With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

“Hunting Season” – abs November 7, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 8:53 pm
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Classy UK artist abs has featured on these pages a couple of times. Earlier this year she became the 24th act to appear in the Mayhem Virgins series back in March. The following month we had the pleasure of interviewing her. Now she is back with a brand new single, “Hunting Season”. It is sultry, sexy, sweltry and sensual and is performed with a swagger of sensual lust at heights that come close to the peaks that Marvin Gaye and Millie Jackson reached in that kind of song. But it is not all about bringing sexy back (apologies to Mr. Timberlake for that) it strikes me as a song of female empowerment with the woman taking control, the prey becomes the hunter! abs is in total control on this track she is strong, charismatic with just the right level of chutzpah. “Hunting Season” sets up residence in your head after the first listen and is impossible to evict, but frankly who would want to evict such a great track? If I have any criticism it is only that at 1 minute 52 seconds it is a little short, but that is easily solved, just put it on repeat! This is a magnificent and ambitious release from abs and I bloody love it!

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The Mayhem Charts – April 2025 May 28, 2025

Filed under: Mayhem Monthly Chart,Mayhem Top 20 Chart — justwilliam1959 @ 3:41 pm
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Here is the Mayhem chart for April 2025, rather tardy I know, but better late than never right? Regular readers know the chart is based on my streaming listening habits. These are gathered over the last month by obscurify.com. My taste in music remains 99% more obscure than the rest of the UK! The chart remains contemporary-ish (but if a classic artist releases something new they might feature in the chart). However, last month’s top three “Legacy” artists were David Bowie, Max Romeo and the Isley Brothers. Obscurify also suggests the most obscure artists I have listened to for March and they are Liz Davinci, Dead Rat Society and Kindelan. Bowie, Liz Davinci and Kindelan have retained their positions from last month.

Millie Manders and the Shutup are the top artist for April’ up from number three in March . Millie and the gang are the only artist in the artist chart remaining from last month. The artist chart, I am pleased to say, is made up of 70% female or female fronted acts. These include Lexi Jones, Emma-Jean Thackray, Litany, Greentea Peng and the amazingly talented abs! Three artists feature in both the artist chart and the song chart; Cassyette (7 – artist, 2 – song), Dead Rat Society (4 – artist, 4 – song) and Apollo Junction (10 – artist, 5 – song). One of Mayhem’s favourite bands tops the song chart with cracking current single “Take Down”, yes it is one of York’s finest bands, Lost Trends! So without further ado here are those charts in full! Click on the Spotify link below to listen to the famous (or infamous) five! Nearly fifteen minutes of great music!

Mayhem Artist Chart April 2025

1 Millie Manders and the Shutup
2 Abs
3 Lexi Jones
4 Dead Rat Society
5 Greentea Peng
6 Litany
7 Cassyette
8 James and the Cold Gun
9 Emma-Jean Thackray
10 Apollo Junction

Mayhem Song Chart April 2025

1 Take Down – Lost Trends
2 This World Fucking Sucks – Cassyette
3 Elephant – Neckbreakers
4 The Night – Dead Rat Society
5 Settle Down – Apollo Junction

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The WJAHOM Interview Podcast – Abs April 8, 2025

Filed under: Interview,Podcast — justwilliam1959 @ 12:34 pm
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It was an absolute pleasure to interview uber talented soulful, sultry singer songwriter Abs recently. We spoke about her music roots and what is next for her. She also gave us a couple of exclusives! Take a listen. It was a really enjoyable chat. I hope that you like it too.

Just a quick note. This is a Zoom recording and it has recorded my voice at a slightly higher volume than Abs’. I didn’t shout! Honest! There are also occasional gremlins on the Zoom line too. Maybe I need to start a crowd-funder to build a professional studio in my house 🙂

CLICK HERE to take a listen to the interview.

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The Mayhem Charts – February 2025 March 12, 2025

Filed under: Mayhem Monthly Chart,Mayhem Top 20 Chart — justwilliam1959 @ 8:20 pm
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Here is the Mayhem chart for February 2025. Regular readers know the chart is based on my streaming listening habits. These are gathered over the last month by obscurify.com. After a slight blip last month my taste in music remains 99% more obscure than the rest of the UK! The chart remains contemporary-ish (but if a classic artist releases something new they might feature in the chart). However, last month’s top three “Legacy” artists were Gene, Roy Wood and Kate Bush. Obscurify also suggests the most obscure artists I have listened to for January and they are Liz Davinci, Not Now Norman and Kindelan. After being in the chart for months Delilah Bon dropped out last month, but she returned in February at number 9 in the artist chart.

