With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

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

Mayhem’s 12 Days Of Christmas 2024 – Day 12 “Twelve Drummers Drumming” December 24, 2024

Filed under: Christmas — justwilliam1959 @ 11:21 am
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Are you ready for day 12 of Mayhem’s 12 Days Of Christmas posts. Yes, the final one is here, how has it all happened so quickly? The fat bearded bloke is doing the final sleigh checks. The elves are finishing off the final presents. The reindeer are having a pre-journey rest and Mrs. Claus is printing the definitive nice and naughty lists. In case you didn’t know, these posts revolve around a theme. This series is based on the classic cumulative song “The Twelve Days Of Christmas.” Did you know that as the gifts were cumulative there were 364 gifts in total? What gift was presented on the twelfth day of Christmas? It was of course Twelve Drummers Drumming. The link to today’s tune is really obvious and not particularly tenuous.

The song I have chosen for Day 12 is “My Drummer’s Girlfriend.” This song is by a band that I think will be absolutely huge next year. I certainly hope that they are. I am talking of course, about the magnificent ALT BLK ERA. Since they started to break out they have released some incredible singles, including this one. They have worked with some great artists including Delilah Bon and Wheatus. Their first album is due out early next year. I expect it to appear in my albums of the year list next year. Obviously I promised you a playlist once we got to Day 12 and you can find it below.

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The Mayhem Charts – November 2024 December 5, 2024

Filed under: Mayhem Monthly Chart,Mayhem Top 20 Chart — justwilliam1959 @ 11:11 pm
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Here is the Mayhem chart for November 2024. Regular and constant readers know that the chart is based on my Spotify listening habits over the last month gathered by obscurify.com. Apparently, my tastes have fallen one point to 96% 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, U2 and the Four Tops. Obscurify also suggests the most obscure artists I have listened to for November: Liz Davinci, Vaquelin, and Sleuth Gang. There is a top ten artists chart and a top 5 songs chart. There is the usual eclectic mix of artists, including two that were in the top ten last month; Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (Up from number 10 to number 2), and Delilah Bon (falling from number 8 to number 9). Delilah has been in the artist charts now for a whole year! Three artists appear in both lists for November: ALT BLK ERA, Joshua Idehan and the artist chart toppers Sleuth Gang. The number one song is “Age Of Stupid” by the Jellybricks. 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 November 2024

1 Sleuth Gang
2 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
3 Joshua Idehen
4 Stress Dolls
5 Blue Violet
6 ALT BLK ERA
7 HerOrangeCoat
8 tiLLie
9 Delilah Bon
10 Not Now Norman

Mayhem Song Chart November 2024

1 Age Of Stupid – Jellybricks
2 Falling – Apollo Junction
3 Pity Party – Sleuth Gang
4 My Drummer’s Girlfriend – ALT BLK ERA (featuring Wheatus)
5 Mum Does The Washing – Joshua Idehan

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“My Drummer’s Girlfriend” (Featuring Wheatus) – ALT BLK ERA November 13, 2024

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:04 pm
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In June, we reviewed the excellent single, “My Drummer’s Girlfriend” by the obscenely talented ALT BLK ERA. Just when you thought things could not get better for ALT BLK ERA, well at least until the release of their debut album in January, they work with none other than Wheatus on a new take of “My Drummer’s Girlfriend”. It loses none of the original excitement but it gains a slacker punk feel thanks to the delightful Wheatus gang! Check out all versions in the Spotify link below!

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“Come On Outside” – ALT BLK ERA October 3, 2024

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:03 pm
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ALT BLK ERA are back with a new single, “Come On Outside”, from their forthcoming debut album ‘Rave Immortal’. Try and pigeon-hole this band at your peril they comfortably play fantastically well at multiple music genres. “Come On Outside” has a riotous, riff-laden grunge feel to carry its positive message. The chorus is alive and takes up residence in your brain almost immediately after the first listen. Chaya wrote the song for her sister Nyrobi and had this to say about it “For two years my sister was bed-ridden with a chronic illness that shot waves of pain throughout her body. The doctors couldn’t figure out what it was. I thought I was going to lose her. Thankfully, with lots of support, she is slowly getting better and she now has strong medication that helps her to manage the pain. This song is my message for Nyrobi, for you, and for anyone else who has faced physical or emotional challenges.” Based on this and other recent releases from this incredibly talented band I am going to take the bold step of saying that the debut album, due out early next year, will be a contender for album of the year 2025!

