Imran Yusuf: Wedgewood Rooms Comedy Club

Having never been to a comedy club, or the Wedgewood Rooms before, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, apart from hopefully lots of laughs. It took a while for the entertainment to actually start, an hour and a half in fact, but it was definitely worth the wait.

The first act of the night was Zoe Lyons, who I recognised from ‘Mock the Week’, and she was just as good as on the TV. She has a great way of using imagery to make things funny, for instance she made a good point that spiders would be a lot less scary if they were extremely camp, and instead of scurrying, they minced across the carpet. She’s a very naturally funny lady and is clearly very comfortable on stage, which is understandable because according to her she’s ‘never had a proper job’. She made the audience very comfortable when she was performing, and even when she interacted with the people at the front it was in a light hearted friendly way, which helped avoid any awkwardness. She’s definitely a must see act.

Next was magician Ali Cook, who I hadn’t heard of but apparently he has been in programmes on Channel Four, Five and Sky 1. His act was full of gross magic tricks which were at times a bit hard to take. His final trick was eating razor blades, which would have been impressive if it didn’t contain masses of fake blood, this was personally a bit too hard to stomach, but I’m sure less squeamish people would enjoy this type of thing. He was very clever and the tricks were impressive but he is a bit of an acquired taste.

The headline act was Imran Yusuf, a cockney comedian who came to fame on ‘Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow’ who was particularly hilarious. Obviously the best way to judge comedians is by seeing which one makes you laugh the most, and Yusuf won by far. His use of racial comedy without alienating the audience was clever and frankly brilliant. I also loved the way he ended his act in a similar way to Russell Howard on his ‘Good News’ programme, by finishing on a light hearted note, talking about how we are all the same and we should live together peacefully.

At the end of the night my sides were actually hurting from all the laughing, which is proof enough that it was a hilarious evening. I strongly recommend giving the Wedgewood Rooms Comedy Club a try as it has a great atmosphere and you’ll come away with a great big smile on your face.

Kings of Leon: Come Around Sundown

 

I have to say I've been pretty excited about hearing ‘Kings of Leon’s’ new album ‘Come Around Sundown’. I wouldn’t class myself as a massive Kings of Leon fan, but after all the success of their last couple of singles I was eager to see what they came up with next.

Kings of Leon have been around for about eleven years, which is surprising because they only seem to have majorly broken into the mainstream with their last album ‘Only by the Night’, which earned them number ones and numerous awards. ‘Kings of Leon’ seem to have a knack of changing their sound with almost ever album, despite lead singer Anthony Followill’s highly distinctive voice.

As for the album itself, they’ve done a pretty great job. It gets off to a solid start with a strong drum beat and then a great guitar riff, before the stunning voice of lead singer Anthony Followill comes in. Although this song isn’t the highlight of the album, it’s still a good way to start. ‘Radioactive’ is by far the best song, and reached number seven in the singles chart. The reason it’s so good is due to its amazing guitar riff which comes in at the beginning of the song, and Followill’s brilliant, almost pained voice.

One of the less impressive songs on the album is Mary, it’s highly repetitive and has very little vocals, which seems strange considering the quality of vocalist they have. After a while it does get frankly quite annoying, and I have to say it’s one I would skip past.

However, one song stood out was ‘Back down South’, it has a country feel to it and you can really sense that the band is coming back to their Tennessee routes. The reason it sounds country is due to the acoustic guitar and the rhythm Followill sings at. The next song on the album ‘Beach Side’ is a stark contrast to ‘Back Down South’ with its summery holiday feel. This could be seen as a symbol of their move from humble Tennessee to stardom, typically associated with sunny California.

It’s nice to see that Kings of Leon have not played it safe and made songs that sound similar to their previous successes, and on the whole it’s a great album. It’s chilled and easy to listen to, I recommend it if you’re a Kings of Leon fan.

Mcfly ft Taio Cruz: Shine a Light

I should probably start this post with a confession; yes I am a Mcfly fan. Their cheesy but fun brand of pop rock was really easy to listen to, and although they’re not the coolest band to like, it’s clear that they have genuine musical talent.

They’ve been pretty quiet lately but it seems that’s because they’ve been having a complete image overhaul. They have a brand new sound, look and attitude, and I have to say, it really works. The band needed to become relevant, and it seems they’ve done just that.

‘Shine a Light’ is the second single from their upcoming album ‘Super City’, produced by and featuring chart sensation Taio Cruz. The song starts with their recognisable cheesy high vocals, which I have to say I’m not a fan of, but then Danny Jones’ frankly beautiful voice comes in, and that’s where the song kicks off. The Chorus is catchy, but it feels like Cruz takes over a bit too much, his albeit great voice overshadows Tom and Danny’s, which is disappointing because Danny in particular has a voice which would rival Cruz’s.

The video is a bit strange because unless you understand the story behind it then it doesn’t make much sense. The band sent their fans messages on Twitter with clues to different destinations around London; if they found the end then they had a chance to be in the video. Once you know this, you can understand the video better.  

All in all it’s a pretty good song, a bit generic but I can definitely see it being popular as it fits well with what’s being played in the charts at the moment. As for Mcfly’s new image, it seems to be for the better, and I think it will open up a new audience for them, plus they seem to have somehow got better looking which I'm sure won’t harm their success.  

Jimmy Eat World: Invented

Jimmy Eat World are a band I remember well from my early teenage days (that really makes me feel old) and I have to say after listening to their new album ‘Invented’, which came out this week, I’m re-converted.

Listening to their 2001 single ‘The Middle’ really does make you feel quite nostalgic, and it shows how different this latest album is from their previous work. Jim Adkins and the band have moved on from their soft American pop rock and have come out with an album which is sophisticated and a pleasure to listen to.

