sure it’s decent enough Disney sitcom fluff and you can definitely tell that Rodrigo still actually wrote this character’s songs, it wasn’t a screenwriter here, as it’s very much in the vein of her own solo work. It’s got similarly wordy moments, the actually pretty beautiful rising pianos amidst a shaky falsetto in the chorus, and none of the floaty over-production or attempts at grit that were on GUTS, despite one of her actually most impressive performances yet and a wonderful string swell that definitely sounds Disney but hey, there’s a reason why Disney still hits all these years on. The song’s content is about realising she’s more than what she is to this guy, who doesn’t seem to value her as a partner or really, human, and whilst it does go into clichés occasionally, it does it tastefully and with the power you can expect from a really good O-Rod ballad so… yeah, surprisingly enough, I really like this. It’d definitely be better than whatever Sam Ryder pushed out, at least. If I’m wrong, I don’t care.

#48 - “Body Moving” - Eliza Rose and Calvin Harris

Produced by Calvin Harris

I really didn’t expect Eliza Rose to grab a second hit after “B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)” but I guess handing over most of the production duties to Calvin Harris is the best way to do so, and with sadly no relation to the Beastie Boys song, we have a song that feels pretty separate from “B.O.T.A.”, even if Rose has the same… interesting delivery and pretty terrible lyrics, which absolutely did not ruin that song, in fact they added to its charm. I’m not sure if I can say the same with this one, which just feels… random, for lack of a better word. The drums are all over this, layered to skitter and clatter over places where I feel they shouldn’t be, we have a whispery vocal loop from Ms. Rose in the back of the mix but still way too loud, not that you can hear it over the horn blasts that honestly don’t even sound in key, even if they probably are. They don’t build up effectively to a drop either, which just kind of crashes in with again, an overly-scattered set of metallic drum patterns, and Rose being interrupted by those gross, blaring horns. I like the keys and strings added in that second verse, probably the only real resemblance to “B.O.T.A.” here, but it doesn’t bother much with that atmosphere, neglecting it for the sake of a bombast that isn’t there. It really just doesn’t feel like anyone was in the same room making this, and it really is a shame because this collaboration on paper should have been way better.

#26 - “You Broke My Heart” - Drake

Produced by Vinylz and FNZ

Out of all the songs to chart from Drake’s deluxe edition of For All the Dogs, subtitled the “Scary Hours Edition”, it had to be the one perhaps least representative of those six new tracks, which mostly consist of sluggish, paranoid jazz-rap rambles, most of the time eschewing the need for an actual drum pattern and using endless loops for some of Drake’s most self-aware yet least sobered writings in years. For the record, I like all of them, but I am partially glad that say, “The Shoe Fits” or “Stories About My Brother” didn’t chart because they’re heady, conscious and introspective tracks, whilst this song… it’s the relapse. It’s the full circle moment where Drake gives up on trying to contextualise everyone and everything around him, resorting to monosyllabic chants in the bridge - or “hook” at a stretch - and barely landing on a coherent flow over a cascading sample beat, that seems to go for the same drumless, hypnotic feel of the rest of the bonus tracks, switching between samples of Major Harris and the Supremes before the bait-and-switch into a hard trap beat wherein Drake can just flex and dismiss instead of the bitter breakup balladeering of the first verse, back in the mode of For All the Dogs. Now why do I actually like it? Well, it’s silly, it took me by surprise, it does a good job placing the murky, desperate “Stoned Love” sample from the Supremes - which peaked at #3 in 1971 behind George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” at #1 - against the almost rage-esque beat where OVO protégé Smiley provides… juicy ad-libs. He eventually gets back into talking about his ex but it’s in these whispered yells and rants that are just comedy, it’s a fascinating listen to me, maybe not as good as “Wick Man” or the more lyrical tracks I mentioned earlier but very much still in good fun. It won’t last past this week, though, as Yeat will come back like Superman to rescue the UK Singles Chart from… Smiley, I guess.