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Wow That’s What I Call Mayhem – Volume 4 September 30, 2024

Filed under: Now That's What I Call Mayhem! — justwilliam1959 @ 8:31 pm
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With continued humble apologies to the creators of the iconic NOW series of compilations that began in 1983, I posted and compiled the first WOW That’s What I Call Mayhem collection back in March, with volumes 2 and 3 following just a few weeks ago. So are you ready for volume 4? I certainly hope so, because here it is! This includes the fourth 20 singles we reviewed in 2024 in another maniacal eclectic playlist for your listening pleasure! With more than 60 minutes of music, click the Spotify link below and lose yourself in the music!

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The Mayhem Charts – June 2024 July 11, 2024

Filed under: Mayhem Monthly Chart,Mayhem Top 20 Chart — justwilliam1959 @ 8:57 pm
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Here is the Mayhem chart for June 2024, albeit a tad late. Regular and constant readers know that the chart is based on my Spotify listening habits over the last month gathered by obscurify.com. Apparently, my tastes have fallen to 96% more obscure than the rest of the UK! A drop of 2% from last month. The chart remains contemporary-ish (but if a classic artist releases something new they might feature in the chart). However, the top three “Legacy” artists for last month are David Bowie, Sparks, and R.E.M. Obscurify also suggests the most obscure artists I have listened to and for June those were Hawksley Workman, Jenny Don’t And The Spurs, and The German Art Students. There is a top ten artists chart and a top 5 songs chart. There is the usual eclectic mix of artists, including three that were in the top ten last month, Taylor Swift, Paul Weller, and Delilah Bon! Delilah is one of only two artists to feature in the artist chart and the song chart for June, with her current single “The Internet” making it to the top of the song chart and May’s number one “Evil, Hate Filled Female” falling to number 5. Delilah has been in the artist charts for seven consecutive months. The other artist to appear in both lists for June is Kate Nash, who also tops the artist chart. Female artists make up 50% of the artist chart and 80% of the song chart! So without further ado here are those charts in full! Click on the header of the song chart for the playlist on Spotify.

Mayhem Artist Chart June 2024

1 Kate Nash
2 James
3 Charli XCX
4 Scene Queen
5 The Streets
6 Delilah Bon
7 John Grant
8 Me First And The Gimme Gimmes
9 Paul Weller
10 Taylor Swift

Mayhem Song Chart June 2024

1 The Internet – Delilah Bon
2 My Drummer’s Girlfriend – ALT BLK ERA
3 Millions Of Heartbeats – Kate Nash
4 No Calories In Cocaine – The Howl and the Hum
5 Evil, Hate Filled Female – Delilah Bon

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“My Drummer’s Girlfriend” – ALT BLK ERA June 28, 2024

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 10:25 pm
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ALT BLK ERA are going stratospheric with epic headline shows and a support slot with Tom Morello. On top of that, they have fired up the solid fuel boosters and released their best single so far. “My Drummer’s Girlfriend” is full of pop-driven punk licks and a gorgeous vocal delivery which reminds me of the Tuts and Kate Nash. Those riffs are mesmeric and stitch their way into your brain easily. I am not sure I am a fan of the potentially insane, drug-fuelled titular girlfriend in this story, but I am a huge fan of this infectious, electric firecracker of a tune from the magical and magnificent ALT BLK ERA.