The song which stands out the most for me is the title song ‘Invented’ which has a wonderfully mellow acoustic guitar and stunning vocals from Courtney Marie Andrews, who has backing vocals on five of the songs on this album. ‘Invented’ is probably the furthest away from their old stuff and it’s nice to hear them calming it down and taking a risk, although at seven minutes it is a tad long and goes unnecessarily crazy near the end.

One of the more upbeat and catchy songs on the album is the recently released single ‘My Best Theory’. It has the classic Jimmy Eat World guitar and a fast pace which really lifts your mood and forces you to sing along. However, one of my least favourite songs off the album is ‘Action Needs an Audience’, it sounds like they’re trying a bit hard to be screamo, and not really succeeding. Although passionate, it’s straying into another genre which sounds a bit strange.

If I had one criticism of the album as a whole, it would be that some of the songs sound a bit similar, but it has a few real gems that make it a really great piece of work by the Arizona band. If you remember Jimmy Eat World from your youth then have a listen to how much they have changed, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Eat Pray Love

Queen of the Rom-Com, Julia Roberts, is back with her usual romantic feel good movie, and once again she’s done a pretty fantastic job. Eat Pray Love, from the creator of Glee Ryan Murphy, is a very girly movie about a woman who feels as though she is trapped in her marriage, and this leads to her going on a journey to various places around the world, in order to achieve ‘balance’ and find what is missing in her life. As the title suggests, in the first country she eats great food, in the second country she finds religion, and in the third she, of course, finds love.

As an aspiring jetsetter myself, I really engaged with the movie, as well as Julia Roberts' character Liz Gilbert. In the same way that street dance movies make you think you could be a dancer yourself, Eat Pray Love makes you think that one day you will be able to travel the world and be as happy and content as Liz after her adventure.
James Franco has a small role in the film as Liz’s New York boyfriend, but unfortunately doesn’t make a very big impact. As for Roberts, you really believe that she has a connection with the character, this could be because she is supposedly a practising Buddhist and meditates regularly, or it could just be that she’s a good actor

Overall it was a lovely, uplifting film, and Roberts was a great choice for the lead as she’s doing what she does best (cry lots and fall in love with good looking men). If you don’t like cheesy romantic films then this isn’t for you, but if you enjoy films which bring a tear to your eye and make you really empathise with the main character then you should definitely give it a go.

Brandon Flowers goes solo

There have been lots of new releases this week, but one that especially caught my eye was ‘Crossfire’ by Killers front man Brandon Flowers. As a huge Killers fan I was very excited to see if Flowers could hold his own when the rest of the band decided to take a break. This single is the first from his debut solo album ‘Flamingo’, apparently named after a road in Las Vegas, the city where Flowers was bought up.

His first solo single has done pretty well in the charts, with ‘Crossfire’ landing at number eight, but this is to be expected due to his previous success with the killers, so is the song actually any good? Well yes, actually, with a catchy chorus and Flowers’ strong but vulnerable voice, it makes for quite a reasonable track. The lyrics don’t seem to make much sense, but at least they sound good together, which is the main thing.

The video is quite strange, and doesn’t really seem to have any particular point to it, but it’s doubtful anybody’s going to be taking much notice of that when you’ve got a battered and bruised, yet handsome Brandon Flowers and stunning movie star Charlize Theron to look at. With samurai swords and ninja warriors it does in fact look like a scene from a Hollywood movie.

Although it’s a perfectly good song, it’s not really different enough from The Killers songs for it to stand out as obviously just Flowers by himself. It doesn’t have the wow factor that the first Killers album did where pretty much every song on it was potentially a hit single, maybe he’ll have some great stuff on the rest of his ‘Flamingo’ album, but this didn’t blow me away like I hoped. Maybe after Flowers has finished experimenting with his solo career he’ll go back to The Killers and make some music that lives up to ‘Hot Fuss’, we can hope anyway.

One Night Only: Say you don't want it

Yorkshire indie band ‘One Night Only’ released the first single from their self titled new album earlier this week. The single ‘Say you don’t want it’ has been highly anticipated due to front man George Craig’s girlfriend, and Harry Potter star, Emma Watson appearing in the video, but does the single live up to the hype? 
 

‘One Night Only’ released their debut album in 2008, so they’re still quite new to the music world, and from what you can hear from this single, their sound hasn’t changed particularly. They’ve kept their classic ‘easy on the ears’ sound which will be sure to push it up the charts. Most people will recognise ‘Just for Tonight’ and ‘You and Me’ from their first album but they seem to have disappeared from memory the last couple of years. 

The very first few seconds of ‘Say you don’t want it’ feel slightly out of place and unusual, the almost Muse like sound was a little strange. However, the song is a toe tapping, upbeat song that has awesome lyrics you can’t help but sing along to. The line ‘The big screens, the plastic made dreams’ in particular rolls off the tongue very easily, and when lead singer Craig belts out ‘Say you don’t want it’ it’s said with determination and infectious enthusiasm. The message of the song, it seems, is people’s reliability on material goods, one line in particular ‘paint all your soul with the brand designs’ pretty much sums up the point of this song.   

The beat and the guitar in particular, drive the song forward, which makes it easy to listen and move to. The fact that it’s repetitive makes it stick in your head, but not in an annoying way, and its upbeat rhythm makes it really enjoyable to listen to. Overall I really liked this song and I can see it being very successful, but not just because Emma Watson is in the video.  

Hey There!

Welcome to my blog, i'm going to be talking about music, films and the occasional TV programme, it's my first blog so I hope you like it, and a review should be up soon.