An artist who featured in our latest Mayhem Virgins post, abs, sits at number 10. Top of the artist chart for February is a great favourite here at Mayhem Towers and a band we have championed for a long while. It is the wonderfully original and uber talented Jellybricks. Only one artist in the artist chart remains from last month and that is herorangecoat. Sitting at number two in the artist chart is my favourite living band, Avalanche Party. They are one of two artists to appear in the artist chart and the song chart. The other is the Last Of The Fallen Angels. Kindelan was number one in the song chart last month. She stayed in the chart for February, dropping to number 5. Push Puppets hit the top of the song chart with the stunning track “All Together On 3”. So without further ado here are those charts in full! Click on the Spotify link below to listen to the famous (or infamous) five! Nearly twenty minutes of great tunes!

Mayhem Artist Chart February 2025

1 Jellybricks
2 Avalanche Party
3 Antony Szmierek
4 Bowling For Soup
5 Rumer
6 The Last Of The Fallen Angels
7 Kendrick Lamar
8 Herorangecoat
9 Delilah Bon
10 abs

Mayhem Song Chart February 2025

1 All Together On 3 – Push Puppets
2 John Coltrane’s Moscow Skyscraper – Avalanche Party
3 BLOW – Kety Fusco
4 Amsterdam Flight – The Last Of The Fallen Angels
5 Drowning The Killer – Kindelan

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Mayhem Virgins – abs March 10, 2025

Filed under: Mayhem Virgins — justwilliam1959 @ 10:15 pm
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This is the 24th entry in the Mayhem Virgins series where we showcase artists that have never featured in these pages before. This time it is the turn of supremely talented abs. She is a rising star in music and has been building a good following since 2019. This has been through a great collection of ace singles and from what I hear some amazing live shows, many of them sell outs. Has abs got a particular style? I think her music is difficult to badge into a specific genre or sub genre. Her songs fuse R&B, soul, funk, neo-soul, fine pop and electro pop to highlight just a few. Back in my youth I became a huge jazz funk fan and abs would fit nicely into that mold too. The emotion in her voice is palpable and her songs ooze authenticity and passion. Based on the cover of her current single I reckon she knows how to look cool without even trying.

abs played her major festival in Sheffield when she opened Tramlines on the Leadmill Stage last year. Her mostly female/ trans band sound great on record and I am very excited to see abs play live soon. She has plenty of plans for 2025, she told me that these include;

  • Doing as many gigs as possible around the UK. (I hope she comes to York!)
  • Playing a couple of festivals that she can’t announce just yet! (Let’s hope at least one is in Yorkshire)
  • Making so many new songs to hopefully release later this year! (Now that sounds rather excellent to me)

This is off the back of some great music. Her self titled EP was released in September 2023 and introduced a hip-hop element to her sound. Meanwhile, her current single “Stellar Collision” released in October last year showcases a sound that just gets better with every release. That song has been picked up by many publications and radio stations. It is a sexy R&B song which Marvin Gaye or Millie Jackson would have been proud of. Some have suggested influences from the likes of Lianne La Havas and Nao. That might be true, but she is definitely one original artist! I am most certainly a fan and I expect abs to feature more in the future on these very pages! Check out her songs on Spotify below. You will not be disappointed!

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The Mayhem Charts – January 2025 February 12, 2025

Filed under: Mayhem Monthly Chart,Mayhem Top 20 Chart — justwilliam1959 @ 10:44 pm
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Here is the Mayhem chart for January 2025. Regular readers know the chart is based on my Spotify listening habits. These are gathered over the last month by obscurify.com. After a slight blip last month my taste in music is now apparently 99% more obscure than the rest of the UK! The chart remains contemporary-ish (but if a classic artist releases something new they might feature in the chart). However, last month’s top three “Legacy” artists were David Bowie, Linda Ronstadt and Bill Withers. Obscurify also suggests the most obscure artists I have listened to for January and they are Liz Davinci, Jackie’s Boy and Herorangecoat. Last month Herorangecoat also made it to number eight in the artist chart. For the first time in months Delilah Bon has not made it into the chart since we restarted it more than a year ago. But another Mayhem chart regular, ALT BLK ERA sit at number two in the artist chart. Party Nails is the number one artist for January following the release of her wonderful album ‘Pillow Talk’ in that month. Top of the song chart for January is a firm favourite here at Mayhem Towers and someone we have championed for a long while. It is the supremely talented Kindelan with her latest offering “Drowning The Killer”. So without further ado here are those charts in full! Click on the Spotify link below to listen to the famous (or infamous) five!

Mayhem Artist Chart January 2025

1 Party Nails
2 ALT BLK ERA
3 Lambrini Girls
4 The Apocalypse Disco
5 Robo
6 Lola Young
7 abs
8 Herorangecoat
9 Brògeal
10 Used To Be Apes

Mayhem Song Chart January 2025

1 Drowning The Killer – Kindelan
2 Manhattan – Pennine Suite
3 Safe & Sound – Pip Lewis
4 A New Dream – Gregory Darling and Julian Lennon
5 Vice – Rizzle Kicks

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