#12 - “exes” - Tate McRae

Produced by Ryan Tedder and Tyler Spry

Well, that next Tate McRae album is coming sometime soon and with the help of pop songwriting giant Ryan Tedder, she’s definitely in full “pop girl” mode, and this time without an obvious Timbaland sample to back her up. And surprise, surprise - the song is not great. It’s hard to take McRae’s sing-songy chorus and fake laughter seriously when Dua Lipa does the same conceit a lot better and a lot sexier on “Houdini” whilst trying less, as Tate moves on with guys very quickly and keeps memorabilia of all of her exes even if the relationships mostly meant nothing. It’s a shame that this is awful, genuinely, like it took a while but this is driving my insane. Why do we have a random  blend of instruments functioning as the monogenre melody, and none of them mixed to be a focal point? Should I be focusing on the muffled, cheap and jaunty acoustic guitar line (which sounds especially terrible in the outro), the airy keys or the reverb-drenched rubbery vocal loop that is mixed in the chorus so it’s nearly as loud as Tate, who just sounds terrible because bless her, she’s not the best singer, and definitely not the most emotive, so she can’t sell this dead-on-arrival song with a rhythm that decided to add trap skitters for basically no reason when a more bass-focused funk groove or even a drum and bass backing would make this hit much harder. It sounds dated on arrival too, like this is something that Selena Gomez would have picked up in 2019, and McRae going for a semi-rap delivery sometimes just sounds forced and gross, especially coming from someone void of personality and full of Auto-Tune, and ESPECIALLY on the half-time trap breakdown in the second verse that made me have to stop the song just in shock of how insufferable it was. It never truly progresses either outside of layers of synth nothingness and vocal harmonies that basically register as Auto-Tuned whining baby noises from the back of the mix. God, this is just shockingly awful, especially from veterans like Ryan Tedder. Get this away from me before I start noticing more things to hate about it.

Conclusion

It should be obvious, Tate McRae gets Worst of the Week for “exes”, which is by and far the absolute worst song that debuted, and sadly, I do have enough disappointment to give the Dishonourable Mention to “Body Moving” by Eliza Rose and Calvin Harris, it is quite a shame. As for the best, we do have two great hip hop songs here, which feels good to say in a year that has been kind of lacking for mainstream rap. Drake gets the Honourable Mention with “You Broke My Heart” but the Best of the Week, similarly far ahead, goes to JID for “Surround Sound” featuring 21 Savage and Baby Tate, I really hope that one sticks around. As for what’s on the horizon, we’re safely in holiday territory now, so expect more of that. For now, thank you for reading and for once, I’ll see you earlier than next week. Stay tuned.

[terrorbitch]

the most euphoric feeling is standing up at the stage with a bunch of 40+ year old dykes, screaming out fleetwood mac songs with a tribute band as if it was really stevie nicks up there

[andtherestishistory13]

Alrighty, again, we took a poll, here is the poll, if y’all want to look at it: Poll Link. So without further ado, here is…

Greta Van Fleet As: Things My Family (mainly my dad) Has Done:

Josh: Once, my dad went on a walk about, didn’t tell anyone and was gone for days. When he came back, he had a dog, a bag full of herbs and decided to make his own medicine and wanted us to “live off the land”; My mom has a bag full of guitar picks in case my dad ever needs them

Jake: Also my dad, got drunk, thought he saw ghosts and tried to fight a bear. Still thinks he could’ve won if my uncle didn’t yell at the bear; My dad once took up gold mining because he was bored, he found gold in a creek;

Danny: My mom bought Greta Van Fleet tickets, but then got upset because she thought they were a Fleetwood Mac tribute band; My sister avoided the public library because she has a fine from when we were little and she’s worried she’s gonna go to jail.

Sam: Once, my Nan got bored and redid her entire house in a weekend only using YouTube and Google. She also did a mock marble painting on her counter because she didn’t like the wood; Once my mom bought a bunch of goats and forgot to tell my dad, so when he came home, we just had a bunch of new goats.

Bonus: All boys: Once my family went to the beach on a church trip and we accidentally paid ties to the church of satan because we thought it was a weird museum; Went to the farmers market for peaches and came back with pigs, goats and a weird chicken named Willie Nelson; Went bear hunting and brought home two puppies; My sister, Dad and I tried to domesticate a raccoon and we were almost successful until Mama found out and made us stop