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The Mayhem Charts – December 2023 January 6, 2024

Filed under: Mayhem Top 20 Chart — justwilliam1959 @ 5:43 pm
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Here is the Mayhem chart for December 2023. Regular readers will know the chart is based on my Spotify listening habits over the last month. The chart remains contemporary-ish, rather than just an oldies chart However, the top three “Legacy” artists are Elvis Costello, Kate Bush, and Bobby Darin, and surprisingly David Bowie is not in the top 3. There is a top ten artists chart and a top 5 songs chart. There is the usual eclectic mix of artists, including three who were in the top ten last month (ALT BLK ERA, Delilah Bon, and tiLLie). In fact, this is now the fifth month in a row that ALT BLK ERA has featured in the artist’s top ten. Only two of the top five songs are by artists which feature in the top ten artist chart. Those two are Rebecca Ferguson and Jazmin Bean. girli and UGLY CLUB remain in the song top five from last month with UGLY CLUB moving up from 5 to 2 and girli moving from 3 to the summit! In case you are interested the top three Christmas tunes for December were “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love, “Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)” by the Darkness, and “Proper Christmas” by the Krackpots. So without further ado here are those charts! Click on the header of the song chart for the playlist on Spotify.

MAYHEM ARTIST CHART DECEMBER 2023

1 Jazmin Bean
2 Rebecca Ferguson
3 Poppy
4 100 gecs
5 Yussef Dayes
6 tiLLie
7 HANDSHAKE IN SPACE
8 Scott Bradlee’s Post-Modern Jukebox
9 Delilah Bon
10 ALT BLK ERA

MAYHEM SONG CHART DECEMBER 2023

1 Nothing Hurts Like A Girl – girli
2 What’s Wrong – UGLY CLUB
3 Digging For Gold – Rebecca Ferguson
4 Terrified – Jazmin Bean
5 SAOKO – Rosalía

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Mayhem’s 12 Days Of Christmas – Day 12 – Delilah Bon December 24, 2023

Filed under: Christmas — justwilliam1959 @ 3:10 pm
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Well, here we are at the end of our journey through Mayhem’s 12 Days Of Christmas for 2023. Regular readers will know that this year I have used the series to showcase artists featured in Spotify’s Misfits 2.0 playlist. Some of them I discovered via Misfits 2.0, others I was already a huge fan of. Today’s post features the obscenely talented Delilah Bon, probably my favourite living artist. Since “Devil” in July 2020 she has released some stunning songs plus a great EP, ‘Ready To Kill’ and a self-titled debut album that blew away the competition in 2021. I believe that we might see her sophomore album in 2024, I certainly hope so.

Delilah Bon is the alter ego of Lauren Tate of Hands Off Gretel. In her approach to life, her attitude, and especially her music she stands up for women and girls and the whole LGBTQ+ community and frankly she is an inspirational icon for anyone who dares to be different. She has had a great year with a trio of classic singles, “I Wish A Bitch Would”, “Brat” and the magnificent “Witch”. She enlisted the help of ALT BLK ERA on the latter, another act that featured in this year’s 12 Days of Christmas posts. In addition, I have also showcased WARGASM, Royal and the Serpent, Poppy, Girli, tiLLie, 100 gecs, Casseyette, FKA Rayne, Scene Queen, and Jazmin Bean. Delilah Bon has played some excellent support slots this year for Scene Queen and Shaka Ponk. Earlier this year she performed “War On Women” on French TV’s biggest music programme Taratata. In her music she embraces hip-hop, punk, rap, and metal. If you do not have Delilah Bon in your life yet, why the hell not?

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Mayhem’s 12 Days Of Christmas – Day 6 – ALT BLK ERA December 18, 2023

Filed under: Christmas — justwilliam1959 @ 4:20 pm
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It is halfway house for this year’s Mayhem’s 12 Days of Christmas series which features artists that I have discovered via Spotify’s Misfits 2.0 playlist or artists that I love who have appeared on it. Day 6 features the magnificent ALT BLK ERA. I heard them for the first time quite a while ago and then had the opportunity to see them headline the BBC Introducing Stage at Leeds Festival in August. I was also honoured to get to interview them at Leeds too. Nyrobi and Chaya, if you’re up for a longer interview in 2024, let me know. ALT BLK ERA have released some stunning singles since 2022 and this culminated in their awesome EP ‘Freak Show’ which came out in September. They also worked on a brilliant collaboration with one of my favourite living artists, Delilah Bon on the monumental track “Witch”. They have recently been nominated for a MOBO award. I believe that ALT BLK ERA has the potential to be huge. Get listening to them now, that’s an order!

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