With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

The Mayhem Monthly Top 20 Artist Chart – April 2022 May 3, 2022

Filed under: Mayhem Top 20 Chart — justwilliam1959 @ 10:20 pm

Here we go with the Mayhem Artist Top 20 chart for April 2022. Many of you know that I am a keen user of a site called Obscurify. It claims to tell you how obscure your listening on Spotify is. Compared to the rest of the UK I achieved a level of only 95% more obscure than other users in the UK this month, down from 100% last month. Regular readers will know that it also lists my most obscure artists, (two of which had been there since I began doing these posts, although for the first time ever Woke Up Dead and Promethium are not on that list! Sorry chaps) which currently are;

Gene (The best British band of the Britpop era in my opinion)

Martin Rossiter (Lead singer of the best British band of the Britpop era. You can tell what I’ve been listening to this month, can’t you?)

Hazy Janes (In your face like a two-man Led Zep, a great band from Halifax)

Vaquelin (One of York’s finest young bands. Check out the video for their rather wonderful single “Iridescent Street Lights” below)

Blue Rondo á la Turk (Would you believe that it was reading Johnny Marr’s autobiography ‘Set The Boy Free’ that got me listening to these early 80s salsa, pop, jazzateers!)

Incidentally, four of those obscure artists feature in the artist top 10 for April.

As for the April Top 20, only Dame David remains from the last chart, but he has been there pretty much all the time. Other classic artists include Elton John, Roxy Music, Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye, and Abba. There are quite a few appearances from artists that have never appeared before including TV Girl, the Ukrainians, French The Kid, and Peach Pit. Sitting at number 11 is possibly one of the finest UK bands around at present, the Howl and the Hum, from my adopted city of York. The astute among you may have noticed a young man named Harry Styles at number 14. I can sense you thinking, what is that Styles bloke doing in the Mayhem chart? Well, I am out of the closet on Harry Styles, he is a hugely talented artist and I bloody love his music! I would love to hear your thoughts on this chart. Oh and keep your eyes open for the second Mayhem Monthly Song Chart, just like an old-school top 20 singles chart! That one includes songs by a few of the artists featured in the April Artist Chart.

1 David Bowie
2 Elton John
3 Gene
4 Hazy Janes
5 Ukrainians
6 Roxy Music
7 Bob Marley & The Wailers
8 Wet Leg
9 Marvin Gaye
10 Blue Rondo a la Turk
11 The Howl and the Hum
12 French The Kid
13 Dana Gillespie
14 Harry Styles
15 Cigarettes After Sex
16 Peach Pit
17 Lana Del Ray
18 TV Girl
19 Martin Rossiter
20 Abba

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With Just A Hint Of Mayhem – Singles Round-Up 2022 Part 3

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 7:33 pm
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This is the third singles round-up of 2022 which includes ten great songs released earlier in the year (yes we are still catching up!) from a group of artists from all over the world. Reading, New York (via Montreal), Buckinghamshire, Ireland (two of them), Berlin, Manchester, Hull, Canada and London. I think only Head Ballet have appeared on these pages before and while the rest are new to us I am 100% confident that their first appearance will not be their last appearance. It was also rather spooky and random that the artists at 9th and 10th in this list actually have 9 and 10 in their names, freaky huh?

“Laura” – Third Lung

This excellent track from Reading’s Third Lung reminds me of U2 at their best with its immense, soaring Bonoesque vocal and a barrage of riffs all underpinned by a huge rhythm section. Can someone let Third Lung play a set at Red Rocks please?

“I Was Made For Loving You” – Karine Hannah

Karine Hannah takes the classic Kiss power ballad and turns it into a steamy, sultry torch song. A truly magnificent cover version.

“Born To Rule” – Matt James

Matt James was the drummer and co-songwriter with one of the greatest British bands of the 90s, Gene. He left the music business for a while, but now he is back and based on this track, very much on form. This Latin-tinged, brass-driven beauty rolls over your ears nicely and bodes well for his first solo album, produced by Stephen Street, which will be out later this year.

“When I’m Not Awake I’m Dreaming Of You” – lullahush

This track from Ireland’s lullahush is, I suppose, electronica but a kind of dreamy, chilled, and at the same time dancey type of electronica. Vocally there is a folk-like element, which reminded me of Jon Marsh of the Beloved and the synth patterns are otherworldly, which maybe fits the dream subject perfectly. I love the contrasting female vocals towards the end.

“You, Me And Everything Else” – Friendmaker

This starts out as a soft lament and builds into a beautifully orchestrated crescendo, which evokes some of the great choruses produced by Semisonic back in the day. David Marron’s vocal performance is sublime and contains great emotional depth.

“Distant Shouts” – Donkey Kid

Berlin’s Donkey Kid’s songwriting for me compares lyrically, on this track at least, with Mike Skinner. But musically it has shades of some of the best alternative electro sounds from the early 80s. The sort of tracks that John Peel would have championed. I am now most definitely a Donkey Kid fan!

“To Know Yours” – Head Ballet

Supremely talented electro pop duo from Manchester Head Ballet were formed by Kiera Court and Danny Casio and with this single they have come up with another sublime stunner of a track. It refuses to leave your head after just a couple of listens. In a parallel universe this would be playing from every radio during a scorching hot summer!

“Eyes Wide Open” – Breeze

The opening to this rather fabulous ditty had me thinking of the Fountains Of Wayne at their peak twinned with the type of infectious hook and chorus that Noel Gallagher used to be good at back in the 90s. These Hullraisers can only get better, they have an average age that is just over 25% of my age! I am looking forward to seeing them live.

“That Was Yesterday” – J9

Janine “J9” Carter really is a very special talent. This track has everything from drum machine dance vibes, to dark electronic drone, androgynous vocals, a cinematic feel and a sweeping sound that would not be out of place on the soundtrack to “Blade Runner”. A bloody awesome tune! It also has a video that leaps right over the state line of Weirdsville!

“Demons” – 10 Guage

This is heavy, but not just heavy, we are talking FUCKING HEAVY! A tune that forces you to head bang along to its cascade of heart stopping riffs. Rob Jewson’s vocal performance is off the charts./ I will be first in the queue when the 10 Guage album hits the world and I hope they come and play up here in York soon.

Click here to stream a playlist of all the above tracks on Spotify. If you have enjoyed this article feel free to follow the blog, or follow us on;

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